Chicken Dinner Casserole by Missy

Recipe found in HOPE Taste of Mops Cookbook 2007-2008

Ingredients:
14½ oz can green beans (drained)
10¾ oz can cream of chicken soup
2 c. chicken (cooked and cubed)
6 oz box of stuffing mix (and ingredients to prepare)
½ c. – 1 c. shredded cheddar cheese (optional)
French Fried onions (optional)

Assembly:
Spray 2-quart casserole or deep dish pie pan with cooking spray. Prepare stuffing according to directions. While stuffing is cooking, combine green beans, soup, French fried onions (if desired), and chicken in casserole or pie pan. Combine stuffing and cheese. Place stuffing mixture on top of chicken mixture. Double wrap and freeze.

Serving Day:
Thaw completely. Preheat oven to 350. Bake approximately 30 minutes (until hot and bubbly). Serves 4-6 adults.

Chipotle Pepper Pork Chops by Debbie

Ingredients:
1 - 2 pounds pork chops
Grill Time Chipotle Pepper marinade packet
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water

Assembly:
Combine the marinade packet, water, and oil in a dish. Stir well to combine. Add the meat to the marinade in either a zip lock back or a baking dish. Either place your container in the freezer, or cook immediately.

Serving Day:
Defrost meat completely. Grill, broil, or bake the chops until done. Enjoy!
Place the zip lock bag in the freezer

Chicken Chili Casserole by Mags

(Original recipe from www.momsbudget.com)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/2 brick of cream cheese (4 oz)
• 3 cups cooked chicken, chopped
• 3 cups rice
• 1&1/2 cups shredded Monterrey Jack cheese (I just used 1 bag)
• 4oz. diced green chilies (I used 1/2 lg can which was about 3.5 oz) - Use mild (or choose the spicy for an extra kick!)
• 15 oz. can of chopped tomatoes
• 15 oz. can of black beans (drained)
• 1/2 tsp. garlic salt
• 1 cup crushed tortilla chips

Preparation:

1. Boil 3-4 chicken breasts and make your Minute Rice. Chop up the chicken into small pieces.
2. Combine sour cream, ricotta, and cream cheese. Add remaining ingredients (including the chicken) except the chips - mix well.
3. Pour into greased 9x13 freezable casserole dish. Cover with aluminum foil.
4. Freeze.

Serving Day:
Thaw casserole.
Bake in a 350 oven for 30-45 minutes (depending on how thoroughly it is thawed).
Top with your crushed tortilla chips and serve!

Enjoy!
:) Mags

Debbie's Meatloaf

Ingredients:
1 - 2 pounds ground beef
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 cup oats
1 egg
1 small can of tomato sauce
Salt and pepper

Assembly:
Reserving 1/3 of the can of tomato sauce to use later, combine all ingredients in a bowl. Use your hands to combine. Coat a baking dish with cooking spray. Place the combined meat in the baking dish, shaping into a loaf. Top with remaining tomato sauce. Bake in a 400 degree oven 50 to 60 minutes.

Freezing Instructions:
Make your meatloaf as instructed above. Do not bake. Instead, place in a freezer-friendly container.

Serving Day:
When ready to use, thaw the meatloaf completely. Place in a baking dish and following baking instructions above. Enjoy!

Hearty Macaroni Casserole by Jackie

Ingredients:
1 pkg. (7 1/4 oz.) macaroni and cheese dinner mix
1 lb. ground beef
1 c. chopped green pepper
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 can (14 1/2 oz) Italian diced tomatoes, undrained
1 c. (4 oz.) shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup French Fried Onions

Assembly:
Prepare macaroni and cheese according to package directions. Meanwhile, in large skillet, cook beef, green pepper and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add to prepared macaroni. Stir in tomatoes.

Spoon half of the mixture into greased 9x13 baking dish. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Top with remaining macaroni mixture. Cover and freeze for up to 3 months.  Place French's Fried Onions into a pint size freezer Ziploc bag.  Freeze.

Serving Day:
Thaw completely in the refrigerator. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes prior to baking. Bake covered at 350 for 30 minutes. Uncover & sprinkle French's Fried Onions (or 1 cup of cheddar cheese) on top. Bake 10 more minutes, or until heated through.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Polls vs. Comments

Hey All -
With our growth to 8 people, we are going to be deleting the polls and having you just post your comments under the posts for each recipe you try. This will get rid of some of the clutter along the side of the blog (and allow us space for some new widgets... check out the Live Feed widget... tells us where everyone is coming from!), AND allow anyone (even visitors!) who have used a recipe off of our blog to leave their comments on it as well. It should keep things better organized and comments are directly emailed to us when they happen. That's a nice feature!

If you'd prefer your comment be "anonymous," you can choose this option when you are posting a comment. :)

Happy Eating!
:) Mags

Poor Man's Chicken by Jen

Ingredients:
6 Chicken Breasts, thawed
1 (8 oz.) Cream cheese onion & Chive OR 1 (8 oz.) Cream Cheese and chop a bunch of green onion
Garlic powder (optional)
6-12 Bacon Strips

Assembly:
Pound the thawed chicken breasts flat.
Stuffed the chicken breast with cream cheese mixture.
Roll the chicken breast, then wrap with bacon strip or two.
Poke with toothpick.

Serving Day:
Bake thawed chicken breasts at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Garlic Herb Chicken by Debbie

Ingredients:
Lowry's Garlic Herb Marinade
6 chicken breasts

Preparation:
Prick the chicken breasts with a fork and place in ziploc gallon freezer bag.
Pour 1 bottle of marinade in the bag.
Seal and freeze.

On cooking day:
Thaw the chicken.
You can grill, bake, stir fry - anything. Enjoy!

Pesto Chicken Tortellini by Mags

Ingredients:

• 1-2 family size packages of Buitini Tortellini (I used 1 package of 3-cheese and 1 package of herb chicken) - usually found in your Pasta Aisle in a refrigerated case. 1 package is plenty for a family of 4.
• 1-2 packets of Knorr (or other brand - I used Kroger's Private Selection) Pesto Sauce - you find this with other gravy/sauce dry packets. 1 package per pack of tortellini.
• 1 bag of shredded Parmesan cheese.
• olive oil
• water
• Optional - precooked chicken breast, cut-up into smaller pieces.

Preparation:
Cook your tortellini according to package directions. Drain. Put in large bowl.
Cook your pesto mix, mixing in olive oil and water, according to packet directions.
Toss with tortellini in the big bowl.
Toss in cooked chicken chunks if you want.

Same-Day Dinner:
Eat right away while everything is still hot - sprinkling on the Parmesan cheese.

To Freeze & Eat Later:
Wait until pasta cools. Poor into 1 gallon freezer bag and freeze flat.
On Eating Day - Thaw. Pour into 9"x13" pan, sprinkle Parmesan cheese. Cover and bake in a preheated 350 oven for 20-30 minutes until heated through. Uncover and bake until cheese is melted (about 5 minutes).

Enjoy!
♥Mags

Allergy Note: Often Pesto sauce contains pine nuts, but the Knorr packets and the Private Selection packets DO NOT so you can serve this safely to peanut-allergy people! :)

Julie C.'s Taco Soup by Jackie

Ingredients:
1lb. ground beef (browned with minced onion and drained)
2 pkg. taco seasoning (I only used one, but my husband thinks it needs 2.)
1 large can tomato sauce
1 can corn, drained
1 can kidney beans, drained
2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cans water

Assembly:
Add taco seasoning to browned meat. Mix all ingredients in large pot. Freeze in gallon size ziplock bags.

Serving Day:
Thaw. Place in large pot. Simmer until warm. Top with shredded cheddar cheese and crushed tortilla chips.

Pork Chop Potato Bake - by Tish

Serves 6

Ingredients:
6 Bone-in (or boneless, your choice) pork chops, or you could use boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Season salt of your choice (sprinkle over meat prior to bread crumbs)
Seasoned breadcrumbs (enough to coat meat)
Oil (I use olive oil) for browning the meat
1 can cream of celery soup (I use the 98% fat free variety)
1/2 cup of milk (any kind, I use skim)
1/2 cup sour cream (I use fat-free)
1/4 t. black pepper
1/2 bag of frozen hash browns (THAWED and drained of as much water as possible)
1 cup of shredded cheese, divided (I use cheddar, co-jack, or Colby)
1 small can of Durkee French Fried onion rings (optional)

Assembly:
Season meat with seasoning salt and lightly bread the pieces. Brown the meat in oil and DRAIN WELL.
In large mixing bowl, combine soup, milk, sour cream, pepper and pinch of salt. Stir in THAWED and DRAINED hash browns, 1/2 of the cheese and 1/2 can of onions rings, if using them. Spoon mixture into lightly greased 9x13 glass baking dish. Place browned, DRAINED meat on top of mixture.

To Eat On Assembly Day:
Cover with aluminum foil (pole a few holes in foil first) and bake at 350 degrees for approx. 45-55 min, or till meat is done. Remove from oven and remove foil. Sprinkle rest of cheese and onion rings on top and return to the oven, UNcovered just till cheese melts. This is great warmed up and freezes well (Just don't put the last of the cheese or onion rings on the top. Wait to do that when you actually cook it.)

Serving Day:
Thaw it completely first (if you see any excess water/moisture just blot with paper towel and then cook as above.) Follow directions above for baking. Enjoy!

I've made this dish for LOTS of new moms and generally everyone likes it - even kids.