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!!!

Enchilada Lasagna

Ingredients

• 1 pound lean ground turkey
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 large green pepper, chopped
• 1 small sweet red pepper, chopped
• 1 package (8 ounces) fat-free cream cheese
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 can (10 ounces) enchilada sauce
• 6 whole wheat flour tortillas (8 inches)
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded reduced-fat Mexican cheese blend
• Salsa and sour cream, optional

Directions

• In a large skillet, cook the turkey, onion and peppers over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in cream cheese and chili powder.
• Pour enchilada sauce in a shallow bowl. Dip tortillas in sauce to coat. Place two tortillas in a 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish coated with cooking spray; spread with half of the turkey mixture. Sprinkle with 1/3 cup cheese. Repeat layers. Top with remaining tortillas and cheese.
• Cover and freeze for up to 3 months or bake, uncovered, at 400° for 20-25 minutes or until heated through and cheese is melted. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with salsa and sour cream if desired.
• To use frozen lasagna: Thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Bake as directed. Yield: 8 servings.

Nutritional Facts1 piece (calculated without salsa and sour cream) equals 282 calories, 11 g fat (3 g saturated fat), 57 mg cholesterol, 697 mg sodium, 27 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 22 g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 2 lean meat, 1-1/2 starch, 1 fat.

Recipe found here:

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Enchilada-Lasagna-3

This is the recipe I am planning on making for the March 16 get together!

Chicken Taco Soup

1 onion, chopped
1 (16 ounce) can chili beans
1 (15 ounce) can black beans
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer (or broth)
2 (10 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning
1-3 whole skinless, boneless chicken breasts or thighs
shredded Cheddar cheese (optional garnish after cooking)
sour cream (optional garnish after cooking)
crushed tortilla chips (optional garnish after cooking)
Combine all ingredients into a Ziploc bag. Freeze. Thaw and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Shred chicken in crock pot once cooking is done. Serve topped with shredded Cheddar cheese, a dollop of sour cream, and crushed tortilla chips, if desired. Served approx. 5-6 people.

Recipe from Loving My Nest

Hope you enjoy this as much as we did! But be warned, it's pretty spicy (we eat ours with brown rice).

Cheers,
Patience

Italian Chicken Soup

Hi all, here's the Italian Chicken Soup recipe. Unless a lot of people request the stirfry I think I'll bring this in March.

1 t olive oil
2 sweet Italian sausage links with skin removed
1T dried minced onion
1/8 t garlic powder (heaping)
1/4 c dried barley
1/2 c dried green lentils
1/4 c dried garbanzo beans
1/2 breast chicken
1T dried parsley
1 1/2 chicken buillion cubes
1/2 (12 oz) bag of frozen spinach

Freeze

To prepare defrost. Add 3 1/2 c water. Cook 6-8 hrs. Add 1/2 c salsa.

Spinach Lasagna Rolls

for our february share i made spinach lasagna rolls. i got this recipe from skinnytaste.com. you can click on the site link or look below for their posting. i increased the number of rolls from 9 to 12 for the freezer meals (maybe because i'm eating for two right now so i wanted more food...yea, i'm going to go with that). so that meant increasing the other ingredients a little also.

i did learn that while this is a simple recipe for doing a few meals at a time.....i DO NOT recommend making more than a few recipes in one setting. cooking the noodles is very time consuming for doing that. limit it to 2-4 recipes in one setting. your back and feet will thank you later. :) also, we did not make sure that all the noodles were dry before slapping the filling on them and rolling them up. i think we stopped doing this after the first couple recipes when the back and feet were starting to voice their unhappiness with us.

i will be honest that you all are guinea pigs with this recipe so i hope it worked out well!!

Spinach Lasagna Rolls

Spinach Lasagna Rolls
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 9 • Serving Size: 1 roll • Old Points: 4 pts • Points+: 6 ww pts
Calories: 224.9 • Fat: 5.1 g • Fiber: 3.4 g • Protein: 13.0 g • Carbs: 31.5

Ingredients:

• 9 lasagna noodles, cooked
• 10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and completely drained
• 15 oz fat free ricotta cheese (I like Polly-o)
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 egg
• salt and fresh pepper
• 32 oz tomato sauce
• 9 tbsp (about 3 oz) part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine spinach, ricotta, Parmesan, egg, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Ladle about 1 cup sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 12 baking dish.

Place a piece of wax paper on the counter and lay out lasagna noodles. Make sure noodles are dry. Take 1/3 cup of ricotta mixture and spread evenly over noodle. Rollcarefully and place seam side down onto the baking dish. Repeat with remaining noodles.

Ladle sauce over the noodles in the baking dish and top each one with 1 tbsp mozzarella cheese. Put foil over baking dish and bake for 40 minutes, or until cheese melts. Makes 9 rolls.

To serve, ladle a little sauce on the plate and top with lasagna roll.