Foodie Friday - Rosemary Citrus Chicken & Couscous Italian

For me it's time to lighten up our dinners and try something different. So I pulled out some ingredients I had on hand and pulled together a dinner my husband says is a keeper. This is a great dinner for two for any occasion, but it would make a wonderful candlelight dinner.

ROSEMARY CITRUS CHICKEN WITH COUSCOUS ITALIAN
2 chicken breasts with rib meat attached, skinned
1 T. each butter and EV olive oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 T. freshly grated orange rind
freshly grated rind of one lime
1/4 c. fresh rosemary, minced
1 t. Old Bay seasoning
1/2 t. coarse ground pepper,
1/2 orange cut in half. Section half, membrane removed
1 T. honey 
3 green onions chopped
In a large frying pan place butter and oil. Heat to medium low and add garlic, citrus zest, rosemary and old bay seasoning. Cook for 30 seconds and add skinned chicken breasts and orange sections, turning heat up to medium. Over top drizzle honey and cover pan. After 10 minutes turn chicken over. Do this again every 10 minutes until chicken is done, about 30 minutes or until no longer pink in the center. If you like take the pan juices and pour in blender and puree. Use as sauce for the chicken and sprinkle green onions over all.


COUSCOUS ITALIAN
1 c. couscous
Juice from the other half of the orange and the zested lime plus enough water to equal 1 cup liquid
1 small zucchini, cubed
3/4 c. chopped onion
2 chicken bullion cubes
1 T each butter and EV olive oil
1 t. dried basil
1/2 t. course ground pepper
In a medium pot saute onion and Zucchini in butter and oil. Add liquid and bullion cubes and bring to a boil, making sure the bullion has dissolved. Take off of the burner and add the couscous and basil stirring to mix thoroughly. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes. Fluff with fork and serve with chicken and side salad. So yummy! If you like you can cut back on the oil and butter, but not much. Enjoy!





 

Square Foot Gardening

Last year I tried out square foot gardening for the first time and I am sold! I built boxes, which you can see examples of in my July 2009 blog posts. I will get organized here and link all garden, cooking and so on posts so they are easy to find. Anyway, I laid down ground cover, which I will be putting a layer of mulch or gravel on around the boxes this year. My friend Helene used pvc pipe to make hoops to put netting over to keep pests such as deer out of the beds, so I did the same thing and it worked great. If you look closely you can sort of see them to the right of the house.

Here is how some of the plants were doing in July last year. I direct seeded a lot of my stuff. You can see basil, baby pac choi, carrots and so on. I was so thrilled with how everything grew!

Peas, lettuce and beans are some of the crops I planted. The beans didn't do as well as I like but hey there's always this year! I may try something different.

 My broccoli and cauliflower went great guns! I really need to rethink which box I plant them in this year. I did them about 12 apart and that was a bit crowded, but hey they did well so maybe crowding was okay.
I would encourage anyone planning on gardening this year for the first time to look into Mel Bartholemew's square foot gardening. The link is to the right.

Straw Bale Gardening

I have discovered a different way to garden that I thought I would share with you. It's straw bale gardening. Some of the benefits are space, no need for a lot of soil, weed free, and easy on your back. There are several links on the internet talking about this process, but from what I can gather you want to stay away from hay bales which are full of weed seeds and go for straw. If you don't have much room to garden and your soil is poor this might be just the ticket for you. I would love to try this but here in our area I might be hard pressed to find straw. I will be on the hunt though. Here's the link to Nichol's Nursery that I found most informative. Let me know if you give it a try and what your results are. Happy gardening!

Home remodeling tips on painting a room

Home remodeling can be so satisfying but there are things to know if you are getting ready to paint. These are some tips I found while getting ready to paint some rooms in our Oregon home.
1.    Begin by washing down your walls with a soft cellulose sponge using warm water and a mild dish washing soap.
    2.    Use blue painter's tape to mask off any trim work in the room.
    3.    Apply primer to the walls in an even coat, and allow to dry completely.
    4.    Roll on the paint in a "W" shape (a new one for me), in a 3x3 foot section, never lifting the roller. Repeat over and over until that whole section is filled in with color. Allow the first coat to dry completely, then apply a second coat the same way.
    5.    Remove the painters tape and stand back to admire your work--streak free!!

free!!
Here's a tip for assuring you always get the right paint color if you have to repaint or touch up your room: slide the paint swatch with the name and formula behind your light switch to keep it safe.

Happy Birthday Blessed Loved Ones

I know that in most religions Christmas is the official birthday of the Savior, but for the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints it is today, April 6. Thank you dear Savior for being willing to come to earth and live as a mortal being in order to lead us back home. May we always remember the blessings we enjoy  and show our gratitude by our actions.

Another birthday wish goes out to my mom, and my children's other grandma Evelyn. Though both have gone home to live in God's presence they are loved and remembered for their sweet, kind and gentle natures. We love you Moms!

Monday Muse..... Easter

Easter has always been a challenge for me as we feel it should be even more important than Christmas. Christmas seems to have so many traditions wrapped around it, decorating, cards being sent, food and so on. Some people do the same with Easter to a certain extent, but I think the Easter bunny gets in the way sometimes of making Easter Sunday a sacred experience. We got around that when the kids were smaller by holding our Easter egg hunts on Saturday, but still you see as you go to church Easter Sunday, children too excited about their Easter baskets to really get into the real meaning of Easter.
So what is the real importance Easter has for us as Christians? The atonement, the opportunity to live with Heavenly Father again because the Savior was willing to sacrifice his life for us. So how do we celebrate this? At Christmas there are many caroles and songs that help keep the spirit of Christmas alive. Wouldn't it be nice if we had more Easter music? There are some lovely hymns, and even Handel's Messiah lends itself to Easter at least in part. Cards are something I rarely send at Easter, but what a great opportunity to share our testimony that we know that our Redeemer lives! So I have an Easter resolution to try and make Easter more meaningful. How do you celebrate Easter, and what do you do to make it more meaningful?
For those who don't celebrate Easter, but may celebrate Passover, I would love to hear about your family traditions! Please feel free to share your reasons for celebrating, and how you go about it.

Happy Easter to All

God loved us, so he sent his Son,
Christ Jesus, the atoning One,
To show us by the path he trod
The one and only way to God.

He came as man, though Son of God,
And bowed himself beneath the rod.
He died in holy innocence,
A broken law to recompense.

Oh, love effulgent, love divine!
What debt of gratitude is mine,
That in his off’ring I have part
And hold a place within his heart.