Hello all! Cheryl Wyatt here. I'm getting ready to go on a writing spree to finish a couple book projects. That means less online time and pretty much hibernating away with my computer for a couple of weeks. One thing I like to do ahead of time is prepare meals for my family to make dinnertime easier and my writing days more efficient. I make them ahead then toss them in the freezer. So all I have to do is toss the ready-made ingredients in the crock pot or oven.
What's your favorite crock pot meal? Can you share the recipe in the comment section?
If you do dump dinners, like I described above, let me know. I'd love to try some new recipes for my family.
Thanks in advance for sharing.
I'm sharing a meal that my middle daughter created. It's SO, SO good. Enjoy!
Cheryl Wyatt
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BELL PEPPER PASTA
Ingredients:
-1 block or bag of mozzarella cheese
-1 red bell pepper
-1 orange bell pepper
-1 yellow bell pepper
-grilled chicken strips
-Alfredo sauce
-1 stick butter
-1/2 c flour
-onion powder
-1 cup cream or milk
-3 cloves garlic
-salt and pepper to taste
-olive oil
-penne pasta
Directions:
Preheat oven to grill chicken strips. I use the ones already cut and precooked in a bag. But you can use fresh chicken breasts-grill and cut into strips.
Heat your favorite brand of pre-made Alfredo sauce in a pan, along with 1 stick of butter. Add flour and stir it until it becomes a thick paste. Add milk and stir. Cook until it boils. Add onion powder. Slowly add strips of mozzarella cheese until it's all melted in with the mixture. Add salt, pepper and garlic. Let simmer on low.
Dice bell peppers and sauté in olive oil.
Cook 1 box of penne pasta.
Add peppers, penne pasta and chicken strips to the mixture, then stir. Serve and enjoy!
~Cheryl
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Your turn. Share your favorite recipe! :-)
Yummy stuff here: Cranberry Chicken
ReplyDeleteBoneless skinless chicken cutlets
1 can whole cranberry sauce
1 small bottle of fat free Catalina dressing
1 packet onion soup mix
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (You can also cook these on the grill)
Grease or use cooking spray on a 9x13" glass baking dish.
Place chicken cutlets in the dish.
In a bowl mix cranberry sauce, dressing and onion soup mix.
Pour over the chicken and bake until done. About 45 minutes. If you like it well done a little bit longer.
The sauce tastes great on mashed potatoes. Or I alternate serving this with stove top chicken stuffing and toss in Craisins before I cook the stuffing.
It is a very simple recipe but makes a really nice presentation.
This looks SOOOO yummy JennaV. Thanks for sharing! :-)
DeleteI'm not home, and I can't remember all my recipes, but I really like a chicken and rice casserole.
ReplyDeleteChicken breasts, about 2 cups cooked
1 cup celery, cut up
1 small onion, diced
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup cooked rice (I use a wild rice mixture)
1 small jar mushrooms
Mix and cover with crushed crackers with dabs of butter and bake about 35 minutes until bubbly.
Sounds sooooo good! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to tell ya Cheryl - your post here has haunted me for DAYS!!!! I guess it's because my profession is cooking - so I should have a TON of recipes to send your way - and maybe I'm over-thinking this so I'll share some "tips" that I hope will help or inspire you for some make ahead meal planning. 1st tip - cook off several boneless, skinless chicken breast. I just season mine with a "general seasoning mix" like - garlic powder, onion powder and salt & pepper - that way I can use the chicken for any future purposes be it Italian, French or American cuisine. Then I chop up the chicken into strips or cubes and bag them in ziplock bags and store them in the freezer. I'll usually do this in 1 or 2 pound increments so I can just grab a bag for a meal. I'll get a top round or sirloin tip beef roast and just cut it up - raw - into strips or cubes and bag it and store in the freezer. If your family likes pork, then get some pork chops and lay them on a cookie sheet and freeze them individually, then bag them. With the chicken or beef (cubes and strips) - you want to wait till each bag is frozen, then remove them from the freezer and lightly bag them with a hammer (or I just drop the bag a couple times on the counter or floor - oops! did I say that outloud - lol)- because you want to loosen the cubes or strips from each other. This accomplishes the "IQF" (individually quick frozen) results. This way, when you pull a bag to put in your crock pot - you've got single pieces rather than a big ball of meat. With these IQF meat bags, your options for dinner are now endless. Pull a bag of the cooked off chicken cubes and put a jar of Alfredo with it in the crock pot on low and in a couple of hours you've got Chicken Alfredo. Put the strips of beef in the crock pot with a jar of Stroganoff sauce and in a couple hours you've got Beef Stroganoff. Put the pork chops in the crock pot and pour a can of French Onion soup over them and in a few hours you've got a yummy french dinner cuisine. All of these are great over pasta - which is also a "do ahead" type of frig item. You just boil up a couple pounds of pasta - be it spaghetti, rotini, penne, etc... and after boiling for 7 minutes - then drain, rinse and bag. Put these in the refrigerator. In the restaurant we would put a pot of water on to boil - and then pull out however much pasta is needed for an order(s) and you dump the bag(s) of pasta into the boiling water and let them stay in for only a minute or two - - you only want to "shock" the noodles back to life and get them hot. You pull them out with a spider into a colander - and "viola" you've got instant pasta for your crock pot pork, chicken or beef. The varieties on what you can do are endless - - but the key is to have your meat ready and IQF - and then some options in the pantry to turn your meat into a meal. I hope this helps!!
ReplyDeleteI love these tips! Thanks for sharing!
DeleteThis is Pam - in Florida - not "anonymous" - lol
ReplyDelete