Stove Top Easy Chicken Bake

So I made half recipes of two different meals that required one can of soup and one bag of stove top... and since I did halfers on both, I needed to make use of the other "halves" of the can and package.

Stove Top Easy Chicken Bake

Ingredients

1 cup hot water

1 pkg Stove Top lower sodium stuffing mix for chicken

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup

1/3 cup sour cream

3 cups frozen mixed veggies

Heat oven to 400F. Add hot water to stuffing, stir until moistened. Mix chicken, soup, sour cream and veggies in a 13x9 inch baking dish and top with stuffing.

Bake 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Bruschetta Chicken Bake

So, here's another new one I wanted to try in my Kraft magazine. I did this one halfers as well, and it worked pretty good. That just means I now have half a bag of stovetop to use up later... lol. And sorry I didn't get a pic of the casserole right out of the oven... hubby was so excited to eat that he dished it out before I had a chance, lol.

Bruschetta Chicken Bake

Ingredients
1 can (19 fluid oz or 540mL) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 pkg (120g) Stove Top stuffing mix for Chicken
2 cloves garlic (I just used a bit of garlic powder)
1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 tsp dried basil leaves
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Heat oven to 400F. Mix tomatoes, stuffing mix, and garlic until stuffing is moistened.
2. Layer chicken, basil, cheese, and stuffing in a 13x9 inch or 3L baking dish.
3. Bake 30minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Enjoy!

Cheesy Chicken Pot Pie

Here is another recipe from Kraft's What's Cooking mag... I love a lot of the recipes they have in there. I did a half recipe because it serves 6 and we don't need THAT much, lol. I changed the recipe a bit too.

Cheesy Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup

1 cup sour cream, divided

4 cups chopped cooked chicken

3 cups frozen mixed veggies, thawed

1 cup old cheddar shredded cheese (I used mild)

3 Tbsp milk

1 cup all purpose baking mix

- (I made the same amount of dry biscuit mix instead: mix 1 cup flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp sugar)

Heat oven to 375F. Mix soup and 3/4 cup sour cream in 8 inch square baking dish. Add chicken, veggies, and cheese. Mix

Place baking mix (or dry biscuit mix) in a medium bowl. Add remaining 1/4 cup sour cream and the milk. Stir until stiff dough forms.

Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls into 6 mounds over chicken mixture. Bake 35 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown and chicken mixture is hot and bubbly (I hand molded my biscuit dough until it would cover the top of the pot pie like a crust, and only baked for 30 minutes).

Unbaked Cookies

Here is a recipe for unbaked cookies that I got from my mom years ago.

Unbaked Cookies

Bring the following to a boil and cook 1 1/2 minutes in a medium sized pot on med/lo heat:

• 2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter (I melt it first to make everything cook faster)

Add the following in order:

• 4 Tbsp cocoa
• 1 tsp vanilla
• pinch salt
• 3 cups rolled oats and 1 cup coconut

Drop onto waxed paper or cookie sheet to harden. Makes about 4 1/2 dozen cookies.

Week 4 of Meal Plan

Now it’s time for the fourth and final week of my meal plan. It’s been interesting, and I’ve already started on next month (however, I just wrote out the meals we will have, numbered them, and as we eat them we’ll cross them off as I don’t know what we’ll want when and when baby arrives we receive a few meals from the church and family as well… so planning won’t work as easily). Anyway, here’s the last week.

Monday: This was the day I made meatballs to have with spegghetti and pasta sauce. We got canned pasta sauce on sale for $1 at dollar days last weekend, which was perfect. I froze a little more than ½ the meatballs for a later meal… I’ll probably do the speggetti squash with the meatballs next time.

Tuesday: Time for chicken. We had some packaged teriyaki chicken from Costco that we cooked up, and I made enough rice for 2 or 3 meals which is perfect for later. We made salad with this.

Wednesday: Now we’re having fish. Again, bought from the store as breaded… yeah, I didn’t feel I’d be ambitious this week. The rice was great, as we took a can of mushroom soup, added ½ a can of milk to it and a cup or two of frozen peas (cooked the peas first) on the stove to mix with our rice. Mmm. I also made bran muffins and froze them for later.

Thursday: Today was a more ambitious meal… homemade mac n cheese. Quite tasty! I split the whole thing in half and froze one portion. We made it with pork chops which hubby bbq’d and some veggies. I’ll have to make this one again sometime.

Friday: The weekly tradition continues… this time we brought steak for ourselves, and a cucumber salad for the group (cucumbers mixed with sour cream and lemon juice, with salt and pepper and some tomato).

Saturday: It’s a date! Hubby took me out for supper at the Old Spaghetti Factory…

Sunday: Another day I don’t plan the meals for. We ended up having leftovers…

Monday: This day I made hamburger biscuit bake. I made a double batch of biscuit dough and used half to bake and freeze some cinnamon biscuit rolls. We loved those last time I made them!

Yes, I added in an extra day, as I had a plan for up till Monday the 15th as that is my due date. The rest of this month is “planned out” as well.

I have 3 new chicken recipes I’d like to try, along with the following that are in my freezer:
2 lasagnas
2 meatless lasagnas
1 alfredo sauce for shrimp alfredo
1 potato hamburger casserole
1 shepherds pie casserole
2 meals of tuna patties
1 meal of meatballs (will make spaghetti squash with it)
1 mac n cheese
Lots of pigs in blankets
Lots of buns (will make pizza buns)
Lots of muffins (fruit, bran, chocolate for gatherings)
Biscuit cinnamon rolls
Pumpkin waffles
2 pizzas
3 meals of teriyaki chicken
2 meals of fish sticks

Other easy meals include a roast in the crock-pot with roast beef sandwiches later for lunch, perogies and farmer sausage with farmer sausage burgers as a later meal, and there’s always burritos which hubby is great at making…

Homemade Mac N Cheese

Can you believe I've never made homemade mac n cheese before? My mom used to make it, and I thought... hmm... why not? So, I found this recipe online through Mom's Budget and adjusted it a bit for my liking.

Homemade Freezer Macaroni And Cheese

Serves 6-8
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups dried macaroni noodles
5 tbsp butter
6 tbsp white flour
3 cups milk (since I'm on a farm, whole milk is what I used)
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1/2 red pepper (or green), chopped (about 3/4 cup)
1-1/2 cups cheddar cheese
2 cups fresh breadcrumbs (about 2 slices. I used whole wheat)
salt (optional)
pepper (optional)

1. Cook macaroni noodles. Drain. Melt a small amount of butter and mix with noodles, to prevent them from sticking together (instead, I rinse with cold water). Cover and set aside.

2. Melt 5 tbsp butter in a large saucepan (really large), add flour and stir over medium heat for about thirty seconds, being careful not to brown. Add milk and whisk until thick (boiling). Add nutmeg, salt and pepper. Reduce heat and simmer.

3. Heat red pepper on stove in a separate pan, or in the microwave for about a minute. Add to milk mixture, then add cheese. Stir until melted.

4. Add macaroni noodles and mix well. Place in a casserole dish (a disposable foil casserole dish may work nicely for freezing). Top with breadcrumbs.

5. To bake immediately, place in preheated 350F oven for 30-40 minutes. Top with cheese if you like for the last few minutes.

I split this recipe into two, baked one, and for the other I cooled, covered and froze.

Instructions from Freezer: Allow to thaw at room temperature for one hour, or all day in the fridge. Preheat oven to 350F, and bake for 45 minutes. (If you split it into two, baking time may be reduced... I figure to about 30 minutes).

Serve with meat of your choice (ham of sorts is great, we did pork chops from the local farmer... and hotdogs are great for the kids) and salad or cooked veggies. To make it into a complete meal, add chopped ham or weiners with the macaroni.

Lasagna

I've made this recipe a number of times now from the Betty Crocker Cookbook, and I really enjoy it. Of course, mine is a bit different from theirs, but that's OK. It tastes real good and is great for freezing. I like to divide the recipe in thirds and freeze 2/3 of it while cooking one portion. I forgot a photo yet again... this has been a bad week for that. However, I figure it's lasagna, and lasagna looks the same no matter how you cook it. ;)

Lasagna

Ingredients
Meat sauce
1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1 pressed garlic clove, or enough garlic powder to your liking (not too much!)
1 16oz can whole tomatoes
1 15oz can tomato sauce
2 Tbsp dried parsley flakes1 tsp sugar
1 tsp dried basil leaves
dash salt

Cheese Mixture
2 cups creamed cottage cheese (or ricotta)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp dried parsley
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves

9 uncooked lasagna noodles (or however many you need for layers... I use 12)
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
1. Cook and stir meat, onion, and garlic clove until light brown, drain. Add tomatoes with liquid, sauce, parsley, sugar, basil and salt (if using garlic powder, add here instead of with onion). Heat till boiling, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat, simmer uncovered until consistency of thick spaghetti sauce, about 1 hour. Reserve 1/2 cup.

2. Cook noodles unless using those that don't need it (I love those noodles). Mix cottage cheese, 1/4 cup Parmesan, parsley, salt, and oregano. Layer in pan(s) 1/3 of noodles, 1/3 of sauce, and 1/3 mozza cheese and 1/3 of cottage cheese mixture. Repeat 2 times. Spoon reserved sauce mixture on top and sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan. Cook uncovered at 350F for 45 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting. 8-10 servings.

Freezing: After cooking, lasagna can be covered and frozen up to 3 weeks. Cook uncovered in 375F oven for 1 hour or until bubbly.

Third Week of Meal Plan

I'm feeling pretty good about having accomplished this meal plan now for 3 weeks! I've figured out that when I make a plan I have a tendancy to stick with it, and since I've been posting it on my blog that makes me even more accountable to my plan.

So, this week was about making easy meals again, with some freezing as well.

Monday: For supper I made lasagnas, freezing 2/3 of them like I did the first week with the meatless ones. I love lasagna and it's been almost 2 years since I last made them... because I don't like making them, haha. Chuck was thrilled however.

Tuesday: I decided to make chicken and roasted potatoes. We grilled extra chicken for a meal later on. As always, I made this with salad.

Wednesday: Time for a quick easy leftover meal using the rice and chicken... leftover burritoes. These were nice and quick. So, I baked some coffee cupcakes to freeze. My dad made coffee at the party on saturday and there was 8 cups left over, so I made "Cake 1", a double batch, 1 dozen with coconut and 1 dozen without, and froze them (there was still about 6 cups of coffee left, and so I added water and poured on my outdoor plants... they apparently do well with coffee for some reason). I specifically wanted to make these cupcakes for an upcoming gathering I need to bring a dessert for.

Thursday: Now it was time for grilled salmon. Hubby made this meal. We had baked fries and salad with the salmon he grilled (he made a marinade to brush over of balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, and some spices). I love my fish.

Friday: This was burgers at a friends house... a weekly meal. Lots of fun.

Saturday: I didn't plan supper for today, instead I planned a breakfast... Pumpkin waffles! These are very tasty and high in fiber. I made 1.5 batches and am freezing a bunch of them for later. They make good meals and desserts... serve with ice cream for dessert, or with a white sauce for supper (very mennonite meal). I'm thinking supper today will probably be pasta... or fish... ;)

So there you have it... third week posted.

Pumpkin Waffles

I've made this recipe once last year, and decided it would be a good one to make this year to welcome autumn... yes, I love fall! I don't remember where I got this one from unfortunetly.

Pumpkin Waffles

Makes 16 4inch waffles
Prep 15min

Ingrediants
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
dash salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 3/4 cup milk
1 cup canned pumpkin (or mashed cooked pumpkin)
2 eggs, seperate yolks and whites
3 Tbsp butter, melted

Directions
1. In a large bowl, stir together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, and ginger. Set aside.

2. In medium bowl combine milk, pumpkin, egg yolks, and butter. Add pumpkin mixture all at once to flour mixture and stir until just combined (will be lumpy)

3. In a small bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold egg whites into batter, leaving a few puffs of white.

4. Heat a lightly greased waffle baker. Pour some batter onto waffle grid (be careful not to overfill as cleanup will be ... ahem... fun). Cook as per waffle grill directions.

5. Serve waffles immediately. Can also be frozen.

Cider-Honey Syrup: In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup apple cider or juice and 1 cup honey. Bring to boil, reduce heat, simmer uncovered 15-20 minutes or til slightly thickened. Serve warm. Can be stored in fridge up to 1 week. Makes about 1 cup.

Note: To use an entire 14oz can of pumpkin, multiply recipe above by 1.5

New Measures
3 cups whole wheat flour
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
dash salt
3/8 tsp baking soda
3/8 tsp ground nutmeg
3/8 tsp ground ginger
2 2/3 cup milk
1 can pumpkin
3 eggs, seperate yolks and whites
1/4 cup butter, melted

Easy Mix Cake

Again, I forgot to take a photo. These are currently in the deep freeze, so I don't feel like getting them at the moment. ;) Got this recipe from my Kraft cookbook.

Mix-Easy Cake

Ingredients
1/3 cup oil
2 squares chocolate or 1 cup chocolate chips (see below)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup liquid (see below)
1 egg
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
enough add ins to your liking (see below)

Cake 1: semisweet chocolate, coffee, shredded coconut and chopped pecans
Cake 2: unsweetened chocolate, water, chopped walnuts and chocolate chips
Cake 3: white chocolate, orange juice, chopped almonds and dried apricots, plus a spoonful of orange peel
Cake 4: butterscotch, water, chopped walnuts

You can mix and match a variety of items from the listed 4 cakes to get your own creation.


1. Heat 1/3 cup oil and chocolate or butterscotch in an 8 inch square nonstick pan in 350F oven for 2 minutes. Stir with fork till smooth (if making cupcakes, put in microwaveable bowl and mike for a couple of minutes)

2. Add 3/4 cup each of liquid and sugar, 1 egg, 1 1/4 cup flour (I like doing about 60% whole wheat and 40% white), and 1/2 tsp baking soda. Stir together until smooth. Stir in a handful of add-ins, reserving some for on top.

3. Bake 30 minutes (20min if cupcakes, makes 1 dozen) or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool.

Leftover Burritoes

Sorry, once again I forgot to take a picture. That's ok though, right? They are burritoes after all.

Leftover Burritoes

Scramble one egg per person, add leftover meat of your choice (we used chicken), and add leftover brown/wild rice (about 1/2 cup to 1 cup per person). Add salsa (however much you like). Cook till warmed up. Spread into burrito (whole wheat is best) and top with cheese. Tastes great served with veggie sticks (celery, carrots, etc).