January 2010 Meal Preps

Menu Preps for January’s exchange:

Janet:
Beef Pot Pie-Thaw bake at 350 until toasty on top. We had it this evening for dinner & once again…it was yummy!!!!

China in a Pot: Need Ramen Noodles (or can use Rice) and green onions. Thaw and reheat, dump in noodles & top with green onions.

Sausage Stuffed Loaf (2 each): Reheat at 350 degrees until brown. Thaw first.

Heidi:
Jagtessen: Each has one bag with approx 2 lbs of fully cooked meat, bag with mashed potatoes, 2 cans of green beans. Directions are on bag. Layer in a dish, green beans, meat, green beans, mashed potatoes, sprinkle with paprika. Broil until brown.

Monterey Jack Stuffed Chicken (6 breast in one bag)-Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes.

Chicken Enchiladas: one 9x13 pan…remove the sauce and cheese before baking.

Jen:
Beef Stew: 2 containers. Thaw, reheat serve with biscuits.

Brisket: 1 bag, Thaw, reheat.

Salsa Chicken (Nachos): Chicken in 1 bag, throw in crockpot, shred with fork. Add black beans (rinse and drain before adding to the meat), serve over chips with cheese and sour cream.

Misti:
Buffalo Chicken Soup: Thaw, reheat, add hot sauce and blue cheese if desired.

Marlboro Man Sandwiches: Thaw, reheat, serve with hoagies. Add cheese, if desired.

Lemon Chicken: Dump into 9x13 pan, add ½ cup chicken broth to pan. Bake at 350 degrees until chicken runs clear.

Lewis and Clark White Chicken Chili

Lewis and Clark's White Chili Recipe By :
Serving Size : 8-12

3 pounds Great Northern beans -- canned
2 pounds Chicken breast; skinless/boneless
1 tablespoon Olive oil
Garlic -- minced
2 medium Onions -- chopped
2 teaspoons Ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon Ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon Cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon Ground oregano
2 cans Mild green chilies; chopped -- 4oz each
4 cups Chicken stock or broth
20 ounces Monterey Jack -- grated
Sour cream
Canned jalapenos; chopped

Place chicken in large sauce pan. Add cold water to cover and bring to simmer. Cook until tender, approximately 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from saucepan and dice into 1/2″ cubes. Using the same pan discard water and heat oil over medium heat. Add onions until translucent. Stir in garlic, chilies, cumin, cayenne pepper, oregano and cloves. Saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Add chicken, beans, stock and 12 oz cheese; let simmer for 15 minutes. Laddle into large bowls and top with 1 oz chese. Serve with a side of sour cream and chopped jalapeno peppers.

Slow-Cooker Pork Roast (with Apricots and Cranberries)

16 oz can whole-berry cranberry sauce
5.5 oz can apricot nectar
2 tsp cider or distilled white vinegar
1 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dried apricots, coarsely chopped (I increased to 1 cup.)
1 tsp salt
2-1/2 pound boneless pork loin roast

Mix all ingredients except pork in 3 qt or larger slow cooker. Trim fat off pork. Add meat to slow-cooker and spoon some of mixture over it. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until pork in done and tender. Remove pork, slice. Spoon fat, if any, off sauce and serve with pork. (My friend who passed along this recipe said to add extra onions and apricots.)

Rachael Ray's Italian Sub Stoup

From Rachael Ray/Food Network

SERVES 4

2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 lb sweet Italian sausage
1/4 lb pepperoni, dixed
1/2 lb ham, diced
1 green pepper, sliced
1 medium onion, diced
28 ounces diced tomatoes
6 cups chicken stock or broth
1 cup gemilli pasta
4 cups arugula

Place a soup pot on the stovetop and preheat to medium high. Add the olive oil and the sausage. Brown and crumble the sausage, drain off excess fat if necessary, then add the pepperoni and ham. Cook for two minutes.
Add the bell peppers and onions and cook for two minutes more. Add the tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Stir in the pasta and cook for 8 minutes.
Stir the arugula into the stoup just before you serve it up.

Bourbon Chicken

From Recipezaar #45809

SERVES 4

2 lbs boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1-2 tablespoon olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/4 teaspoon ginger
3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup apple juice
1/3 cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup soy sauce

Heat oil in a large skillet.
Add chicken pieces and cook until lightly browned.
Remove chicken.
Add remaining ingredients, heating over medium Heat until well mixed and dissolved.
Add chicken and bring to a hard boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
Serve over hot rice and ENJOY.

Pineapple-Ginger Chicken Bake

From "Make-Ahead Meals Foodsaver Cookbook" by Jyl Steinback
Serves 12

Ingredients
3 cups sugar
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
3-8 oz. cans pineapple chunks, undrained
3/4 cup lite soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp. minced garlic.
1 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
2 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
3 cups sliced mushrooms
3- 8 oz. cans sliced water chestnuts, drained
6 cups frozen diced celery and onions

Directions
Combine sugar, cornstarch,vinegar, reserved pineapple juice, soy sauce, garlic and ginger in a large pot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring frequently, until thickened. Combine chicken, mushrooms, waterchestnuts, celery and onions in large bowl and mix well. Pour sauce over chicken mixture and toss. Cool to room temperature and freeze.

To serve: Thaw overnight in refrigerator. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 baking dishes with cooking spray. Divide chicken mixture and bake, uncovered, 35-45 minutes until bubbly hot. Serve over cooked rice.

Beef-Stuffed Potatoes

From Taste of Home

INGREDIENTS
6 medium baking potatoes
1 pound ground beef
2 tablespoons chopped onion
1/3 cup sour cream
1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS
1. Bake potatoes at 375° for 1 hour or until tender. Cool. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook the beef and onion over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink; drain.
2. Cut a thin slice off the top of each potato. Carefully scoop out pulp, leaving a thin shell; place pulp in a bowl. Add sour cream, chilies, butter, Worcestershire sauce, salt, garlic powder and chili powder; mash or beat. Stir in meat mixture until combined. Stuff into potato shells.
3. Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350° for 10-15 minutes or until heated through. Yield: 6 servings.

January 20 Meal Plan

Jen
Steak Soup
Chicken w Butter and Cream
Ham and Beans

Misti
Bacon Wrapped Chicken
Parsley Parmesan Chicken
Italian Sub Stoup

Janet
Tater Tot Casserole
Lewis & Clark White Chicken Chili
Pineapple-Ginger Chicken Bake

Teressa
Beef-Stuffed Potatoes
Pretzel-Crusted Chicken
Bourbon Chicken

Kathleen
Slow-Cooker Pork Roast (with Apricots and Cranberries)
Sharon Dougherty's Lasagna
Marinated Steak with Blue Cheese Butter

Easy Chicken Cordon Bleu

1 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Lower Sodium Stuffing Mix for Chicken
6 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1-1/2 lb.)
6 slices OSCAR MAYER Thin Sliced Smoked Ham
1 can (10-3/4 oz.) reduced-sodium condensed cream of chicken soup
1 Tbsp. GREY POUPON Dijon Mustard
6 KRAFT DELI DELUXE Swiss Cheese Slices

PREHEAT oven to 400°F. Prepare stuffing mix as directed on package; set aside.

PLACE chicken in 13x9-inch baking dish; cover with ham. Mix soup and mustard; spoon over chicken. Top with prepared stuffing.

BAKE 25 min. or until chicken is cooked through (165°F). Top with cheese. Bake an additional 5 min. or until cheese is melted.

Makes: 6 servings

Source: Kraft Food & Family Magazine

Teressa's January Meal Preps

Chicken Cheese Soup--Thaw and reheat. Sprinkle each serving with shredded cheddar.

Apple Butter-Glazed Chicken--Each chick gets 2 breasts and 6 legs in marinade in one bag, and a smaller bag with the reserved marinade for basting. Thaw in fridge. Heat a grill pan over high heat. Brush off extra sauce from the chicken and discard. Cook chicken, in batches if necessary, turning occasionally, until browned, about 20 minutes. Continue cooking, brushing with reserved marinade, until chicken is cooked through, 15-25 minutes longer.

Cordon Bleu Roll--Thaw and reheat. I tried the Chicken Cordon Bleu recipe from the new Kraft magazine this weekend--and it was delicious! A really good freezer candidate too! Borrowing from that recipe, I recommend this sauce to serve on top: Stir 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard into 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup and pour on your loaf while heating, or heat the sauce it in the microwave in a small bowl if you like your loaf crispy. Use 98% fat-free and lower the calories without compromising taste. I guess you could even throw the Stove Top stuffing on top as directed in the new Kraft recipe. (I'll post it later.)

Tina's Pork Fritters

OK this is real sophisticated recipe...and the difficulty level is for all chefs!

Get a boneless pork loin - trim off excess fat - or since we are making a big ol' fried sandwich..then leave it on!

Now grab your meat tenderizer - be sure you make this recipe on a bad day. You are now receiving the cheapest and most effective therapy on the planet.

Be sure you use the textured side of your tenderizer and pound the H***LLL out of that meat!

Pound until 1/4 in. thick and be sure to beat both sides of the meat.

Now dredge through egg and milk wash.

Ohhh I forgot to tell you more therapy here! Get a sleeve of saltine crackers and place in a ziploc bag...now with the smooth side of your tenderizer..crush the crackers!

OK - now place your milky pork into the saltines and coat it good! If you're motivated, run it through the egg wash & coat again. However, if you're good, once is enough.

Sprinkle with season-all and place on parchment paper to flash freeze fritter. After flash freeze bag up!

In an 8lb pork loin roll, I got roughly 32 fritters, I sliced them 1/2 in thick to start with.

Get a big ol' bag of rolls from the bakery and put your fave sandwich fixings on it. Mayo, lettuce and tomato are excellent. I will eat it without bread and dip in ranch dressing.

This is a crowd pleaser, I've yet to have anyone say 'ewwww gross' or 'I don't like this...' So if you're in the mood to get rid of some table whinning try this recipe out.

Tina's January Meal Preps

Chicken-and-Wild Rice Soup

This made a huge batch of soup! You will need to add 1 can of chicken broth, 1 c of whipping cream & 1 c uncooked wild rice. You may precook the wild rice and warm all ingredients on stove top. If you are going crockpot, then you will need to add a total of 2 cans of chicken broth & 1 c uncooked wild rice on LOW for 5-6 hours. Stir in whipping cream at end.

I have never froze portabella's so let's hope they freeze well. I left them in large pieces to help them freeze well. So those may be cut smaller. I really ran out of room in the soup container to add all the ingredients! So if you add more liquid, you may choose to add more chicken if it looks wimpy, but remember those mushrooms really are considered a meat.

Tina's Pork Fritters

Heat 1 in. of oil in deep skillet or pot. When hot, you will know this by the sizzle of placing your fritter in the pan or 360 degrees (if you choose to be sophisticated and use a thermometer, remember this is fritter time!). Turn fritter when edges are golden, cook until grease slows on frying or both sides golden. These may be cooked from frozen or thawed. If frozen, you will need to use caution placing into hot oil and allowing your oil to reheat after each fritter. The frozen fritter will drop your oil temp dramatically.

Krabby Patties

Same as above or you may cook in oven. I haven't made these yet, so I have no expert testimony to give!

China in a Pot

China in a Pot

Source: Desperation Dinners (adapted for the freezer!)

2 bonelss skinless chicken breasts halves (about 2/3 pounds total), thawed
1 can fat-free chicken broth (14.5 ounces)
1 can Oriental broth (14.5 ounces) --you can sub chicken broth
1 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 cup frozen corn kernels
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar or distilled white vinegar
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
2 teaspoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 package chicken flavor ramen soup
1 package frozen snow peas --have on hand
3 scallions (for 1/4 cup chopped) -- have on hand

To make for freezer: Pour both cans of broth in a 4.5 quart Dutch oven or soup pot. Cover, and bring to a boil over high heat. slice the chicken in 1/4 inch wide strips. Cut the longest strips in half. When the broth boils, stir in the chicken, mushrooms, corn vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce, and sugar. Add the flavor packet from the ramon noodles but if you are freezing this recipe, place the ramen noodles in a zipper bag. Place soup base into the freezer containers and freeze.

To serve: Reheat the soup. Add the ramen noodles and the snow peas and bring to a boil. ( if you want the snow peas to be softer, wait to add the noodles). Served with slice scallions on top.

Chicken Cheese Soup

4 chicken breasts
4 1/2 c. water
3/4 c. barley
1/2 c. finely chopped celery
3/4 c. finely chopped peeled carrots
1/2 c. finely chopped onion
4 cubes chicken bouillon
2 (10.5 oz each) cans cream of chicken soup
2 c. finely shredded cheese

Add chicken breasts to water. Simmer until tender.

Reserve water. Shred cooked chicken and return to water.

Add barley, celery, carrots, onion and bouillon to water. Simmer until vegetables are tender.

Add cream of chicken soup and simmer.

Add more water as needed.

Before serving, add cheese.

Serves 8. | Source: hy-vee.com

Cordon Bleu Roll

Source: recipezaar.com
Cordon Bleu Roll

1 egg, slightly beaten
1 onion, finely chopped
2 teaspoons chicken bouillon, powder
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup fine breadcrumbs
1 pinch salt, to taste
1 pinch pepper, to taste
1 1/2 lbs lean ground chicken

Filling
6 slices swiss cheese
6 slices ham (old fashioned, honey, blackforest, your choice)

Combine first 8 ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.

Cover a cookie sheet with foil.

Press chicken mixture into a 8x10 rectangle.

Place cheese slices on chicken mixture, then top with ham slices.

Begin rolling from short side of the rectangle (using the foil will help shape the roll and make it easier to roll up).

Press ends of roll together and place on greased baking sheet with the seam side down. Bake at 350 degrees for 60 -75 minutes or until roll is golden brown and chicken is cooked through.

Slice to serve.

To freeze: wrap baked chicken roll, label and freeze.
To serve: thaw overnight and then bake as above.

6 servings

Apple Butter-Glazed Chicken

Source: www.recipezaar.com
Apple Butter-Glazed Chicken

1 cup apple butter
3 tablespoons yellow mustard
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon celery seeds
1 medium onion, minced
1 broiler-fryer chicken, cut up or 5 bone-in skin-on chicken breast halves
1 teaspoon salt
fresh ground pepper

Heat the apple butter, mustard, butter, sugar, celery seed and onion to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Remove from heat; cool.

Place the chicken in a food storage bag. Pour half of the apple butter mixture over the chicken; reserve remaining mixture. Seal bag; smush around so the chicken gets thoroughly coated. Refrigerate 1 hour.

Heat a grill pan over high heat. Brush off extra sauce from the chicken and discard. Cook chicken, in batches if necessary, turning occasionally, until browned, about 20 minutes. Continue cooking, brushing with reserved marinade, until chicken is cooked through, 15-25 minutes longer.

Serves 5.

Krabby Patties

Big time risk for our families this month - Crab Cakes - of course we have renamed it to Krabby Patties to make them kid friendly!

Here's the recipe from recipezaar:

Crab Cakes
1 lb crabmeat (fresh or canned)
1/3 cup breadcrumbs (I use Italian seasoned)
3 green onions (finely chopped both green & white parts)
1/2 cup red bell peppers (finely chopped)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 egg
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 dash cayenne pepper
flour, for dusting
1/2 cup olive oil

Whole Grain Mustard Remoulade
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon stone ground mustard
1 tablespoon lemon juice

For Crab Cakes:.
Mix all ingredients, except flour& oil in a large bowl.
Shape into patties and dust with flour.
NOTE: Can be frozen at this point.
Heat oil in a large skiiet over medium heaat.
When oil is hot, carefully place crab cakes, in batches,& fry until browned.
About 4- 5 minutes.
Carefully flip crab cakes and fry on other side until golden brown, about 4 minutes.
Serve with Whole Grain Mustard Remoulade or favorite sauce.
--------------------------------
For Whole Grain Mustard Remoulade:.
Combine all ingredients and serve with cakes.
--------------------------------
If cakes were frozen, heat in 350 degree oven until desired warmness is achieved.
(Approximately 15 minutes).

January Exchange

Here is what we are preparing for our January Exchange-we will post recipes.

Janet:
Greek Goddess
China in a Pot (Soup)
Lasagna

Jen:
Steak Soup
Rosemary Roasted Chicken & Potatoes
Brisket

Teressa:
Chicken & Cheese Soup
Cordon Blue Roll
Apple Butter Glazed Chicken

Tina:
Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
Crab Cakes
Pork Fritters

Misti:
Broccoli Cheese Coup
Chicken Enchiladas
Southwest Pasta Bake