April 4: Sweet and Sour Shrimp with Pineapple

Tonight I made this recipe, but I didn't finish with my grocery shopping until 5PM! So I didn't make it in the crockpot. I made it pretty quickly on the stove. Here are the ingredients:

I drained the pineapple chunks (24 oz), reserving 1 cup juice. I combined 1/3 cup sugar and 1/4 cup cornstarch in a large saucepan.

I dissolved 2 chicken bouillon cubes in 2 cups boiling water (I boiled it in my electric kettle). I added that to the saucepan, then mixed in the reserved pineapple juice, 4 tsp soy sauce and a tsp ground ginger. I boiled it for one minute:

Here is where I was supposed to put it in the crockpot along with 12 oz frozen snow peas and the pineapple chunks, and set it to cook on low for 4 1/2 - 5 1/2 hours. Instead, I added the pineapple and sugar snap peas (I couldn't find frozen snow peas), covered it up, and cooked it on low while I made the rice. It cooked about 20 minutes.

Then I added a pound of peeled, deveined shrimp and 1/4 cup of cider vinegar and let it cook for about 5 minutes on medium high. The recipe says to add it to the crockpot and cook for 30 more minutes.

I served it over rice. It ended up taking 45-50 minutes in all.

This meal was really pretty good. It did have a funny smell initially, but I think it was just the ginger. It's one of those things that tastes better than it smells... like broccoli. :) My girls ate it up quickly with a little soy sauce seasoning it. The baby didn't even touch it. I forced a little of the rice into him, but soon gave up on that. I guess he was more thirsty than hungry. Well, I think he did eat his pineapple, come to think of it. But he did not like the shrimp or peas.