Amy H's Sweet -n- Sour Chicken

One of the best memories of living in University Heights is meeting my friend Amy -- "Hi Amy!" I still fondly remember her knocking on my door asking me to go on a walk with her and her bright eyed toe-headed daughter. After waking my newborn baby boy from his nap, I eagerly grabbed the stroller and set out for a lovely afternoon with my soon to be new friend. Amy's husband was a resident at the area hospital and Charlie a young attorney, both working ungodly hours, so her and I spent much time together keeping each other company especially during the bewitching evening hours. Amy is a wonderful homemaker chock full of ideas from organizing toys to crafts to food.  She is a master of making dinners out of nothing and often times we'd dine together at her house feasting on one of her creations. This is one of my favorite recipes Amy gave me. I remember being so impressed that she knew how to make sweet and sour sauce from scratch and didn't use the neon orange goo from the jar. A few years and another baby for each of us later, her husband successfully completed his residency and they moved out West for family, blue skies and snow capped mountains. I wish I kept in touch with her more, but I hope she knows she'll always hold a special place in my heart and cherish her friendship always.

Ingredients
Veggies
2 large carrots
1 red pepper
1 cup snow peas in the pod
1/2 small onion
10 oz can of drained pineapple tidbits
Amy says use any veggies you have on hand that work stir fry, but these are the ones she originally gave me.

Chicken
2-3 boneless chicken breasts
Amy says use whatever chicken you got, even chicken nuggets work.

Sauce
3/4 cup ketchup
1/3 cup white vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup pineapple juice
1/2 cup water, plus 4 tablespoons
2 tablespoons cornstarch -- Amy says flour works too!

Rice
1 cup uncooked rice
Amy says use any kind and if you don't have rice that's "totally fine"

Directions

• Cook rice according to package directions.
• Cut chicken with scissors and cook in a separate pan from the veggies until done.
• Spray another skillet with cooking spray and cook veggies until soft, then add pineapple.
• Pour the ketchup, vinegar sugar and pineapple juice and 1/2 cup of water into the pan with the veggies and stir.
• When sauce boils, dissolve 2 tablespoons of cornstarch into the 4 tablespoons of water. Pour into sauce and stir "super quick"
• Add chicken to sauce mixture and serve over rice.

Servings
Serves 4 - 6

A Broken Oven Tip
Wondering what to do with extra rice? Following is one of my favorite after dinner treats my mom used to make for me as a kid. Put rice in a bowl add some sugar, cinnamon, a touch of milk, pat of butter and heat in the microwave until warm.