3 Packet Pot Roast

1 3lb. pot roast
1 Packet Dry Ranch Dressing
1 Packet Dry Italian Dressing
1 Packet of Beef Gravy or Au Jus
3 cups of water


Place 1 cup of water and all three packets in the crock pot and stir. Then place Pot Roast in and cook on low for 8 hours. (can be cooked on high for 4-5 hours) 20-30 minutes before eating add 2 more cups of warm water and flip to high.

Malibu Chicken

12 Breaded Chicken Tenders (Normally would use patties and fry them)
12 slices of Swiss Cheese
6 slices of Ham
2 cups of Mayo
1/3 cup mustard


Bake chicken at 450 degrees for 25 min.  Turn chicken once half way (use thermometer to make sure appropriate temp.).  Lay the set up.  One piece swiss cheese, one piece ham, one piece swiss on top, cut in halp and lay on each tender or just cover the whole top of the dish.  Bake for another 10 min or until cheese is melted. 

Mix Mayo and mustard for sauce to be squirted on top or to dip.

Beef Stew - Shelisa

2 pounds beef chuck, cubed
4 red potatoes, cubed
1 12 oz. package frozen peas and carrots
1 pkg dry onion soup mix
2 cans cream soup (mushroom or celery are best)
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce

Thaw. Cook in crockpot on low for 7-10 hours or high for 5-6 hours.

White Chicken Chili - Shelisa

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can chopped green chilies
2 cans white beans, drained
3 chicken breasts, cut in thirds
2 c. chicken broth
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

Thaw. Cook in crockpot on low for 4-5 hours. Remove chicken, shred, and return to crockpot before serving.

Butter Chicken

1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, diced
1 (14-ounce) can light coconut milk
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder, or more, to taste
1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
salt and black pepper, to taste
24 chicken tenders


Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Add garlic and onion, and cook, stirring frequently, until onions have become translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in coconut milk, tomato pasta, flour, garam masala, curry powder, chili powder and ginger powder until well combined and slightly thickened, about 1-2 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Place chicken into a slow cooker. Add sauce mixture and gently toss to combine. Cover and cook on low heat for 5 hours.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

3 c chicken, cooked & shredded (rotisserie is awesome)
1 c ham, diced
1 c Swiss cheese, shredded
16 oz. container of sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 t black pepper and thyme
1 t chicken bullion


Combine all and heat over a medium-low heat, stirring frequently so not to scorch.  Serve over egg noodles or rice.

Salsa Chicken

Salsa Chicken
4 chicken breasts
1 15 oz. can of black beans
1 pound bag frozen corn
1 can diced tomatoes with chilis (like Rotel)
1 jar salsa
1 packet of taco seasoning

 Directions:Place all ingredients in bag and freeze. Thaw, then cook on low 8 hours. Serve with rice or on tortillas along with shredded cheddar and sour cream.We stacked corn tortillas, then chicken, then cheese, and repeat. Put a little guacamole on the very top.

TACO BRAID

TACO BRAID

1 FAMILY

1 lb ground beef, browned and drained

1 pkg taco seasoning

1 loaf frozen bread

1 (15oz) can refried beans

2 c.  shredded cheddar cheese

1 greased pan


TO FREEZE: Ground beef and follow instructions on taco seasoning packets and add to beef. Roll out loaves, spread beans down the center of dough. Top with meat and sprinkle with cheese. Use a pizza cutter to cute strips along each side of dough, then starting at bottom cross and twist dough. Place on a greased cookie sheet. Wrap braid with plastic wrap and then aluminum foil.

TO PREPARE: Thaw and bake at 350 for 25-30 min, until bread is golden brown.

Slow Cooker Apricot Chicken

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups apricot preserves
1 cup Russian dressing (I used Wishbone brand)
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
6 chicken breasts

Directions:
Mix together the preserves, dressing and soup mix.  Place chicken in bottom of slow cooker; pour mixture over chicken.  Cover and cook on High for 1 hour.  Reduce heat to Low and continue cooking for 3-4 hours.

Serve over rice.

Slow Cooker Tilapia

filets of Tilapia (or other favorite white fish)

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup shredded cheese (shredded Parmesan cheese is the best cheese to use, but I have used Cheddar, Swiss, and Mozarella before. (I even have used string cheese! ;-)  )).

juice of 2 lemons

4 chopped garlic cloves

pinch each of salt and black pepper

cook on high for 2 hours. Unwrap carefully and test with a fork. If the fish flakes easily, it's done (2 hours on high has always been enough time in all my cookers), if it doesn't flake super easily, rewrap then cook on high for an additional 30  minutes.

PLEASE take care when taking the packet out of the crockpot and when opening it. It will be hot.

Ham, Broccoli & Cheddar Bake - Shelisa Loertscher

2 cans crescent roll dough
2 c. ham, diced
2 c. broccoli, chopped
2 c. cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 c. ranch dressing
1 tsp. sriracha sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp. garlic salt

Unroll one can of dough, place in bottom of foil pan. Layer ham and broccoli; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add ranch dressing and sriracha. Add cheese. Unroll second can of dough over top, pinch edges together all around. Sprinkle garlic salt on top. Cover and freeze.

Label: Thaw. Bake at 375 for 25-35 minutes or until outside is golden brown. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then slice and serve.

Turkey Stroganoff - Shelisa Loertscher

1 lb. ground turkey
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 pint sour cream
1 packet dry onion soup mix
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 c. water

Combine ingredients in freezer bag. Empty bag into crockpot and cook on high for 3 hours or low for 5-6 hours. Serve over rice or noodles.

Chicken Enchiladas - Anne Simmons

INGREDIENTS:

Makes enough for 20-24 enchiladas

Meat Mixture:

• 3 T. cooking oil
• 3 small onions — chopped
• 2 4oz. cans chopped green chilies
• 5 c. cooked & shredded chicken or turkey
• 3 pkg. taco seasoning mix
• 2 c. water

Cottage Cheese Mixture:

• 3 c. cottage cheese
• 1 c. sour cream
• salt and pepper to taste

Other Ingredients:

• 20-24 8″ tortillas
• 3 c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese – divided
• 4  10 oz. cans red enchilada sauce (or you can make your own)

DIRECTIONS:

I make ALL the enchiladas up at one time.

For the Meat:

• In a large skillet, heat oil; saute onions and chilies until onions are cooked. {about 5 minutes}
• Add chicken, taco seasoning, and water; simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated.
• Set aside.

For the Cheese:

• In a medium bowl, mix cottage cheese, sour cream, salt and pepper.
• Set aside.
• Measure out 2 c. of the shredded cheese {you’ll use the other 1 c. for a topping}

Assembly:

• Heat tortillas until soft {I just wrap them in a damp paper towel and nuke them in the microwave for a few seconds}
• Spoon about 4 T. of the meat onto each tortilla.
• Spoon about 3 T. of the cottage cheese mixture onto the meat mixture.
• Top with 1 heaping Tablespoon of shredded cheese.
• Roll up the tortilla and place in a covered baking dish.

Directions for Baking Day:

Now comes the easy part!

• Pull out a pan of enchiladas in the morning {it doesn’t matter if they are completely defrosted}
• Preheat your oven to 350 F.
• Pour a can of enchilada sauce over the top of the enchiladas.
• Sprinkle a generous amount of shredded cheese over the sauce.
• Bake, uncovered, for 20-30 minutes {depending on how frozen they still are}
• Enjoy!

Original content from AndreaDekker.com: http://andreadekker.com/chicken-enchiladas/#ixzz3FQOAuIWr
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike

Chicken Parmesan Casserole Recipe

Chicken Parmesan Casserole Recipe

Yields: Makes: one 8x8 casserole dish

An easy and delicious way to use up leftover chicken.

Ingredients

• about 4 cups of shredded, cooked chicken
• about 1 jar of marinara sauce
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese*
• 1-2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• about 1 cup panko or whole wheat bread crumbs (Here is how to make your own)
• 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
• fresh, chopped herbs (parsley, basil, oregano, etc)
• salt and pepper
• Cooked noodles to bottom of pan

Instructions

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Grease an 8x8 casserole dish with cooking spray.

3) Layer the chicken in the bottom. Dump in the marinara sauce and mix with the chicken. Next, top with cheeses until all the chicken is covered.

4) In a small bowl, mix the breadcrumbs, olive oil, fresh herbs and a dash of salt and pepper together.

5) Sprinkle the seasoned breadcrumbs on top.

6) Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until golden on top and bubbling on the sides.

Freezer Meal Directions:

Put casserole together and freeze it before baking. When you're ready to cook it, let it thaw in the fridge over night. If it's still slightly frozen in the middle, you'll just have to cook it longer than the recipe calls for or defrost a bit in the microwave before baking. Cover it with foil if the top gets too brown in the oven.

Chicken, Brown Rice, and Veggie Casserole

Chicken, Brown Rice, and Veggie Casserole

Yields: Makes: 6 servings

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 cup broccoli, chopped
• 1 cup cauliflower, chopped
• 2 large carrots, chopped
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 1/2 large onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon ground thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon ground poultry seasoning
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
• 1- 1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, diced
• 2 cups cooked brown rice
• 1 cup sour cream (or sub full-fat Greek yogurt or low fat sour cream)
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock/broth
• 2 tablespoons fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
• 1/2 cup grated Asiago or fresh Parmesan cheese
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (finely shredded melts best)
• 1 cup whole wheat or panko breadcrumbs

Instructions

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 2 quart casserole dish with cooking spray.

2) Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in heavy non-stick pan and saute broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, celery, onion, and garlic for about 4-5 minutes, just until tender. Season ground thyme, poultry seasoning, Italian seasoning, and lightly with salt and pepper.

3) Add diced chicken and brown rice into pan with the veggie mixture, and stir to combine well. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.

5) In a small bowl, whisk together sour cream, chicken stock, and chopped parsley. Then stir in Asiago cheese and cheddar cheese. Gently stir the sour cream mixture into the rice mixture.

6) In a separate small bowl, combine bread crumbs and 1 tablespoon olive oil.

7) Spoon rice mixture into the 2-quart casserole dish and press down to evenly distribute. Top with bread crumbs.

8) Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until casserole is slightly bubbling around the edges and golden brown on top. Broil for 1-2 minutes at the end, if the top isn't brown enough but the casserole is warmed through. Serve warm.

Freezer Meal Instructions:

Put casserole together and freeze it before baking. When you're ready to cook it, let it thaw in the fridge over night. If it's still slightly frozen in the middle, you'll just have to cook it longer than the recipe calls for or defrost a bit in the microwave before baking. Cover it with foil if the top gets too brown in the oven.

Cafe Rio Pork

• 2 pounds pork (we use boneless pork rib meat)
• 3 cans Coke (NOT diet)
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• dash garlic salt
• 1/4 c. water
• 1 can diced green chilies
• 3/4 (10oz) can red enchilada sauce (I use Old El Paso brand, medium spiciness but any will work)
• 1 c. brown sugar

Instructions

• Put the pork in a heavy duty ziploc bag to marinade. Add about a can and a half of coke and about 1/4 c. of brown sugar. Marinade for a few hours or overnight.
• Drain marinade and put pork, 1/2 can of coke, water, and garlic salt in crock pot on high for about 3-4 hours (or until it shreds easily, but don't let it get TOO dry) or on low for 8 hours. Remove pork from crock pot and drain any liquid left in the pot. Shred pork.
• In a food processor or blender, blend 1/2 can Coke, chilies, enchilada sauce and remaining brown sugar (about a cup, you can add a little more or less to taste..). If it looks too thick, add more Coke little by little.
• Put shredded pork and sauce in crockpot and cook on low for 2 hours. That's it!

Simple Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken Wings

Simple Crock Pot Buffalo Chicken Wings

3 pounds chicken wings
1 cup buffalo sauce (I used Frank’s)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 tablespoons honey

In a 5 quart slow cooker on low add buffalo sauce, butter and honey.  Stir to combine.  Add chicken wings.  Stir until wings are well coated.  Cook on low 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours.

Remove wings from slow cooker and place on a baking sheet lined with foil.  Drizzle sauce from slow cooker over wings.

Set oven to broil.  Place baking sheet in oven and bake for 2-3 minutes until the sauce starts to caramelize.  Remove from oven, serve and enjoy.

You can also layer the sauce on the wings.  Coat wings with sauce, broil for 1 minute, remove from oven.  Coat with sauce, broil 1 minute.  Add more sauce, broil until sauce is caramelized.

Label- Cook in slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours. Remove from slow cooker. Place on baking sheet. Broil for 2-3 minutes until sauce carmelizes.

Stuffing Chicken

4 chicken breasts, pounded out flat or use 12 chicken tenders
 3/4 C shredded cheese
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 c milk
1 Stove Top Stuffing box, chicken flavored
1/4 C butter melted


 Lay the chicken out flat in the bottom of the dish.  Cover with the cheese.  Mix the soup and the milk together and pour over the top of the cheese.  Dump the box of stuffing over the top, and drizzle butter over it. Cover and bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Take the foil off and bake 7-10 minutes more.

Porcupine Meatballs

1 pound ground beef or ground turkey
1/2 t garlic
1/2 t pepper
1 (6.8 ounce) box Beef Rice A Roni
1 egg
1/2 C water
1 small can tomato sauce


Mix beef, rice (do NOT add the seasoning mix), garlic, pepper and eggs.  Form into meatballs.  In a skillet brown tops and bottoms of meatballs.  Mix seasoning mix from rice, tomato sauce and water then pour over meatballs.  Cover and cook for 30 min.  For freezer meals, mix and brown as above then add to a 9x9 pan pour sauce over the top, and cover with foil.  Thaw completely and bake at 350 for 40 min.

This is Shelisa. I'm doing two recipes this month (and making my own labels, Jen):

Crockpot Ranch Porkchops

6 boneless porkchops
1 ranch dressing dry packet
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can water

Combine ingredients in freezer bag. To use: Thaw. Cook in crockpot on low for 4-6 hours.

----------

Slow Cooker BBQ Cranberry Chicken

6 chicken breasts
1/4 c. dried minced onion
1 (14 oz) can whole cranberry sauce
1 c. barbecue sauce

Combine ingredients in freezer bag. To use: Thaw. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-7 hours.

Heather Wright: Easy Spaghetti Bake / Sweet & Sour Meatballs

I'm feeling adventurous. I'm going to do 6 of this (Easy Spaghetti Bake).... 

 

and 6 of this (Sweet & Sour Meatballs)...

Sweet & Sour Meatballs

1-2 lbs Meatballs

1/2 c. Sugar

3T Corn Starch

3T Vinegar

1 Chopped Green Pepper

1T Soy Sauce

1 can Chunk Pineapple (with juice)

Cook in crock pot for 5-7 hours on low. Add everything into the crock pot except pineapple. Add pineapple in the last 30 min. 

Serve over rice.

See you there!

Heather

Anne Simmons - Crockpot Beefy Ravioli

Crock Pot Freezer Meals: Beefy Ravioli 

This serves 4 but I will adjust it for 6. 

Crock Pot Freezer Meals: Beefy Ravioli

Beefy Ravioli is a very easy crock pot freezer meal to make as it only requires 4 ingredients and 2-3 hours to cook. It’s also very versatile, so if you like your pasta dishes to be more saucy or cheesy, the skies the limit with this meal!

Assembly: First, I took a gallon freezer bag and wrote the cooking instructions on it with a black Sharpie.

Write on Bag: Cook on high 2-3 hours. 20 mins. before serving top with 1 cup mozzarella cheese. Recover and let melt. Serve with garlic toast and salad (optional for the serving)

Beefy Ravioli Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground beef, cooked and drained
• 1 (24 oz.) jar spaghetti sauce, any variety (If you like your pasta meals saucy, use a bigger sized jar such as 32-36 oz.)
• 1 (25 oz) bag frozen beef ravioli
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded (I love cheese, so I added close to 2 cups)

Step 1: Cook the ground beef until no longer pink, drain of grease if needed.

Step 2: In a large bowl, open and dump the whole bag of frozen ravioli in it, next add the browned ground beef and the whole jar of spaghetti sauce.

Step 3: Mix well.

Step 4: Put the mixed beefy ravioli mixture into a large freezer bag, zip shut and freeze.

*Note: Before cooking this crock pot freezer meal, you might want to slightly unthaw it, so it can fit in the crock pot better.

http://www.mommysavers.com/crock-pot-freezer-meals-beefy-ravioli/

How it works

To save myself answering a thousand questions, I thought I should start the blog off with a how-to. Then we can just keep filling in the recipes. 

We meet once a month. Each family will choose one recipe to post to a blog. That family is then responsible for making 12 batches of their recipe and bring it ready to freeze to group at someone's house. The person hosting will not create a meal that month. They will play banker instead. Everyone will bring their meal and we would exchange on the chosen night. We would each walk away with 11 different recipes (sometimes a meal ends up split, so you may end up with a couple more meals, but some could be duplicate recipes).

Everyone would need to keep their receipts and we would find the group average. The hosting family would either write checks to those who spent more than the average or receive checks from those who spent less than the average. The hosting family would receive meals, just not make any. Through the checks they write, they are then paying the same average as everyone else for their meals for the month. This is a great way to help reduce meal costs, too, btw. I think our current group average is $110 per month for 11 meals. All homemade!

 The other rule we have is that the meal has to be freezer to oven or slow cooker. Meaning all prep work is done prior to group. So if your recipe has a bunch of canned soups, you'd open all the cans and pour them in the bag with the meat. This allows the meats to marinade in the sauces and helps improve flavor. Plus, it means you don't have to cook the rest of the time during the month.

For ideas on recipes, check out Pinterest, http://mmmmmmamablog.blogspot.com/, orhttp://divasdinners.blogspot.com/. The mamablog one is the other group Shelisa and I are in. Divas dinners is one my sister in law used to be in.

Quick pointers on freezing meals, btw: all containers need to be disposable (think ziploc bags, disposable pans, etc). All meals need to be labeled. Those sticky labels from Walmart are great (like Avery brand ones). You'll need to label your own meals with recipe name and cooking instructions (i.e. slow cook, or bake at 375 for 45 minutes). Please be sure to label all parts to meals (like if you include a package of rice or pasta to serve your recipe over or if you need to add cheese at the end -- this also applies to tortillas for burritos, etc.). If you're using a casserole pan, please be sure to put cover it in foil first, then wrap it in saran wrap. This helps a lot in preventing freezer burn. We are not providing the entire meal, just the main dish. All parts to the main dish need to be included, however. Thanks! Hopefully that all helps! If you have any other questions, feel free to ask Shelisa, Heather, or me. We've all done freezer groups before and so we could help.

Forgot to mention: All meals should feed a family of 6. Some people have smaller families and could re-freeze the leftovers, or just let us know and we can split some recipes ahead of time for you.

Please let me know ASAP if there are any allergies we should be aware of. Typically, in a setting like this, anything goes. If it's something like a fish allergy, however, we can generally work with that. Please be aware that some families will be making meals with lots of gluten, cream soups, dairy, etc. Nuts are not USUALLY an issue but if there is a nut allergy, please let us know so we make sure to be careful.