Freezer Meals for the Crock Pot

Before I had Warren, I spent an evening preparing freezer meals to use post-baby and I have LOVED having them! I use them on the days that he just won't let me put him down or the days I felt more sore and tired from recovery or because he didn't sleep very good that night or just because I'm feeling lazy. I haven't used them all and I hope to prep some more once I run out!   They've been so handy!  I know there are recipes for freezer meals that you can bake (like the Honey-Lime Enchiladas that Marilee gave us...DELISH!!) but all of these are meant to just throw in the crock pot for a few hours.


These are from the Six Sisters' Stuff blog.  They have other recipes for freezer meals but these are the ones I chose because I had just bought a case of chicken from Zaycon Foods.

Chicken Broccoli Alfredo

Ingredients:

1 ½ pounds chicken breasts

1 (16 oz) bag frozen broccoli florets

2 (16 oz) jars Alfredo sauce (I use light)

1 large green pepper, chopped

1 (4 oz) can sliced mushrooms, drained

Directions:

Place all ingredients in a resealable gallon-sized freezer bag and mix together.

When ready to eat, remove from freezer and thaw in fridge for 24 hours. Cook on LOW for 4-6 hours. 

Serve with cooked fettuccine noodles, green salad, and breadsticks. 

Cilantro Lime Chicken w/ Corn and Black Beans

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts
Juice from 2 limes
1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
1 (16 oz) bag frozen corn
2 minced garlic cloves
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 tsp cumin 

salt and pepper to taste

Directions: 

Place all ingredients in a resealable gallon-sized freezer bag. Mix together and zip bag closed.

When ready to eat, remove from freezer and thaw in fridge for 24 hours. Cook on LOW for 8 hours (or HIGH for 4 hours). 

Serve with tortillas and toppings such as with sour cream, guacamole, salsa, and cheese.

Recipe adapted from Over the Big Moon. 

**I have this in the freezer but I haven't made it yet. I'm excited to try it though so I'll let you know what we think.

**I don't think you need to thaw  these before hand, it just cook it for a couple more hours til the chicken is done.

 

These recipes are from Saving You Dinero

Crock Pot Hawaiian Chicken
(4-5 servings)

• 2-3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• ½  cup white sugar
• ½  cup vinegar
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
• ½   cup of pineapple juice (use what’s in the can)
• ½  can of large pineapple chunks

Add all the ingredients to the bag. Cook 4-5 hours on high or 6-7 hours on low. Serve it over rice and enjoy. While I am cooking the rice I  like to shred the chicken and put it back in the juice before I serve it.
**This was a little sweet for my taste but still yummy.  I just added soy sauce on top when we ate it at it was better (according to my taste buds).

Garlic Honey Chicken
(4-5 servings)

• 1 ½  to 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• ⅓ cup  soy sauce
• ⅔  cup ketchup
• ¼  cup honey

(Feel free to double the sauce if you like extra sauce)
Add all the ingredients to a freezer bag. Cook 3-4 hours on high or 5-6 hours on low.  We like to eat this with mashed potatoes and a veggie.
 **THIS WAS DELICIOUS!!  It could easily be done without freezing if you wanted. I made loaded mashed potatoes (with sour cream, bacon, cheese, and green onions) and salad with the chicken and we both loved it!

Chicken Fajitas
( 5-6 servings)

• 2 peppers (your favorite)
• 1 onion
• 1 1/2 pound chicken breast
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• taco seasoning packet
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 1 tsp. salt

You will also need tortillas, cheese, cream, etc.
**I cooked the chicken and then made chimichangas with the meat after I shredded it. I used the meat and peppers, black beans, cheese, and salsa. Rolled them up with the ends tucked in and lightly fried them in a pan with a little bit of oil in them.  So yummy!

Directions

1. Put all the ingredients in a large freezer bag. (Make sure you label the bag with instructions.)
2. When it’s time to cook it, dump it all in your slow cooker and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 5-6 hours.
3. When it’s cooked, shred the meat and add it back to the pepper mixture and serve on warm tortillas and your favorite toppings.

 Let me know if you have any great freezer meal recipes or if you have any questions about these!  Happy Cooking everyone! :)

Love ya!
Ang 

Honey Lime Enchiladas

So I have a list of recipes that I have wanted to blog for awhile now. So here goes. The first one, Honey Lime Enchiladas, ranks in the top 5 of my family's favorite recipes. I would've never thought to put this combo together, but boy am I glad I gave it a try. They are soooo good!

This recipe can be found on Mel's Kitchen Cafe.

INGREDIENTS:

6 tablespoons honey
5 tablespoons lime juice (1 large lime)
1 tablespoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 pound chicken, cooked and shredded (I used 3 small chicken breasts)
8-10 flour tortillas1 pound monterey jack cheese, shredded
16 ounces green enchilada sauce
1 cup heavy cream (to lighten them up, I have substituted sour cream with good results)

DIRECTIONS:

Mix the first four ingredients and toss with shredded chicken. Let it marinate for at least 1/2 hour (I tossed mine together in a ziploc bag in the morning and let it sit in the refrigerator all day). Pour about 1/2 cup enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 9X13 baking pan. Fill flour tortillas with chicken and shredded cheese, saving about 1 cup of cheese to sprinkle on top of enchiladas. Mix the remaining enchilada sauce with the cream and leftover marinade. Pour sauce on top of the enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until brown and crispy on top.

*Freezable Meal: Freeze prior to baking. To bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake enchiladas, covered (without thawing first) for 1 hour. Uncover and bake 30 minutes longer, until brown and crispy on top.

A tip from the website is to saute diced onion and garlic and add to the marinade. I always do this, using 1/4 to 1/2 cup of onion and 1-2 cloves of garlic. Also, I always use sour cream instead of heavy cream and think it tastes great. I've never been able to find a 16 oz. can of enchilada sauce, so I have used two 10 oz. cans or one 28 oz. can and it comes out just fine. I have also used a variety of cheeses, cheddar, pepperjack, colby jack, just whatever I have on hand. I usually marinade the chicken for a couple of hours, but I have done it for as little as 30 minutes and once I did it overnight and I didn't notice a big difference.

Something yummy to make to go along with these enchiladas is Mel's Honey Lime Fruit Salad :http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2010/04/honey-lime-fruit-salad.html

Give these a try! I think you'll love them! Oh yeah, and these are almost better rewarmed the next day!

Avocado Chicken Salad

(photo from thekitchencookie.blogspot.com)

I've had this pinned on Pinterest for a while and when I got 10 avocados in our Guacamole Pack from Bountiful Baskets I decided to try it.  I made it just as the recipe calls but I didn't cook enough chicken so I probably only had about 2 cups but it would definitely be better with more chicken.  For the cabbage, I used Napa Cabbage because it also came in my Bountiful Basket and I probably had slightly more than it called for (plus I like it better than regular cabbage).  I made it when Mom was in town & Serena had it with us and we all loved it!! (at least they said they did haha)    I would recommend slicing the avocado and arranging it on the plate then putting the salad on top instead of filling the avocado like in the picture~it was kind of hard to eat out of the avocado. 

We just loved the chicken salad! It would be delish in a pita pocket or just as a sandwich.  The almonds, celery & cabbage gave it a good crunch!  YUM!!

Here's the recipe:

3 cups chicken, cooked and shredded

1 cup cabbage, shredded

½ - ¾ cup celery, diced

¼ cup green onions, chopped

½ cup sliced almonds

Dressing:

1 cup mayonnaise

2½ teaspoons mustard

1½ teaspoons sugar

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

Milk, to desired consistency  (I didn't use milk)

Combine all dressing ingredients & whisk together.  Set aside.  Combine chicken, veggies, and almonds then stir in the dressing.  Then top avocado with chicken salad.

Enjoy!
~Ang~

Crispy Cheddar Chicken

Tonight for dinner we tried a new recipe at our house. It was the Crispy Cheddar Chicken from Jamie Cooks it Up. The link is: http://jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com/2011/10/crispy-cheddar-chicken.html

It was really good and everyone (even Rhett) ate their entire plate and raved about how much they liked it. When I make it again, I will grate my cheese smaller or even put it in the food processor for a second to make the cheese pieces smaller so they stick better. Other than that, I woudn't change a thing. I made twiced baked potatoes to go with it and a green salad would've been nice. I will definently be making this again for my family!

Mike's Favorites -Part 1 "Aussie Chicken"

I don't know if you all know this but Mike has a love for mushrooms unlike most.  I mean they are right up there after ME (of course) but up there with his other top loves like bacon, Dr. Pepper, his XBox, potatoes, steak, etc  :)  Needless to say, we eat mushrooms often: in salad, eggs, stuffed, sauteed, and the list goes on.  So when I found this recipe, I knew it would be a hit in this home.  It might not be your cup of tea but it sure is Mike's.

I believe it's supposed to a mimic recipe from a dish at Outback Steakhouse but we've never had it there.  I got it from this blog about 3 years ago so I'm not sure if it's still a good source for recipes since this is the only one I've ever tried.  One of the great things about this recipe is that it's easy to downsize or expand the recipe if needed.  Welp-here it is!

Aussie Chicken
* 4 Chicken Breasts (I like to cut them in half so they are thinner & a better chicken to goodies ratio. For just the 2 of us, I will use 2 chicken breasts sliced thin creating 4 thing pieces so we have leftovers.)
* 8 slices of bacon (I use the crumbled bacon from Costco-saves time & increases simplicity)
* 2 Tsp Seasoning Salt
* 2 Cups Colby Jack or Monterey Jack Cheese Shredded (I prefer Monterey Jack)
* 1 Cup Sliced Mushrooms (you knew that was coming, huh? but of course I use a bit more)
* Honey Mustard -it didn't have a measurement but it will depend on how saucy you like things.  I think originally it had a recipe for this but I like simple & just buy Honey Mustard Dressing (current favorite, suprisingly enough is WalMart brand Honey Dijon Light Dressing) but you could probably try the Honey Mustard dips they have now for a thicker sauce

-Rub chicken breasts with seasoning salt, cover & refrigerate for 30 minutes (sometimes I don't wait 30 minutes because I forget so I just rub it in really well & then start cooking it). 
-Preheat over to 350. 
-Cut bacon into bite sized pieces and cook in a large skillet over medium heat until crispy & set aside.
-Heat a tablespoon or 2 of oil in the skillet & place the breasts in the hot oil for 5-6 minutes per side, or until brown. 
-Drizzle some Honey Mustard in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish to lightly cover the bottom (for just Mike & I, I use an 8x8 dish).
-Once browned, place the chicken in the baking dish & drizzle more sauce over the top.
-Then layer mushrooms, bacon & shredded cheese on top.
-Bake for 10 minutes or unitl cheese is melted & chicken juices run clear (I usually do 15 just to be safe).
-You can use more of the honey mustard for additional sauce if you need it.
                                               Enjoy!!

The Beginning of a Great Thing!

Hi Everyone!

Well, it's finally up and running with lots of kinks to work out (I'm sure) but I am SO excited for this blog!  So let's all embrace the idea & share, share, share!  Share cooking successes & failures (wink wink -you know we've all had them) as well as crafts, DIY projects, or even just great deals that we should all know about! 

So-here we go:

At the cabin for Christmas, Marilee showed me this awesome blog so I've been trying some new recipes on this month's meal plan.  One of our new FAVORITES, which will be a regular in the Searle home is Mel's Crispy Chicken Wraps. They are SUPER easy & SO yummy!!  It calls for a rotisserie chicken which makes it even easier since it's already cooked but I rarely buy those & I'll be using boiled & shredded chicken next time.  We had 4 or 5 left over and they were yummy the day after too! 

Happy Cooking!   Luvs~Ang~