Creamy Gnocchi with Sausage

 This recipe is quick and easy and I use either italian sausage or turkey kielbasa.  I found it on Salt & Lavender originally

Ingredients

• ▢16 ounces Italian sausage see note
• ▢1/2 small onion chopped finely
• ▢4 cloves garlic minced
• ▢1/3 cup dry white wine (e.g. sauvignon blanc)
• ▢1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juices
• ▢1 cup heavy/whipping cream
• ▢1 pound uncooked potato gnocchi
• ▢1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• ▢Handful fresh basil torn
• ▢Salt & pepper to taste

Directions

• Sauté the sausage and onion in a skillet over medium-high heat for 7-10 minutes, or until lightly browned.
• Add the garlic to the pan and sauté for about 30 seconds.
• Add the wine and let it cook for about a minute.
• Stir in the diced tomatoes, cream, and gnocchi. Once the sauce starts to bubble again, cover the pan and reduce the heat to medium. Cook for 5 minutes. 
• Uncover the pan, give it a good stir, and let it cook for another few minutes, or until the gnocchi has cooked through and is nice and soft and the sauce has thickened to your liking.
• Stir in the parmesan cheese, basil, and salt & pepper, to taste. Serve immediately. 

White Bean Chicken Chili

 I am a real fan of Iowa Girl Eats.  The recipes posted here are fantastic.  This one is frequently requested by my family, so I decided to repost it here so I can always find it.

Prep Time10minutes minutes

Cook Time4hours hours 30minutes minutes

Total Time4hours hours 40minutes minutes

Course Soup

Cuisine American, Mexican

Keyword dairy free, gluten free

Method Crock Pot, Slow Cooker

Servings 4

 

Calories 295kcal

Ingredients

• 1 lb chicken breasts
• 15 oz can great northern beans drained and rinsed
• 4 oz can diced green chiles
• 1 - 2 jalapenos seeded then minced, use 1 made for a mild chili
• 1 onion or shallot chopped
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1-1/2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• big pinch dried oregano
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 small lime
• 1/4 cup milk any kind
• 1 Tablespoon flour
• Toppings: green Tabasco sauce, verde sauce, lime wedges, tortilla chips, shredded cheese, chopped cilantro, sour cream

Instructions

• Add first 12 ingredients — chicken breasts through lime juice — into a 6-quart crock pot then stir to combine. Cover then cook on LOW for 4 hours or until chicken shreds easily.
• Remove chicken from crock pot then shred and place in the refrigerator. Whisk flour and milk together in a small dish then drizzle into chili and stir to combine. Cover then cook on high for 30 minutes. Stir shredded chicken back into chili then scoop into bowls and serve with toppings.

Notes

• To make freezer packs: Add all the ingredients for the CrockPot White Chicken Chili into a gallon freezer bag then remove as much air as possible and freeze flat. 24-48 hours before slow cooking, place the bag in the fridge to thaw then pour into the crockpot and cook according to recipe directions.
• To prep the night before: Add all the ingredients into the removable crock portion of your CrockPot then place in the refrigerator overnight. Let the CrockPot sit at room temperature for 30 minutes then pop it into the base and cook according to directions.

Nutrition

Calories: 295kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 34g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 77mg | Sodium: 1273mg | Potassium: 932mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 139IU | Vitamin C: 19mg | Calcium: 109mg | Iron: 3mg

Slow-Cooker Tuscan Chicken Meatballs with Gnocchi

 Ingredients

1 lb. ground turkey or chicken

1 cup panko 

1 egg

1 tsp. Italian Seasoning

1tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 cup drained oil packed sun-dried tomatoes finely chopped, divided, plus 2 Tablespoons tomato oil

1 1/2 oz. Parmesan finely grated (about 3/4 cup), diided plus more for serving

1/2 small yellow onion, finely chopped (about 1/4 cup)

1 cup chicken broth

4 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 pkg. gnocchi

3 cups spinach leaves

1/2 cup cream

Directions

1.  In a medium bowl, using your hands, combine chicken, panko, egg, Italian Seasoning, salt, pepper, garlic powder, 1/2 cup tomaotes and 1/2 cup Parmesan.  Form mixture into 18 (about 1")

2.  In a slow cooker, combine onion, garlic, broth, wine and tomato oil, season with salt.  Nestle in meatballs.  Cover and cook on High until meatballs are cooked through, about 4 hours.

3.  Arrange a rack in upper third of over, heat broiler.  Using a slotten spoon, transfer meatballs to a toil-lined baking sheet.

4.  Add gnocchi and remaining 1/2 cup tomatoes to slow cooker and stir to combine.  Cover and cook on High until gnocchi is tender, about 20 minutes.

5.  Meanwhile, broil meatballs, watching closely and turning halfway through, until golden brown in spots, 6 to 8 minutes.

6.  Stir spinach, cream and 1/4 cup Parmesan into slow cooker.  Return meatballs to slow cooker.  Cover and cook until spinach.

7.  Divide gnocchi and meatballs among bowls.  Top with more Parmesan.

Korean Beef Rice Bowl

 Ingredients

3 # ground beef (or turkey)

3 1" Ginger finely chopped

3 cloves garlic

6 T soy sauce

1.5 tsp. toasted sesame oil

3 tsp. honey

1 small bunch of green onions sliced

Directions

Mix ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sesame oil and honey in a bowl.  Brown the ground meat.  Add mixture to the beef along with half of the green onions. Serve over rice.

This can be made ahead and frozen in a gallon bag.  Defrost and reheat then serve over rice.

Make Ahead Freezer Meal: Tex-Mex Chicken and Rice Bake

 Last year's Cookie Boothing with my granddaughter ended up being 4 weekdays and all weekend all through the several weeks of boothing.  That was a lot of cooking and packing it up to eat between after-school pickup and the booth. This year the Cookie Mom has limited weeknight boothing to 2 days a week due to her personal schedule and I am very grateful.  However, while I'm not entirely sure how many weeks cookie boothing lasts, I am planning ahead for 6 weeks which is 12 Make Ahead meals stock-piled into my freezer.  I had some leftover rotisserie chicken as well as one baked chicken breast, so I cut it all up and had enough to make two batches of this recipe.  It calls for shredded cheese on top, but my daughter has a dairy allergy, so I made 3, 8 X 8 casseroles and 3 deli-container individual portions for her without the cheese topping.

Ingredients

2 cups cut-up cooked chicken

2 cups pre-cooked rice (I used the Trader Joes Cilantro Lime this time)

1 can corn, drained

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can diced tomatoes with green chiles, undrained

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. sea salt

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

1 cup shredded cheese

(You can also add salsa or sour cream to the filling, if baking right away and not freezing, crumbled tortilla chips before the cheese adds a nice crunch, and things like fresh jalapenos and cilantro for garnishment when serving can customize it even more)

Directions

1.  Mix chicken, rice, corn, beans, tomatoes and spices altogether in a large bowl.

2.  Spread mixture into your baking dish (as stated above, I used two 8X8 square aluminum baking pans, but one 9X13 will work too.) and top with shredded cheese.

3.  Cover with foil.  At this point, I slid my pan into a gallon ziploc bag and labeled it for freezing.

4.  If baking right after preparation, pre-heat oven to 350° and bake for 20-25 minutes.  If freezing first, remove from freezer and defrost then bake for 25-30 minutes

Make Ahead Freezer Meal: Ground Turkey and Hash brown Casserole

 This was sort of a mashup of a couple of other recipes I found online and made work with what I had and what I wanted to make ahead for Cookie Boothing in a few weeks.

Ingredients

1 pound ground turkey browned with onion and garlic (I used dried)

Mix in Frozen Vegetables of choice (I had some corn and green beans)

1 pkg shredded hashbrown

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 cup shredded cheddar (or cheese of choice)

1/2 cup milk

t tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions

1.  Line the bottom of your baking pan (I have a bunch of square aluminum foil disposable baking pans for my freezer meals, but use what you have/like) with half of the defrosted (or pre-cooked) hashbrowns

2.  Mix frozen veggies in with cooked meat and spread the mixture over the hashbrown crust.

3.  Sprinkle cheese over-top the meat and veggie mixture.

4.  Add remaining hashbrowns

5.  Mix soup, milk, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a bowl and pour over-top of the casserole (I kind of spread it across the top, patting it down then poked holes with my wooden spoon handle and spread it around repeating a few times to let some of the sauce sink down into the casserole).

Now, here you can either bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes or wrap with foil, then wrap again with press n seal wrap or place inside of a ziploc bag and freeze for up to 3 months.

After Freezing:  Remove from freezer and thaw overnight.  Then bake in a 400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes. *Remove all plastic before baking.

Make Ahead Freezer Meal: Orange Chicken

 I just made this recipe and it's chilling in my freezer for a few weeks from now when Cookie Boothing begins.

Orange Chicken https://happymoneysaver.com/easy-make-ahead-orange-chicken-freezer-meal/

I printed out the 2nd page and taped it to the back of my gallon ziploc bag that contained the chicken.  I put the sauce into a quart-size bag and added that bag to the gallon bag as well.  I will serve it with steamed broccoli (steamed in the bag in the microwave) and freezer rice from Trader Joes. 

3.95 from 17 votes

Orange Chicken Freezer Meal Recipe

This Make-Ahead Orange Chicken Freezer Meal is a delicious and tangy chicken dish with the right amount of ginger and orange, and with the convenience of having it ready in the freezer to whip up last minute!

Prep Time15minutes mins

Cook Time15minutes mins

Total Time30minutes mins

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Chinese

Keyword: orange chicken

 

Servings: 6 servings

 

Calories: 370kcal

 

Author: Karrie

Ingredients

• 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 2 egg whites
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• fresh green onion, sliced optional

Orange Sauce

• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1/4 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp garlic minced
• 1 tsp ginger pureed or minced
• 1 tsp cornstarch

Instructions

• Dice chicken into bite-sized pieces.
• In a medium sized bowl, combine cornstarch and egg whites. Stir and add chicken to bowl. Turn to coat chicken until all are well combined.
• Add oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat, and when hot, add coated chicken in small batches. Cook, stirring often until golden brown, about 3 to 5 minutes. Drain on a paper towel as you cook remaining batches.
• In another small bowl make the orange sauce by whisking together orange juice, water, soy sauce, honey, vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, and cornstarch. 

Make It Now

• In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add orange sauce mix. Bring to a boil, stirring continuously, then reduce heat to low and simmer 1 to 2 minutes or until sauce thickens up. Pour sauce over chicken and serve with chopped green onions if using. 

Freeze It For Later

• Place uncooked sauce into labeled gallon sized bag. Seal, removing air. Place cooked and cooled chicken into another labeled gallon size freezer bag. You can add the sauce bag into this bag to prevent them getting separated. Place in freezer and freeze. 

Reheating

• Place frozen orange sauce mix into a bowl of hot water to thaw quickly. Preheat oven to 350°F. Place frozen chicken on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes until chicken is fully heated through. Bring to a boil, stirring continuously, then reduce heat to low and simmer 1 to 2 minutes or until sauce thickens up. Pour sauce over chicken and serve with chopped green onions if using. 

Notes

For a complete meal, serve the orange chicken over a bed of steamed white or brown rice, which will absorb the flavorful sauce perfectly. You can also pair it with a side of stir-fried vegetables such as broccoli, bell peppers, and snap peas for added crunch and nutrition.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 370kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 33g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 96mg | Sodium: 360mg | Potassium: 623mg | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 85IU | Vitamin C: 12.3mg | Calcium: 10mg | Iron: 0.7mg