Making Your Meals Work Double Time

This was a quick weeknight dinner this week. I pulled out the trusty crock pot and put 2 pounds of frozen chicken tenders in it, then covered it with several cups of leftover organic soup I made earlier in the week.

I put it on low before I went to bed and it was ready to pop in the refrigerator in the morning. The chicken was super tender and shredded really easily. Later that night I came home and popped the chicken and sauce in the microwave, cooked some brown rice (the quick cooking variety leftover from my days of eating processed foods) and steamed some broccoli from our share. I squeezed some lemon juice on top of the broccoli while it was still in the steamer.

I put everything in bowls, then grated some fresh Texas Daily Harvest parmesan on top and added some hot chili sauce (I left the spicy off of the kids' plates). I also added some soy sauce and ladled some of the soup from the crockpot on top.

It took about 20 minutes to put together and was really very good.

How Our Family Operates

I cut and pasted this from an email I sent my sweet husband earlier today. He is usually in charge of getting dinner started since I get home last. He requires very specific instructions.

"Stephen-

Here is what is for dinner:

· Pork loin steak, in whole foods wrapper, top shelf of refrigerator. Just add some seasoning and either bake it on 350 until it’s done or cook it in a little olive oil in a frying pan.

· Use the steamer to steam broccoli (it’s already chopped and ready to throw in the steamer, in a baggie, bottom left drawer in refrigerator). Put a little lemon juice (bottle in door of refrigerator) and grated romano cheese (plastic sprouts container, top shelf of frig) on top.

· Slice up some pears (on the counter, they should be ripe).

The dogs are out of dog food, so I’ll pick some up on my way home."

He did an awesome job. The pork loin was the most tender thing I've eaten in forever. Stephen chose to bake it and it was delicious. I'm hoping to make it back to Whole Foods before the sale ends. I got it for $2.99 a pound, and the one I bought was slightly less than a pound.

Fabulous, it was, I tell you.

Chicken, Rice and Broccoli Bake

This was basically a free for all. In other words, I sort of followed a recipe for Easy Rice Pilaf, but adjusted to make use of more produce and added chicken to make it a one-dish meal. I used the following ingredients:

• Chicken Broth (2 cups)
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 stalk of broccoli, including stem, diced
• 1 cup of long grain brown rice
• 2 tablespoons organic butter
• 3/4 pound chicken breast tenders
• Seasoning of your choice (rub mix, poultry seasoning, salt, pepper, whatever)

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the onion and broccoli and cook them until the onions are translucent.

Add the brown rice to the pan and cook until it's light brown:

Add the chicken broth and cook until it comes to a low boil:

Add it all to a small baking dish, place the chicken tenders on top. I put some pepper, sea salt and garlic salt, and Memphis Rib Rub on top of the chicken.

After it is assembled, cover it with foil and bake it in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until the chicken is cooked.

We added some shredded cheddar cheese after I took this picture. You can add it or not. But, this was really tasty and there were leftovers for Stephen's lunch.