swour (it'll make sense in a second)(i hope)

I'm definitely on a sweet and sour kick lately. Isn't it interesting how our taste buds transform and develop over time?

I'd say that I was never particularly enamored of sweet and sour foods as a kid, but that's not entirely true. One of my favorite things when I was younger was chicken nuggets dipped in sweet-and-sour sauce from a fast food establishment that I'll leave unnamed. So I guess even then, I had a preference for the combination.

This meal is super easy to prepare--the slow cooker does most of the heavy lifting. The night before we ate this, I mixed together the sauce ingredients and left them in the fridge, ready to dump into the slow cooker the next morning. When I got home from work the evening of the meal, I simply shredded up the cooked and flavor-infused chicken, thickened the sauce on the stove, and cooked some rice. Wham, spam, thank you ma'am, dinner is served.

Before.

After.

Though I didn't have any green onions to use as a garnish, it won't be long before ours are ready to eat! We already have some mature lettuce, which we ate dressed lightly as a delightful side salad. Talk about eating local--hooray for garden successes!

Pineapple Pepper Poultry (Slow Cooker Style)(aka Swour Chicken from the Slooker)
Adapted from this recipe
Ingredients:

• 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup pineapple tidbits, with juice
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 6 tablespoons cold water
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions:
Spray the bowl of the slow cooker with nonstick spray.
Place the pieces of chicken, pineapple tidbits, and chopped pepper into the bowl.
Evenly sprinkle the spices and seasonings over the ingredients in the pot.
Mix together honey, soy sauce, ketchup, olive oil, and pineapple juice in a small bowl and pour the sauce mixture over the ingredients in the pot.
Cook on low for 4-5 hours.
Remove most of the sauce from the slow cooker and pour it into a saucepan over medium heat.
Mix together the cold water and cornstarch and stir into the sauce.
Cook sauce over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened. This only takes a couple of minutes.
Turn the heat down to low, add the mixture still in the slow cooker to sauce, and break or shred up the chicken into smaller pieces; stir to coat while simmering.
Remove from heat and sauce will thicken more as it cools.
Serve over rice. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and sliced green onions if desired.