Tips on Gardening and Food Storage

Today at church there was a site given for great tips on how to do a good food storage as well as gardening tips.  The site is http://www.providentliving.org/  It is run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and since they have been doing both for over 100 years I know that the knowledge and resourses are incredible for what we can do.  Just even for us, we can do a garden in a planterbox, which will make Jay thrilled to be able to do something like that.  The tips on food storage are very informative and something that we can use to improve our own food storage here at home.

Honey Teriyaki Chicken

This is something new we tried tonight for dinner.  Just kind of threw it together and it turned out great.  Even the kids ate it.

Chicken Breasts (as many as you need)
Honey (about 1-2 Tablespoons)
Teriyaki Sauce (we do the Kikiolmon Lower Sodium Teriyaki sauce)

Thaw the chicken breasts and place in a dish.  Pour over chicken the teriyaki sauce to your liking then top with honey.  Let sit for 30 min - 1 hour turning over once and doing the same thing to that side with the teriyaki sauce and honey.  Grill chicken and when fully cooked pour honey over it.  Serve with white rice and steamed veggies.

Chicken Taco's

2 grilled chicken breasts, cut into chunks
1 box of Rice a Roni's Spanish Rice
Grated cheese
Lettus
Onions
Salsa
soft shell flour tortilla shells

Season 2 chicken breasts and then grill them.  Make a box of Rice a Roni's Spanish rice.  Prep the side ingredients as needed.  Once the chicken is cooked throughly cut into small chunks.  Layer chicken, cheese, lettus, onions, salsa, and rice in the taco shell.  Enjoy. 

Total cook/prep time: 30 min

My kids will eat them this way and love them.  They are a super quick and cheep meal for those nights when you are limited on time.

Fruit Salad

Since it is summer time I thought I would share a favorite in our house, fruit salad.

Watermelon, choped into squares
grapes
Apples, chopped and sliced
pineapple (I usually use a can of dole chuncks, but fresh works too)
1 can of mandrin oranges
Optional: mango, plums

Mix the frut together and serve.  Super easy and really tasty.  The kids will even eat it for lunch and snacks for days on end.

Chocolate Layer Dessert

So of reciently I've been on the go making things for different BBQs and Potlucks that the kids and I've been going to. I made a dessert for our last one and since it is super yummy I decided to post it on my blog.

Graham Cracker crust mix
8 oz of Cream Cheese
1 small box chocolate pudding
1 small box of white choloate pudding (or vanilla) (You can also do a large box of chocolate pudding instead of two small ones)
1 cup of powdered sugar
3-4 cups of Milk
12 oz cool whip

Make the crust. While it cools take the cream cheese and let it sit at room temp to get it ready for the next part of the process. When it is at room temp cut it into chunks and place in mixing bowl. Mix the cream cheese, powdered sugar until smooth. Then add about half of the container of cool whip to it. Once that is fully mixed together place on top of cooled crust. Then make the pudding according to box intructions using the milk. Let the pudding set up some before adding it to the top of the the cream cheese layer. Let it set up fully in the fridge overnight. Then serve and enjoy. You can add cool whip to the top of the dessert or eat it like it is. Both taste great.

The crust in the pan cooling.

Cream cheese mixture

Topped on the crust.

The final product!

Using leftovers

There are those times in our house that we have leftover chicken. Well for those times here is a very simple and easy meal that uses those leftovers and creats a meal that even kids will eat.

Take the leftover chicken and cut it into small chunks. Heat in pan and then add in bbq sauce. While that warms up I add in some honey for extra flavor. While this continues to heat up I steam some veggies and make pasta, mashed potatoes, or rice. Serve and enjoy. This meal takes about 20 min from start to finish.

The final look of the meal

My kids enjoying their dinner

Hawiian Haystacks

This is a super easy and quick meal that our entire family loves and is a great lazy night dinner.

Rice
Chicken
Cream of Chicken Soup (1-2 cans, I usually use 2)
Peas
Pineapple
Cheese

Cook the rice. I usually boil my chicken in seasonings (itiallian, curry, honey, season salt, onion powder), and then when it is fully cooked (about 20 min) I cut it up into small pieces and throw it in with the cream of chicken soup and then make it so the soup is to the consitancy that I like. I use the water from boiling the chicken to mix in with the soup to add flavor. Once the rice is done then I put some of that on a plate and top it with the soup mixture. Add cooked peas on top or to the side and then sometimes cheese on that (Jay loves it that way). Then have pineapple on the side.

The whole meal takes about 30-45 min to make and is very yummy and kid friendly.

This is the soup mixture with the water from boiling the chicken. I love my steemer! It makes steaming veggies so easy.

The finished product. My kids eat this up and on occasion ask for seconds.

Lasanga Soup

This is a quick and easy kid friendly meal that we love to make.

1 lb of hamburger
2 cans beef broth
1 can diced tomatoes (I use the petite diced)
2 cups corkscrew pasta
Italian seasioning

Brown the hamburger.  I usually add some worchershire sauce to the meat as it browns to add some really good flavor to it.  In a seperate pan add the broth and tomatoes.  When the meat is done add to the broth mixture and get to a boil.  When it is to a boil add the noodles and seasoning and cook for 10 min.  Serve and enjoy! 

We usually add a little parmisan cheese to it in the end and make breadsticks on the side.  Makes a great leftover!

Hamburger Goulosh

This is a simple kid friendly meal that is super easy and not time consuming.  I'll post a picture of it when I make it again.

Hamburger
1 can corn
2 cans tomato soup
italian seasoning
cheese
elbow macaroni

Brown the hamburger.  Boil and cook the noodles until they are almost done, but not quite soft yet.  Drain the greese from the meat and add the soup, seasoning and corn to it.  Drain noodles then add to meat mixture before placing in a 9x13 pan.  Top with cheese and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 min or until bubbily.  Serve and enjoy.  Makes a great leftover too!

This is what the mixture looks like before the noodles and cheese are added.

This is after it has been put together before the oven.

The finished product!  It usually only takes about 20 min to bake in the oven.Annabelle wanted to share just how much she loves this dish.  She had a plate full when she started eating.

Steak Marinade

I love marinating the meat. I wont usually let even Jay do that part of the prep work. I learned a lot of my skills in meat marinating from my grandfather. So this is my marinade for doing steaks, and it works every time!

Worchershire sauce

KC Masterpiece BBQ seasoning
Honey

Have the meat fully thawed. Sprinkle on (chose your own amounts) the BBQ seasoning on one side first. Then add the worchershire sauce by pouring it over the meat. Finally add the honey by just pouring over the meat too. I will usually let it sit for a minimum of one hour and then flip the meat over and do the same thing on that side too. After that has sat in the marinade for the 2 hours (most of the time I do it for about 12-24 hours to get the best tenderness out of the meat) I grill it on the bbq. The longer it sits in the marinade, equally on both sides, the more tender and jucy the meat is.

We do this for chicken too, only I also add KC Masterpiece Honey BBQ sauce to it as well.