Thursday, July 16, 2009

Cooking

You know when you have a friend that has a new baby (or two?) everyone rallies and brings warm home cooked meals to them for however long they think they need them? It’s nice to have that for the first couple of weeks when everyone is sleep deprived and trying to get into the new schedule and the newness of having a baby! It’s a blessing for sure. I’ve been blessed to have my friends bring yummy food, and I’ve been blessed to be able to make food for friends!

That’s a great thing if you’re part of a church or have friends and family around to help out! But what if you don’t? It’s good to plan ahead. There are lots of meals that can be made ahead of time and frozen, as long as you have the space to store them!

What if you just like to cook (which I’m finding I really do) and want to make some food that you can put in your freezer and have for a day when you DON’T feel like cooking? Here are some dishes I made that are all freezable. I made 6 main dishes the other day it was fun and didn’t take as long as I thought it would - although it did take about 4 or 5 hours. I did some prep-work the day before, such as thawing meats and cleaning chicken. But the dishes were all put together and baked in one afternoon.

Here is a list of the dishes I made – pretty simple ones and very yummy! I am not going to post each recipe so if there’s one you would like that’s not listed, please let me know.

Enjoy and happy cooking (and freezing!)

Bruschetta Chicken Bake - Kraft Food & Family
1 14 1/2oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 6oz package of Stove Top mix for chicken
½ cup water
2 cloves garlic, minced
1½ lbs. chicken breast – cut into bite sized pieces
1 tsp. dried basil leaves
1 cup 2% shredded mozzarella cheese

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Place tomatoes with liquid in medium bowl. Add stuffing mix, water and garlic and stir until stuffing is moistened. Set aside.

Place chicken in 9 X 13in baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese and basil. Top with stuffing mix.

Bake 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
This reheats very well!


Cheesy Beef Stroganoff
Chicken in Cream Sauce
Upside –down pizza Casserole
Parmesan Chicken

Ham & Cheese Ziti – Linda Miller (my mom)
2½ cups uncooked ziti
¼ cup butter or margarine
1 garlic clove finely chopped
¼ cup all purpose flour
½ tsp. salt
2 cups milk
½ tsp. Dijon mustard
2 cups shredded Colby cheese
4oz sliced cooked deli ham, cut into thin strips
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cook and drain pasta

While pasta is cooking melt butter in 3 quart saucepan over low heat. Cook garlic in butter 30 seconds, stirring frequently. Stir in flour and salt, cook over medium heat, stirring until smooth and bubbly. Gradually stir in milk. Heat to a boil, stirring constantly, boil 1 minute. Stir in mustard and cheese. Cook, stir until cheese is melted.

Stir in pasta and ham. Pour into ungreased 2 quart casserole dish. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Bake uncovered 20 – 25 minutes or until bubbly.

I also tried something new this past weekend and made my own salsa. I don’t have my own garden – because I cannot keep any living plant alive – so I went to the local Farmers Market and got all the fresh ingredients! I used a recipe (from a Pillsbury book), and it turned out OK, but next time I do it (which I will again before all the wonderful fresh tomatoes are out of season!) I’ll add a few more of this and a dash more of that just to give it a bit more flavor. I chose this recipe because it didn’t require canning and all that stuff. I’ve never canned anything (but I think I’m working up my courage to try it) so I wanted a recipe that I could make and eat right then. Cook and learn - here’s a picture of the salsa!







My helper!

5 comments:

Luke, Avery, Monroe's Nanny said...

I'd like the recipe for the cheesy beef stroganoff, please?

Holly said...

Sure Mom, I'll email ya!

Nan said...

Fun! I made the bruschetta chicken for Frank one night when a friend was here. Our friend loved it...Frank bluntly told me at dinner to never fix it again! We all still laugh, a little, about that one!

Holly said...

Nan, you are a bigger woman than I - cause I don't think I could have managed a laugh! :-)

Luke, Avery, Monroe's Nanny said...

If you decide to start canning, let me know. I'll help you if I can, but even if I can't, you can have all my canning paraphenalia.