BBQ Pork Sandwiches

 

Barbecued pork sandwiches are so easily made in the slow cooker.

Ingredients:

1 boneless pork shoulder roast, about 2 1/2 to 3 pounds

1 cup chopped onion

1 bottle (12 ounces) barbecue sauce, your favorite

3 to 4 tablespoons honey, or to taste

sandwich rolls

Preparation:

Place pork roast in a lightly greased 3 1/2 to 5-quart slow cooker. Combine onion, barbecue sauce, honey, and pour over roast. Cover and cook on LOW setting for 7 to 9 hours. Serve on buns. Delicious with beans and coleslaw!

Recipe from Deanna (thanks!)

Pizza dough

The girls went to cooking class and made pizza. They loved it so much we have made it twice since then already!  It is quickly becoming a Friday tradition.  So I thought I would share the recipe.

Mix:

2 ½ - 3 c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

Develop yeast and then add to flour:

1 c. warm water

1 packet or scant Tbsp. active dry yeast (or instant, your choice)

1 Tbsp. sugar

Add to flour w/yeast:

2 - 4 Tbsp. olive oil

Knead dough adding just enough extra flour to have a tacky, but not sticky dough. (A little bit sticky in feel, but does not stick on your hand.) Oil the dough and let rise until double. After first rising you are ready to assemble pizza in any way you like. Bake in hot oven (500 degrees) for about 10 minutes, on a stone if you like, but on a baking sheet works just as well.

*Tip for when using a stone (or baking sheet) - If you use parchment paper it is easier to transfer the pizza in and out of the oven and makes clean up a breeze, too!

homemade chicken nuggets

From the whole foods market website - copied here for simplicity when I need to find the recipe again!

Serves 4

This recipe is perfect for teaching young children how to cook. You can do the cutting then help the kids do the rest. (Make sure they wash their hands thoroughly after handling raw chicken!)

Ingredients

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2-inch chunks
1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt
Cooking spray
2 cups crushed corn flakes
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
1/4 cup honey mustard sauce for dipping

Method

Preheat oven to 375°F. Put chicken and yogurt in a medium bowl, toss to coat, cover and chill for 1 hour or overnight.
Grease a large baking sheet with cooking spray; set aside. Put corn flakes, parsley, salt and pepper into a large, resealable plastic bag and shake to combine. Working with a few pieces at a time, drop chicken into bag, seal and shake to coat; transfer chicken to prepared baking sheet as done.
Bake chicken until crunchy on the outside and cooked through, about 25 minutes. Serve with honey mustard on the side for dipping.

Nutrition

Per serving (about 5oz/136g-wt.): 220 calories (35 from fat), 4g total fat, 1g saturated fat, 65mg cholesterol, 630mg sodium, 22g total carbohydrate (1g dietary fiber, 8g sugar), 26g protein

 

Notes:  The girls had fun crushing the corn flakes in the bag. We put the mix into a bowl for them to coat the chicken rather than using the bag. I missed the part of the recipe that said to let the yogurt stay on the chicken for an hour (or overnight). Our yogurt was on for about 5 minutes!  The chicken was a little peppery at the end when many of the seasonings were in it so I will use less next time (we had much more than 1/2 tsp though... Rachel turned the pepper over with it in the open position).  Rachel even ate it with the "green stuff" (parsley) since she put it in the bag!

Blue Bayou Potatoes

Blue Bayou Au Gratin Potatoes
Potatoes (baking) 3 lbs, peeled and thin sliced
Onion, thin sliced
Cream Sauce for the Potatoes:
Manufacturing Cream (Heavy Cream) 2 cups
Whole Thyme (dry) 1/4 tsp.
Fresh Garlic (chopped) 2 tbs.
Salt 1-1/4 tsp.
Pepper 1-1/4 tsp
Butter 1 tbs.
Parmesan Cheese (grated) 4 oz
Mix onions and potatoes and put into baking dish. Mix cream, garlic, salt, pepper, and thyme leaves. Pour mixture over potatoes and onions and cover. Put in a pre-heated 350F degree oven, and bake for about one hour. When potatoes are tender, remove from oven and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Put back in the oven uncovered and bake for ten minutes more until brown.

 

Recipe found on-line (unknown location). Although you can ask a chef for the recipe while at Disneyland.

withdrawal???

maybe we just really miss Disneyland or is it withdrawal?  Either way these pancakes helped fill the void to tide us over until our next visit... just a few short weeks away.

we miss you Mickey!

First Day of School, Breakfast and Lunch and a Freebie Desktop on Friday.

While I know I usually save everything for Mondays I just had to show off these pictures of Rebecca at Sneek a Peek and on her first day of School.  We start school early here - on a modified traditional, so we get a two week break in October, December and March and then get out in early June.

And then here is her first day pictures:

 

 

and there she goes... we had to stay outside and say goodbye there. No tears from either of us - she was so excited to go, how could I not be excited for her.

Here is a picture at the door from when she went to preschool last year.

Look how much she has grown in the last year! She is taller than the top lock now!

She had a great time and said she learned "everything". Her teacher is great, has been teaching at the school awhile and everyone I talk to says they love her! We are so excited.

When talking with her teacher this morning she said that Rebecca needs to listen better, when asked to do something. We will be working on that more at home. It was good to know though that I am not the only one she does not listen to!

This will be an exciting year - can't wait to see how much Rebecca grows and learns this year.

Lunches: The first day she wanted a lunchable - done (it was in the fridge for emergencies) that was easy! When she came home yesterday she promptly told me, after I asked how lunch was, I want a sandwich, peanut butter - cut in 1/2 in a ziploc bag for lunch tomorrow. Not to hard either I can do that! We do have the menu for school lunches and I will be adding some $ into her account so she can get hot lunch on the "good" days!

Breakfast: She hasn't quite adjusted to eating so early and so soon after waking up yet. We usually didn't have breakfast until 9:30 or 10 so 7:35 is EARLY!  She has been having cereal but I got a great recipe from a friend over at ScrapMatters for a homemade Egg McMuffin in about 3 minutes!  Simply put an english muffin in the toaster, get out an egg - scramble it up in a round dish (I use a small corning wear - you want the dish about the same size as the muffin) and microwave for 1 minute. While it is cooking get out a piece of cheese. Retoast the muffin (I like it a little crispy) and then get the egg out. I dump my egg onto a cutting board and put the cheese slice on it right then to help it melt. When the english muffin is done simply put the egg and cheese in between. Done! It is so yummy and pretty darn healthy too.

Here is the only picture I have of it (from the phone), it looks good - but looks even better in person!

Quick, easy and healthy breakfast/lunches work for me! I would love to hear some of your quick, easy and healthy breakfasts and lunches.

One last little note... I created this desktop for  you guys... it will be available on Friday on Chelle's blog -- come back here Friday for the link to it and all you have to do is put your own pictures behind the holes in your photo editing program! Save and put on your computer desktop.

For my family - if you want one with our girls in it just leave a comment and let me know and I will e-mail it to you.

COMING FRIDAY!!!
 
COMING FRIDAY!!!!

If you would like to see other things that work for people... check out We are THAT family for Works for Me Wednesday.

161/365

 

Easy Beef Stroganoff

Here is the recipe from our meal on Tuesday.

Use the Make Ahead Ground Beef recipe (I freeze just the ground beef and then when wanting to cook a recipe with it I defrost and add the stuff). You can have it all ready mixed with the first set of ingredients and put in the freezer. I choose to have more options available, and not be restricted to how the pound of browned ground beef will be used.

Combine in skillet/fry pan:

1 portion Make Ahead Ground Beef
8oz. sliced mushrooms
1 can (10 3/4 oz) condensed cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cup water
1 tsp. ground paprika
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Once heated:

Stir in 8oz. sour cream into beef mixture.

While cooking meat mixture, cook 1 lb. of egg noodles and drain.

Toss with 1/4c. snipped fresh parsley and 2 Tbsp. melted butter.

Spoon stroganoff over noodles and sprinkle with additional paprika and parsley, if desired.

Yield: 6 servings

(Recipe from Pampered Chef)

My notes:
I ommited the mushrooms (we don't really like them).
I did 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup milk - it was to thick for us.
I skipped the parsley all together (didn't have it) and also the melted butter - our noodles were plain, but our sauce was thinner to spread over all the noodles.

This has already been asked to add into rotation (our rotation is every 5-6 weeks) or he gets sick of it and won't eat it again.

Perfectly Easy Dinner Rolls (turned wheat)

My new favorite recipe! I have made these each week for the past 2-3 weeks (which says something as I have not been very happy with some of the rolls/bread I have made).

This recipe came from those recipe cards that come in the mail. This one says its from Easy to Bake, Easy to Make.

This is exactly as it is written on the card - see below for the modifications I make.

Ingredients:
1c. warm water
2 packages active dry yeast (1 pkg = 2 1/4 tsp or slightly less than 1 tablespoon) -- NOT RAPID RISE
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp salt
4-4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
Additional melted butter - optional

Directions:

Combine the warm water and yeast in a large bowl. Let the mixture stand until yeast is foamy, about 5 minutes.

Stir in butter, sugar, eggs and salt, Beat in flour, 1 cup at a time, until dough is too stiff to mix (some flour may not be needed). Cover and refrigerate 2 hours or up to 4 days.

Grease a 13x9 inch baking pan. Turn the chilled dough out onto a lightly floured board. Divide dough into 24 equal sized pieces. Roll each peice into a smooth round ball; place balls in even rows in the prepared pan. Cover and let dough balls rise until doubled in volume, about 2 hour.

Preheat over to 375F. Bake until rolls are golden brown, 15-20 minutes. Brush warm rolls with melted butter if desired. Break rolls apart to serve.

MODIFICATIONS:

I double the batch and get about 32 rolls total (I make them in two batches of 16). The pictures show this being mixed by hand - I use my Kitchen Aid. I do the yeast in my mixer bowl then gather the other ingredients - melt the butter (of which I only use 9/10ths of one stick for the double recipe) the other 1/10th I use to rub on the top after its done baking (I don't melt it just rub it on -- it will melt right away!) I use 5 eggs total for the double batch and I also use 1/2 wheat flour and 1/2 white flour (I start right away with 4 cups wheat and then add the white flour one cup at a time - I usually just stop at 4 cups as I did 5 one time and they were to dense. Also this dough will NOT look like traditional non sticky bread dough - it is still VERY sticky but I have tried it and it is OK! I cover the bowl when done and the next morning usually I make 1/2 of them up and then 2-3 days later do the other half (these are better fresh out of the oven).  To get my rolls to rise I usually turn to oven on - when it is about 110-120 I turn it off and put them in with the door cracked a little. Once it is not so warm in there I do usually shut the door, they rise up great in this cooler weather. Once summer comes I wouldn't have to do this.

Let me know if you try this recipe out - we love it! It is the first time I have made "wheat" bread/rolls that was fluffy and not so dense.

Curry Chicken Salad with Fruit

So today on the menu I had Chicken Salad, but I didn't know exactly what I was going to do. My grandma was coming for lunch so I wanted something a little different, but not to different. She had shared a recipe with me awhile back but I couldn't find it in the computer, so I went searching for something similar. Boy am I glad I couldn't find that recipe because I found one just as good if not better.  It is called Fruited Curry Chicken Salad from allrecipes.com

Here is the recipe as I made it:

2 cups cooked and diced chicken

1 cup celery, chopped (about 2-3 stalks) -- I love celery

1/4 red onion, chopped small

1 small apple - peeled, cored and chopped

1/3 cup golden raisins

1/3 cup seedless grapes, halved (any color - red would add more color to it)

1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup yogurt

In a large salad bowl combine the chicken, celery, onion, apple, raisins, grapes, pecans, pepper, curry powder and mayonnaise. Mix all together, tossing to coat. Salad is ready to serve!

I served on some chopped up lettuce and put the pecans on top (rather than in the salad - kind of like a garnish).  Other things that would be good in the salad - depending on what you have available are pears, dried cranberries, regular raisins, dried (unsweetened) strawberries, walnuts, sliced almonds... oh I can't wait for the leftovers tomorrow.

Here is the complete meal we had Fruited Curry Chicken Salad, Cowboy Caviar with some Sparkling French Berry Lemonade from Trader Joe's. The Lemonade is kinda pricey ($2.99) but so worth a little treat now and then.

Cowboy Caviar

 

Ingredients
1 (15oz) can of black beans, rinsed
1(15 oz) can of black eyed peas
1 (17 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained or a 16oz bad of frozen corn I hate frozen corn!
2 large tomatoes, chopped
1 large avocado, diced
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Dressing
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
3-4 Tbsp lime juice (about 2 limes)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder (used slightly less)

Directions
1. Combine all ingredients in bowl.  For me I did all the top (except avocado - which I just had on top - so it wouldn't brown) and then did the dressing separate. When I do each serving I put the dressing on then.
2. Cover and chill.
3. Garnish with avocado slices and cilantro sprigs.
3. Serve with tortilla chips - most I ate with a spoon and then had an occasional chip.

I forgot to take a picture today when I made it but when I make another bowl tomorrow I will try to take one and edit this post with it.

Mexican Salad - Like El Toritos

To make this I simply use Romaine hearts -- cut up, tomato pieces, crumble some cojita cheese, sprinkle on roasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds - the insides) and then the dressing.

I got this recipe from cd kitchen, it is the copy kat dressing for ElToritos Mexican Salad Dressing.

The link SHOULD have it scaled to 2 (TWO). This will make enough salad dressing for 2 for a WEEK!!!!

It makes a very good amount of dressing - I usually give some to my mom or Angela and still have enough for me and the girls for a week!

Instead of the fresh anaheim chili's I use the diced green chili's in a can -- about 3/4 of a small can or 1/2 a large can. -- you can add more if needed and blend again.

When I make it, it always seems to need more water than what is called for (it is just way to thick) and it thickens later - so I generally have to mix it with a little more water each time I want to use it.

We use this as a salad dressing and also as a dip for carrots, cucumbers etc. I love cilantro so this dressing is right up my alley!

Let me know if you try it and like it.

***Cilantro Pepita Dressing:***
1 medium Anaheim chiles, roasted, peeled and seeded
1/6 cup roasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
1 garlic cloves, peeled
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 ounces salad oil
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
2 1/2 tablespoons grated Cotija cheese (see note)
1 small bunches cilantro, stemmed
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/8 cup water
Turn this recipe into a puzzle! [click]

Directions:

Place all dressing ingredients except cilantro, mayonnaise and water in a blender of food processor. Blend approximately 10 seconds, and then add cilantro little by little until blended smooth. Depending on size of blender, it may be necessary to do in batches.
Place mayonnaise and water in a large stainless steel bowl, and mix with a wire whip until smooth. Add the blended ingredients to the mayonnaise mixture, and mix thoroughly. Place in an airtight container and refrigerate. Will keep for three days. Yields 1 quart.

Note: Cotija cheese is a hard cheese, similar to Parmesan. It is available at some grocery stores and most Mexican markets.

Homemade Tacos

Well I don't make the shells from scratch but these are SO good! Something about mixing the beans and the meat together - one it stretches the meat even farther -- because everyone is getting beans and it makes everything easy to spread.

I will be using some hamburger meat that I browned and froze -- making this dinner even easier!

Krisi’s Homemade Tacos

Ingredients needed:
Ground turkey or beef – 1lb.
Taco Seasoning – 1pkt.
Refried Beans – 15 oz. Can
Water
Corn tortillas
Vegetable Oil
Lettuce
Tomato
Olives
Onion
Shredded Cheese (Mexican Blend)
Cilantro
Taco Bell Sauce (for Adam)
Sour Cream
Guacamole

Prep:

Meat/Beans: Brown, drain and rinse, add taco seasoning – mix thoroughly. Add beans to mixture with about 1/3^rd cup of water. Heat until desired temperature.

Tortillas: Heat oil in pan large enough for tortillas. Fry tortillas and shape into a “u” for a taco, until lightly browned and as crisp as desire. Place on paper towel to drain.

Lettuce: Shred

Tomatoes: Dice

Olives: Slice (or use pre-sliced)

Onion: Dice

Cheese: Open package

Cilantro: Chop

Taco Bell Sauce: Packets to table

Sour Cream: Open container

Guacamole: Make fresh or purchase pre-made

 

Serve with everything in its own bowl so you have a Taco Bar so people can make their own.

So so so yummy!

Tahoe

Here are a few collages of Tahoe pictures. The pictures here take awhile to get posted so I created a couple collages to speed the process up!

We had a great time -- our only plan was to RELAX -- which is what we did.

The club house at the timeshare (thank you mom) had some art projects - we had lots of fun making them. We did candle holders and candy trains.

I look my Kitchen Aid because I did want to do some baking. I made a French Bread loaf and two different kinds of cookies, Sugar cookies & Molassas Oatmeal Chocolate Chip - will post this recipe another time. We didn't add the colored icing to the cookies as I don't like the girls to get the artifical colors and I haven't jumped at spending $20 for a set of natural coloring yet - I guess that might have been something I could have asked Santa for! The French Bread I made with 1/2 wheat flour and 1/2 white. It was very good - it might have been better if it would have risen more but I couldn't get it to rise any more and it was time to get it in the oven to have it with dinner.

We went out to play in the snow, it started snowing the 2nd day we were there - and by Sunday we had a huge snowstorm and got about 12 inches between Sunday evening and Monday evening. We didn't stay outside to play long - it was snowing to hard!

On the way home -- the mountains are just beautiful lightly covered in the beautiful white snow. Here you can see the ice on our tires -- this is after we got to where we could take the chains off (and some of the ice had already come off!)

We had a great time! We can't wait for our next vacation even more though -- Mickey here we come!

Menu Plan Monday - Christmas Week

I can NOT believe it is already Christmas week! Where did this year go? I am excited to start 2009 off with a new foot out in front and try things a little different (not sure exactly how different) but hopefully I can keep things a bit more organized around here.

Over at OrgJunkie you can find out what others are having on their menu this week. This week she asked about Christmas Eve traditions. This is one meal that we do have a tradition for. Each Christmas Eve we spend with Adam's mom - at one point we rotated houses but we are back to just having it at her house each year (which is just fine with me).

So I posted awhile back about our makings of meatpies -- check out my post before this one with the scrapbook pages from that day. We make the meatpies (I will work on getting a recipe for these) in early December and put them into the freezer to flash freeze. We pull them out and cook them for Christmas Eve, each person also brings something to have also -- the evening is all just finger food/toothpick type of things. It is great to get together and all help out with what we eat that night. We gather for the story of Jesus' birth, some games, socializing and a few gifts (we have cut back more and more each year).

So... my menu for this week. I have been TRYING to have jambalaya for oh... what is it now 2 or 3 weeks!!! Everytime something comes up and I don't get to make it. This week I had it on the menu for Wednesday. Well on Tuesday when making plans for our Christmas celebration with Adam's dad and family they wanted Jambalaya so we had something else on Wednesday (Beans & Rice). On Thursday, plans changed for the party - we were going to just to appetizer snacky stuff as no one really felt great (I still have a head cold that I am wanting to get rid of). So today (Sunday) I didn't make it to take over there either! I think I will skip trying it this week and maybe just maybe I will succeed the following week. I think I will add it to the menu for Jan. 3rd (I signed up today to feed the missionaries). Now ... where was I???

Menu ... that's right. Here it is:

Breakfast - cereal, pumpkin bread, oatmeal. Chistmas morning will be cinnamon rolls.

Sunday - Snacky foods at Papa's and Nana Joyce's house

Monday - Chili (Wendy's Copy Cat) and Cornbread (leftovers from last week - hubby didn't eat that night so there is enough for his dinner). We are having a pot luck at work and I am bringing Chicken Pineapple mini sausages from Costco.

Tuesday - Turkey Pot Pie (we had Turkey at my mom's on Saturday and she sent me home with the leftovers and the carcass). Anyone have a GREAT pie crust for a pot pie? Please do share.

Wednesday (Christmas Eve) - as stated above we go to his mom's house. We will be bringing meatballs. We put them in the crockpot in the morning with a jar a grape jelly (sm/med size -- or just 1/2 of larger jar) and a jar of chili sauce. Oh they are so so good!

Thursday (Christmas) - Soup -- either Pasta Fajoli or Turkey Rice (from the freezer). I may throw together a batch of rolls.

Friday - Pork Chops, Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli, & Applesauce

Saturday - We will probably end up going out. I am giving hubby a gift card to _____ in his stocking (ohh... he started reading the blog -- so I deleted the location!) so knowing him - it is burning a hole in his pocket and we will head over there.

Sorry this ended up being such a long post! My camera went in the shop about 10 days ago - I know AWFUL timing, but the extended warranty was up that day so had to take it in that day. Hopefully it will be back on Tuesday when they thought it might be and I can take some pictures again -- although my phone camera would probably work just fine for the blog!

I hope that everyone has a very merry and safe Christmas.

Healthy Waffles

Ingredients needed:
1-1/2 Cups buttermilk (or fruit juice or non-dairy alternative
1 egg
2 TB olive oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 TB honey
1/3 Cup raw brown rice
1/2 Cup wheat berries
1/2 Cup rolled oats
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder

Preheat waffle iron or pancake griddle to highest temperature.
Place buttermilk, egg, olive oil, vanilla extract, honey, brown rice, wheat berries, rolled oats in blender and blend at high speed for 4-5 minutes or until smooth.

Blend in baking soda, salt, and baking powder briefly just before baking.

Pour thin batter from blender onto seasoned, hot waffle iron or pancake griddle sprayed with olive oil non-stick spray.

Waffles: Bake about 4 minutes or until the light goes off. Don't Peek!

Pancakes: Bake on first side until bubbles on unbaked side begin to break; turn once and bake on second side.

For many more grain variations for pancakes and waffles see BREAKFASTS...with Blender Batter Baking and Allergy Alternatives by Sue Gregg.

Recipe from Marilyn Moll of http://www.urbanhomemaker.com/

My notes: Very thin batter. Have always used fruit juice. Make extras to freeze.

Menu Plan Monday - December 7th

Here is our menu for the week. The times food is duplicated for lunch and dinner is because I make it for my lunch and hubby eats it for his dinner, when he gets home and I am at work. I eat the same thing twice.

Sunday

B- Cereal

L- Pulled Pork with BBQ sauce

D- Tortellini (from Costco)

Monday

B- Cereal

L- Grilled Cheese

D- Pizza (order out)

Tuesday

B- Healthy Waffles I make two or three batches of these and just freeze the leftovers so I can just pop them in the toaster for a healthy breakfast when we are busy or want a change.

L- Leftovers

D- Out (we have a genetic counseling appt in the afternoon)

Wednesday

B- Cereal

L- Corndog Muffins - I haven't found the recipe I am going to use this one from allrecipes.com uses corn bread muffin mix (which I don't use) so I will make up the copy kat recipe for that probably and then use that as that part of the recipe. Have never had these so will see how we like them.

D- Corndog Muffins

Thursday

B- Fluffy French Toast -- in the freezer from a few weeks ago

L- Meatloaf with brown gravy and rice - Meatloaf is from Frozen Assets book and we cook it as mini loafs and freeze already cooked -- makes for QUICK meal!

D- Meatloaf with brown gravy and rice or mashed potatoes with green beans

Friday

B- Oatmeal

L- Leftovers

D- Sandwiches

Saturday

B- Cinnamon rolls

L- ???

D- Jambalaya (Zatarains boxed mix - was planned for last week but something came up and I did not make it)

Want to see what others are having? Check out OrgJunkie.com

Pasta Lasagna & WFMW (Freezing Casseroles)

So today was my day to cook Pasta Lasagna, I have been cooking this for about 2 years now. I mainly cook it in the winter months when it is cold out and I don't mind using the oven. When I make it, I make up a few meals so I can take something out and have a home cooked meal (works perfectly when you end up spending to much time on the computer)!

The recipe with my modifications is as follows:

INGREDIENTS --- this makes about 7 meals to feed us (2 adults and 2 young kids)

SAUCE -- I don't use it straight from the jar I make/doctor mine up. (makes a huge stock pot full)

3 pounds lean ground beef -- brown with onion (1 whole) and garlic (5-6 cloves) in pot

4 cans DelMonte Spaghetti Sauce (I use Basil & Garlic)

1 can tomato paste (thinned out with water in one of the spaghetti sauce cans)

1 large can petite diced tomatoes

Water (to rinse all the cans out) I use as little as possible

Dried basil (probably 2-3T)

Italian Seasonings (probably 2-3T)

Sugar (about 1/4 cup) - to take some of the acidity away

PASTA

3 pounds penne pasta - I use whole wheat (any short cut pasta will work just fine) Cook this al dente - as it will cook some more later

CHEESE FILLING

40-45oz of ricotta or cottage cheese (used cottage this time since I was at Costco and they had it there)
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
3 eggs, beaten

Combine all the cheeses and beaten eggs. Stir until well combined.

DIRECTIONS

Grease a pans (I forgot this time!)

Here is my big pot of sauce (I actually made this yesterday) and back behind you can see my cheese mixture.

Here is some of the pasta -- had to cook in two batches

Layer a thin (1-2 noodles thick) layer of pasta

The put some of the cheese mixture - I put small scoops all over it (you can see it under the sauce scoop). Then layer with the sauce -- I spread it around.

The follow up with another layer of pasta, cheese mixture and more sauce. Top with remaining mozzarella.

Here are my completed ones for the freezer (with 3 containers of sauce - 2 large and 1 small (lunch) sized). You do top them with more mozzarella cheese - usually I put more than what is here but I ran out of cheese so I will just get more and top it when I go to cook them.

These are the two for the fridge - the top one is huge and was taken to a family in the ward who just had a baby, and is about twice as large as the others. Then the bottom we had for dinner tonight with enough left for lunch for us both. Don't mind the rest of the stuff, that yogurt container is our chili thawing for tomorrow.

When ready to cook:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bake in preheated oven 34 to 40 minutes, until hot and bubbly

What Works for me Wednesday....

You can see in the pictures above that all the pans are lined (with the exception of that one disposable one). I do this when I am making casserole type dishes for the freezer. This is what I do, I have two different sized pans I have used. My bread pans (shown) which I have 3 of or a 8x8 square (which I only have one of). By the way I use heavy duty foil to line them with.

When I have filled the pan, I put it into the freezer to freeze SOLID (sometimes I wait overnight) then I unwrap the edges fold over the top and turn it over. It slides out and I wrap a layer of foil all the way around - label and put back in the freezer. When I want to make that dish I just pop it back into that same pan, put into the fridge to defrost and cook as usual.

Here is a picture right after I took it out of the pan but before I wrapped it to a "brick".

So what Works for You? Head over to Rocks In My Dryer and see what works for others.

Again don't forget to check out A Mommy's Musings and The Nifty Thrifty Homemaker for a giveaway from Krisi's Kards.

Edited 2/1 to include a link back to a Freezer Cooking Carnival!

Chicken Taco Soup

So this is what I am making for dinner tonight:

Cooked chicken -- I just used the left over chicken from two rotisserie chickens (about 2-3 cups mixed white and dark meat)
5-6 cans of beans -- I used pinto, kidney, white, garbanzo and black.
2 cans of corn
2 can diced tomatoes (one of which was rotel)
Chicken broth (usually I use 2 cans but I had homemade broth from one of the chickens I mentioned above -- probably more than 2 cans worth but it should be just fine)
1 can tomato sauce -- optional (I did not add it this time since I had so much broth)
8 Tbls taco seasoning (or one packet)

Put everything together in the crock-pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. This can also be made on the stove top; basically you are just heating everything up and melding the flavors together, but the longer it cooks the better.

Serve with any of the following for toppings:
Sour Cream
Tortilla Chips Crumbled up
Cilantro (I generally also put this into the soup if I have some on hand)
Cheese

Cost
I have no idea how many servings this will make but probably 3 meals worth (for us - 2 adults 2 little kids).
Chicken (free, it is all leftovers)
Beans - 5 cans at 60 cents a can = 3.00
Corn - 2 cans at 33 cents each can = 0.66
Diced tomatoes - 1 can I got free with a coupon and the rotel was 50cents = 0.50
Chicken Broth (used a carrot and some celery when making) = 0.40
Taco Seasoning - used a packet this time = 0.25
So the total (without any toppings) = $4.81

So for less than $5.00 we have 3 meals of soup. I will freeze the other two meals for a lunch or quick dinner with some rolls.

Here it is:

RE: Pasta e Fagioli

Stacy what a great challenge this was. Not only was it fun – but the soup was EXCELLENT! I am going to freeze half of it so I did not mix in the pasta in the pot – just kind of put the pasta in the bowl and then put the soup over and mixed them in. Rachel got lots of pasta in hers, and she ate everything up. Even Rebecca (who has been on a kick of not eating much) ate hers and said she loved it! I won't repost the recipe here -- just look down to this post. The one thing I changed was I only used 1/8 cup of olive oil instead of 1/4 cup -- I just couldn't pour that much oil in my soup!

Here are the beans right after I put the water on them.

All my ingredients ready:

Everythings in the pot -- simmering

Rebecca insisted taking some pictures of me so here is one.

Cooking the pasta -- I kept this seperate as I plan on freezing some of the soup and didn't want the pasta to be frozen.

Finished soup

In our bowls (with the pasta)

Rachel enjoying hers (she LOVED it)

Rebecca with hers.

Thanks again Stacy for the challenge. If you have time you can also check out Stacy's etsy store -- full of homemade items.

I also did a scrapbook recipe page with this recipe (it is definitely a keeper for us).

Credits can be found at ScrapMatters.

Happy cooking everyone!