A`ole Pilikia Pineapple Chicken

A'ole pilikia means "no problem, you're welcome" in Hawaiian, so I named this dish after that phrase... because, it's no problem!

I was at a loss as to what to make for dinner the other night.  Another night, another chicken dinner.  We try to eat chicken or fish for 80-90% of our meals.  It's basically because that's what we prefer to eat, but also to try to stay healthy (ish).

I've been getting a little more swagger in the kitchen lately, and I saw the pineapples, potatoes, sweet peppers and thought, let's do Hawaiian.  Or, you know, the 'Merica version of Hawaiian.  I always like a little spicy with my sweetness (kind of like me in general), so here's what I did.

I used chicken tenders (originally imagined doing fajitas with these), but I'm sure you can use breasts, or whatever you have on hand.  I used most of the juice (save a little) from the sliced pineapple can instead of chicken broth. On top I sprinkled chili powder, garlic salt, and chili flakes to add some kick.  I put it in the oven at 375 for about 20 mins.

Once the chicken was cooked almost all the way through I added the pineapple slices to the top.  Cooked pineapple is underused in my book.  At this point I bumped up the temp to 400 so the pineapples would cook quick.  It was in maybe another 10 mins.

While that finished cooking I sliced up two russet potatoes, dropped them into some boiling water, and let them cook until they were almost soft.  While those were cooking I cut up some sweet peppers.  Once the potatoes are soft enough to poke through with a fork drain the water, add a pat of butter, some of the pineapple juice, the sweet peppers, and a little chili powder.  Simmer that all together for a few mins.

While that simmered I checked the chicken, and it was almost done.  I threw together a quick and easy salad (just spring mix with cucumbers and salad toppings because it's what we had), and tossed that on a plate.

I cooked the potatoes until all of the pineapple juice was gone and they came out perfect.  Sorry my "plating" isn't pretty.  I was hungry and bedtime was fast approaching for Simone.  I threw each thing on the plate and snapped a quick pic before scarfing it down.

It was quick and easy, and Todd asked, "how the heck did you do this?!"  Which is always a great sign for me.  Sorry the directions aren't exact.  Need to start writing things down as I go, but this kind of came together out of "what do I have in the house".

Enjoy!  Aloha!