Freezer Friday: Ham & Cheese Rolls

This recipe has been a work in progress over the last couple months.  It started out as filled bread sticks.  I made them for friends and was met with rave reviews.  As filled bread sticks, they had some integrity issues:  lots of leaking cheese.  I decided that the flavors were all good, but they needed a different structure.

My next attempt was filled rolls.  These worked much better!  Then I realized that if I didn't bake them all the way, they froze well and then I could finish baking them when I wanted to serve them.  This method worked fantastically!

While I've made these rolls with ham and cheese combinations, the filling ideas are endless!  My only thought is that if you're leaning towards veggie fillings like peppers and onions, saute and drain them first.  The extra liquid from the veggies could cause leaky rolls.  Read through to tips at the bottom.

Ham & Cheese Rolls

4-1/2 Teaspoons Dry Active Yeast

1 cup Warm Water

1 cup Warm Milk

1/2 cup Butter, Softened

2 Tablespoons Sugar

3 Teaspoons Salt

2 eggs, beaten

6-7 Cups All Purpose Flour

4 cups chopped Ham

2 cups Shredded Cheese

1.  Combine milk, water, sugar  and yeast and allow to sit until yeast begins to dissolve.  Add eggs, butter and 3 cups of flour and mix until a batter forms.

2.  Slowly work in the remaining flower.  As soon as your dough pulls away from the side of the bowl, STOP!  Do not add too much flour or it will not stick together well when you are trying make the rolls.

3.  Spray a large bowl with non-stick cooking spray and place the dough in the bowl to rise. Allow to rise until doubled in size.

4.  Separate dough into quarters and roll dough out.  I roll it out to about 1/4 inch for lots of small rolls, and about 1/2 inch for larger, sandwich rolls.

5.  Cut rolled dough into desired sized squares.  (A pizza cutter works great!) Sprinkle ham and cheese in the center of each square.  (This time I cheated and used sandwich meat and chunks of cheese - it works great for smaller appetizer rolls)



6.  Pull the four corners of the square over the topping and press the dough together until there are no  seams visible.

7.  Place bottom down on a cookie sheet, and space about 2 inches apart.  These will rise quite a bit.



8.  As soon as the sheet is full, bake at 375 for 12-17 minutes to par bake and 18-25, or until golden brown to fully bake.  (Par baked rolls can be cooled and frozen and finished baking for about 15 minutes when you're ready to serve them.)

Serve with hot with your favorite mustard!

Tips:

On the dough:  You want it to be pretty soft and maybe even a little sticky.  If you use a mixer with a dough hook, it should pull away from the side of the bowl, but not completely off the bottom.  This makes it easier to seal up your rolls.  Second, use cooking spray on your rolling pin and rolling surface instead of flour - this helps with sealing up the rolls too.

On Leaky Cheese: I found that even when I par bake the rolls some tend to leak cheese. I let them cool and send them to the freezer.  Then when it's time to finish baking them I bake them upside down, or seam side up since it's usually the bottom that's leaking.

On Fillings:  The combinations are endless, but remember, the more moisture your fillings release while they cook, (like peppers, onions, fattier meats etc) the soggier your rolls will be.

This post is linked up at Life As Mom's Ultimate Recipe Swap: Super Bowl Food. Check it out for other great party food ideas!

Grilled Chicken & Cheese Enchiladas

I made these Grilled Chicken & Cheese Enchiladas as part of my September Batch Cooking.   They freeze great and are easy to pull out and bake for a hot, hearty dinner on a cool fall night. Top them with your favorite salsa, serve them with beans and Spanish rice y es muy bueno! (and it's very good!) You can use flour or corn tortillas - I used the cheap flour ones and they almost dissolved when I cooked my enchiladas this time, so you may want to spring for decent tortillas.

I LOVE good Mexican food. I was once served beef wrapped in a tortilla and smothered with canned tomato soup and called enchiladas – not good Mexican food. This enchilada recipe would probably get laughed at in some of my favorite Mexican restaurants but it follows in the tradition of my Mom's enchiladas – so we call them enchiladas.  With the dissolving  tortilla issue of this batch is was more like a casserole, but still muy bueno!

(Any extra cheese sauce makes great Mac & Cheese!)

Grilled Chicken & Cheese Enchiladas

Ingredients

16 burrito size Tortillas or 32 Taco size tortillas

Filling

4 Chicken Breasts, Grilled and shredded or chopped

2-4oz cans Green Chilis

1 cup chopped Red Bell Pepper

1 cup chopped Green Bell Pepper

1 medium Onion, finely chopped

1-24 oz containter of Cottage Cheese

4 cups grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

1 teaspoon Cumin

1 teaspoon Garlic Salt

½ teaspoon Black Pepper

Cheese Sauce

½ cup Butter/Margarine

½ cup Flour

2 ½ cups Milk

4 cups grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Make the Cheese Sauce (or skip this step by using canned cheese soup or jar nacho cheese sauce for more of a kick)

1. 
   

   Melt butter in a large saucepan.

   
   


2. 
   

   Add flour to melted butter and stir until all the flour is incorporated into a rue.

   
   


3. 
   

   Slowly add 1/2-1 cup of the milk and whisk until the rue dissolves completely into the milk. Add remaining milk and heat to near boil.

   
   


4. 
   

   Turn off heat and stir in 4 cups of grated cheese until melted.

   
   

Set cheese sauce aside.

Mix all the filling ingredients except the chicken.

Assemble the Enchiladas:

1. 
   

   Place 1/2-1 cup of the cheese sauce in the bottom of your pan – enough to  lightly coat the bottom of the pan.

   
   


2. 
   

   Place a tortilla on a flat working surface.

   
   


3. 
   

   Place 1/3-1/2 cups of filling and a sprinkling of the chicken onto the center of the tortilla.

   
   

   

   
   


4. 
   

   Roll up the tortilla burrito style.

   
   


5. 
   

   Place filled tortilla into pan. (mine ripped – and that's ok – they are just there to hold the filling in place)

   
   
   

   
   



6. 
   

   Repeat until you've squeezed as many enchiladas as you can into the pan (usually I can fit 8 – 10 in a 9x13 pan and 4-6 in an 8x8 square pan). Pour more cheese sauce over the top and top with a hand full of grated.

   
   

   

   
   


7. 
   

   Bake for 45 minutes at 375 degrees or until bubbly.

   
   

Easy Fried Rice

Updated August 19, 2010:  If you're joining me from Life As Mom's Ultimate Recipe Swap, welcome!  My broccoli didn't give enough this year to freeze, but all the little bits ended up in yummy fried rice, along with all the other garden bits that weren't quite enough to freeze up!

I love Chinese food, but it is one of the few ethnic foods that is very hard to get right at home-although there are some kits on the grocery shelves to make it a bit better.  This summer we've come to enjoy fried rice.  I make as big of a batch of rice as I can in my kettle and freeze portions to pull out and use for this recipe later.

It's a quick one pan meal (if you have a wok or a really big skillet) that is a great way to re-purpose bits of other meals that are hanging around.  You can modify the vegetables and seasonings to fit what is coming in from your garden or your personal tastes.  (I'd have a nifty picture -but we were too busy getting dinner on the table - next time!)

Fried Rice

3 cups Cooked Rice

2 Eggs

2 cups Shredded Carrots

2 cups chopped Vegetables (this batch is Broccoli and green beans)

2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil

2 Tablespoons Grated Ginger

1 Tablespoon Minced Garlic

1/3 cup Soy Sauce

1/2 pound lean Pork or Chicken (optional)

Directions

1. Heat oil in large skillet.  Add ginger and garlic and sautee for about two minutes.  Add soy sauce and cook until mixture is simmering.

2. Add meat to skillet and cook until meat is done all the way through.

2.  Add carrots and broccoli and cook until almost tender.

3.  Push meat and veggies to the edge of the pan and crack the egg into the center of the pan and scramble it.  Once the egg is cooked mix it in with the meat and vegetables.

4.  Add rice, mix thoroughly and cover until rice is heated.  Serve alone or with your favorite egg rolls!

Calzones

As promised, here are my directions for how I made calzones during my Italian Cooking Day.

First, I used this crust recipe.  I was able to divide out the dough for 8 good sized calzones.  I rolled out each section of  dough into a circle.  Be careful not to roll it  too thin or your fillings will leak.



Then I filled the dough with lefotver cheese filling from the Lasagnas, shredded mozerella and sliced up Meatballs.



I closed up the dough by moistening with small bit of water and pulling up the dough from the bottom and tucking it in with the dough on the top.  Bake the calzones at 400 for 20-25 minutes.



Serve them up with HV Marinara. The extras were reheated in the toaster oven a couple days later and they were just as good as the first time around!

Enjoy!

Lasagnas

Remember when I posted my Italian cooking day and promised the Lasagna Recipe and Calzone instruction– well, I finally got my act together and here they are.  We’ll start with the Lasagna.  This recipe made 1-11x17 pan and 2-8x8 pans.  Scale back if you’re only cooking for one meal.  If you're on a vegetarian track, simply substitute all the ground beef for TVP - or substitute in chopped veggies of your choice - broccoli, cauliflower and spinach work great.

TM Lasagna

Meat filling:

2 pounds Ground Beef

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 cups Textured Vegetable Protein

Water

Marinara Sauce

Cheese Filling:

1-32 oz container of Ricotta Cheese

1-24 oz container of Cottage Cheese

1-6oz block of Parmesan cheese, grated with the largest side of grater.

8 cups shredded Mozzarella Cheese

2-16 oz boxes of Lasagna noodles, uncooked

8 cups HV Marinara Sauce

Directions:

1.  Brown ground beef and onion in large skillet.  When cooked, add TVP and water.  Once TVP expands, add marinara and allow mixtaure to simmer 5-10 minutes. Add additional water if it cooks down too much.



2.  Grate parmesan cheese and combine with cottage cheese and ricotta. (Mozzarella gets layered when the Lasagna is assembled.)



3. Layer Lasagnas: Put enough marinara to cover the bottom of the pan.  Lay uncooked noodles on top of sauce.



Spread a thin layer of cheese mixture on top of the noodles and then follow with the meat mixture and a thin layer of Mozzarella.



Add a bit of extra sauce and then another layer of noodles.  Repeat process until pan is full.  The extra sauce is the liquid that will cook the noodles as they bake.

Bake at 375 covered with foil for 45-60 minutes.  Remove foil and allow cheese to reach golden brown once sauce is bubbling in the middle of the pan.  Baking times will vary depending on pan size.

And tomorrow: Calzones!  Click here for a printable Lasagna recipe.

Calzones

For the calzones, I used this crust recipe.  I rolled out the dough (too thin might I add – make sure to keep it a good ¼” thick)  added extra cheese mixture from the Lasagna, Mozerella and sliced up Meatballs.  I closed up the dough by moistening with small bit of water and baked them at 400 for 20-25 minutes.  We ate them with marinara.  We reheated the extras in the toaster oven a couple days later and they were just as good as the first time around!

Freezer Friday: Chicken Cooking Day

This week my big cooking project was Chicken.  It was my goal to have cooked chicken, broth and Chicken Pot Pie filling for the freezer.  After giving my Crock Pot and stock pot good workouts, my missions were accomplished!

I’ve been following Kate at Kitchen Stewardship and decided to follow her instructions for making broth.  I started Monday evening by putting 4 ½ pounds of chicken thigh pieces and 4 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the stock pot with 6 quarts of water and vinegar.  Let it sit then fired it up.  Let it boil until I wanted to go to bed –about 4 hours.  Then I poured the liquid into the crock pot and added the chicken thighs.  The chicken breasts wouldn’t fit so I shredded them up.  I set the crock-pot on low and went to bed.  At an un-namable hour of the morning when GBaby had me up, I turned the crock pot up to high for another 3 ½ hours.  I added the veggies to the crock for about 45 minutes until the carrots were tender.

After straining the broth, I had cooked carrots for GBaby (see February Kithen Goals), two bags of shredded chicken, in addition to 4 cups of shredded chicken I set aside for the Chicken Pot Pie Filling, and about 5 quarts of broth.



I left 1 quart of broth in the crock-pot for the Chicken Pot Pie fill and returned the rest to the stock pot where I let it boil a while longer to condense (so that it won’t take up as much room in my freezer!).  After it boiled down, I had three, 3-cup containers of rich looking broth.



I added water, chicken, carrots, celery, onion, potatoes and spices to the crock pot until it was full, covered it and walked away.  At dinner time I added one can of condensed soup to one- 2 quart portion of the filling and topped with the biscuit topping (which I subbed in part whole-wheat flour) and popped our dinner in the oven.



Meanwhile, two more portions of filling went to the freezer.  I think they will come in handy for a lunch I will be “catering” next month.



When all is said and done, I only had to wash the crock-pot once and the stock pot twice.  Fewer dishes make me happy!

Corned Beef and Cabbage Stew

When I was making my January menu I wanted to try to use up some of the things that have found a semi-permanent home in my freezer because they’re things that I’m not particularly fond of.  One such thing was a 2 pound hunk of corned beef brisket.  I saw “beef brisket” and missed the “corned” part.  Straight up, I’ve never been a fan of corned beef, but I took this recipe for Caldo de Res (Mexican Beef Soup) as inspiration and concocted a stew that I have to admit I won’t mind seeing come back from the freezer for another meal.

Corned Beef & Cabbage Stew
Ingredients
3 c. chopped carrots
6 beef bullion cubes
8 c. water
3 c. frozen corn
2 chopped onion
2 pounds Corned Beef, trimmed, cubed, browned and drained
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon pepper
Salt to taste
1 can (14.5oz) diced tomatoes

Directions
1.  Brown corned beef cubes in a large skillet over medium heat.
2.  Combine all ingredients in a large slow-cooker.


3.  Let cook on low for 6-8 hours, or until meat and vegetables are tender.  Serve with you favorite bread.



Click here for a printable version of this recipe.

Fail, Fail, Success!

On Thursday afternoon I realized that I had planned on stretching my monthly menu meals a little too thinly this week.  It was a crazy week and I had planned on surfing through the nutty weekend on leftovers, but I hadn't quite planned enough meals to make that work.  Oops, monthly menu fail!

Looking to remedy the situation and also to experiment with a new toy I got for Christmas, I thought I'd set out to make pasta.  I got the pasta plates for my MamaMixer for Christmas.  I thought homemade spaghetti or macaroni would be great and GBaby was giving me a good day so onward to pasta project.  I mixed up same pasta dough recipe that I used when I made the Spinach Linguine except I made it a little dryer and with tomato puree instead of spinach.  I dropped the dough in the dough into the food grinder and waited to see beautiful noodles come forth.  And waited.  And then watched noodles come out and promptly join and stick to all the other noodles coming out of the extrusion plate.  I tried adding more flour to  the dough.  Didn't work.  I tried a different plate.  That didn't work either.  Finally I gave up, vowing to tackle it another day when I had a bit more energy and had done a bit more research.  Pasta fail.

I stood in the kitchen looking at the pile of dough that wasn't going to work for extrusion pasta and didn't want to waste it.  I added more liquid back into the dough and ran it through the trusty pasta rollers.  Voila: tomato linguine!  Then I needed a sauce.  So I went to the freezer and pulled out a tub of pesto that I had frozen from fresh basil.  I added the pesto to a basic white sauce (flour & butter rue with milk) and we had a delicious dinner of Tomato Linguine with Pesto Cream Sauce!  Pantry/Freezer Challenge Success!

Homemade Spinach Linguine

This week I put the MamaMixer pasta rollers to work.  Our Christmas plans are in a semi-fluid state, sort of like a really good molten chocolate cake - but I digress.  So it ends up that we'll have family at our place for Christmas, for which I'm thrilled.  In a moment overtaken by a craving, I've decided to stray from the 'normal' holiday meal of ham or turkey and all the trimmings and go for an Italian feast.

Since the pasta rollers hadn't seen a workout since March and green is a great, festive, Christmas color, I decided to make homemade Spinach Linguine.  I did some google searching to find tips and tricks and below is the recipe and notes I used. We tested some for dinner last night, it's good!

Homemade Whole Wheat- Spinach Linguine

Ingredients:

2 cups Unbleached All Purpose Flour

2 cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour (finer than regular whole wheat)

2/3 cups Spinach Puree (as smooth as you can possibly get it)

1/3 cup Water plus 3+Tablespoons for consistency

Directions

1.  Make your spinach puree.  I took 1-10 ounce package of frozen spinach and microwaved it until thawed and semi-cooked.  Then took ran it in the blender, liquid and all, and added more water 1/4 cup at a time, until the puree was the consistency such that it would pour smoothly.  (Freeze the puree you don't use in the pasta and add it to another recipe for extra nutrition.)

2.  Combine flours in a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of your mixer.

3.  Form a well in the center of the flour in the bowl and add spinach puree and 1/3 cup of water.  Blend ingredients with a spoon or fork until crumbly.





4. Add water 1 tablespoon at a time as you (or your mixer) kneads the dough until a stiff dough forms.  If using a MamaMixer once the dough forms a ball and all pulls away from the bowl - you're there.  Knead it for a couple more minutes until smooth.



5. Roll & Cut.  If you have pasta rollers, follow the directions on your rollers to roll and cut the dough.  If working by hand, roll it out as thinly as possible and then slice it up.



6.  Cook or Preserve.  If you're cooking up your pasta right way, place it in a pot of boiling water for 5-8 minutes, drain and enjoy.  If keeping it for a while, allow your noodles to "dry" a bit until they are the consistency of soft fruit leather - usually a couple hours.  Then put in seal-able bag and place in refrigerator or freezer.



A Couple Notes: As I was working with the dough I was really afraid that the texture was going to be off because of the whole-wheat flour.  The dough kind of felt like a fine-grit sand paper and that's not appetizing at all!  I'm happy to say that the whole wheat cooked up beautifully and the texture was soft and fabulous as you would expect a homemade pasta to be.

Also, I was concerned because there seemed to be a lot of fibers from the spinach that I couldn't get out of the puree, these too seemed to disappear in the cooking process.  If you have particularly fibrous puree, you may want to run it through a strainer before putting it in the pasta dough.

Now I have to decide if I want to make an Alfredo Sauce and garnish with roasted red pepper or make a rose sauce.  Decisions decisions!

Shepherd’s Pies with Garlic Cheddar Smashed Potatoes

My batch meal of the week last week was Shepherd’s Pies.  Generally Shepherd’s pies consist of some combination of ground beef, vegetables and mashed potatoes, this recipe follows the basic formula with a few adjustments.

I doctored up the Shepherd’s Pies and topped off the beef and veggies with Garlic Cheddar Smashers.  I also used TVP to stretch the beef a little bit farther.   This recipe will make two deep dish pie plates or 1-9x13 plate.  I doubled this and made 1 deep dish pie plate and 3-8x8 square pans that and now in the freezer for future meals.

ThrivingMama's Shepherd’s Pie

1 pound Ground Beef

½ medium Onion

1 cup Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP)*

1 ½ cups of water

1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup

4 cups of Vegetables (any combination of carrots, corn, green beans, etc.)

½ batch of Garlic Cheddar Smashed Potatoes

3 Tablespoons of Butter

Directions

1.  Brown ground beef and onion.  Hydrate TVP with water and add to the cooked ground beef.

2. Combine vegetables and soup.  Add beef to vegetable mixtures and put on the bottom of greased pan(s).



3. Spread Garlic Cheddar Smashers on top of meat and veggie mixture.

4. Dot top of potatoes with 3 tablespoons of butter and bake at 375* for 30-45 minutes or until bubbly around the edges.



Click here for a printable version of this recipe.

Freezer Friday: Beef Brisket

Tonight I have about 8 pounds of beef brisket in my crock-pot.  Tomorrow morning, I will have a crock-pot full of falling apart ready to  use shredded beef.  First a bit about brisket.  *This is NOT corned beef brisket.  This is just a plain beef brisket.  I have purchased briskets that were a wonderful cut of meat and marbling that cook to perfection.  I have accidentally purchased others that were more marbling and fat than they were meat.  Look at your cuts of meat closely and make sure you're getting the meat you're paying for and not just fat.  It is usually a relatively inexpensive beef cut that you can use for a number of meals.  To be well prepared, brisket requires a long cooking time so the crock-pot works great!

I found a great brisket today that was about 16 pounds.  I cut the meat in half and one half went to the freezer while the other went to the the crock-pot.  Mrs. Ringle's Brisket one recipe from Once-A-Month Cooking that I have used a number of times that has never failed me, and it's so easy you really can't mess it up.  Put your brisket in your crock-pot, fat side up.  Squirt 3-4 tablespoons of your favorite mustard (yellow or spicy) on top of it and spread it over the top.  Open a packet (or 2 if you have a large brisket) of onion soup mix and sprinkle over the top.  Turn your crock-pot on low and let it cook for 12 to 18 hours, until it is falling apart and shreds easily with a fork.

We rarely have the meat as the center-piece of a  meal, although with the brisket we will have Hot Beef Sandwiches (brisket added to sautéed onions and peppers, served on sub rolls).  I plan on using some for Beef Stew tomorrow.  The rest I will portion out into quart size freezer bags and freeze it.  It will be thawed at a later time to be used in Burritos, Shepherd's Pie, Beef & Barley Soup, Hot Beef Sandwiches (again) and whatever inspiration hits me.  I plan to have 4-6 bags of meat off to the freezer, in addition to the remaining half of the brisket) after I pull some for sandwiches on Sunday and make the stew.

My house is already smelling good and it still has all night to cook!  I can't wait :D

Cooking with Dad: Pad Thai

When I visit my folks, or they visit us,  Dad and I like to embark on culinary adventures.  In the past, these journeys have included Mediterranean feasts and homemade raviolis.  Tonight we went on a pseudo-Thai adventure.  Inspired by a Pad Thai Throwdown we used the directions and methods from the recipe given but cheated and used the Thai Kitchen sauce.  The finished result was super tasty and comparable to pad-Thai I've had in restaurants.

I've made pad-Thai before but I think what made all the difference with these directions was how the noodles were prepared.  For this recipe, you soak the noodles in cold water for 30 minutes and then steam them in the wok (or electric frying pan) with the other ingredients.  They were cooked perfectly and not a pile of mush like I've made before.

So if you're in the mood for Thai, and take-out is not available, give this a shot.  Most major grocery stores will have the ingredients you will need!

Chicken Pot Pie

As promised yesterday, here's the recipe for my Chicken Pot Pie.    In the area of the country where we live now, I think it may be better known as Chicken & Biscuits, but I’m really not sure.  Look it over and let me know what those around your dinner table would dub this pot of supper goodness!  The combination of the  smokin’ deal on chicken this week, the fresh carrots and the cooler mornings, I decided to make what I knew growing up as Chicken Pot Pie.

A note on the biscuits:  there is no wrong way.  I’ve included the biscuit batter recipe I use, and it’s very easy and hard to mess up.  But, if you prefer a boxed biscuit mix, that will work, so will the pre-made biscuits from the refrigerator section of the grocery store if you prefer those. Take your pick, throw the biscuits on top and bake it up.  Enjoy!

The Chicken Pot Pie recipe below is for one casserole dish.  When I made it this week, rather than cooking it in the oven as the directions call for, I made a triple batch of the filling in my Crock-Pot.  Once the filling was done, I transferred one batch to the casserole dish and two batches to freezer containers.  Later this fall, I can thaw, add biscuits and bake the Pot-Pie and have dinner ready in a fraction of the cooking time.

Thriving Mama’s Chicken Pot Pie

1 pound Chicken meat chopped or shredded (I prefer boneless/skinless chicken breast, but any will work)

1 cup Chicken Broth

2 cups chopped Carrots

1 cup frozen Corn

2 cups diced Potatoes

2/3 cup chopped Onion

1-10.5 oz can of Cream of Chicken Soup

½ teaspoon Black pepper

1 teaspoon Thyme

Biscuit Topping:

2 cups Flour

1 Tablespoon Baking Powder

2 teaspoons Sugar

½ teaspoon Cream of Tartar

½ cup melted Butter

1 cup Milk

Oven Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients (excluding Biscuit Topping) and place in a two-quart oven dish.


2. Cover and allow to cook 45-60 minutes at 375, or until vegetables become tender and chicken is cooked through.


3. Combine biscuit topping ingredients, mixing the dry ingredients first then adding the butter and milk.


4. Remove filling from the oven and drop spoonfuls of biscuit batter on top of the filling.


5. 


6. Return to the oven and cook 25-30 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown.  Allow to stand 5 minutes and serve.

Crock-Pot Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients (excluding Biscuit Topping) and place in a slow cooker.      


2. Cover and allow to cook on high until mixture is bubbly (2-3 hours) then reduce to low until vegetables become tender and chicken is cooked through (additional 3-4 hours).  If you over cook it, the condensed soup will separate and you will lose the “creaminess” of the filling.  If you will not be around to tend to the crock-pot, cook on low.      


3. Combine biscuit topping ingredients, mixing the dry ingredients first then adding the butter and milk.


4. If you have a removable crock in your crock-pot, carefully drop spoonfuls of biscuit batter on top of the filling.  Otherwise, transfer the filling to oven-safe bakeware and add biscuits.  Place in oven cook 25-30 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown.  Allow to stand 5 minutes and serve.

Click here for a printable version of this recipe.

10/28/2010 Update: This is an easy recipe to take to a friend, cook one for you and one for them-all in one pot so it's easy clean up too!  This Chicken Pot pie is great comfort food with all the food groups involved!  (Linked up at The Ultimate Recipe Swap)

Easy Broccoli & Rice Casserole

Wonder of wonders, I am still picking broccoli out of our garden.  Usually the heat of early July will end our broccoli crops but not this year.  We’ve just recent gotten tastes of summer heat.  So, we are still enjoying broccoli.  Some has made it to the freezer but a lot of it is getting used fresh.  Here is an easy, one dish dinner.  I put chicken in this recipe, but it can easily be omitted for a great vegetarian dish.  Since it was about ninety-five degrees the day that I made this, I made it in the microwave.  It can also be cooked in the oven or slow-cooker.  Drop me a line if you’re interested in other cooking methods.

Broccoli & Rice One Dish Dinner

Ingredients

2 cups Brown Rice, uncooked

4 1/2 cups Water

3 cups Broccoli, florets or chopped

1 medium Onion, chopped

1 can Cream of Mushroom soup

1 cup cubed Cheddar Cheese

1 1/2 cups shredded or chopped Chicken (cooked)



Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a microwave safe casserole dish with a lid.


2. Cover and microwave for 15 minutes.   Remove from microwave and stir.  Repeat.


3. At this point the rice should have absorbed most of the water and it should be soft most of the way through.  If not, cook longer at 5 minute intervals.  If it has reached the point of near softness put the lid back on the dish and let it sit for 20 minutes.  The steam in the dish should continue to cook the rice the rest of the way.  If, at any point, it looks like your rice is absorbing too much of the liquid and the casserole looks dry, stir in additional water as necessary in ¼ cup increments.

It was a crazy day in the kitchen, so I didn't get any "after" pictures, but your final dish should be moist and cheesy.  Enjoy!  Click here for a printable version of this recipe.

Three Bean Chili

I like to try to trim the grocery bill by including vegetarian and vegan meals into the menu.  This is one of my favorite fall meals, and with fall right around the corner, I thought I’d get a batch in the freezer ready to go.  This is a hearty, meat free meal that can satisfy the hungriest in the house.

I used dry beans for this recipe.  Most folks will tell you to soak your beans.  I cheated – come on, this should not surprise you!  For this recipe I used my crock pot and I did not soak my beans.  In 6 hours on high, the chili was great.  The black beans did loose a bit of their color and the white beans absorbed a bit of color from the tomato.  If you’re a or plan ahead a little bit more than I did, free to soak your beans first and then reduce the amount of liquid you put in the chili.  This can alos reduce the cooking time.  If you don’t have time to mess with the steps, throw everything in your crock pot, stir, check it a couple times during the day to make sure there’s enough liquid and serve it when the beans are soft.  This is a fairly mild chili, if you prefer a spicier chili, you will want to add more seasonings or hot peppers.

This recipe makes about 5 quarts of chili.  After you’ve served it as a stand alone meal with cornbread the first night use it as a COI and serve it as your protein over baked potatoes or rice later in the week for a second meal.  Any remaining bits left in the fridge go well on hot dogs.  You will still have lots for the freezer for later meals.

Vegan Three Bean Chili

Ingredients

6 cups Water

3 cups Tomato/Vegetable Juice (like V8)

2 cups Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) Flakes

1 cup dry Black Beans

1 cup dry White Beans

1 cup dry Pinto Beans

1 medium White Onion, chopped

2 Green Peppers, chopped

1- 14.5 oz can Diced Tomatoes

1 Tablespoon Cumin

2 teaspoons Chili Powder

Directions

1. Measure out your beans and sort them for broken beans, rocks and dirt clumps.  Rinse your beans and put them into your slow-cooker on high with all other ingredients. (To reduce cooking time, soak beans in hot water for 2 hours or in cold water overnight.  Reduce liquid by half if you soak beans.  If using pre-cooked beans, increase quantities to 2 cups each)


2. Once your chili comes to a boil, depending on the heat of your cooker, you may want to turn it down to low to avoid burning around the edges.


3. Monitor your chili as the beans and TVP will absorb the liquid.  If it looks too thick, add more water.


4. Once beans are soft, serve and enjoy!

Click here for a printable version of this recipe.

Quick Dinner: Veggie Spaghetti

On nights when things are chaotic, I love meals that come together quickly and incorporate most of the important food groups into one meal, or at least gets the veggies into the mix.  This time of year with fresh zucchini coming out my ears, it's getting added to all kinds of things.  In this recipe you can substitute whatever garden abundance you are blessed with into the mix: bell peppers, yellow squash, onions and fresh diced tomatoes are all great additions.

Veggie Spaghetti

Ingredients

1 Pound Spaghetti Noodles

3 cups of Marinara sauce (or your favorite spaghetti sauce)

3-5 cups of chopped Fresh Vegetables (summer squash, zucchini, onions, green peppers)

1 Tablespoon Minced Garlic

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Directions

1.  Put water on to boil in a kettle and prepare to cook Spaghetti according the directions.

2.  While water is coming to a boil, put oil, garlic and veggies into a large skillet and saute them until tender.



3.  Add Marinara sauce to Veggies and cook until sauce is heated thoroughly.



4.  Combine veggie-sauce with pasta.



5. Top with crumbled feta cheese or grated Parmesan cheese and enjoy!