About a week or so ago I was watching Pioneer Woman and she had a freezer meal episode I though to myself this is something I should do because we all know there are those days where we just don't want to prep and cook dinner, now I will be able to pull a nicely prepared dish out of our freezer.
Every Sunday night we do family dinner at my parents house and this week it was requested that I make stuffed shells so I figured I would make stuffed shells for tomorrow and one for the freezer, I decided to also make 2 lasagnas since it is basically the same ingredients. My husband felt like chicken pot pie for dinner tonight so I made one for dinner and one for the freezer.
I decided to start with the Chicken Pot Pie because I like to let it sit in the fridge for a few hours before I cook it, that way the filling can thicken up.
Here is my recipe:
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs of chicken - shredded or cubed celery
carrots corn
2/3 cup butter 1 whole onion
2/3 cup flour 3 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 1/3 cup milk 1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
pie crust
Directions:
In a saucepan cook onions in the butter on medium heat until they are soft. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and celery seed until thick. Add in chicken broth and milk, stir and bring to a boil. Place on the back burner on low heat so that sauce can thicken.
Take cooked chicken and combine with cut up vegetables, put it in a pot and fill with chicken broth and boil for 15 mins.
Place chicken and vegetable mixture in bottom of pie crust and pour the sauce mixture over. Place the other pie crust on top, seal the edges, and make several small slits in the top.
Heat oven to 375 degrees and cook for 45 mins.
Next I made the lasagna. Now when it comes to lasagna my husband likes extra meat and I like extra cheese so what do I do? I put in extra meat and extra cheese!
Ingredients:
2 24 oz jars of spaghetti sauce ( I use prego) 1 chopped onion
1 1/2 lbs ground beef 2 cloves of garlic-minced
2 32 ounce jars of ricotta cheese 2 eggs
1/2 cup parmesan cheese 1 cup mozzarella cheese
lasagna noodles (since I'm freezing the lasagna's im using the no boil noodles)
Directions:
Filling:
Mix 2 eggs, ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, and 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese. Set aside
Cook the ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat. Drain the fat and pour the sauce into the meat.
Spread the sauce on the bottom of your pan, place the noodles on top, and then spread the cheese filling on top of the noodles. Repeat. Cover top layer with other half of the mozzarella cheese.
Cook in the oven for 45 mins and 375 degrees.
Cover the lasagnas up and place them in your freezer for a later date. :)
Now lastly I made the stuffed shells for dinner tomorrow night and I had enough that I was able to make a stash for our freezer as well.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs ground beef 1 box of jumbo shells
1 32 oz jar of ricotta cheese 1 egg
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese 1 cup of mozzarella cheese
2 24 oz jars of spaghetti sauce
Directions:
Filling:
Mix 2 eggs, ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, and 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese. Set aside
Make the box of jumbo shells according to the package and set them aside to cool.
Cook the ground beef and then drain the fat. Add the sauce to the meat.
Spread the sauce on the bottom of the pan, apply a nice thick layer of it. Fill each jumbo shell with the cheese filling and place on top of the sauce in the pan. Take the left over sauce and sprinkle it over the top of the shells filled with cheese. Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella cheese over the top of everything.
Cook in the oven for 30-40 mins at 375 degrees.
As you can see I put a lot of cheese filling in the shells - it's my favorite part! :)
A few hours later and I have dinner for tonight plus a pot pie for the freezer, 2 lasagnas for the freezer, and stuffed shells for tomorrow nights dinner and 1 for the freezer. Now on those long or busy days I have the option of pulling a nice homemade meal from our freezer.
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