Pineapple Barbeque Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

Recipe adapted from Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients: 

1 ½  pounds boneless skinless chicken breast, thighs or combination of both (I used breast)

1 cup chopped onion (small dice)

½ can (20 Oz. Size) crushed pineapple (drained, juice reserved)

1/3 cup reserved pineapple juice

2 cups BBQ Sauce Of Your Choice (I used Sweet Baby Rays)

Whole wheat sandwich buns

To Freeze: Place all ingredients in a gallon size freezer bag. Seal and freeze!

To Prepare: Thaw overnight. Empty contents of bag into crockpot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, high 4-5 hours.  1-2 hours before done, remove chicken and shred. Return chicken to crockpot and stir. Finish cooking. This will allow the chicken to soak up the sauce.

To Serve: Serving size is approximately ½ cup on bun, top with coleslaw if desired.

Classic Coleslaw:

1/2 cup nonfat Greek-style yogurt, or 2/3 cup regular plain nonfat yogurt

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon honey

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 bag shredded coleslaw mix (16 oz)

Note: We found the flavor for both the chicken and coleslaw better the next day!

MORE Casserole

MORE Casserole

 

 

Ingredients

1-1  ½ Lbs Ground Beef

1 Large Onion, or a T of Dried Onion

Box of Your Choice of Noodles, we like Elbow Macaroni Best

1-2  Large Jars of Your Favorite Spaghetti Sauce

1 Can of Corn, undrained

1 Small Can of Black Olives, Sliced

2 C Grated Cheese, of your choice

 

Directions:

1. Brown together Beef and Onion. Season with Salt and Pepper. Drain grease, set aside.

2. Cook in Large Pan the noodles of your choice until done.  Drain and Rinse.

3. Return cooked noodles to large pan. ; add cooked ground beef and onion.

4. Add the remaining ingredients to the mixture.

5. Stir all together; Put Grated Cheese on Top.

 

***AT THIS POINT YOU CAN SIMPLY COVER AND FREEZE FOR A LATER DATE***

6. Cover and Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes, uncovered, until cheese is melted.

Chicken Rigatoni

Ingredients:

1 lb of chicken (boil and shredded into small pieces)
1 lb of rigatoni noodles (boil until al dente)
1 jar of pasta sauce (24 oz)
3 teaspoon parsley
2 teaspoon basil
1/4 cup whipping cream
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 cup cheese of choice (I used mozzarella)

Cook chicken and rigatoni noodles.  Combine chicken, pasta sauce, parsley, basil and whipping cream in bowl. Mix and then add in noodles.  Dump pasta mixture into a 9 x 13 pan. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and other type of cheese. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes. Enjoy

Garlic Ranch Chicken

1 FAMILY
4 Breasts of chicken
1 package of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing packets
1 c. milk
1 c. mayonnaise
2 Tbsp dried minced garlic

To simplify this recipe and make it more frugal simply use one bottle your favorite FREE Ranch Dressing from your stockpile and add 2 T of minced garlic. (I didn't do this for my recipe, but you could try it). 


TO FREEZE
In gallon-sized baggie combine ingredients, except chicken. In separate, small bag, place approx. ½ c. of mixture, for basting if you are going to grill.  Place chicken in remaining mixture in gallon-size bag.

TO PREPARE AFTER FREEZING
Thaw large bag enough to get small bag out and place small bag in fridge, while allowing chicken to continue to thaw. Grill or broil chicken. In last few minutes of grilling chicken, baste chicken breasts with mixture from small bag.

Read more at http://fabulesslyfrugal.com/2009/03/fabuless-freezer-cooking-garlic-ranch.html#OCb6TbxwgC8Lsece.99

Pizza Kit

The great thing about pizza kits is mixing and matching doughs, toppings and sauces that you like best! I included our family's favorites. Let me know how this worked out for you. What is the old standby in your house?!

In the Kit

·       Dough: Makes 2 medium thin crust pizzas or 1 large thin crust or 1 deep dish medium pizza

·       Sauce: Crushed tomatoes w basil, onion, garlic

·       Topping: Mozzarella cheese

·       Topping: Pepperoni

·       Topping: Spinach, tomato, parmesan, onion, garlic mix

Servings: 6-8, 2 slices per serving

Cost per kit: approx. $4.70 (most ingredients bought in bulk not including freezer bags) 

Whole Wheat Herbed Pizza Dough

(adapted - a small change :-) from  Once A Month Mom)

Ingredients:

•   3 cups white whole wheat flour

•   1 teaspoon salt

•   1 teaspoon garlic powder

•   1 teaspoon Italian seasonings

•   1 cup warm water (105-110 degrees)

•   1 teaspoon honey

•   1 tablespoon dry active yeast

•   2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, garlic powder, and Italian seasonings. In a graduated measuring cup stir together warm water, honey, yeast, and olive oil. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until a stiff dough forms. Turn out on a lightly floured surface and knead about 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic. (You can also use a stand mixer or food processor with a dough attachment.) Divide dough in half and allow to rest for 15-20 minutes. Roll out dough on a sheet of parchment paper or a pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal. Then use as directed in recipes or add your favorite toppings, and bake at 500 degrees on a preheated pizza stone for 7-10 minutes. Crust should be lightly browned and cheese will be bubbly

Freezing Directions:

Prepare as directed above, but skip resting period. Wrap with two sheets of plastic wrap. Store in freezer bag. To serve: Thaw in refrigerator overnight or at room temperature for 3 hours. Preheat oven and baking stone at 500 degrees. Roll out dough on a piece of parchment paper or a pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal. Add desired toppings. Transfer to preheated baking stone and bake at 500 degrees for 7-10 minutes or until crust is browned and cheese is bubbly.

*Notes: 

1. This dough isn’t very crispy so if you prefer a crispier crust I recommend rolling out the dough, spreading a thin layer of olive oil and par-baking it for 3 minutes at 500 degrees. Top as desired and bake directly on the oven rack so the bottom can crisp.

2. Freeze the dough immediately. If you don't, it will begin to rise and BUST through your plastic wrap!

3. You can roll out your dough and par-bake your crust as described in note 1 wrap and freeze that. It works very well! Homemade Boboli crusts :-)

Avgolemono Chicken Soup

I am bringing a bag of soup and a bag of rice.   To serve after it has been frozen, defrost the soup - (either in the fridge or a sink full of hot water).  Heat in a saucepan on med-low (Do not Boil!) Open the rice about a fourth of the way and heat in microwave for 3 minutes.  Add to soup - enjoy when warm.

Makes 4-6 Servings

4 cups chicken broth (2 cans) or 4 cups water and 4 chicken bouillion cubes
1/2 pound chicken breast
2 large eggs
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 (10 ounce) box frozen chopped spinach, thawed
2 cups hot cooked rice
Pepper, to taste

1. In a large saucepan, bring the stock and chicken to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the chicken is cooked through, 5-7 min.  Remove the chicken and, when cool enough to handle, shred into bite-size pieces.

2.  In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs and lemon juice until frothy; gradually whisk in 1 cup of the hot stock.

3.  Add the spinach to the stock in the saucepan; bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low; stir in the rice.  Slowly add the egg-stock mixture, whisking constantly to avoid curdling; continue whisking until thickened, 3 minutes (DO NOT BOIL).  Stir in the chicken ahd heat to serving temperature.  Season with pepper and serve.

Nutrition info:  (1/4 of soup - which is a lot!): 261 cal, 7 g fat, 28 g Carb, 2 g Fib, 22 g Prot

My family has been eating this soup for years - it's one of our favorites! 

Veggie Pasta Shells

Freeze these jumbo stuffed shells either in a casserole covered with sauce, or freeze the individual shells in small bags without the sauce. That way you can take out one or two and zap in the microwave for a fast lunch.

Ingredients:24 uncooked jumbo pasta shells

·                        2 tablespoons olive oil

·                        1 carrot, minced

·                        1 (8-ounce) package mushrooms, chopped

·                        1 onion, finely chopped

·                        2 cups part-skim ricotta cheese

·                        1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

·                        1 egg

·                        1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

·                        1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning

·                        1 (28-ounce) jar spaghetti sauce

·                        1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation:

Cook pasta according to package directions. Rinse, drain, and let cool.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add carrot, mushrooms, and onion and cook and stir until tender, about 6-8 minutes. Combine with ricotta, mozzarella, egg, and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese in a large bowl. Stir in Italian seasoning. Fill each cooked and cooled shell with this cheese mixture.

Pour 1/2 cup of the spaghetti sauce in the bottom of a 9x13" baking pan. Arrange stuffed shells in a single layer on the sauce. Pour remaining sauce over top. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.

To freeze, refrigerate at this point until cold. Then wrap, label, and freeze up to 3 months. To thaw and reheat, thaw whole casserole overnight in refrigerator. Bake as directed below, adding 15-20 minutes to baking time. To thaw and reheat individual shells, microwave on 40% power for 2-4 minutes until thawed. Then microwave on 60% power for 1-3 minutes until hot and bubbly.

To bake immediately, cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Then uncover and bake for 10-15 minutes longer or until hot and bubbly.

Note: This is a cooking recipe, which means that ingredient amounts do not have to be precise. Use the carrot, potato, and onion you have on hand. Just use common sense.

****The Recipe that I FINALLY decided on for March!! It really is SO YUMMY!!!