What's for Dinner Monday? Sweet and Sour Spaghetti

I came up with the recipe for tonight's dinner while roaming the grocery store after work last week in a froth of starvation.

And while I know it's never advisable to shop for groceries while hungry - sometimes it's unavoidable.

For some reason I had my Jones on for sweet and sour ground beef with whole wheat pasta - no idea where the craving came from, but at least it was better than chocolate chip pancakes with whipping cream - right?

Right.

Even though my food photography could use a little tweaking, this recipe was very good.

Packed with vegetables, fibre, and a savoury sweet and sour sauce, it is sure to please served over whole wheat spaghetti or rice.

I hope you enjoy!

Sweet and Sour Spaghetti
For printable recipe click here

Ingredients

Sauce

• 1 398 ml (14 fl oz tin) pineapple chunks
• 1 tin sliced water chestnuts
• 1/3 cup tomato ketchup
• 1 tsp hot Asian garlic chili sauce
• 1/8 cup hoisin sauce
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup white vinegar
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp minced ginger
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce

Stirfry

• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 stalks chopped celery
• 4 large sliced button mushrooms
• 1 large carrot sliced on the diagonal
• 1/2 medium green pepper, chopped
• 1 pound extra lean ground beef
• 1 tsp Chinese five spice
• 1 Tbsp powdered garlic

Directions

1. Drain pineapple juice into a medium bowl. Reserve pineapple chunks.
2. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients, stir well, and set aside.
3. Heat olive oil in a large non-stick skillet or wok and stir fry all of the vegetables just until the onions are translucent and mushrooms begin to lose their water. Add the pineapple chunks and water chestnuts to heat through. Transfer to a bowl.
4. In the same skillet brown the ground beef adding the garlic powder and five spice. When cooked through, add the vegetable/pineapple mixture and the reserved sweet and sour sauce. Sit everything together, bring to the boil, turn down to medium low and simmer for 30 minutes stirring often.
5. Serve over whole wheat spaghetti noodles cooked to al dente or rice.