Dijon Pork Chops by Mags

Recipe from Mom's Budget.com

Ingredients:

• 6 boneless pork chops
• 1/3 cup Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2/3 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs (can use plain if that's all you have but add a dash of Italian seasoning)

Assembly:

• In a bowl, combine Dijon mustard and Worcesterhire sauce. Lightly season the four pork chops with salt and pepper to taste, if desired.
• Use a pastry brush to brush each side of the pork chops with the Dijon mixture. Next, coat each side with the Italian seasoned bread crumbs.

Freezing:

• Option 1 - flash freezing separately - Place on cookie sheet flash freeze in the freezer. After a few hours, place the pork chops in a freezer bag or container.
• Option 2 - Slide 3-4 pork chops into a gallon-size Ziploc Bag. Press out air and freeze flat. If the chops are big, you'll need to put 3 per bag.
  

Serving Day:

• Thaw in refrigerator or cook directly from freezer.
• Set your oven to the broil setting and allow to preheat.
• Place pork chops on a broiler pan (or use a cookie sheet with a baking rack on top to allow the drippings to fall) and broil each side for 10-12 minutes or until pork chops are thoroughly cooked inside. (Adjust time depending on whether you thawed first or took directly from freezer.)

Enjoy!
:) Mags

Grilled Sesame Chicken by Tish

Note from Tish:
If the pieces of chicken are too big, you might want to cut them up before cooking. I recommend GRILLING these for the best results. They make yummy kabobs - I make ours with the chicken, onions, red bell peppers, mushrooms and pineapple. Use the marinade to baste them! Enjoy!

Yields 6 servings:(or roughly 12 kabobs)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup of WHITE grape juice
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tsp. powdered ginger
1 Tbsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. ground black pepper
4 cloves of garlic, crushed or minced fine (I cheat and use the already prepared garlic in the jar -> 2 tsp = 4 cloves)
1/8 - 1/4 cup of sesame seeds (I think 1/8 cup is plenty)
1/2 cup green onions, tops and all
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Assembly:
Combine all marinade ingredients and mix well. Place chicken breasts in 1 gallon size Ziploc freezer bag. Pour marinade over top of chicken. Remove excess air from bag, seal, and freeze. I mix mine around inside the bag a couple of times to make sure it gets all over the chicken.

Serving Day:
(*** Don't throw out the marinade - you need it to baste the chicken with***)
Thaw completely! If making kabobs, cut chicken into bite size pieces, add veggies/fruit of your choice to the skewers, and save marinade to baste kabobs with. If just grilling, cook till completely done, making sure to baste often with reserved marinade.

I serve these with rice and black beans!

Hearty Beef 'n Cheese Crescent by Susan

Ingredients:

1 1/4 lb ground beef
1/3 c. chopped onion (I use what I have on hand: fresh, frozen, dried)
1/4 c. chopped green pepper (fresh or frozen)
15 oz can tomato sauce (original calls for 8oz, I didn't really read recipe for years and we like this)
15 oz can green beans (again calls for smaller, but we like the big can)
1/4 tsp garlic salt (can use garlic powder or fresh, adjust to taste. I used 1/2 - 3/4 tsp.)
1/4 tsp salt
1 can crescent dinner rolls
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese, DIVIDED
9" deep dish pie plate (others will work but may over flow or not hold all of the filling)

Assembly For Cooking IMMEDIATELY:
In large frying pan, brown beef, onion and pepper. Drain fat. Stir in tomato sauce, green beans, garlic, and salt. Simmer while preparing crust. Separate dough into 8 triangles. Place dough triangles into bottom and up sides of pie plate to form crust. Combine egg and ONE CUP of cheese. Spread over the crust. Spoon hot meat mixture into crust. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Assembly For Freezing:
In large frying pan, brown beef, onion and peppers. Drain fat. Stir in tomato sauce, green beans, garlic, and salt. Simmer while preparing crust. Separate dough into 8 triangles. Spray bottom of pie pan with cooking spray. Place dough triangles into bottom and up sides of pie plate to form crust. Combine egg and ONE CUP of cheese. Spread over the crust. Spoon cooled meat mixture into crust. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Cover tightly with heavy duty foil and freeze.

Serving Day:

Thaw completely. Bake 20-25 minutes at 375 degrees. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting.

This is a family favorite and I was inspired by Mel to try freezing it. One lesson learned is it will not thaw in 12 hours. Overnight would be best. I actually made it ahead, I know hard to believe, and it came out really well. So, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did and have a great May! I will see you when we are back!

Lemon BBQ Chicken by Susan

Ingredients:
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup soy sauce (I used low sodium.)
2-3 cloves minced garlic
2 lbs. chicken tenderloins (Used because they thaw fast and marinade quick)
Box of Minute Rice

Assembly:
Combine all of the above ingredients in a large freezer bag and mush together. Add chicken to the bag and freeze.

Serving Day:
Place in fridge the night before and allow to thaw. Prepare Chicken on the grill and serve. Cook rice as package directs. You can boil the marinade for 5 minutes and serve it over the rice if you would like.

I'm not sure exactly who to give credit to as my Mom gave me this recipe and she got it from her friend Dottie Hall. So, thanks ladies!

Chicken and Vegetable Soup by Katie

Ingredients:
2 large potatoes, diced
3 carrots, scraped and sliced
1/2 bell pepper, diced
1/2 of a med onion , diced
1 cup frozen peas
3 chicken breasts, boned, cooked and diced
1 1/2 quarts water
4 chicken bouillon cubes
spices to taste:
ground black pepper
thyme
parsley flakes
celery seed

Assembly:
Simply combine all ingredients, except frozen peas. (I did warm the water to get the bouillon to dissolve easier.)

Freezing Instructions:
Place the frozen peas in a small freezer bag. Combine all other ingredients in a separate larger freezer bag. Freeze both.

Serving Day:
Thaw completely. Pour into a large stew pan (except the frozen peas). Cover and simmer 30 minutes or until potatoes begin to disintegrate. Add frozen peas and cook 5 more minutes. Enjoy!

Debbie's Pasta Primavera

Ingredients:
6 chicken breasts
1 jar pasta sauce
1 small onion
1 clove garlic, minced
fresh veggies - peppers, squash, whatever is in season
1 lb. pasta (I use rotini)

Assembly:
Chop onion and veggies. Saute veggies in a little olive oil until tender. Remove the veggies from the pan and brown the chicken. Once the chicken is no longer pink, add the veggies and the pasta sauce to the chicken. Heat all the way through.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain the pasta and add to the sauce mixture. Toss together and serve.

To Freeze:
Once the chicken pasta sauce is complete, put in gallon freezer bag and freeze flat.

Serving Day:
When ready to serve, thaw the sauce completely. Reheat it on the stove top and cook your pasta. Toss together and serve!

"Destitute" Chicken by Mags

A while back, I wanted to try Jen's Poor Man's Chicken recipe, but I was lacking the key ingredient of the fancy cream cheese mixture... Not one to be deterred, I did find a new package of STRING CHEESE sticks in our fridge and decided to get creative.... Poorer-Man's Chicken didn't sound as good, so today, I bring you "Destitute Chicken!" (Never mind that my husband noted that string cheese may cost more than a block of cream cheese... details...details...!) :)

Ingredients:
6 boneless chicken breasts
6 sticks of string cheese
6-12 strips of uncooked bacon
garlic salt

Optional add-ons: shredded mozzarella or Parmesan cheese

Assembly:
Pound out the raw chicken breasts flat with your meat hammer.
Roll the flat chicken breast around an UNWRAPPED stick of string cheese.
Wrap/Tie 1 or 2 pieces of uncooked bacon around the whole thing.
Sprinkled with garlic salt (and any other seasonings you want).

Freezing Instructions:
Carefully place each roll in a gallon-size Ziploc bag. You can fit 6-8 chicken rolls in one bag.
Press out the air, seal, and freeze.

Serving Day:
Thaw out your frozen rolls.
Lay your chicken rolls in a 9x13" pan (spray it first with PAM!).
Back for 1 hour at 350.

With 10 minutes to go, you can sprinkle extra mozzarella or Parmesan cheese over the top of it and continue cooking if you want. (If you sprinkle the cheese at the beginning of the hour, your cheese will burn.)

Enjoy!
:) Mags