Pineapple Cauliflower Fried Rice with Honey Garlic Pulled Chicken

Want to know the secret of making your meals taste even better?

Serve them out of a fruit. 

No... seriously. 

Take this rice and chicken dish for example. On a plate it's good. Pretty tasty. BUT, serve it out of a pineapple and *boom* suddenly it's spectacular. Suddenly everyone is asking, "Oooooh, what is that?" Suddenly people are lining up around the block to eat at your dinner table. 

The best part, it's soooooo easy. 

You might want to whip this up for Mother's Day and treat your mom to a delicious, healthy, filling, fancy schmancy dinner that will surely make you her favorite child. You know, if moms actually picked favorites. (P.S. - I'm the favorite.) 

Honey Garlic Pulled Chicken

Ingredients

4 or 5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 

2 Tbsp packed brown sugar

1/2 cup honey

2/3 cup white vinegar

1/2 cup lemon-lime soda (like 7up)

3 Tbsp minced garlic

3 Tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 Tbsp corn starch

Directions

Place chicken breasts in a slow cooker. In a small bowl, whisk together brown sugar, honey, vinegar, soda, garlic, soy sauce, and black pepper. Pour over chicken. 

Cook until chicken is done - about 6 to 8 hours on low or 4 - 5 hours on high (it helps to know how your slow cooker cooks to narrow down the times.)

When done, remove chicken from slow cooker and place in a bowl or on a cutting board. Whisk the corn starch into the liquid in the crock pot until smooth. Turn temp to high. 

Shred the chicken with 2 forks.

Place chicken back in crock pot.

Let simmer while you make the pineapple rice. 

Pineapple Cauliflower Fried Rice

Ingredients

1 Tbsp sesame oil

1 small onion, diced

1/2 cup red pepper, diced

1/2 cup carrots, shredded

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup peas

1 tsp fresh ginger, grated

1 small head cauliflower, grated (about 4 cups)

1 egg

1 1/2 cups pineapple, diced (amount from 1 small pineapple) 

Sauce

2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

2 tsp Thai sweet chili sauce

Decorations

Green onions

toasted sesame seeds

Directions

First step - Prep your pineapple. Cut a pineapple in half vertically (a serrated knife works well).

Using a paring knife, cut out the inside meat of the pineapple. and dice to be used in the rice. You will need about 1 1/2 cups or so. (You can use less or more depending on your preference. Just remember it will be sweeter the more you add.) 

Set aside until ready to serve your dinner. 

Prepare rice - Heat 1 Tbsp of sesame oil over medium high heat in a large wok or frying pan. Add in the onion and pepper and stir fry for 3 minutes. Add in the carrots, garlic, peas, and ginger and stir fry another 3 minutes.

Add in the shredded cauliflower, stir everything together, and stir fry for 2 minutes. 

Make a well in the middle off the pan and add in the egg. Stir them about in the center to scramble it for about 1 minute.

Now stir the cooked egg into the rice mixture to combine everything together well. 

Add in the diced pineapple. Stir well. 

In a small bowl, whisk together the sauce ingredients. Pour over the rice and stir to mix well. Cook for 1 minute to make sure everything is heated through. 

Scoop some of the rice into the hollowed out pineapple halves. Remember to leave a little room for the chicken to be placed on top. 

Top with a generous scoop of the honey garlic chicken. Top with some diced green onion and a sprinkle of sesame seeds, if desired. 

Serve immediately. 

Note - I used a fairly small pineapple. Each half had about a 1 1/2 cup to 2 cup capacity. This is a great size for individual serving dishes for people to eat out of, if you use a really big pineapple then it could be used as a serving dish to scoop the meal onto plates for people. Either way it makes for a pretty impressive meal. 

Note - I figured out the nutritional counts for the Pineapple Cauliflower Fried Rice using MyFitnessPal. Per serving (recipe makes 4) it is: 172 calories, 25 carbs, 6 fat, 8 protein, 6 fiber. I didn't calculate the honey garlic chicken counts. 

Serve the rice on it's own or top it with the chicken. Either way, it's delicious. 

 

 

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