Casserole Ideas

Chicken Rococco
Prep Time: :50
Cook Time: :50
Ingredients:
8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp. butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 egg, beaten
2 Tbsp. milk
2 cups dried bread crumbs
1 cup wild rice
1 cup brown rice
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup olive oil
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1/4 cup flour
1 cup chicken broth
1-1/2 cups half and half or whole milk

Preparation:
Flatten chicken breasts between waxed paper. In small saucepan, melt 2 Tbsp. butter and saute onion and garlic until tender. Remove from heat. In small bowl, combine cream cheese with sauteed onion and garlic and blend well. Divide mixture among the chicken breasts. Roll up each piece to hold filling.
Beat egg with milk. Dip each chicken bundle in egg mixture, then roll in bread crumbs. Chill in refrigerator for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, cook wild and brown rice in water to cover for 45 minutes. Drain off any remaining water.

Melt 1/4 cup butter and olive oil in large frying pan. Saute chicken bundles just to brown lightly. Remove chicken and set aside. In oil remaining in pan, cook green peppers, the second onion, and mushrooms until crisp tender. Add flour and cook and stir until bubbly. Add chicken broth and half and half or milk, stirring constantly until thickened and smooth. Combine rice mixture with this sauce and pour into 13x9" baking pan. Top with chicken bundles.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes until bubbly and chicken bundles are thoroughly cooked. If you're going to freeze this dish, bake as directed, then cool completely in the refrigerator. Wrap well, label, and freeze up to 3 months. To thaw and reheat, thaw overnight in refrigerator. Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-45 minutes until thoroughly heated. 6-8 servings

A good sight for these ideas: http://busycooks.about.com/od/makeaheadrecipes/a/freezeca...

I haven't tried it yet, but I found this website: onceamonthmom.com where there are monthly recipes, instructions, and grocery lists to prepare food for 1 month for a family of 4. If you have friends to split the cost/work with, maybe that would be an idea for you. There are a lot of other "once a month cooking" ideas out there too--just Google it. I would LOVE to try cooking like this since I work full-time, my DH works out of town M-Th, and I have an almost-one-year-old. But, I don't know of anybody who would be willing/interested to split the cost/work with me! Good luck--I think it's a fantastic idea!

I grew up with Macaroni Cassorole. Not sure of the actual planning of cook time and all. You can google it.
Macaroni, prego sauce, ground beef, onions, canned tomatoes.
Mix all together and back with cheese on top .

Also Surprise Chicken Casorole.
1 chicken ( over 2lbs) cut up
1 pkg pepperidge farm herb dressing
1 sm can evaporated milk
1 T grated onion
1 sm jar pinento ( optional )
3/4 c butter
1 pkg. frozen peas or broccoli
2 cans of cream of celery soup
Cut Chicken and steam in 2 c. water. 2 stalks of celery, 1/2 onion, little salt for 55 min. Let cool, bone chicken. Cut chick into small pieces & put in bowl. Chop or grind skin, liver, giblet. Reduce stock to 1 cup & pour over chicken. Melt butter, mix with stuffing. Put half stuffing in bottom of 9X13 dish. Add soup, milk, onion, veggies of your choice to bowl of chicken. Last, fold pinentos-spoon crumbs over top and remaining crumbs for all. Back 350 for 45 min.

My sister and I do that, too!
For freezer meals, I've used freezer meal recipes at www.savingdinner.com (my favorite are the "5 for the Freezer chicken recipes and ground beef -- substitute ground turkey if you want to avoid red meat). It costs money, but it's very cheap and super easy. It takes all the thinking out of it for me. We do all the prep work and chopping that is given in clear instructions and then we assemble the meals (tip: instead of each doing your own 5 meals, break the meals in half and assemble two bags of each meal -- one for each of you. This is way more efficient and we went faster once we figured this out). I enjoy the recipes, but in fair disclosure some of the meals are funky. The meals are developed by a nutritionist and are extremely healthy and well-balanced, which is important to me.

You can also cook and freeze bags of ground beef, rice, pasta so it's easy to use when you need it.

When I cook normal meals I make enough to feed my family for four meals and freeze half. So we eat it for dinner one day, then for lunch the next. Then at some point in the future I can do the exact same thing with the frozen portion.

This isn't a casserole, but is a great meal that is super healthy, cheap, makes a ton and freezes great! I used to make this all the time for new moms or if anyone was ill and needed help with feeding their family.

Here's my recipe for Taco Seasoning:

4.5 tsp. paprika;
1 tsp. cumin powder;
0.5 tsp. oregano;
1 tsp. chili powder;
1 tsp. onion powder;
0.25 tsp. lemon powder (optional, I've never used it);
1 tsp. salt;
1 tsp. sugar;
0.5 tsp. garlic powder;
1 tsp. flour;
0.5 tsp. cocoa powder

Mix all together and store in airtight container. Makes approx. 4 tablespoonful - the equivalent of 1 package of seasoning (enough to season 1 pound of meat or a substitute). This mix is very mild.

The other things I do differently to the recipe below are: 1)I puree a can of diced green mild chilies and add that to the sauce pot. 2)I use a 6 oz. can of organic tomato paste and just add enough water to cover lentils by about an inch, and cook for an hour. Pretty simple.

UNBELIEVABLE LENTIL TACOS

=========================

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

* 1 cup dried brown lentils, rinsed
* 8 ounce can tomato sauce
* corn tortillas (I use white corn tortillas)
* 1 packet dry taco seasoning mix (if none available, recipe follows)
* handful of textured soy protein, optional
* iceberg lettuce (shredded)
* cucumber (seeded, peeled, sliced)
* tomatoes (chopped)
* lemon or lime wedges (optional)

Directions:

Cover the lentils with water in a large saucepan. They expand tremendously so use a large pot. Add tomato sauce, textured soy protein, and taco seasoning. Bring to high heat
until boiling. Simmer at low heat until the mixture thickens.

Add more water if necessary and stir often so that the bottom does not burn. This process will take about an hour. You want to cook it until its about the consistency of cooked oatmeal.

Taste the mixture and add more seasonings if necessary. Add
more textured soy protein if you want more texture and continue to heat until the textured soy protein is fully hydrated. In the meantime, heat the corn tortillas in the oven, directly on the oven rack for about 5 minutes at 350 degrees. Assemble the tacos as desired. Squeeze the lemon wedges over the tacos...yum!!

This recipes makes a large quantity and is very flexible with the garnishes. Experiment by adding chopped avocado, cilantro, onion, etc. I prefer these without salsa since the taco filling has so much flavor on its own. Enjoy!!
Serves: feeds an army
Preparation time: 1 hour
You can read or add comments about this recipe by going
to: http://vegweb.com/recipes/burritos/5486.shtml

Hello!
I have a cookbook for this by Linda Larsen called "The Everything Meals for a Month Cookbook". It has receipes from breakfast through dessert and they are all either for freezer ready or she gives the variation if one wants to serve right away. I have made the one or the other item and they have all been great!

D.

Hi B., what a great idea. I wish someone would of given me this idea when I was pregnant with my daughter. I might copy your idea so thanks for sharing. I started selling Pampered Chef this spring and have some baking dish recipes that you can actually cook in the microwave. I know the idea sounds gross, but I've tried it and my very picky daughter and husband eat it up. I can send them as an attachment on a regular email but not sure how to send them to you in this format. If you're interested please email me at ____@____.com.
Happy cooking!
N.