Sunday Dinner: Teriyaki Chicken and Rice from your Food Storage!

Too often, I hear that folks shy away from using Food Storage Staples as they have this perception that it somehow substandard.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  

Teriyaki Chicken and Rice....a Sunday Dinner!

I want to show you how you can prepare a wonderful meal using items in your Food Storage. For heaven's sake....who doesn't love Teriyaki Chicken?  

Before I left for Church this morning I decided that we were going to have Teriyaki Chicken so, I took out my trusty Crock pot.  I put in Chicken Breasts that I had frozen in pairs and coated them with Teriyaki Sauce.  (See the link to learn how simple it is to prepare your own and have it on hand).  I turned on the Crock pot and got ready for Choir Practice. Hours later, I entered my home to that magnificent aroma of Teriyaki.  It filled the entire house.

I wanted to have rice with my amazing chicken....so we did.  I pulled out my the Minute Rice that I dehydrated myself.  Now, just to clarify I didn't set out to make my own Minute Rice the first time that I placed it in the dehydrator.  The fact of the matter is that I had a lot left over from a family gathering.  This rice had butter on it too. I have frozen rice before, but I never have wanted to wait for it to unthaw. (Yes, I am very impatient.....).  I decided to try to dehydrate it.  I took out my dehydrator and the fruit leather inserts.  When it was finished, I dry packed it into jars and vacuum sealed it with my Food Saver.  

Today, I opened my jar and poured in the desired amount of rice.  (By the way, I always check to see if it is rancid when I break the vacuum seal.  I am happy to report that it never has been).

When I add water, I just barely cover the rice.  I then bring it to a boil and cook it until it is the consistency I desire.  I literally takes a couple of minutes once the water starts to boil.  Just for your information, the rice still tasted of butter and it was delicious!

So far, we have discussed using Frozen, Canned, Dry Packed, and Dehydrated foods for this meal.  In my Cold Storage (my 2nd refrigerator), I retrieved apples and sliced them with this handy device that most people think is only for canning.  Not around here!

Once we got home, I had dinner on the table in about 15 minutes....that's right....15 minutes.  I LOVE THAT!

Take Home Message:

• Food Storage is vibrant and delicious!  You can have a wide variety of meals if you plan and prepare for them.
• Food Storage meals can sometimes be a great convenience as it was today. I made this meal in a less time that it would have taken to go to the Drive-through at a restaurant.
• I know the quality of my ingredients....because I chose them all!  I am not dependent on someone in a back room choosing the ingredients and putting it all together for me.  If I have special dietary requirements, I can management them by stocking up on items that fit with my limitations.
• I believe I made this meal for 2 for under $4.00 today.  Take that big box restaurants!
• I am rotating my staples and trying out recipes at a time when I could always make something else if this didn't work out.
• I am gaining skill sets by thinking of meals that could use any of the following types of foods:  Canned, Frozen, Dehydrated, Dry Packed, and in Cold Storage.

By The Way....IT WAS GREAT!

It's a Matter of a Sunday Brunch....From Food Storage Staples!

It's Sunday once again. I love Sunday's because the pace of life slows down just a little.  We can even take naps sometimes!  Because it is so low key, I like to make our Sunday meal from our Food Storage Staples. This allows us to use what we store and also rotate our food.  It also lets us try new things when we have plenty and not wait until the chips are down. Trying new foods where some sort of crisis exists is foolhardy indeed. 

Easy Bistro Chicken

I found a recipe for Easy Bistro Chicken at myrecipes.com.  This recipe calls for a lot of fresh ingredients, which I am totally in favor of. However, I was able to make this same recipe using items from my Pantry and Food Storage.  Let's see how it went!

The recipe called for canned Italian Style Tomatoes drained and chopped.  I used canned diced tomatoes and I did not drain them.  I will show you why in a minute.  

Chopped Onions and Garlic are part of this dish. I used dehydrated forms of both.

Sliced Mushroom are an important ingredient.  I used my the Mushrooms that I dehydrated a few months ago when they were on sale.

Chopped Pepper is also called for. Again, I used my dehydrated Peppers that I dehydrated some time ago.

Diced Celery is also required for this dish, I used some that I had purchased in a #10 Can.

Remember when I made the decision not to drain my tomato as the recipe suggested?  Well, I chose not to do that as I was putting in dehydrated ingredients. These dried ingredients absorbed the extra liquid.

While the sauce was simmering, I added Italian Seasoning as the original recipe called for "Italian-style Tomatoes".  I was adding the "Italian" in this manner.

From the Freezer I added Chicken Strips.  Frozen foods are also part of my Food Storage Staples.

I let the Chicken unthaw and simmer in the tomato-based sauce.  I put on some Macaroni noodles (the recipe called for Macaroni or Cavatappi) to cook while the sauce simmered.

When we served the Bistro Chicken, I also added some grated Parmesan Cheese and sliced apples. The Apples came from our 2nd refrigerator and I have a block of Parmesan that I grate for dishes like this.  My second refrigerator is cold storage for fruits and items like Parmesan Cheese. These foods were also from my Food Storage.  

Take Home Points:

• We had a  nutritious and very scrumptious meal even though fresh ingredients were not used.
• I did not have to go shopping yesterday to be ready for today, I just used items I had on hand.
• Adapting recipes to use your Pantry and Food Storage items is usually relatively simple.  If you are using dehydrated or freeze-dried foods, allow for additional liquid.  Frozen foods require some time to thaw and be cooked appropriately.
• Having the satisfaction of making something great from items on hand.....Priceless!

Here is the recipe for Easy Bistro Chicken (with my adaptions in red)  from Myrecipes.com:

Ingredients for Easy Bistro Chicken:

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided (From my Pantry)

4 (6-ounce) chicken breast halves, skinned (From my Freezer, I used strips)

4 chicken thighs (about 1 pound), skinned (From my Freezer, I used strips)

4 chicken drumsticks (about1 pound), skinned (From my Freezer, I used strips)

2 cups chopped onion (Dehydrated, From my Pantry)

4 garlic cloves, minced (Dehydrated, From my spice cabinet)

1 cup chopped celery (Dehydrated, From my Pantry)

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil (Dehydrated, From my Pantry)

1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (Dehydrated, From my Pantry)

1/2 cup red wine vinegar (From my Pantry)

1/4 cup sliced green olives (From my Pantry)

1/4 cup capers (did not use)

1 tablespoon sugar (From my Pantry)

Dash of ground red pepper (From my spice cabinet)

2 bay leaves (From my spice cabinet)

1 (28-ounce) can Italian-style tomatoes, undrained and chopped (Diced Tomatoes From my Food Storage with added Italian Seasoning)

8 cups hot cooked macaroni or cavatappi (Macaroni, From my Pantry)

Parsley sprigs (optional) (From my spice cabinet)

 

Preparation

Heat 1 1/2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken breast halves to pan; sauté 2 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Remove from pan. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons oil and remaining chicken pieces; sauté 2 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Remove chicken from pan.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in pan. Add onion and garlic; sauté 5 minutes. Add celery; sauté 5 minutes. Add basil and next 8 ingredients (basil through tomatoes). Return chicken to pan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes.

Uncover and simmer 25 minutes or until chicken is tender. Discard bay leaves. Serve with pasta. Garnish with parsley sprigs, if desired.

Note: You can chop the tomatoes in the can using kitchen shears.MyRecipes is working with Let's Move!, the Partnership for a Healthier America, and USDA's MyPlate to give anyone looking for healthier options access to a trove of recipes that will help them create healthy, tasty plates. For more information about creating a healthy plate, visit www.choosemyplate.gov.

Try It Soon!

Breakfast Casserole for New Years Day.....Overnight in the Crockpot!

 

I am assuming that many of you will be staying up tonight. You certainly won't be alone.....because a great deal of celebration will be happening to welcome in 2015.  But, after such a late night, who wants to get up early to make breakfast?

Making a Breakfast Casserole overnight in the Crockpot.

Yes, you can really do this.  I even did this with many Food Storage Staples that I had on hand.

The recipe that I use called for Hash-browns.  No problem, I had diced dehydrated Hash Browns in my pantry. 

Here they are after soaking for a short time.  I place them in the crockpot (lined with a crockpot liner)

Place all the eggs in a single dish.

Add the spices such as Mustard Powder....

A little Salt is always good...

A touch of freshly cracked pepper from the mill...

Stir the mixture vigorously....

I like to add Sausage, Bacon, or a combination of the two.  Here I am adding browned Sausage on top of the Hash-browns.

Add the cheese next....

Pour the egg mixture over the other ingredients.....

Begin cooking the casserole on low for 7-8 hours before you plan to serve it.  So, if you are staying up for the "New Years Rockin Eve" tonight, plug this in and let it cook while you sleep.

When you wake up, it will smell delicious!  No work, just joy in the morning.

Try it!  Happy New Year!

Have you ever wondered what to do with older bottled fruit?

What to do with Old Bottled Fruit....

It's that time of year again.  I am referring to Canning Season, which is in full swing!  I was recently was reorganizing my storage room.  I had several bottles of "fruit somethings".  My family's tastes and preferences seemed to have morphed over the past few years.  It was very evident because of the bottles of fruit that were left behind.  I needed the space for this years harvest, so I decided to 'morph' these older bottles of fruit.

In particular, I had peaches and Apple Pie Filling.  I decided to try to make fruit leather from them.  I poured the contents of the bottles into the blender.

A quick whirl of the blend made a beautiful puree.

I poured the contents on to fruit leather trays (which are sprayed with a cooking spray).

I decided to add some variety to these leathers.  Here I added sesame seeds.

On this Peach leather tray, I added some cinnamon.  

Into the dehydrator it all went!

Once the fruit was properly dehydrated, I needed to repack it.  I cut a sheet of wax paper.

I removed the leather from the tray and placed it on the wax paper.

I cut the leather into sections.  Initially I cut the leather into fourths, but later decided on eighths.

It is important to work with the leather when it is warm.  I rolled the leather in the wax paper.

I then wrapped it into plastic wrap.

This is easy to do, just take the rolled fruit and roll it on an angle into the plastic wrap.  Tuck the edges along the length of the rolled fruit.

I needed to label the jars, but I hate removing adhesive from jars. So, I just printed off these 'labels' which are actually pieces of paper.

I laid the jar on its side, placed a paper label on the bottom of the jar and started to place the rolled leather into the jar.

Using my Food Saver, I vacuum-sealed each jar.

These jars of fruit leather are equivalent to 9 jars of canned fruit.  

Take home message:

• What I like about this system is that you can take out one jar at a time and eat the leather.  
• Or, you can take out a piece of different leathers from their respective jars and vacuum-seal them again.  
• Also, you are using your old fruit in a new way.  Around here, leather does not last too long.
• You can also embellish your fruit with seeds, flavor, and things like granola to make it more appealing.
• This leather was essentially free to me as I had everything already.
• Rethinking your bottle fruit and making it into something new is a frugal choice for your family.
• The Apple-Pie-Filling was very scrumptious.  The added crunch of the seeds is a pleasant surprise as well.
• I can take pureed fruit and add Jello to it to add new flavor to the leather and increase the variety of the leathers I have.  

Try it!

It's a Matter of ......Augratin Potatoes (made from Dehydrated Potatoes)-Revisited

A few weeks ago, I had my family over for yet another Sunday Dinner.  It seems like the only time I do anything 'in-depth' anymore with the busy schedules we keep around here.  So, what do you do when time is of the essence?  Use your tried and true recipes...that's what!

I made the Potatoes Augratin which has been a very, very popular post on this blog.  It is repined over and over on Pinterest.  I happen to like  it because it is so good and so very easy. Here are the step by step photos to show the simplicity of this delicious dish using your Food Storage Staples.  

Melt butter in a saucepan.

Add flour and milk to the melted butter.  (I use my powdered milk here). Stir and cook until the sauce is smooth.

Add your shredded cheese and stir as it melts to keep the sauce smooth.

Place your dehydrated potato slices in the casserole dish.  Pour the sauce over the potato dices.

Bake....and enjoy!  It takes just a few minutes to prepare and I promise you really won't have left-overs when you are feeding a crowd.

Au-Gratin Potatoes (using dehydrated potatoes) (by James Parrish)

3 cups diced dehydrated potatoes 

6 tablespoons of butter 

3 tablespoons of flour 

1 1/2 cups of milk 

1 cup of shredded Cheddar cheese 

Salt and pepper to taste 

Preparation of recipe: 
1. Place potatoes in a shallow baking dish. 
2. In a small saucepan over a low heat melt 6 tablespoons of butter. 
3. Take the butter and add the flour to it. Stir well in order to blend together. 
4. Gradually add the milk. 
5. Continue cooking and stirring continuously until a thick sauce is formed. 
6. Add the cheese and stir until the cheese melts. 
7. Pour the sauce over the potatoes that are in the baking dish and mix them gently. 
8. Bake potatoes at 400° for 30 to 40 minutes. Final product should be golden brown. 

SCALLOPED DEHYDRATED POTATOES

3 cups dehydrated potato slices

1/2 cup nonfat powdered milk

2 Tbsp. flour

2 Tbsp. cornstarch

1 tsp. onion powder

pinch of salt and black pepper

1 Tbsp. dried parsley or chives (optional)

3 Tbsp. butter or margarine

2 3/4 cups boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place potato slices into a medium casserole dish. Combine remaining dry ingredients and sprinkle on top of the potato slices. Dot with butter. Pour boiling water over all and stir gently to combine.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. You can broil it for the last 1-2 minutes if you prefer the top to be a little more browned.