Instapot Heart-Healthy Sweet and Sour Chicken

Dad is beginning his 3rd week in the hospital.  He’s now in the cardiac rehab unit and learning all sorts of ways to function without putting pressure on his arms.  I had no inkling all that entailed recovering from a heart attack and bypass surgery.  TV and movies definitely gloss over the intense parts.  Not only his he recovering from double bypass surgery, he also has his sternum and ribs healing, as well as several incisions on his lower leg.  The ribs and sternum were sawed through so the surgeon could get to dad’s heart, and the leg incisions are from the surgeon searching for a viable vessel for the bypass.  Heart surgery is very invasive, and dad has a 10-12 week recovery ahead of him.  Watching my dad endure everything has firmed my resolve even more to live a healthy lifestyle.  That desire and my love of food and cooking are exactly why I went into nutrition and dietetics in the first place.  Because we want to have family dinners with dad and mom, and because dad is sick of hospital food, I made Heart-Healthy Pineapple Chicken in the instapot last night and we took it to the hospital for a picnic in the waiting room on dad’s floor.  He loved it and was rather skeptical that it was heart-healthy.  This recipe could easily be Whole 30 compliant as well.

Sweet & Sour Pineapple Chicken

prep/cook time: 45min, yields: 6 servings

ingredients:

3 large chicken breasts, cubed

2-3 medium bell peppers, any color cubed

1 medium onion, cubed

1 fresh pineapple, cubed

1 cup Choice of sweet & sour sauce (I use Mr. Yoshida’s Sweet and Savory Sauce)

Choice of rice, (I served with roasted cauliflower rice)

directions:

Turn instapot to saute and add olive oil to the bottom of the pot.  Add the chicken cubes and saute until the outside begins to turn light brown.  Drain any liquid the chicken rendered while cooking.  Add in half of the sauce and place the lid on the instapot; set to poultry setting and cook for 10min.  After the chicken finishes cooking, let the pressure out and then add the other half of the sauce, peppers, onion, and pineapple.  Place the lid back on and cook for another 5min on the poultry setting.  While cooking, prepare whatever choice of rice you please.  If the liquid in the instapot is too thin after the chicken and vegetables finish; add in a Tbps of 2 of either corn starch or arrowroot to thicken the sauce.  To make this Whole 30 compliant, be sure to use a sauce that is, I like to combine liquid aminos with the pineapple juice from the fresh pineapple.  Enjoy!

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