A Month of Meals {Recipes-Week 2}

Sadly Baby Love has caught my stomach bug and poor daddy seems to be heading down the same road. Little is napping right now so I thought I would take a few moments to put together week 2's recipes.

{Loaded Baked Potato Soup}

source Ingredients

1 bag Ore Ida hash browns

2 cans 9or 2 cups) low sodium chicken broth

2 cups water

1 package of reduced fat country gravy

Directions

1. Add chicken broth and water to large pot on high

2. When broth and water begins to boil add hash browns.

3. Mix gravy with a little bit of water before adding to pot to prevent lumps.

4. Reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

5. I like to mash mine a bit with a potato masher, but  it is yummy either way.

{BBQ Chicken}

source

Ingredients

4-6 boneless, skinless Chicken breasts

1 (18 oz) bottle Barbecue Sauce ( I used 'Sweet Baby Ray's')

2 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar

1 teaspoon Garlic Powder

1/4-1/2 teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper flakes (optional)

1/4 cup Brown Sugar

DIRECTIONS

 Place chicken breasts in the bottom of crock pot. In a medium bowl mix together barbecue sauce, vinegar, garlic powder and red pepper. Stir sauce and then pour over chicken. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Close with lid and cook on low for 4-6 hours. (The last 30 minutes of cooking, remove the lid from crock pot and let water evaporate to thicken sauce) Serve!

{Chicken Noodle Soup}

source

Ingredients

4 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup sliced carrots
1 cup sliced celery
1 tsp. dried basil, crushed
1 tsp. dried oregano, crushed
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 cups medium egg noodles
2 cups chopped chicken/turkey

Directions 
In a 3-quart saucepan combine broth, onion, carrot, celery, basil, oregano, pepper, and bay leaf. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 5 minutes. Stir in uncooked noodles. Return to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 8 to 10 minutes or until noodles are tender but still firm and vegetables are just tender. Discard bay leaf. Stir in chicken; heat through. To serve, ladle soup into bowls. Makes 4 main-dish servings.

{Chicken Pot Pie}

{Roast}

A Month Of Meals {November}

I will admit it this past month I didn't make all of the meals I had on my menu, but it wasn't my fault. I blame all of the people who kept bringing us yummy meals like my Mama and Brent's Mama. Good thing is I can use most of the items I had bought for last month's menu for this month's so nothing goes to waste. I still did pretty good following my menu and once again that is the great thing about menu planning you are never scrambling for a meal and if something comes up you can always save that meal for another day.

When I started planning for this month I had to make sure I account for the week of Thanksgiving. Brent will be out of town the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving and then I have to save some room for any leftovers. I am pretty excited about Brent going out of town even though I won't be able to sleep because I get to make something Brent would eat, but us girl's will enjoy White Chicken Chili. I am also making some Cream of Whatever because he promises he will eat anything as long as it doesn't have any yucky cream of nasty soup in it. That means casseroles people and of course chicken pot pie.

Now on to November's menu.

I am really excited about this month. It is finally cooling off down south and we can finally start making yummy soup to warm us up. I gave myself a challenge this month to only cook Crock Pot or Freezer Meals and I believe I have come up with some pretty good stuff. 

We have hit the store and for the low low price of $168.44 we are ready to do some cooking.
I am sure you are dying to know what I got for my money so here is my list. Next month I want to start using  dried beans instead of canned beans. I have never soaked or cooked with dried beans, but it's like everything else I do. Once I try it I can do it.

Grocery List
8 bell peppers
1 bag yellow onions
1 bag baby carrots
1 bunch celery
1 bag Idaho potatoes
1 lb. ground turkey
1 pork shoulder
1 roast
stew beef
rotisserie chicken
jar enchilada sauce
evaporated milk
non fat dry milk
chicken broth
liquid smoke
lipton onion soup
chili powder
2 cans mixed veggies
2 cans great northern beans
green chilis
shoepeg corn
2 jars Prego spaghetti sauce
mexican rice
homestyle noodles (egg noodles)
macaroni noodles
frozen ravioli
pie crusts (forgot)
shredded colby jack cheese
shredded montery jack cheese
shredded cheddar cheese
shredded mozzarella cheese
milk
sour cream
frozen hash browns
frozen broccoli
frozen green beans
eggs
pizza crust
pizza sauce
pepperoni
jiffy corn bread

Extras
Baby Tylenol
Cheddar Popcorn
Honey Ham
Honey Turkey
Canned Peaches

I will have to do another post with all of my recipes because I am too darn tired from cleaning to keep going tonight. I spent all day taking apart and cleaning black mold out of my dishwasher. I will spare you the pictures, but imagine a fuzzy plant literally growing inside my dishwasher door. I am still so grossed out right now and high from the cleaning fumes.

Looky Looky Looky

Unless I have a baby sometime soon I want to make these.

For breakfast we shall have

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

Yield: 4 servings (4 pancakes)

Prep Time: 25 min

Cook Time: 10 min

An absolutely decadent morning treat...

Ingredients:

PANCAKES:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 Tablespoon canola oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten
CINNAMON FILLING:
1/2 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
CREAM CHEESE GLAZE:
4 Tablespoons butter
2 ounces cream cheese
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Prepare pancake batter: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk in milk, oil and egg, just until batter is moistened (a few small lumps are fine).
2. In a medium bowl, mix butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Scoop the filling into a small zip baggie and set aside. You don't want this to remain super-liquidy. It's best if it becomes a consistency similar to toothpaste.
3. In a medium, microwave-safe bowl- heat butter and cream cheese until melted. Whisk together until smooth; whisk in powdered sugar and vanilla extract; set aside.
4. Heat large skillet over medium-low heat. Spray with nonstick spray. Scoop about 3/4 cup batter onto the skillet. Snip the corner of your baggie of filling and squeeze a spiral of the filling onto the top of the pancake. When bubbles begin to appear on the surface, flip carefully with a thin spatula, and cook until browned on the underside, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer to a baking sheet or platter and keep in a warm oven until ready to serve.
5. When ready to serve, spoon warmed glaze onto the top of each pancake.

Tips:

*Keep the heat low or your pancakes might cook up too quickly. Don't flip them until you see those bubbles starting to pop on top. Flip them with a wide spatula so you can grasp the whole thing without batter and filling dripping all over the place!
*It's best if you pour the batter onto your skillet, wait a minute or so and then swirl the cinnamon onto the batter. That'll give it a chance to set a little before you add the swirl.
*If your baggie of filling begins to get too thick, just pop it in the microwave for a few seconds to soften it up again. On that same note, it shouldn't be too runny. The consistency of soft toothpaste is perfect. If it's melty and runny, it will tend to run all over your pancakes. Once you micro it, let it sit on the counter at room temp for a while until it thickens slightly.

Source: RecipeGirl.com

For dinner we shall have

Easy Chicken Santa Fe

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook Time: 3 hrs

It's a little embarrassing how easy this is. And your family will think you've gone all out for them. Delicious!

Ingredients:

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed & drained
1 small bag frozen sweet corn (or 2 cans, rinsed & drained)
1 cup bottled chunky salsa
6 skinless chicken thighs (or 6 skinless chicken breasts- see tips below)
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese (low fat is fine), cut into chunks
1 cup shredded cheddar

Directions:

1. In a slow cooker, mix beans, corn and 1/2 cup salsa. Top with chicken and pour remaining salsa over the chicken. Cover and cook on HIGH for 3 hours, or until chicken is tender and cooked throughout.
2. Remove chicken to a cutting board and cut into bite-sized pieces. Return chicken to slow cooker along with cream cheese. Stir and let cream cheese melt into the mixture to create a creamy sauce.
3. For serving: You can serve the chicken & sauce over rice with a sprinkle of cheddar cheese on top. Or you can serve these as tacos with cheese and a couple of taco fixings such as lettuce and tomato.

Tips:

*For chicken, the thighs will turn out more moist and tender than the breasts in a slow cooker. I used bone-in thighs and removed the skin. After the 3 hours, I removed the thighs, cut off the chicken, discarded the bones and returned the chicken to the slow cooker. You can use breasts too, just be sure not to overcook them or you'll run the risk of drying them out.
*Alternately, you can use boneless, skinless thighs and you can prepare this in the oven- 350 degrees F. for about 70 minutes.
*If you're watching your weight, you can most certainly leave out the cream cheese. It makes an awfully yummy sauce, but the corn/beans/salsa/chicken mixture would also make for an excellent dinner over rice or inside tortillas. If you're preparing this recipe as GLUTEN FREE, use GF corn tortillas for tacos!

Both recipes came from Recipe Girl