Island Pork

Dinner was another quick skillet meal, served over brown rice. Aries walked to the grocery store down the street, and came back with a family pack of boneless pork ribs, on sale. I keep plastic lined paper freezer paper and freezer tape for just such occasions. I trimmed the fat from the pork and divided it into thirds. Two of the portions I wrapped, labeled, and put into the freezer for a stir-fry or chile verde some other day. With carrots from the cellar, bell peppers from the freezer, plus an onion and some of the staples always on hand from my pantry, the other third would be tonight's dinner.

I started a batch of brown rice for the 45-minute cooking time, and shredded the carrots. This recipe originally used two pork chops and still could be made that way, but I like using smaller cubes of meat and lots of veggies to make it a healthy version of sweet and sour pork. Half an hour after starting the rice, I started browning the pork. Dinner was ready in another 15 minutes.

Island Pork (serves 3, 2 tonight and 1 lunch later)
8 oz. boneless pork, cut into 1" cubes
¾ cup coarsely shredded carrots (the largest holes on a box grater)
¾ cup 1" bell pepper pieces
1 small onion, quartered top to bottom, layers separated
1 8-oz can pineapple chunks in juice
1 6-oz can tomato juice
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon cornstarch

Brown pork in a large skillet over medium heat. Add veggies, pineapple with juice, and tomato juice. Cover and simmer until veggies are tender, 5 - 10 minutes. Add sugar and soy sauce, simmer until pork is done. Dissolve cornstarch in vinegar, add to skillet. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Serve over rice.