More Freezable Meal Planning links

For those of you looking for more recipe ideas for freezer meals, below are a few links courtesy of Sarah Scaffidi. :)

http://www.mommysfabulousfinds.com/2013/10/easy-crock-pot-freezer-meals-2.html

http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/2013/10/freezer-meals.html

http://whoneedsacape.com/2012/11/crockpot-freezer-cooking/

http://www.stacymakescents.com/100-days-of-no-processed-meals-crock-pot-style

Once A Month Cooking...Tools Of The Trade

A few helpful "tools of the trade" for  ya :)

Websites:

• The Pioneer Woman (LOVE HER!!) has a great tutorial on freezing food.
• SkinnyMomsKitchen.com has some amazing CLEAN EATING Freezer meals tips/Strategies.

Printable Menu Planners:

• MoneySavingMom.com has some awesome free printable planners and other downloads to help you get organized for Once A Month Cooking!!

Once A Month Cooking...Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients:

• 1 lb breakfast sausage
• 8 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 1 ½ cups cheddar cheese
• 1 tsp dry mustard
• 6 slices of bread
• Salt and Pepper

DIrections:

1. Brown Sausage. 
2. Whip eggs in a separate bowl and add milk, dry mustard, salt and pepper.
3. Lay bread in the bottom of greased 9x13, cover with sausage.  
4. Sprinkle sausage with cheese and then pour egg mixture over cheese.  
5. Wrap in Tin Foil and freeze.

To Serve:

1. Thaw
2. Cook at 350 for 35 min.

Serve with fruit salad

Once A Month Cooking...Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:

• 2 cubed chicken breast
• Can veg all
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• Salt and pepper
• 2 deep dish pie crust

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients place in pie shell.  
2. Take second pie shell out of pan and lay on top of the filled shell.  
3. Crimp edges together and cut a slit in the top of shell. 

To Serve:

1. Thaw, Bake at 400 for 15 min uncovered.  
2. Then covered at 350 for 35 min.

Serve with salad

Once A Month Cooking...Calzone

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 pounds raw Italian sweet sausage, casing removed or ground beef
• A drizzle olive oil
• 2 cups ricotta
• A handful flat leaf parsley, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• A handful grated Parmigiano, plus extra, for knots
• A few grinds black pepper
• 2 (10-ounce) tubes prepared pizza dough
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 F.
2. Brown sausage in a small skillet in a drizzle of olive oil. Transfer the cooked crumbled sausage to a paper towel lined plate to drain.
3. Combine sausage with ricotta, parsley, garlic and Parmigiano.  Store in Gallon Sized Freezer bag and freeze.

To Serve:

1. Thaw filling.
2. Roll out doughs and halve cross-wise. Place a dough rectangle on a nonstick cookie sheet. Use 1/2 cup mozzarella on half of each dough rectangle and pile a mound of filling on half of the total area. Fold dough over and pinch edges to seal. The result is a rectangular turnover.
3. For half-moon shaped calzones, trim excess dough. Roll dough bits into strips, tie in knots and brush with garlic oil and cheese. Garlic knots are fun to dip at the table.
4. Bake calzones 15 minutes or until golden all over. Serve calzones with warm tomato, marinara, or pizza sauce for dipping.
5.  

Serve with carrots and cucumber sticks and ranch.

Once A Month Cooking...Poppy Seed Chicken

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts 
• 1 16 oz container of sour cream 
• 2 cans of cream of chicken soup 
• 1 pack of ritz crackers 
• poppy seeds 
• butter 
• casserole dish

Directions:

1. Boil chicken breasts until fully done. 
2. Mix sour cream and cream of chicken soup together into mixture. 
3. Cube Chicken and mix with cream.  
4. Store in a gallon size freezer bag and store in freezer.

To Serve:

1. Thaw Filling.
2. Crumble package of crackers into small pieces. Melt half a stick of butter in the microwave.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
4. Chop chicken into large chunks into the casserole dish. Spread sour cream and soup mixuture over chicken, completely covering it. Sprinkle cracker pieces all over the top.
5. Pour melted butter evenly over crackers. Sprinkle poppy seeds all over.
6. Bake 30 minutes, until crackers are golden brown.

Serve with Salad

Once A Month Cooking Intro...

Let me be honest...I DESPISE the hour before dinner time. Its not that I dislike to cook, its just for some reason at 4PM each day I am scrambling to figure out what I can throw together to feed my family. I have tried meal planning (fail), started a Pinterest "Meal Plan" board (fail)....nothing seems to work for me!! I think I have found my solution...ONCE A MONTH COOKING. Once a month?? Who doesn't like the sound of that?? Now that I have your attention, read on ladies...

Kim Parrish (beautiful lady in the photo below) is a freezer meal guru and has offered to provide us moms with some tips on freezer meal cooking and some yummy recipes. Kim gets together with one of her best friends and once a month (one day people) they each prep and freeze 17 meals for EACH of their families!! Once a week, I will be featuring one of Kim's yummy freezer friendly recipes on our blog. Please be sure to check back each week :)

Kim Parrish

I love Once a Month Cooking!!  

 I am going to list a few things you need to consider before you begin.

 

***** These instructions are for days when we made each family 17 meals.  You can start a lot smaller.  Don’t be intimidated.  Years ago I had a club with friends where we each made one meal 3 times. One meal to keep and two to exchange.  We met on Sunday night for coffee and brought home our meal and two others. There are many ways to make this work for your families. 

• Girlfriends: It is best to do with a girlfriend maybe two but no more (kitchens are too small).  You really need to be selective when choosing a friend to cook with.  Both of your families need to have similar likes and dislikes, when it come to food.  Are you/they willing to buy no name brand items to save money? Do they like to cook or are they at least willing to be “happy” about it?
• Kitchen: You need a kitchen that has descent counter space and a table.  We always used my kitchen table and we also set up a craft table.
• Prep: Together review your families’ favorite meals.  See what recipies would work well for both families. *** To save extra money you can plan meals around the “loss leader” meats that Kroger and Publix have listed.  (ie; Chicken on sale $1.99)

BEFORE YOU SHOP:

• Make a shopping list. (must write down amounts need of each item) Recipes we know we love we would always make it twice for each family.
• Check pantries to see what you may already have on hand.
• Organize shopping list in the same order as the store. This is not a fun day of shopping without kids, you are on a missions!!! :)  But to plan for a treat to reward your hard efforts  

SHOPPING DAY : 

• Where to shop.  Sam’s or Costco are great but you will have to also go to a grocery store for additional items. 
• Shopping Rules – no kids, where tennis shoes, eat before you shop. 
• Make plans to eat out this night.  We always ordered pizza and ate together.
• Deliver groceries to the house you will cook at the next day.
• Prep work- One of us took home all the beef and browned it and one of us stuck the chicken in a crock-pot and shredded it. 

 **Plan for containers.  We used a lot of Gallon sized freezer bags, they take up less room in the freezer. 

 WORK DAY: 

(** there really is no cooking today, just mixing) 

• Have activities planned for the kids, easy things that they can do without you. 
• Plan the lunch and have it ready.  You will not want to have to stop and make this. 
• Make an index card for each meal and what is needed.   
• Make piles on your tables for each meal.  
• Write on your container: meal name and cooking instructions. 
• Mix together ingredients and place in container.  
• HAVE FUN!!!! 

Once A Month Cooking...Chicken Packets

Ingredients:

• 2 cups chopped cooked chicken
• 1 (6 -8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 tablespoon chives, chopped
• 2 tablespoons milk
• salt
• 1/2 cup seasoned croutons, crushed to crumbs
• 2 (8 ounce) packages refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
• 1/4 cup melted margarine

Directions:

1. Mix chicken, cream cheese, chives, milk, and salt in a medium bowl (mixing with hands works best) to make filling, and store in a 1 qt freezer bag.
2. Put crouton crumbs in another 1 qt bag, attach it to bag of chicken filling, and freeze.
3. Refrigerate crescent rolls.
4. To prepare for serving, thaw chicken mixture.
5. Preheat oven to 350°F.
6. Unroll crescent rolls.
7. Each tube will contain 4 rectangles of dough with a diagonal perforation.
8. Press dough along each perforation so the rectangle halves will not separate.
9. Place about 1/4 cup of the chicken mixture into the center of each rectangle.
10. Fold dough over the filling, and pinch the edges to seal tightly.
11. Dip each packet in melted margarine, and coat with crouton crumbs.
12. Place packets on a baking sheet.
13. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
14. Packets are good either hot or cold.

Serve with steamed veggies.