April Meal Plans

Misti:

Pecan Crusted Chicken with Honey Pecan Sauce
Pulled Pork Chili
Maple Chicken and Ribs

• Misti-all white meat
• Tina-all dark meat
• Janet-mixed
• Teressa-mixed
• Jen-mixed

Tina:

Brandied Bacony Chicken

Pecan Stuffed Hamburger wrapped with Bacon

Marlboro Man Sandwiches

Janet:

Pizza Casserole

Shepherd's Pie

Sweet and Spicy Chicken

Jen:

Cajun Pork Burgers

Beef Taquitos

Italian Mac & Cheese

Teressa:

Turkey and Noodles

Chicken Creole

Mexican Pizza

March Exchange

The secretary is back at work :-)

Misti:

Bleu Cheese, Walnut & Mushroom Stuffed Chicken:
Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, pour mushroom sauce over chicken and bake for an additional 30 minutes.

Spaghetti Pie:
Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly.

Reuben Casserole:
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes covered. Uncover and bake for an additional 20 minutes until bubbly.

Janet:
Beef Pot Pie- I believe Janet's exact words regarding this dish was "I'm pretty sure you put it in the oven & cook it!" Bake at 350 degrees until toasty on top.

Pizza: 2 pizza, bake in oven at 350 degrees until the cheese melts.

Weeknight Cheeseburger Bake:
350 degrees until bubbly.

Teressa:
Polynesian Honey Pineapple Chicken: 3 breast/bag in marinade.
Thaw and grill.

Glazed Baby Carrots: 1 bag with OJ glaze and 1 bag with Pineapple glaze.
Thaw, bring to boil. Cook for 20 minutes covered. Might want to add 1 T cornstarch to thicken the sauce.

Chicken with Cider and Bacon Sauce: 6 breast pounded flat.
Thaw and reheat covered in the microwave.

Steak Fajita Kits: Everything you need to make fajitas.

Jen:
Cowboy Baked Beans: 1 2 qt bowl.
Thaw and reheat. Serve with cornbread.

Farmer's Casserole:
Thaw and Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly. MUST THAW FIRST!

BBQ Cups: Thaw and Reheat.

BBQ Brisket: Thaw and reheat.

Tina:

Bacon Wrapped Chicken:
Thaw and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Last 5 minutes cook under broiler until bacon is crispy.

Buttermilk Herbed Chicken:
Thaw and grill.

Grandma's Secret:
Add corn. Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly.

Honey Pork Chops:
Thaw and pan sear.

Polynesian Honey-Pineapple Chicken

Recipezaar Recipe #61981

1/2 cup pineapple juice (unsweetened)
1/4 cup honey
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger (or 1 tsp. ground)
1 teaspoon salt
12 chicken drumsticks or chicken thighs (or a combination, approx. 3 lbs. or any other meaty chicken pieces)

For marinade, in sauce pan combine pineapple juice, honey, worcestershire sauce, garlic, ginger& salt.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat.
Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes or until marinade mixture is reduced 1/4 (approx.).
Cool to room temperature.
Place chicken pieces in a plastic bag or shallow dish.
Pour in marinade & marinate chicken at least 6 hours or up to 24 hours.

Drain chicken pieces, reserving marinade.
Cook chicken on covered medium heat grill (indirect heat) for 40 to 45 minutes or until chicken is tender& no longer pink, brushing occasionally with reserved marinade for the first 30 minutes.

Freezer Chicks instructions: You each get three enormous (Misti-six smaller) raw breasts (with bone and skin) in marinade. I wish I would have changed the recipe to boneless/skinless--but I'm still learning! Thaw and proceed with the instructions above.

Chicken With Cider and Bacon Sauce

Recipezaar Recipe #240820

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 slices bacon, chopped
1/4 cup onions, minced
3/4 cup apple cider
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth

Flatten each chicken breast half to 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle evenly with salt and pepper.
Cook bacon in large nonstick skillet over med heat til crisp. Remove bacon from pan. Add chicken to drippings; cook 6 min on each side or til cooked through. Remove chicken from pan and keep warm.
Add onion to pan; cook 2 min or til tender. Add cider and broth; bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Cook til reduced to 1/2 c (about 5 min). Stir in cooked bacon and serve sauce over chicken.

From Cooking Light.

Freezer Chicks instructions: You each have six fully cooked chicken breasts with sauce in a bag. The instructions are thaw and reheat, but be careful to keep covered whatever method you use so the the breasts don't get too dry.

Glazed Baby Carrots - Dump OAMC

Recipezaar Recipe #255213

1 lb carrots
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried dill
1/4 teaspoon salt
At cooktime:
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Combine in a freezer container and mix.
Seal, removing as much air as possible. Freeze.
Defrost. Pour into small saucpan and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until your carrots are tender.
Add cornstarch, stirring constantly. Simmer 2 minutes longer or until sauce thickens.
If cooking for small children or other picky eaters, leave out the dill and add a bit more sugar.

Freezer Chicks instructions: No dill! You have one bag (1 lb. carrots) of these with oj and another marked "polynesian" with the pineapple juice I had left over from the Polynesian Honey-Pineapple Chicken. Misti--I'll trade with you if you want two of the same kind to feed your family at one meal.

Freeze Ahead Steak Fajitas

Recipezaar Recipe #51115

25 min | 15 min prep | 6 fajitas
1 lb sirloin steaks
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon salad oil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 cloves garlic, crushed
6 flour tortillas
1 package mixed vegetables, frozen (fajita blend)
1/2 cup salsa
1 avocado, cut into cubes
1 tomato, cut into cubes
fresh cilantro

Place steak in quart-sized freezer bag; combine lime juice, white wine vinegar, salad oil, oregano, and crushed garlic cloves; add to meat.
Freeze.
To bundle: Steak/marinade mixture; flour tortillas; frozen vegetables.
To prepare: Thaw steak in marinade.
Remove steak and pan-sear in hot pan.
Cook until medium rare; remove from pan.
In the same pan, add frozen vegetables and marinade; cover and cook until vegetables are crisp-tender.
While vegetables are cooking, slice meat into thin slices against the grain.
Add to cooked vegetables.
Add salsa to meat and vegetables; heat through.
To serve, spoon into warmed flour tortilla; garnish with avocado cubes, chopped tomato or fresh cilantro.

Freezer Chicks instructions: Each of you has a kit for 9 fajitas (1.5 lbs. meat). The meat is presliced so you'll need to adapt the recipe a little--cook for a shorter time. The kits include tortillas and cheese.

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!

More than just dinner in the freezer....

Last Friday I received some excellent news from my husband. He received a great job for a major corporation that he has always wanted to work for! But this great news was ended with some sad news for our family. We will have to move away from the home town that we love so much. In the past few days my emotions have gone up and down from extreme happiness to absolute grief over some of the impending losses. While I look forward to the new adventure there are some things that I feel may never be replaced in my life. I trust that God has a plan for the next steps in my life and will bring new and joyous experiences for our family.

Today I am going to go to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients to cook for this month's exchange. As I began the process that I do each month I started to feel very sad that in a few months everything is going to change. Including how I prepare dinner. I didn't want to get busy and let the feeling pass me by. I decided that now is the time to say some of the things that I have felt about this group rather than putting it off because of fear that I might sound sappy.

My adventure with co-op freezer cooking began about two years ago. I had joined a group because a friend of a friend had an opening. I was excited since I had been freezer cooking on my own and really wanted to "up the game" a bit. Eventually this group evolved into the group that maintains this blog. Every month we get together over lunch and plan our exchange for the next month. It is more than just a meal exchange! We enjoy each other's company, so much so that hours can pass with barely a notice. We laugh about the food disasters from the past months, we praise each other for a job well done, and we all get excited over a new and different recipe. Our love for reading cookbooks connects us together! We talk about our families and how our lives are going. Not a month passes by that I don't look forward to our meetings and our time together.

This is so much more than a club. Maybe this is true of the many other groups that have been meeting as long as we have? I don't know for sure. But I do know that what this group has is very special and I will treasure the last months of cooking for these wonderful ladies.

I'm writing this not only to say what I feel needs to be said to them, but also so that everyone reading this blog might be inspired to reach outside their own comfort zone and try something like a freezer cooking co-op. You may find yourself with a new group of friends. I hope to find a way to put together a new group in my new hometown. Look out, I may just ask YOU! :)

I love you, chicks! Thanks for making dinner for my family for all these years! :)

Night at the Improv...

It looks like you have a lot of great recipe posts to read today. Apparently, all the freezerchicks have time to blog! My post includes a recipe, but you really might not want to try it.

Do you ever just improvise and the disaster becomes notorious? Well, I seem to have a streak of these lately. But last night was the ultimate disaster!

My kids love my homemade mac-n-cheese. We are snobby stove top only mac-n-cheese eaters here, so the request comes quite often. I thought I had enough american cheese to pull it off and checked my supply, there wasn't enough. I had already started the elbow mac, so I became desperate, at this point I was craving the mac-n-cheese and like a good addict will tell you - I was going to do anything to get that cheesy fix.

NACHO CHEESE SAUCE

Yup that's right, I had a can of that fancy pants nacho cheese sauce left over from New Years that I thought would work to get that creamy sensation!!! So I added the cheese (is it really cheese?) and some milk to make it creamier. VOILA!

It was horrible. That jalepeno after burn taste just ruined the perfect creamy sensation. My daughter and I thought maybe we could add some SLAP YA MOMMA spice to it (yes that's the name, it came from a friend in Louisiana my daughter loves it on her mac sometimes). It killed the taste for the most part, but the whole dish was just wrong. I may be taken off mac-n-cheese duty for a while.

Dump Honey Sesame Pork Chops

Dump Honey Sesame Pork Chops

½ cup beer
3 Tablespoons sesame seeds
3 Tablespoons honey
2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon pepper
2 cloves crushed garlic
about 3 pounds pork chops or pork loin

mix all indgredients and put in a freezer bag. Freeze.

dump into the crockpot and cook on low for 6 hours.

Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti

Chicken Spaghetti
From Diana Rattray, Your Guide to Southern Food. (altered for the freezer)

INGREDIENTS:
4 to 6 chicken breasts, cooked, reserve broth
1 bell pepper. green or combination, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes, (with green chiles), I drained the rotel
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 package shredded cheddar cheese, (16 ounces)
1 package spaghetti, (16 ounces) --save for serving day


PREPARATION for freezer:
Place chicken in a crockpot with chicken broth and cook on low for about 6 hours. When chicken is cooked, shred or chop.
In a plastic freezer bag add chicken, onion & green peppers, soups, Ro-Tel, and stewed tomatoes and cheese. I then stirred it with a spoon (in the bag), sealed the bag, and squished it a little more to mix it up.

On serving day: Thaw the sauce. Boil the spaghetti, drain. Mix sauce and spaghetti together and bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes or until the sauce thickens and is bubbly.

This method works great if you have to make a number of batches. If you would just like to make one I suggest you check out the original recipe at: About.com

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).

Misti's December Meal Preps

Salisbury Steaks with Brown Gravy:
6 "steaks", thaw
In a skillet over medium heat, cook patties, a few at a time, until browned on both sides, spoon off fat. Cover with brown gravy. Serve with....

Freezer Mashed Potatoes: 2 8x8 pans of mashed potatoes.
Dot with butter. Reheat in oven or defrost, remove from pan & reheat in microwave oven.

Cashew Chicken:
Reheat. Add cashews to mixture. Serve with rice.

Beef and Broccoli Calzone: I followed the recipe and didn't cook the calzones. I was going to bake them half way through the cooking process but I didn't want to stay up all night waiting for them to rise, etc. So here is the cooking instructions:
Thaw overnight in refrigerator. Unwrap calzone and place on cookie sheet. Loosely cover with plastic wrap to prevent drying. Allow to rise, but not double. Cook 20-30 minutes in a 350 degree oven until golden. Slice and serve.