Catalina Chicken

The stir-fry is one of the most potent tools in your GFCF arsenal. Meat, veggies, rice–all you have to do is verify the sauce, and you’re good to go. You can switch up the base ingredients for an infinite number of possibilities. Plus, a stir-fry cooks up extremely fast, so they’re ideal for those nights when you’ve got no time and only a random assortment of foods to choose from. You know, the nights when any normal family would just hop on over to a restaurant and not think twice about it.

If you want to know the truth, my kids don’t really eat the bell peppers in this, though we usually insist on a bite or two. But I’ve told myself that by cooking it all together, some of the vegetably-goodness sort of seeps into the rest of the ingredients. I’m sure there’s no scientific basis for that, but I’m going to keep living my delusions, thank you. At any rate, they chow down on the pineapple, so at least they’re getting a good serving of fruit.

Now is when my son’s nutritionist would cheerfully remind me that a bell pepper is technically a fruit anyway. But I just can’t hear her over the lovely sizzle of these vegetables.

Once you’ve cut the bell pepper into your preferred size and shape, sautee them for several minutes in olive oil. Some vegetables are better only lightly sauteed, what the cookbooks refer to as “tender-crisp,” but I really prefer my bell peppers nice and done. I think they taste kind of bitter otherwise.

Meanwhile, start your rice. What, you don’t have a rice cooker yet? I don’t know why not. This is 1 1/2 cups of rice here, but I could make up to 6 cups of rice at once, if I had a Little League team to feed.

Cut up 1-2 chicken breasts, again depending on how many people you’re feeding. Make sure you buy the good meat that’s not “injected” with broth, because that broth can often contain gluten. It may say something like “1-2% retained water,” which is okay, or “up to 10% solution,” which is not. Toss them in with the bell peppers and stir frequently. Feel free to add a little more olive oil if necessary to keep the chicken from sticking.

Once the chicken pieces are opaque on all sides (but not necessarily cooked all the way through,) dump in one can of drained pineapple chunks. This is another one of those foods where there’s just no need for extra stuff in the can, whether or not it ultimately has gluten in it. Go for the kind packed in 100% juice, not some chemical “syrup” concoction, and you won’t have to worry about it.

Also add one clove of minced garlic, and give everything a good stir. I can never seem to get my pineapple really drained, so it always takes a minute to boil off the extra juice that sneaks in.

While everything continues to sautee, prepare your sauce. Start with 1/4 cup Kraft Catalina dressing (light or regular version, it doesn’t matter.) [As always, the brands I use were GFCF at the time of posting, but manufacturers can change formulas at any time without warning. Always check your labels.]

Add to that 1/2 Tablespoon of La Choy soy sauce, and mix well.

When the pineapple is getting soft and the chicken is completely cooked through, pour in your sauce and stir for just another minute or two to get everything nice and coated.

Right about this time, your rice should be ready to serve. See how incredibly fast and easy that was? I especially love this meal because I love cooked pineapple. I wish I could put it in every single meal, but my family would eventually start to complain.

Happy Eating!

Catalina Chicken

1-2 chicken breasts, cut up
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 can pineapple chunks in juice, drained
1 clove minced garlic
1/4 cup Kraft Catalina dressing
1/2 TBS La Choy soy sauce