“Every sweet has its sour; every evil its good.”  Ralph Waldo Emerson

How are you doing with eating more vegetables this summer?

As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is a sluggard to those who send him.  (Prov. 10:26; NIV)

A few readers have asked for various sauce recipes to use with vegetables, chicken, or beef.  Last week’s BBQ sauce is an easy to make, healthy recipe to use with chicken, beef, or beans.  I created a sweet and sour sauce for today’s recipe.  This is a versatile sauce that can be used with stir-fry vegetables, chicken, or beef. 

According to Wikipedia, “sweet and sour is a generic term that encompasses many styles of sauce, cuisine, and cooking methods. It has long been popular in North America and Europe, where it is stereotypically considered a component of standard Chinese cuisine. It does in fact originate from China, and is now also used in some American and European cuisines.  In China traditionally the sauces are made from mixing sugar or honey with a sour liquid such as rice vinegar, soy sauce, and spices such as ginger and cloves.”

When I looked at ingredient labels for “store-bought” sweet and sour sauces, I was quite disappointed.  None of them had any real food value.  They consist mostly of some form of sugar, dextrose or high fructose corn syrup, modified food starch, distilled vinegar, some spices and lots of preservatives such as sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate.   Jerry asked me why the sauces were red (mine isn’t.)  It looks like some pre-made sauces use some form of ketchup or a tomato base that makes it red.  I also saw artificial food dyes in some.

Most of the time when I make a sweet and sour dish, I add the sauce ingredients directly into the wok and allow it to thicken as it cooks.  However, with today’s recipe, this sauce can be made in a saucepan ahead of time and then added to the already prepared and cooked vegetables and meat.  Yesterday, I stir fried cut-up pieces of chicken breast (in coconut oil), then added pieces of onion, minced garlic, carrot, green and red pepper, zucchini, and yellow squash.  Next I added drained pineapple chunks.  Lastly I poured the already made sauce into the wok and allowed the mixture to heat until warm and bubbly.  And hooray!  We have leftovers for today!

Prayer Power
Father, You are such a wonderful and awesome God!  Thank You for Your mighty hand of abundance.

Link of the Day
Sweet and Sour Sauce

Blessings on you as you enjoy eating more vegetables.