Hawaiian-Style Sweet & Sour Roasted Pineapple, Peppers and Cashews

It's May and that means oodles of end-of-the-year (end of time?!?!) choir concerts, soccer games, girl scout sleepovers, class parties, and other craziness (not to mention, oh, that little thing called work).

Our dining out budget is already tapped out for the month (and we didn't even eat anything good!), so quick and easy are the sole criteria for meals these days. And tonight we whipped up a winner.

Hawaiian-Style Sweet & Sour Roasted Pineapple, Peppers and Cashews is adapted from a Vegetarian Times recipe (we added the cashews and the chicken to appease the carnivores).

Ingredients:

• 3 cups cubed fresh pineapple
• 1 medium red bell pepper, cubed
• 1 medium red onion, cut into thin wedges
• 1 Tbs. toasted sesame oil (we didn't have any, so I subbed toasted sesame seeds)
• 1 Tbs. vegetable oil
• 1 Tbs. dark or light brown sugar
• 1 Tbs. sweetened coconut flakes, optional (Jason, Olivia and I opted. The other two abstained)
• 1 Tbs. freshly squeezed lime juice
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 chicken breast, cubed (our addition, not in the original recipe. We sprinkled it with Pampered Chef Asian Seasoning to give it little extra zing.)
• 1 handful of whole cashews (also our addition, to plump up the meal)
• Rice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degree F. Arrange pineapple and pepper cubes and onion wedges on ungreased rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle the oils over the top, sprinkle with brown sugar, and season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Roast in center of oven for 30 minutes or until lightly browned, turning once.

2. Meanwhile, cook rice according to directions and saute chicken chunks and cashews in fry pan.

3. When pineapple mixture is done, remove from oven, sprinkle with coconut flakes and drizzle with lime juice. Serve over rice.

Reviews:

Chef Tanya -- 4.5 out of 5 stars -- Tasty, easy and quick. Everything I'm looking for in a dish right now.

Jason -- 4.5 out of 5 stars -- It was very good. I don't think there was any part of it that I didn't like. The onions, red peppers and pineapple all melded together well and the little bit of chicken and cashews - I thought was fine! Obviously some people think they need more meat than that. Maybe two chicken breasts instead of one that can be spread amongst the different people would work better. But overall, I would include it as one of our go-to meals.

Hannah -- 4 out of 5 stars -- I really liked it. But I didn't really like the cashews. Just me, but I don't really like them cooked. And I didn't really like how we only got one piece of meat. That's mostly my review of dinner.

Olivia -- 2 out of 5 stars -- The cashews were really good. I actually like them more in this meal than how they come in the packages uncooked. Also, I didn't like that we only got one piece of meat. I liked the rice. But I'm not a big fan on pineapple or peppers. So it was a good meal, but it wasn't really a great meal for meal. It was prepared well, but I just don't like some of the ingredients.

Miranda -- 5 out of 5 stars IF you had more chicken in it.