Kid Friendly Arroz Con Pollo (GF)

Here's a dish that your little cowpokes will love.  This is the "mac n' cheese" of the Spanish/Latino world--their comfort food.  My version is mild and nourishing, with brown rice, carrots and tender pieces of chicken.  Maybe it will replace mac n' cheese in your home too.

Arroz Con Pollo is spanish for chicken with rice. Don't be afraid to make substitutions.  I recommend white rice, but I was out and used short brown rice this time.  My kids still loved it and wanted seconds.

GLUTEN-FREE, KID FRIENDLY ARROZ CON POLLO

Ingredients:

6 chicken thighs

2 Cups white rice (or brown--doesn't matter)

8 Cup water

1 Cup chopped carrots

1 tsp. salt.

1 tsp. onion powder

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. chili powder

Pinch of parsley flakes

Directions:

Place the chicken thighs in a large cooking pan and fill with enough water to cover them--slightly floating is okay.  Add the salt, bring to a boil, then simmer for one hour or until falling apart.  Remove chicken thighs to cool on a plate.  Debone the chicken, lightly tear it into pieces. 

Wash the rice thoroughly and pour it into the chicken broth.  Add the onion, garlic and chili powder and parsley flakes--as well as the carrots and chicken pieces.  Make sure that the water level rises above your rice by about one inch and you should be okay.  Simmer for another 20 minutes and check the water level, just in case.  Cook until rice is done and water is absorbed.

Makes about 5 servings.

Our City Garden

We live in Los Angeles, in a small house with a tiny backyard.  Our big dream right now is to 'one day become homesteaders with a real self sustaining farm'.  This, of course, means leaving LA.  We'd like to move to Tennessee ideally, since I'm a native.

     But for now, this is our lot.  Or, at least, our little box garden.  We're growing eggplant (my favorite), brussel sprouts, lettuce, two types of tomatoes, corn, squash, basil, carrots, potatoes, onions, stevia, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, bell peppers, watermellons, cantelopes and random flowers (and there are several unopened seed packets that my husband keeps buying). 

Yes, that sounds pretty ambitious for people with a backyard the size of most people's living room, but we've squeezed stuff in everywhere we can.  And amazingly, the plants seem to enjoy all the crowded company. 
Our last year's garden looked like a small jungle had exploded in one corner.  We had tomatoes off and on all through the winter.  And the strawberries began blooming before spring had rolled in.  This is due to our very mild weather (some say we don't actually have 'weather' here at all).

These February photos, with beloved cartoon characters, show what our garden looked like in the midst of a massive Tennessee snow storm.  We know all about it because my family called us several times to tell us about it and sent us 'invites' to view their web albums of the said snow storm.  Meanwhile, as you can see, we were hanging out at the beach and enjoying vine ripened cherry tomatoes...  But yes, we want to leave all of this LA 'goodness', for a bit of affordable land and less madness.  We can't wait.  So we're studying up about farming and gardening.   We highly recommend Nature's Harmony FarmCasts, if you want to learn more too.