Recipe #13: Cream Cheese Chicken

This recipe seemed too good to be true.  Basically, a dump recipe that you don't have to thaw before sticking in the crock pot.  Could it be tasty?  IT COULD! Amazingly, this actually was delicious, though next time, I will wait to add the cream cheese until the end of the cooking time (the freezing process made it slightly grainy).

Cream Cheese Chicken

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds boneless, skinless, chicken breast
• 1 can (10.75 ounces) cream of chicken soup
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1 packet dry Italian dressing mix (I used 1 cup italian dressing)

Directions:

Place chicken, soup, cream cheese, and seasoning mix in slow cooker. Cook on high 4-5 hours or low 8-9 hours, or until chicken is cooked through. Serve over hot cooked rice or mashed potatoes, or noodles, if desired.

Freezing Directions:

Mix soup, cream cheese, and dressing mix. Place raw chicken in freezer bags. Pour sauce over chicken, seal, label, and freeze. To serve: Place bag contents in slow cooker. No need to thaw. Cook on high 4-6 hours or low 8-10 hours, or until chicken is cooked through.

Recipe #12: Pecan Crusted Chicken

Another freezer meal.  And this one was great!  It was moist, flavorable and quite easy to make.  The cooking trifecta!

Pecan Crusted Chicken

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1/4 C dijon mustard
• 6 Tbsp honey
• 2 Tbsp water
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp season salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup plain dry bread crumbs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425F.  Place chicken breasts in a gallon size freezer bag.  In a small bowl, combine mustard, honey, water, lemon juice, season salt and pepper.  Add marinade to chicken, turning to coat well. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer for extra flavor.  Mix pecans and breadcrumbs in a shallow dish.  Remove chicken from marinade and discard any extra.  Coat chicken evenly with pecan mixture.  Place on baking pan and bake 15-25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Freezing Directions:

Place chicken breasts in a gallon size freezer bag.  In a small bowl, combine mustard, honey, water, lemon juice, season salt and pepper.  Add marinade to chicken, turning to coat well.  In a quart size freezer bag, combine pecans and breadcrumbs. Place small bag into larger bag with chicken.  Label and freeze.  TO SERVE:  Thaw in fridge, removing bag with pecans and breadcrumbs.  Mix pecans and breadcrumbs in a shallow dish.  Remove chicken from marinade and discard any extra.  Coat chicken evenly with pecan mixture.  Place on baking pan and bake 15-25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Servings: 4

Recipe #9: Chicken and Cheese Lasagna Roll-ups

Chicken.  Cheese.  Pasta sauce.  Noodles.

YUM.

This recipe goes a loooooong way. And it freezes well.  'Nuff said.

CHICKEN AND CHEESE LASAGNA ROLLUPS 

Ingredients:
3 cups chopped cooked chicken (I used shredded chicken.  Because I'm lazy and always use shredded chicken)
1/4 cup milk
1 cup Ricotta cheese
1/8 teaspoon white pepper (I used black pepper)
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
8 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups Prego Spaghetti Sauce (I used homemade pasta sauce)

In medium bowl, combine chicken, cheeses, milk, and pepper

Spread 1/2 cup mixture on each lasagna noodle; roll jelly-roll fashion

In a 13 by 9-inch baking dish, spread 1 cup spaghetti sauce (I used 2 8 by 8-inch dishes)

Arrange lasagna rolls, seam-side down in sauce in baking dish

Top with remaining spaghetti sauce

Cover

Bake at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes or until hot

Serve, if desired, with additional Parmesan cheese.

Recipe #7: Healthy Mama BBQ chicken

I love, love, LOVE my slow cooker.  Anytime you can dump food in the crockpot and forget about it until dinner = a winner to me.  That being said, finding good slow cooker recipes can be a challenge.  Some are too soggy, some too dry.  It all depends.

Healthy Mama BBQ Chicken was pretty much a win.  Greg and I both enjoyed it, Smunchie DEVOURE D IT and Lil G....well, Lil G ate the way he always eats--reluctantly.  The veggies were a little soggy but overall, it was quite yummy.  I actually only made 1/2 a recipe, which was the perfect amount for our little bunch: two average adults, one picky preschooler and one ravenous infant, with enough left over for one person to have it for lunch tomorrow.

 Healthy Mama BBQ Chicken

3 medium unpeeled  sweet potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch pieces, about 2 cups
2 large green pepper, cut into strips or cubes, about  2 cups
1 large red pepper, cut into strips or cubes, about 1 cup
2 zucchini, chopped, about 2 cups
2 cups chopped onion
2 tablespoon quick cooking tapioca (or flour, or some other thickening agent)
2 pounds chicken thighs or drumsticks
2 15oz cans of tomato sauce
4 tablespoons packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoon ground yellow mustard
2 clove garlic, finely minced, about 2 tablespoons
1 teaspoon salt

Divide everything into two separate one gallon freezer bags, shake it up, seal, label and put in the freezer. On the day of cooking, dump it into your slow cooker and cook on high for 4 to 6 hours, or low 6-8 hours, depending on your specific slow cooker.  If you want, you can add 1/2 cup of chicken stock to have more sauce, but the liquid from the frozen meat and vegetables melting should give you enough liquid to work with.  Every slow cooker is different, so just watch yours the first time you make it. 

Recipe #7: Spicy Sweet Glazed Chicken

We recently purchased a BUNCH of chicken from a wholesale deal.  So, chicken recipes are gonna show up!  My friends and I prepared approximately 20 meals for the freezer, all of which were new recipes.

Our first recipe was Spicy Sweet Glazed "Dump" Chicken.  "Dump" refers to the fact that you just dump all the ingredients into a bag and freeze it. Then, on cooking day, you just dump it into a pan and bake!

This recipe went over pretty well.  Lil G liked it (dipped in ketchup, of course).  Greg also said that it was "good".  When I pressed him to tell me the definition of a "great" meal, he indicated that it would be primarly comprised of bacon.  Quite a tall order to turn chicken into bacon but perhaps....one day!

Spicy Sweet Glazed "DUMP" Chicken

2 Teaspoons Minced Garlic 
2/3 cup Apricot Preserves
1/3 cup Soy Sauce
1/3 cup Ketchup
1 Teaspoon Tabasco Sauce
1 1/2 Pounds Chicken Pieces

For immediate cooking: Pre-heat oven to 350 F. Place all ingredients into a
large baking dish, turn chicken to coat. Bake until chicken juices run
clear (45-60 minutes for chicken pieces, or 20-30 minutes for chicken
breasts).

For freezing: Place all ingredients into a 1 Gallon freezer bag. Lay flat
in freezer.

To thaw and cook: Take the bag out of the freezer the night before, make
sure the baggie is completely closed. Place the Bag on a shelf furthest
from the freezer (It works best if the bag is laying flat, although this
may not be the best option with a side-by-side fridge/freezer). Preheat the
oven to 350 F. Empty the contents of the bag into a large baking dish and
bake until the juices run clear (45-60 minutes for chicken pieces, or 20-30
minutes for chicken breasts).

Recipe #5: "Real" Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

This recipe, again, is my attempt to utilize food that we have around the house in order to make a relatively quick/healthy dinner.  The end result was quite good.  It was very reminiscent of the original version but the addition of the whole ingredients, particularly the fresh broccoli, was refreshing.  The husband seemed to like the end result and the preschooler was able to choke it down with prodding (he is not a fan of broccoli....or casseroles).

“Real” Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole by Kim @ Onceamonthmom.com

Ingredients:

• 2.5 cups uncooked brown rice (I used the steam-in-the-bag variety)
• 2 cups chicken, cooked and chopped
• 4 cups fresh broccoli florets
• 1 batch cream of mushroom soup (I used canned *shudder*)
• 1 batch cream of chicken soup (Again, canned)
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I recommend shredding yourself, as opposed to the preshredded at the store)
• salt and pepper to taste (I omitted, since I used the canned soup, riddled with salt)
• 3/4 cup water (probably not necessary)

Directions:

Cook brown rice according to package instructions on the stove top or in a rice cooker. Meanwhile, in a large pot, steam broccoli florets until just tender. Drain and rinse with cold water. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl, reserving .5 cup of shredded cheese. Mix well to combine. Divide casserole between two 8 x 8 greased baking pans or one larger pan. Sprinkle each with .25 cups shredded cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, until heated through and bubbly.

Freezing Directions:

Follow directions above and freeze before baking.

TO SERVE: Thaw and bake as directed above.

Servings: 8

 I ended up making the full amount and freezing one of the pans for a later meal.  

Recipe #4: Melt in your mouth Chicken Breasts

This should actually be entitled "Chicken YUM!".  It was so good!  Even the preschooler liked it (well, he said that he didn't but then asked for seconds).  I modified it a little in order to make it healthier and to utilize the items that we had on hand. This is a great recipe, since it generally uses ingredients that we have in the house and it requires little prep-work.

Melt in Your Mouth Chicken Breasts

4 boneless chicken breast halves  (I split each breast in half)

1 cup mayonnaise (I used 1/4 cup mayonnaise and 3/4 cup plain yogurt)

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese 

1 1/2 teaspoons seasoning salt (I used Tastefully Simple)

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 

1 teaspoon garlic powder (I used Tastefully Simple Garlic-Garlic)

Directions: 

1. Mix mayonnaise, cheese and seasonings. 

2. Spread mixture over chicken breast and place in baking dish (I used a slotted pan)

3. Bake at 375°F for 45 minutes.