This meal was one of those “use what we have” dinners that turned into something we’ll definitely be repeating. Mike helped by giving the chicken a quick sear on the grill, just 2 minutes per side with a BBQ spice rub for that extra smoky flavor. I pulled vegetables from the fridge and pantry staples from the shelf and turned it all into a creamy skillet that was full of flavor but took under 30 minutes. In this blog I’ll share my tips for easy meals as well as keeping vegetables fresh for meals like this.

I served this with simple seasoned black beans on the side for extra protein and fiber. You can also spoon it over rice or wrap it in a tortilla for more variety!

Batch Cooking Grilled Chicken

When you are cooking chicken, whether in the oven or on the grill, consider making a few extra pieces. Having pre-cooked proteins is one way to simplify dinner and make mealtime so much less stressful. In this blog I share ideas for using leftover chicken in recipes. In this recipe, we used grilled chicken with seasoning but you could use any type of chicken that you have.

This blog post has several other recipes for using leftover chicken.

Storing Leftovers Safely

If you have leftovers from this meal, they can be stored in a glass container in the fridge for up to three days. This set of glass containers has snaptight lids and since they are all the same size they help with keeping an organized fridge. We usually only keep a couple of meals of leftovers in the fridge and freeze the rest. This allows us to ensure that everything gets eaten.

Keeping Produce Fresh

This recipe has onions and spinach. Onions can stay fresh for several months in your pantry, just make sure to keep them at least 3 feet away from potatoes. I share about keeping onions fresh in this video. If you don’t need to use an entire onion, you can keep the sliced onion fresh in a glass jar with a metal lid. It will stay fresh in the fridge for about a week so you can use it for other recipes.

Even if you buy spinach that says it is washed, I recommend washing it again. This will kill off any harmful pathogens and it will help it to stay fresh longer. You can find step by step directions for washing spinach in this blog and this video. After washing, store it in a large glass container or silicone bag. It will stay fresh in the fridge for 3-4 weeks.

Baby spinach in a large bowl of water and distilled white vinegar soaking for 2 minutes.

If you want more tips for keeping produce fresh, check out my Zero Waste Produce Guide. This book has step by step directions for washing and storing 75 produce items as well as 40 recipes for using fresh produce. It is available on Amazon and in The Cross Legacy Shop.

Make Dinner With Me!

Watch me make this dish in this video: https://youtu.be/BoTjLNuUDAg