Cottage Pie

AKA Shepard's pie. I never really liked this dish growing up. Not sure why. This version is your basic ground beef, ketchup corn with a topping of mashed potatoes and shredded cheese. Nothing to special. I decided to give it a try because I have never made it before.

 It wasn't too bad. I suppose I'd make it again. Tim and I liked it. D ate it and B wouldn't even touch it. No surprise there. I did really like how easy it was. Just pop it out of the freezer and then pop it into the oven. Just make sure you take the foil off first because the cheese will stick! Everyone has a Shepard's Pie recipe. My guess is that you can freeze it -just cook the beef before hand-. So if you want this one leave a comment and let me know!

Chicken a la King

I have to apologize for this post a little bit. I made this dish when my parents were visiting and while cooking it was a little crazy. I had my zoom lens on my camera {not sure what the proper name is} so, the pictures are not great. Anyway- here is what it looks like cooking. It was really thick. Almost like gravy. I added some half and half and it helped quite a bit. It was also a little flat so I added garlic pepper and garlic powder. It helped a lot.

 And here we are over pasta. I was nervous to serve this since my parents were eating it. But, everybody liked it. I really liked it too. I will definitely be making this again! Check out the recipe HERE

Chicken Lelani

This dish was...interesting...I wanted to make it because it was a casserole dish. Something I didn't do last time. Although, I am not sure why I chose this one. It has lots of celery in it {cream of celery soup too} and Tim is not a fan of celery. But it was easy so I figured I'd give it a try. It has a chow mein noodle bottom, layered with a creamy chicken mix, topped with almonds. This is what it looked like before going into the oven-

 I also made these Olive Garden Breadsticks. They were YUMO. I found the recipe on Pinterest and of course I didn't pin it :(  So  if I ever find it again I will share. It was good and SO easy!

 The whole plate. I am going to be honest. I was not a fan of this dish. It just wasn't very...appeasing. And it didn't re-heat the best either. Brock didn't like it, Tim tolerated it and D didn't even try it. Needless to say, I won't be making it again. But if you are interested in the recipe, check it out HERE

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

It's time to play catch up! Sorry I have been slacking. I have had a super busy October so far. We went to Chicago and then my parents came to visit. So I have a few meals to share with you. First up is Chicken and wild rice soup. This is what it looked like out of the freezer-

                                     This was a pretty easy meal. Veggies, chicken, rice. It was time consuming, mostly because I had to cook the rice which took about and hour. I think you could use and Uncle Ben's microwavable pouch instead though. If you were in a hurry.

Here is what is looked like a'cooking. It was a little grainy so a was worried. But as it heated up it smoothed out.
                                     
 Here is what it looked like all heated through- sorry for the poor photo, steam. This soup was really thick. So thick in fact that Tim didn't even know it was soup. LOL he put it right on a plate instead of a bowl. Ha. So when we had it the second night, I added some extra chicken stock and it was much better.

The verdict? This soup was good. We all liked it. The bacon was a nice touch. I have never had Chicken and wild rice soup with bacon in it. I would definitely make this again. You can check out the recipe HERE

Blue Berry French Toast

Well, the first freezer meal....wasn't ever frozen. No room in my freezer. So I decided to leave this one out and bake it first. Mostly because it just looked so dang good! And who doesn't love breakfast for dinner once in a while?

So, here is what it looks- sorry about the iPhone photos. Basically lots of french bread, eggs and cream cheese! 

 Bake for 60 minutes and here is what we have! It smelled Ahhhh-mazing!

 Mmmmmm... Don't you want a bite. This dish was well received. Tim liked it, B loved it and D, well, she eats anything. It also reheated well. We just popped it in the oven.All in all an easy meal. I'm curious as how it would freeze, with all the eggs, but we'll have to see next time. Hope you like it! Get the recipe HERE

Cooking Day...again

I'm beginning to not like cooking day. Ha. It's a big mess. Lots of work. This time there were 3 loads of dishes done. And I was in a hurry today because I had people coming over at 5 for dinner {on cooking day?!? What was I thinking?} and I sliced my finger open pretty nicely. Blood got...everywhere... But not in the food. I just got blood all over the drawer while fumbling for a band aid. I was slicing raw chicken at the time, so I hope I don't get some strange sickness...Anyway. I thought I'd share what was on the menu this month. I didn't do as great of job as tracking my money this month because I bought the meat at a different time when it was on killer sale. But I'd say it's about $200. So a little more. But not bad, especially if it stretches over 2 months like the spoils from the last baking day did. In fact I still have 3 meals left! Anyway- here is the line up. I had to make soups! It's Fall, Ya'll!

White Chili x2
Wild Rice Soup x2
Tomato and Leek Bisque x2 {I'm excited about this one, we'll see what Tim thinks}
Chicken A La King x2
Chicken Lalani
Chicken Paris x2 {Not to sure about this one..}
Navajo Tacos x2
Cottage Pie
Sloppy Joes x2
Hamburgers
BlueBerry French Toast bake- which actually didn't fit into my freezer, so we'll be eating it soon.

So 18 meals. Lets begin again, shall we?

Finger Licking- Stick To Your...

RIBS {too cliche?}

I'm not sure if this qualifies as a freezer meal per-say, but I thought I'd share the recipe anyway. A lot of people think Ribs are hard to make. We have invited a lot of people over for Ribs and they always seem impressed that Tim and I could "pull them off". We'll here is our secret- Ribs Are Easy. End of story. I had never in my life eaten Ribs until Tim and I were married. My first time at Texas Road House I ordered them and YUM. If you haven't ever eaten Ribs, try them. OK on to the recipe-

So I always buy Hormel Brand ribs. Usually baby back. They seem to go on sale on the "camping" holidays. You know- 4th of July, Labor Day, etc. Regularly they are about $4/lb, but I buy them only on sale for $1.99/lb. I usually buy a couple racks and just freeze em. Here they are- 

 You are going to want to get some tin foil and spray with Pam. Wrap your ribs. Then wrap them again. We don't want fat dripping all over the oven. Pop them into the oven at 275* for about 2 hours. Tim and I have tried different temps and times. This seems to work the best. If you cook them longer at a lower temp, it will dry them out.

 Once they are done in the oven, it's time to make the BBQ sauce. Back when we lived in ID close to a Winger's, we used to just buy Winger's sauce and use that. This is pretty much the same thing for lots cheaper {Winger's bottle is $11!}. To make your BBQ sauce you need 3 parts brown sugar and 1 part Franks Red Hot with a splash of water. I do 3/4 C brown sugar and 1/4 C Frank's. You can do more or less Franks, depending on how spicy you like it. Then bring to a slow boil until the sugar is completely dissolved. Please Note: you can just as easily use any old jar of BBQ sauce. This is just our favorite way.

 This is what the ribs look like out of the oven.

 Slice 'em in half. This makes them easier to handle on the grill.

 As a side note- I also made these Potatoes. They. Are. Sinful.

 Throw those babies on a med hot grill and baste with the sauce. Flip and baste a few times. This doesn't take very long. Grill just enough to make the sauce tacky and a little caramelized.

 Mmmmmm

 Remove and serve! See? So easy that this guy can do it!