Pesto Chicken Ciabatta: Three Month Food Storage Recipes

Okay, break out your grills once again. We’re practicing cooking with an alternate heat source while throwing in a little food storage and LOVING it! (Am I right?) Well, you’ll definitley love this meal. It’s really, really delicious and all the flavors mesh together perfectly. The best part is, see those white chunks in the vegetable salad…they’re your kids favorite snack…(you know what I’m talking about) STRING CHEESE!! Oh yes, you know it’s got to be good. I also find it’s great to do easy meals like this on Monday since I’m recouping from the weekend. I’ve got messes to clean up and LAUNDRY to do!

Pesto Chicken Ciabatta
Ingredients:
Ciabatta Rolls (I get mine at Costco)
Grilled Chicken (you know I use the thighs because they are smaller, cheaper, cook faster, taste better, etc. If you use chicken that is individually frozen you don’t need to defrost before you put it on the grill. AWESOME!!)
Provolone or Mozarella cheese (optional)
Pesto Sauce
Sliced Tomato
Sliced Red Onion (optional)
Lettuce
Mayo
Layer in the following order: Bottom bun-grilled chicken-cheese-lettuce-onion-tomato-pesto & Mayo on top bun.

Cucumber Salad-
serves 4
1 Cucumber
2 Roma tomatoes diced
1 can of Corn
1/2 C. de-hydrated carrots, hydrated
1/4 C. de-hydrated bell peppers (optional), hydrated
1/4 C. de-hydrated onions, hydrated
4 String cheeses sliced (or more depending on your family’s love of them)
Italian dressing to coat
Mix ingredients together and allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes. (a.k.a. get this ready first and refridgerate while you’re getting the rest ready)

Garlic Rosemary Potatoes-
serves 4
4 Russet Potatoes or 6 Red Potatoes, cut into 1 inch chunks
2 T. De-hydrated Onions, hydrated
2 Small or 1 Large clove of Garlic, Minced
2 T. Olive or Vegetable Oil
2 T. Chopped or Fresh or 2 t. Dried Rosemary Leaves
1 t. Chopped Fresh or 1/4 t. Dried Thyme Leaves
1/4 t. Salt
1/8 Pepper
Toss ingredients together in bowl or shake in a bag. Wrap the potatoes in a large piece of aluminum foil. (It should be a large square when wrapped with most of the potatoes on one layer). Put on grill for 15 minutes, flipping once after 8 minutes.
For more tips and tricks for using food storage in your everyday recipes, please visit www.everydayfoodstorage.NET
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Strawberry Molded Salad: Cracked Wheat Food Storage Recipes

Did you know that you can use cracked wheat to extend your ground beef, to substitute for nuts or RICE? The nice thing about using it as rice is that it is MUCH FASTER to cook than brown rice. (15-20 minutes MAX!) Watch this short video to learn how to crack wheat in your blender. Coffee grinders are the best for cracking wheat so if you find yourself needing to crack a lot of it I would pay the $10 bucks to buy a coffee grinder. Make sure when you’re cracking wheat in the blender that your blender is completely (and when I say completely I mean COMPLETELY) dry or it won’t crack the wheat. Also, make sure to use small amounts like no more than a little over 1/4 cup at a time.


Practice using cracked wheat as nuts I tried this Strawberry “Nut” Jell-O salad. This is my ULTIMATE FAVORITE Jell-O salad in the WHOLE WORLD. (Have I convinced it tastes awesome yet?) It is different from anything else you’ve seen at a potluck and the cracked wheat in the salad gives a really great texture. It almost tastes like little bits of strawberries in the salad. You’ve got to try this, you’re family will LOVE it and no one NOT NO ONE will guess there is wheat in it!!!

Strawberry Nut (Wheat) Molded Salad

1 small pkg. strawberry Jello (I cheated and used raspberry and it was still DELICIOUS)
1 C boiling water

Combine Jell-O and Water & refrigerate until syrupy, then add to the rest (word to the wise-you have to watch this like a hawk. It goes from syrupy to jelled very quickly. I would check it between 15-20 minutes after you put it in the fridge)

1 C cooked cracked wheat for mock nuts
1 C whipped cream or Cool Whip Whipped Topping
1/2 C sugar
2 C mashed fresh strawberries
Refrigerate until firm or over night. Serve on a bed of lettuce with a dollop of whipped cream/topping sprinkled with cooked cracked wheat as your mock nuts.

For more tips and tricks for using food storage in your everyday recipes, please visit www.everydayfoodstorage.NET

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Whole Wheat Berry “Pasta” Salads: Whole Wheat Food Storage Recipes

Ooh…la…la…has anyone else noticed that wheat berry salads are all the rage right now? It is so great that the whole “whole grain” thing is so in, you know what I mean? Thanks so much to Charlene for sending me these VERY DELICIOUS salad recipes. They will knock the socks of anyone you serve them to.

This salad was so delicious! It had such a unique blend of flavors that were very fresh tasting and I loved the little kick from the cranberries. I picture this salad being an absolute hit at a baby/wedding shower or luncheon.

Wheat Berry Salad with Apples and Cashews

1 C wheat berries (wheat berries are the whole kernal of wheat, like what you get at the cannery) or brown rice
5 C water
3 T vegetable oil
½ C orange juice
2 T red wine vinegar
2 t ground coriander
½ t ground cinnamon
2 Granny Smith apples, cored, diced (I cheated and used 1 C. dehydrated apples, simply re-hydrate in 2 C. warm water and dice)
2 T fresh mint, finely chopped
½ C cashews, toasted, coarsely chopped
1 shallot, minced (you can use a green onion or chives if you don’t have a shallot)
1 C dried cranberries
feta cheese (optional) Charlene doesn’t ususally add this but I did because I LOVE feta

Pick over the wheat berries for any foreign bits. Rinse and bring wheat berries to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 1 hour or more until tender. Drain and cool.
In a small bowl, mix the vegetable oil, orange juice, vinegar, coriander, and cinnamon. Set aside.
To the wheat berries, add apples, mint, shallots, and cranberries. Toss with the dressing to coat. Prior to serving, add the roasted cashews.

Note from Charlene: If I make this ahead of time, I sometimes find that I need to add more dressing, as it absorbs the liquid.

Forget the ordinary pasta salad. This was amazing and has a lot of room for variation! I didn’t have time to run to the store to buy some of the ingredients so I used 1 avocado diced, 2 roma tomatoes, 1 C. artichoke hearts, and regular olives and it was so delicious with the dressing listed below! I can only imagine how good the original recipe must be! I also think it’s good enough that you could add in some grilled chicken and call it dinner.

Feta Wheat Berry Salad Adapted from “The Best of Gourmet 1994”.
1 C whole wheat berries
½ C Feta cheese, diced (I like the basil and sun-dried tomato variety)
½ C red onion, minced
½ C cucumber, peeled, seeded, chopped
¼ C roasted red peppers, julienne strips of drained bottled peppers, chopped
¼ C pepperocini salad peppers, chopped
¼ C mixed fresh herbs, minced (I like parsley, mint, thyme, and basil) plus some for garnish
1 T Kalamata black olives, pitted, brine-cured, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
5 T olive oil
2 T fresh lemon juice
1 T balsamic vinegar

Pick over the wheat berries and remove any foreign bits. Rinse and add the wheat berries to boiling salted water and reduce to a simmer. Cook the wheat for 1 hour or until it’s tender.

Drain and cool.

Stir together the wheat berries, Feta, onion, cucumber, roasted pepper, pepperocini, herbs, olives, and garlic. In a separate bowl, mix the olive oil, lemon juice, and vinegar. Mix everything together. Garnish with herbs.
Serves 4-6.

Note from Charlene: Sometimes I need to add more dressing if it absorbs a lot as it sits.

Presentation tip: Whenever you have a salad that doesn’t have a lot of color in it or needs more green in it to really WOW the people you’re serving, line the bowl with romaine lettuce leaves. It’s so easy and such a nice touch.

For more tips and tricks for using food storage in your everyday recipes, please visit www.everydayfoodstorage.NET

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Carribean Sunrise Salad: Three Month Supply Food Storage Recipes

Doesn’t it look delicious? Well it is! I created this salad when I was assigned to bring a fruit dish to a bbq I was attending. I looked in my fridge and realized I had a hand full of strawberries and like 4 grapes to my name. YIKES! You see my problem. That isn’t too appetizing of a fruit dish. I also knew that no one would appreciate a can of pineapple thrown in a bowl either. So thanks to my handy dandy 3 month supply I was able to combine canned fruit with fresh fruit to make a DELICIOUS, tropical salad.

Carribean Sunrise Salad
2 cans mandarin oranges, drained
1 can chunked pinapple, drained
2 C. sliced strawberries
1/2 C. coconut (optional)
1/4 C. chopped walnuts (optional) or granola
lemon meringue yogurt (this is my favorite, it gives it a marshmallowie taste) or plain lemon yogurt or…if you don’t have any yogurt remember that whipped topping we can make out of powdered milk? That works great too as fruit dip or in this salad. It makes it taste like coconut milk, especially if you add in the coconut. YUMMY!
Toss and serve immediately (or at least fairly soon. The strawberries will go bad quickly with all the other sugary juices).
For more tips and tricks for using food storage in your everyday recipes, please visit www.everydayfoodstorage.NET
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