Chicken Enchiladas

Chicken Enchiladas are one of the reasons why I love freezer meals! These taste just as good after they have been in the freezer as they do fresh.

1 c. onion, chopped
1/2 c. green pepper, chopped
2 T. butter
2 c. cooked chicken or turkey
3 T. butter
1/4 c. flour
1 t. ground coriander
3/4 t. salt
2 1/2 c. chicken broth
1 c. sour cream
1 -1/2 c. Mexican blend shredded cheese
12 -6 inch tortillas

Cooking day instructions
Cook onion and green pepper in 2T. butter until tender. Combine onion mixture in a bowl with chicken; set aside.

For sauce, melt 3 T. butter and stir in flour, coriander, and salt. Stir in chicken broth all at once; cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir 1-2 minutes more. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream and 1/2 cup of cheese. Stir 1/2 cup of sauce into chicken mixture.

Fill each tortilla with 1/4 cup of chicken mixture. Roll up. Arrange rolls in a lined baking dish for freezing. Pour remaining sauce over enchiladas and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Freeze.

Serving day instructions
When you are ready to serve it, thaw completely in the refrigerator. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until bubbly.

Hawaiian Chicken

This is another good meal to prepare ahead of time and put in the freezer.  I got this out of the Don't Panic - dinner's in the freezer, cookbook.

6lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

2-16oz cans pineapple slices or chunks, drained

2-15oz cans mandarin oranges, drained

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup soy sauce 

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 t. salt

1 t. ground ginger

1/2 t. ground red pepper

Original recipe yields 8-10 servings

Cooking day instructions

Place chicken in freezer bag.  Mix together fruit, cornstarch, sugar, soy sauce, lemon juice, salt, ginger and ground red pepper.  Pour over the chicken in bag.  Freeze, using freezer bag method.

Serving day instructions

Thaw chicken mixture.  Place in Crock-Pot, cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours or on high for 2-3 hours.  Optional - add green pepper chunks to crock pot one hour before serving.

We serve this over rice.  So yummy!

Freezer meals

I have recently become obsessed with having meals readily available in our freezer. Most of them just need to be thawed out and put in the oven or crockpot.  I get great satisfaction when I look in the freezer and find it full!  

There are two books that I have been making meals out of.  Don't Panic - Dinner's in the Freezer: Great-Tasting Meals You Can Make Ahead by Susie Martinez, Bonnie Garcia and Vanda Howell.  And their second book Don't Panic--More Dinner's in the Freezer: A Second Helping of Tasty Meals You Can Make Ahead.  I checked them out from the library and will be doing a review on them soon on my book review blog.  I just wanted to let everyone know about these two great books.

Sophilla Cheesecake Pie

This week the menu is filled with all sorts of recipes we've never had before.  Here is one that I found on Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon Mexican vanilla extract
• 2 (8 ounce) cans refrigerated crescent rolls
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1/4 cup honey

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Prepare a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Beat the cream cheese with 1 cup of sugar and the vanilla extract in a bowl until smooth.
3. Unroll the cans of crescent roll dough, and use a rolling pin to shape each piece into 9x13 inch rectangles. Press one piece into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Evenly spread the cream cheese mixture into the baking dish, then cover with the remaining piece of crescent dough. Stir together 3/4 cup of sugar, cinnamon, and butter. Dot the mixture over the top of the cheesecake.

Bake in the preheated oven until the crescent dough has puffed and turned golden brown, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and drizzle with honey. Cool completely in the pan before cutting into 12 squares.

Cucumber Salad

The other night I had a craving for something lite and crisp which resulted in us having Cucumber Salad with our grilled brats.

Ingredients

1 large cucumber
3 Tbl mayo
2 Tbl milk
1 Tbl Vinegar
salt and sugar to taste

Peel cucumber and slice
Mix mayo, milk, vinegar, salt and sugar.
Pour sauce over cucumber slices and chill.

French's Crunchy Onion Chicken

We've seen this on TV commercials for a while so I decided to make it for supper tonight.  It was very good.

What you need:

2 cups (4 oz.) FRENCH'S® Original or Cheddar French Fried Onions

2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

4 (5 oz.) boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 egg, beaten 

Make it: 

Place French Fried Onions and flour into plastic bag. Lightly crush with hands or with rolling pin. Transfer to pie plate or waxed paper.

Dip chicken into egg; then coat with onion crumbs, pressing firmly to adhere. Place chicken on baking sheet.

Bake at 400°F for 20 min. or until no longer pink in center. I baked ours for 40 minutes.

Mozzarella chicken roll-ups

My husband couldn't stop talking about how good this was tonight.

2 oz. Cream cheese, softened

1/2 tsp. dried oregano leaves

1/4 tsp.  Garlic salt

1/2 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

2 small boneless skinless chicken breast, pounded to 1/4-inch thickness

HEAT oven to 400°F.

MIX first 4 ingredients until well blended.

PLACE chicken, top-sides down, on work surface; top with cheese mixture. Starting at one short end, tightly roll up each breast, tucking in ends of chicken to completely enclose filling. Place, seam-side down, in 9-inch square baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.

BAKE 30 min. or until chicken is done (165°F).

Variations

 Mix in 1/4 cup finely diced green pepper with the cheese mixture. 

-OR-

Prepare as directed, topping the flattened chicken pieces with a layer of baby spinach leaves before topping with cheese mixture.

-OR-

Top chicken breasts with 1 cup spaghetti sauce before baking.