Friday's Feature {Super Easy Dutch Oven Bread}

For me and my family 

summer time = camping time 

and camping time = dutch oven cooking.  

So, I decided to feature this Super Easy Dutch Oven Bread .  You can find this recipe and several others over at From Dahlias to Doxies.

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• Any creative idea will do
• No selling or promoting, so no etsy stores
• Giveaways are now permissible ONLY if they are a handmade object
• Grab a button to link back to this blog
• Start sharing!
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Tai Peanut Chicken Noodle Salad

This has become on of my favorite summer dishes.  I got this recipe from my cousins blog Food Storage and Beyond and love that I can use ingredients from my food storage and garden to create this meal.

Ingredients:
■3/4 to 1 cup Asian Sesame Dressing, divided (I used Ken’s Steakhouse light version)
■1 pint canned chicken, in small chunk size pieces
■1 Tbsp peanut butter (creamy or chunky works)
■1 Tbsp honey
■1/4 tsp crushed or ground red pepper (more or less depending on your spicy preferences)
■8 oz (1/2 a 1 lb box) angel hair pasta (or thin spaghetti)
■2 green onions, sliced
■1 cucumber, peeled, cut in half lengthwise, seeds removed, and sliced
■1 cup slivered carrots (I like the matchstick kind you can buy at the store)

Directions:
-Cook pasta as directed on the package and drain. Rinse with cold water (if serving cold). Set aside.
-While the pasta is cooking, toss the cooked chicken chunks with about ¼ cup of the Asian Sesame Dressing (enough to fully coat all the chicken) and set in the fridge to chill (if you’re serving cold).
-In a separate bowl, mix the remaining dressing, peanut butter, honey and red pepper.
-In your serving bowl, dump in the pasta, the chicken mixture, and the peanut butter mixture along with any remaining ingredients you are using. Mix lightly till all the pasta is covered with the sauce.
-Serve warm or chill in fridge for 4-8 hours before serving. Serve with soy sauce, if desired. (I like it the way it is, but hubby likes it with the soy sauce.)
-This will make about 4 main dish meals, or 6-8 side dishes. It can easily be doubled to make about 8 main dishes or to take to a potluck or something. ENJOY!

The "Weevil" truth

Not many want to admit that they have had weevils in their flour. It is pretty gross... And I'll admit that I have found weevils in my flour. I really just cried when I opened my container and saw the little bugs just crawling around.

GROSS!!!

But there is a way to over come this problem.

I found this website that goes into more detail. But a quick thing that is easy to do is to put your flour in the freezer for 4 days. So right when you bring your flour home stick it in your freezer before putting it on your shelf or in your container pop it in your freezer. It will kill any of the bugs and the larva.

Other natural replants are Bay Leaves, Cloves and Match books {something to do with the sulfur} 

Our food storage is no good if the bugs eat it before we get to. We need to remember to take care of our food as we are storing it.

Bottled Chicken

I'm excited that this is my first post. I have started bottling as a way to not only save money but to eat healthier. Everything is so much better when you know what is in it.

What you are going to need is a Pressure Cooker. This will be your biggest expense. If grandma has an old one and it has all it's parts it's probably ok to use. If you don't have access to one and want to buy one I would say go bigger. This is my baby, and it can hold 7 quart jars {the big ones} and 12 pint jars {half size} It's going to be more expensive, but for me - being able to process a lot at one time is worth it.

Next you are going to want some bottles get "Ball" jars or "Mason" jars. Those are the only ones that are going to stand up to the pressure cooking. Jars are a good investment because they can be used over and over again. Walmart will usually carry them year round. Some times you can even find them on FreeCycle!! If they are cracked, throw them away, other than that they are good.

There are two kinds of mouths... the opening... normal and wide mouth. I like the wide mouth. It is easier to get things in and out of. After using the normal mouth jars I only buy the wide mouth now.

Ok... back to the chicken part. Now don't blink or you'll miss how easy this is. I mean it.... Pull out your chicken {make sure it's defrosted} wash it.... cut off excess fat... salt both sides... and put it in the jars... wipe rims  and put on lids and put filled jars in cooker, add about 3 inches of water to the pot and process. I told you it was easy!

I found that for our family the pint jars work the best. I can put 3 chicken breasts... 1 pound, in each jar. That feeds my family {2 adults, 3 eating children 7-4years old}

The first time I did this I used quart jars and I could put 5 sometimes 6 chicken breast in each jar and that was just way to much for our family. If you watch the sales you can get chicken for really cheap and then bottle it all at once.

 You will want to store the jars in a dark place {pantry shelf} If you don't use all of the chicken in the jar once you open it, just put the lid back on and put in the fridge for up to a week.

You will want to get a "Ball Blue Book" you can buy it on Amazon for less than $10 and it's so worth it!! It gives details on processing times according to what size jar you use and your altitude.

Now when you pull out your jars out of the cooker, you may be kinda grossed out because of all the juice in the jar. Don't worry. It's all chicken juice, and you just dump it off when you want to use the chicken. The chicken is completely cooked!! You just open a jar pour off the liquid and shred the chicken to use like you would canned chicken from the store. {Chicken Pot Pie, Chicken Enchiladas, Chicken Salad, sandwiches.... what ever you use chicken for}
 I also made some chicken soup. With carrots, and celery, and a broth along with the chicken and it was stuck in the pressure cooker with the plain chicken. The soup is done and all is cooked. I usually just add some noodles and there you go easy dinner.

I love it because I don't have to worry about pulling chicken out of the freezer and hoping it is defrosted before I need to use it. And lets talk about the freezer... what happens to all your chicken if the power goes out for more that a few hours??? The best part - It will stay good for 2-3 years!!!{if you don't eat it all}
You can do this with bone in chicken as well.  When it's done the chicken will fall off the bone.

It really is so easy!! Get your pressure cooking out and start bottling!!