Freezer Meals: Part II

So I left you last week with this post about our two favorite meals we made for freezer meals. Today I'll be sharing three more of the recipes we used. 

First, one of our favorite meals to make...but it's a little time consuming...chicken pot pie.

Ingredients:•1 whole chicken (thawed)
•1 bundle of celery, 4 large carrots, 1 white onion (all chopped)
•1 bay leaf
•water

•2-4 garlic cloves, diced

•1 1/2 white onion chopped

•3-4 carrots, sliced

•frozen corn or beans as desired

•2 sticks of butter

•1 c flour

•4-8 c chicken stock (as made in step 1)

•Bisquick biscuits (12 per pan)

Directions:

Step 1
1. Put whole, thawed chicken into large stock pot

2. Add celery, carrots, onion, & bay leaf to stock pot. Season as desired. I usually add salt, pepper, oregano, and some sage.

3. Add water to stock pot and fill until chicken is just covered.

4. Simmer most of the day until chicken is done.
(I started mine at 9:15am and pulled it around 3:30pm)

Step 2

1. While chicken is cooking, dice, slice, and chop your veggies for the final product.

2. Melt 1 stick of butter in large stock pot or dutch oven. Add garlic and simmer.

3. Add veggies (NOT corn or beans) and saute until softened...but not mushy.

4. Pull veggies out and place in a separate bowl until later. Leave as much butter at the bottom as possible.

Step 3

1. Remove chicken from stove & separate the meat from the carcass. Place meat in a bowl.

2. Strain liquid and veggies. Discard the veggies and any extras in your liquid. Keep liquid!!

3. This liquid is your chicken stock...save for gravy.

4. Shred chicken.

Step 4

1. Start roux for gravy. Melt second stick of butter with the drippings from sauteed veggies.

2. Add flour and whisk until smooth. Add salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste and whisk til smooth.

3. Add chicken stock until thinned.

4. Simmer and stir until thickened...this will be your gravy.

5. Add veggies (sauteed AND corn/beans) and meat to the gravy. Mix well.

6. Split gravy/veggie/meat combo into 2-3 pans.

7. Mix up Bisquick biscuits to bake on top of the pot pie. *

*There are two options for the biscuit portion...you can bake the whole thing with the biscuit dough on top. Then let it cool completely before freezing. OR you can bake drop biscuits first and add to the top of your pot pie. Then cool before freezing.*

Reheat at 325-350 degrees F until pot pie is bubbly. Don't let the biscuits burn!

Like I said above, this is our most complicated recipe that we tried...don't be discouraged! It looks hard, but the most difficult part is cutting up the veggies and shredding the chicken. 

Second, we made burgers.

You can find the recipe for burgers here. The best part about the burgers is that you can add more or less seasoning and they'll still be great! We bought 6 lbs of ground beef for burgers and made approximately 1/4 lb burgers...some were a little smaller, or we had a little more than 6 lbs...because we ended up with 26 patties to throw in the freezer.

The key here, make patties, freeze by the lb (approx), and separate with wax paper and freeze in ziploc bags. We fit 3 (ish) lbs in each ziploc.


Third, we made Baked Ziti.

Now, you can make ziti however you want. As long as you have ziti/penne noodles, you're good to go. But we followed this recipe.

I've never tried this recipe, so do your own trial and error, okay?

One thing I'll add here, is that the veggies we used were zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, onion, & garlic. You can really use any roasted veggies that you'd like.

I also added chicken, because I know my husband and I know myself...we love protein.

I should've added more sauce, but we will just make 

sure to have some on hand when we bake it.

I'll have a few more recipes for you sometime next week, as long as baby doesn't show up! Stop on by and see what's new!

Happy Thursday!

Freezer Meal Prep Day 2--the plan

We're at it again! Today's the day where we (hopefully) finish the meal prep that we have planned. My mom and sister are coming to town to help out. Last night we made 3 batches of baked oatmeal to kick off the final day. *Only two are for us...the other is for a friend who just had a baby 2-ish weeks ago.

So here's our line up for today...after last night's baked oatmeal:

1. Chicken enchiladas
2. 1 pot Mexican Quinoa
3. Breakfast burritos
4. Fiesta Lime Chicken w/Spanish Rice
5. Monkey Bread

We were thinking about making beef stew to throw in the freezer...but that just seemed like too much work. I was super ambitious when I wrote the list out...and then when I was actually thinking about it yesterday, I decided that I was too tired to prep beef stew too.

I hope you saw yesterday's post with the first two recipes up from Saturday! If not, check it out here.  And I'll do my best to get some more up in the next few days or a week.

Here we go...off to cook!

Happy Thursday!

 

Freezer Meal Prep Day 1--the plan

It's here. A day I've been super excited about for months...and just haven't gotten around to accomplishing. :) Until today.

Our friend Anna is headed to our house as we speak and she's planning to help me prep some freezer meals for after baby arrives! Kyle and I found some great new recipes and we have some old favorites that we're planning to prep to have on hand. Here's a look at what we hope to get accomplished today:

1. Chicken Pot Pie : The whole chicken is already cooking as I type this.

2. Chicken Tetrazzini : One of our favorites.

3. Mac 'n' Cheese : Adults love this one!

4. Baked Ziti with Roasted Veggies : This is a new recipe for us. I'm praying we love it.

5. Mexican Stuffed Shells : Also a new recipe. We have some left over taco meat from the baby shower...so I figured, why not?

6. Hamburgers : Simple. And convenient. We bought 6 lbs of ground beef from SAMs Club so that we can portion up meat and keep them in the freezer for when we want to grill. :)

7. Wild Rice & Chicken Casserole : Assuming we have time...which we should, since this is one of the easiest on the list to make...

Stay tuned for recipes coming soon!

Tuesday Traditions: Tacos

I'm not sure about you, but our family loves tacos. I'm not just talking Kyle & myself. I mean, our family.

My mom's family has tacos for Christmas Eve. Every. Year. They've even discussed getting together every July 4th for tacos.

We. Love. Them.

Confession: I like tacos.

Notice I said "like". I'm not the aficionado that my husband and the rest of my family tend to be. I used to dread having tacos on Christmas Eve.

Can't we just have ham or turkey like everyone else? Gah.

But then I grew up. I love the tradition. I love the jovial nature that reverberates around the room as we're dishing up our tacos and getting ready to try Grandma's hot sauce and homemade tortilla shells.

I love sitting at a new table every year talking with my cousins or holding the newest baby while mom and dad eat.

I love seeing the smiles and hearing the laughter as we take bets on when Grandma will ask, "Is the hot sauce hot enough?" (It happens every year, folks.)

Mostly, I love the tradition and the sense of unity we have as we enjoy our tacos on Christmas Eve.

And the real reason I have tacos on the brain? It's Tuesday. Taco Tuesday. Every other Tuesday we go to the Krueger's house to eat tacos with them. Tonight is the night.

You may be thinking, "Why only every other week?" And that's because they're at our house on the opposite weeks. We make something and they make tacos. It's the best of both worlds, because Kyle would eat tacos every Tuesday if I made them. Granted, I probably could be convinced. But there's just something about sharing tacos with other people.

Just like Christmas Eve, it's the unity and friendship that you share over a meal that makes it special.

Enjoy your Taco Tuesday! I know I will.

 

Chicken Tacos: Wild Moon Version

Now that summer is almost over and I've unintentionally avoided writing on this here blog, I've got a new recipe for you!

Here's the thing. In the Entzel house, we love tacos. And when I say love, I don't mean "we eat tacos a few times a year." I mean, we observe "Taco Tuesday" almost every week AND my mom's family celebrates Christmas by eating tacos. No joke.

They're something everyone can fix however they so choose. You want lots of sour cream and no salsa? Go for it. You love tomatoes but not onions? That's okay, you can choose your toppings. Ketchup instead of hot sauce? Yep, you can do that.

So, what better way to try out my new Wild Moon Salsa than to make some tacos?! So on our second stormy Sunday in a row, I decided to make Crockpot Chicken Tacos.

Ingredients:
2lbs chicken breasts
1/4 c Wild Moon Corn Salsa
1/2 c + 2 T Wild Moon Luna Salsa
3 cloves garlic
1/4 c chopped onion

Place the frozen chicken breasts in the Crockpot on high.
Cover chicken with Wild Moon Salsa (all of it. do it.)
Sprinkle the garlic & onion on top.
Leave on high for 1.5 hours.
Turn down to medium or low for 1-2 hours (or until chicken is cooked all the way through).
If you need more liquid for your taco meat, add 1/4-1/2 c chicken broth.

Shred chicken and leave on warm until you're ready to add to tacos!
Place chicken on tortilla shells or tortilla chips and top with your favorite taco condiments and enjoy!

Our Crockpot is our best friend during the school year when we're both teaching, so I know we'll be using this recipe more often. And make sure to check out the Wild Moon page and say hi!

While this is a sponsored post, all opinions are my own. And my husband really liked these tacos too!

A Contest: Update

Why hello, sweet readers!

I've been informed that I've not updated my pet peeves for the contest winners. Yikes...I'm slacking!

So as a refresher...here was my most recent contest.

And the winners are.......

My siblings.
Talk about a little anti-climactic!



On that note, we are gearing up for Deer Holiday this weekend! It's bound to be a weekend full of plaid, blaze orange, potato klub, family, deer, and relaxing.

What fall traditions do you have?

A favorite coming your way!

Alright, I took a look at my recipe page last night and it looked awfully sparse. So I decided that today I would share our plans for supper with you.

Unfortunately the mr. is not feeling well tonight, so he'll be out on both times we've had this meal. But my brother loved it last time. It's a wonderful comfort food.

Tonight I'm making Kentucky Hot Brown Bake. I found it online around 6 months ago, pinned it, and there it sat. Until September.

Now it's October and we're having it again. Winning in the Entzel house!

Click on the link above to see the original recipe. Below, I'll share how I made it last time and how I'll make it again tonight.

**If you read this post before I make supper tonight, stay tuned for photos.**

Ingredient list:
• 1 tube crescent rolls
• 1/2 lb turkey deli meat
• Pepperoni (as much as you'd like to layer--we like pepperoni in our house)
• 8 slices Provolone cheese
• 4 Roma tomatoes, sliced thin (I used 2 tomatoes per layer)
• 4 eggs, beaten (When preparing the eggs, I whipped up two at a time so I wouldn't over-use and run out)
• a pinch of oregano

Directions:
1. Unroll the crescent dough and separate into 2 squares
2. Place one square in bottom of 8" pan that is greased or lined with parchment paper
     I really liked the parchment paper method--easier clean up!
3. Press 1 dough square to fit pan
4. Layer with half the turkey, pepperoni, cheese and tomatoes
5. Pour half the eggs over the top.
6. Repeat the layers.
7. Top with remaining dough square.
8. Pour remaining eggs over top.
9. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, covered with foil.
10. Remove foil and bake for another 20-25 minutes.
11. Let sit at room temperature for 15-20 minutes before serving.

**We served it with marinara sauce for those who aren't fond of straight tomatoes.


-If you try this recipe and use a different variation, I'd love to hear how it turned out!