Sweet'n'Sour Chicken

Chinese food, or Oriental food takes a far backseat in your mind when you discover soy makes you ill. You know, that feeling when you realize you've finished an entire pot of coffee and just feel icky and nauseated for the rest of the day? Yes, that feeling, but coming from even small amounts of soy. Or while breastfeeding, the reaction from your infant makes your stomach turn even more. A week later you're wondering why your baby has a rash and eczema on face and the baby acne returned. Then in your older child, the tantrums, lack of eye contact and hyperactivity returned. Hmmm. From some soy sauce? Really? Le sigh.

                                                   Traditional Sweet n sour chicken.

                                                     Battered, fried, covered in sugar

So you go through a year or 18 months with no oriental foods whatsoever, no soy sauce, no egg rolls, and you wistfully think back to those days of not knowing why you felt bad. You think "maybe I could try it again, maybe it won't make us sick" and reach for the super yummy Tofu sour cream in the grocery store. After indulging, the symptoms return. And this time you remember why you stopped eating it in the first place. It's just NOT worth the reaction.

You begin to take a Holistic, or whole body, approach to everything. What you eat, drink, how you treat an illness etc and see the words Coconut Aminos pop across your screen. Intriguing. You start searching, and find that Coconut Aminos is a fantastic substitute for Soy Sauce. And not only is it a substitute, it's also a fermented food rich in nutrients. Fermented Coconut tree sap? Sound strange? Perhaps. Until you try it, and realize that it's better than soy sauce, and that you can eat it and feel satisfied and full instead of gassy and nauseated.

Sweet'n'sour Chicken

Ingredients;
1 whole chicken, thawed
1 can chunk pineapple with juice
1 bottle Coconut Aminos
Sea salt and Pepper.
*note, next time I plan to add some large onion and green bell pepper slices. I simply did not have them on hand.

Rinse off your chicken, and place it either in a large stock pot, or in your crock pot. Sprinkle it with salt and pepper to your taste. It doesn't take much.
Pour the Pineapple and Coconut Aminos in the pot. Stir it up and spoon some over the top of your chicken. Set your crock pot for 4-6 hours on high, all day on low, or if you cook it in the pot, start it on a med-high heat until it comes to a boil, and then reduce heat and let it simmer for 1 1/2- 2 hours depending on the size of your chicken. Be sure and spoon the yummy sauce over the top about every half hour (stove) or hour (crock pot).

When it's all done, you can either serve it up by slicing the chicken, or let it cool, and de-bone it (DO NOT TOSS THOSE BONES!) and mix the chicken back into the sauce to re-heat. Serve with steamed cabbage, squash, rice, or a veggie medley.

                                                         Jamie's Sweet'n'Sour Chicken

                       Rich in nutrients, deep, balanced flavor, bones reserved for bone broth.


Voila! Altho this is not a traditional Sweet'n'sour sauce, even my picky husband and son enjoyed this one!

~Jamie