Sesame Teriyaki Chicken Salad

"How does your garden grow?" is a question we often ask each other on our recipe group. That's a good question if you ask me.  I sent this weekend working in the yard and my garden.  I bought some seeds that I had run out of or replaced those that were out of date. If the date on the back of the seeds is 2 years old I toss them and buy new ones.  Over the years I've learned not to waste my time planting seed that have become old.  If they're a year old and nothing seems to work from that batch of seeds I toss those right then and there.

Beets & Carrots

Peas & Strawberries

Spinach in a Container

 Mostly the weekend was spend pulling weeds. My how the weeds can grow so fast.  As for my garden it's not real big, but it's big enough for us.  I don't need a huge garden, because I don't can my vegetables.  I'd love to, but I don't have the time.  As it is I need to make my Banana Bread today and start looking at ideas for hamburger buns.  Since going Gluten Free myself I've been able to actually taste a lot of the products that I buy for my oldest son.  The hamburger buns I buy are good, but they seems to have a lot of bread to them.  Most of the time I cut off part of the bun to reduce the width of the buns.  

Yesterday I made a wonderful Salad with Chicken on it for our lunch.  Years ago when I had more time one of my favorite shows on the Food Network channel was Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee.  I love her idea of using products that we can buying in the grocery store and making something wonderful with them.  That's basically what I did yesterday.

GFCF Sesame Teriyaki  Chicken Salad

Chicken (I used tenderloins)
Organicville Sesame Teriyaki Sauce
Oil
Lettuce, Carrots and Tomatoes

It was easy to do and fast.  I cut up same chicken tenderloins and fried them up in my cast iron skillet with a couple of tablespoons of oil.  When they were a golden brown I added about a 1/4 cup (maybe more because a just poured it in) of the Sesame Teriyaki Sauce.  Organicville seems to be a favorite right now in my house and if you time I'm sure there's a lot of recipes out there for a Sesame Teriyaki Sauce, but I wanted to get back outside to enjoy the lovely weekend.  Once I added the sauce I turned down the heat on the chicken to let it simmer for about 5 minutes.  This gave me time to throw together the salad.  When the chicken is done just add it to the salad with your favorite salad dressing. I used a sun dried tomato dressing on my salad.  It was wonderful, it was fast and I was back out of my back porch in no time enjoying the beautiful day.

Aunt B's Chicken & Peas

I know I haven't posted anything in a while again, but I have my reasons. I've been busy in my garden getting it ready for the season. It's been beautiful here lately, until today. Today is cold and rainy.  We even saw a little sleet this morning.  Here's what I've been up to in the garden.  I bought rabbit wire to enclose the garden this year.  I had it on one of the beds last year, but that made for a lot of bending over the rabbit wire to work in the beds.  With the rabbit wire enclosing the area I can sit on the edge if I want to while pulling weeds.  Yes, weeds get in my beds, too. You know how it is when you mow.  It blows stuff everywhere else you have a bag on the mower or even better a mulching mower.

The old ladder is for the Peas to climb on with strawberries under it.

Why the picket fence? That so my dog, Angel, doesn't run into the rabbit wire in her enthusiasm while chasing the squirrels.  No, she doesn't chase the rabbits. We taught her not to chase them, but she does like to watch them along with the birds. Yeah I can hear her brain working, too.  Nuts! Why can't I chase the Rabbits, too!

On to cooking. Here's a quick and easy meal that Garrett often asks me to make for dinner.

Aunt B's Chicken & Peas

6 - boneless skinless chicken breast
Moore's Original Marinade or Italian Dressing
1 - can of peas or frozen peas
Brown Rice
Chicken Broth

I cut up the chicken into chunks and marinade it in either Moore's Marinade or the Italian Dressing. Whichever one Garrett picks that day or whichever I have on hand. I let it marinade for most of the day and then stir fry it in a large skillet. While I'm stir frying I cook the  peas and the brown rice. The brown rice I cook in chicken broth using the amounts on the brown rice packaging.  I very seldom use water when cooking any of my rices. The chicken broth helps to give it some sort of flavoring.  When it's all done lay a bed of rice in your bowl and pile on the chicken and peas. I add a little gf soy sauce to mine OR in my son's case.  Pile on the chicken, peas and hot sauce!