Lemon Chicken - Chinese

Normally, I don't like a recipe where I have to thaw my chicken first, but this one is worth it!

Cut 8-10 raw boneless/skinless chicken breasts into chunks or strips

Dredge in bowl with 1 cup flour and 1 TBSP salt combined

Shake off the excess flour and brown the chicken pieces in a hot skillet with a small amount of Canola or Olive oil. The chicken doesn't need to be cooked all the way, just browned a bit.

Place the browned chicken pieces into the crockpot.

In mixing bowl, stir to combine:

1 tsp balsamic vinegar
3 Tbsp brown sugar
3 Tbsp ketchup
--1 cup lemon juice
--3/4 cup white sugar
(the lemon juice and white sugar can be replaced with a 6oz can lemonade concentrate - thawed, this makes me think that OJ concentrate will make orange chicken with this same recipe, I'll let you know if I try it)

Pour the mixture over the chicken pieces. Cover the meat and sauce with a piece of foil if it doesn't fill your crockpot to 2/3 full.

Cook on LOW for 4-5 hours, if you need to speed it up: Cook on LOW for 1 hour and then LOW for 2-3 hours.

Do NOT overcook this. If it burns, it will get bitter. During the last hour, keep an eye on it. This is not a meal that can stay in the crockpot on LOW until it's time to eat. When it's done cooking, if you're not ready to eat, put it on WARM if you have that setting.

Serve sauce and chicken over rice.

*So when we say "chinese food" to our kids, they think of lemon chicken. To them, it is the only chinese food that exists, at least it was the first chinese food they were willing to TRY. I was thrilled to find this recipe and even more thrilled that it worked. Enjoy!