Italian Chicken

Ingredients:
8 chicken breasts
2 pkgs dry zesty Italian Dressing  (See recipe below!)
2 blocks of softened cream cheese
2-4 cans of cream of chicken soup  (depending how creamy you want it)

Directions:
Mix all ingredients....EXCEPT for the chicken.  :)    Put sauce mixture in freezer bag, and add in chicken breasts.  (You will need 2 freezer bags!)    Thaw when needed & place in slow cooker for 6 hours on low.  Serve with your favourite dish!

Zesty Dry Italian Dressing Mix
1T garlic salt
1T onion powder
1T white sugar
2T dried oregano
1t ground black pepper
1/4t dried thyme
1t dried basil
1T dried parsley
1/4t celery salt
1T salt   (The original recipe calls for 2T...but we found it wayyyy too salty....and we LOVE salt!)  :)

**  Remember, you will need to double the dressing mix!   This was a huge hit!  Hope you enjoy!!!

The Grocery List!!!!

Meat

8 racks of baby back ribs

76 boneless, skinless breasts of chicken (buy them frozen, save a bundle)

16 breasts of chicken (bone in)

3 trays of chicken thighs

20 lbs of ground beef

2 x 10lb ham shanks

4 toupie hams

24 pork chops (we used pork loin chops)

8 pork loins

2 large roasts (whatever cut you like, personally like the prime or sirloin)

Veggies

1 lg bag frozen baby carrots (Cash & Carry)

1 medium bag of frozen corn (Cash & Carry)

2 medium bags of yellow potatoes (need about 32 potatoes)

1 medium bag of frozen green beans (Cash & Carry)

20 cups of mashed potatoes (buy the instant ones, don't waste your precious time)

1 lg bag of frozen chopped onions (Cash & Carry)

1 medium bag of frozen peas (Cash & Carry) 

Canned Goods

3 lg cans of chicken broth (Cash & Carry)

8 small cans of cream of celery soup

4 lg cans of cream of chicken soup (Cash & Carry)

1 lg can of cream of mushroom soup (Cash & Carry)

2 small cans of golden mushroom soup (only can be found at Sobey's)

4 bottles of your favourite BBQ sauce

4 cans of diced tomatoes

3 bottles of French Dressing

4 bottles of peach preserves (smuckers was all I could find)

4 small cans of sliced mushrooms

1 500ml bottle of honey

Miscellaneous

1 bottle of balsamic vinegar (need about 1 cup)

6 cups of brown sugar

1 bottle of canola oil (need about 4 tbsp)

4 pkgs of cashew nuts (baking isle)

10 cups of dry macaroni noodles

1 bottle of ketchup (need about 8 tbsp)

2 boxes of lasagna noodles (need about 24 noodles)

6 pouches of onion soup mix

6 cups of rice

1 bottle of rice wine vinegar (need about 2 tbsp)

1 lg bottle of soya sauce

4 bottle of spaghetti sauce

4 boxes of StoveTop stuffing (Cash & Carry)

4 pkgs taco seasoning (Cash & Carry)

4 cans of whole cranberry sauce

1 bottle of white wine (can be cooking wine - need about 2 cups)

1 small bag of flour (need about 5 2/3 cups)

2 x 2L gingerale

1 carton of orange juice (need 2 cups)

2 pkgs of ready to use pie crust

Dairy

4 blocks of butter (need about 6 2/3 cups - DON'T use margarine, for the love)

16 cups of grated cheddar cheese (Cash & Carry)

8 blocks of cream cheese (can be the "light" version if you want)

4 eggs

1 container of Parmesean Cheese (Costco)

1700g of Ricotta Cheese (best deal, Superstore)

2 lg tubs of sour cream

We always keep on hand:

Celery Sal, Onion Powder, Garlic Salt, Gr0und Cloves, Dried Dill, Dried Chives, Paprika, Minced Garlic (a BIG container), Mrs. Dash, Ground Sage, Ground Ginger, Dried Basil, Dried Thyme, Fresh Ginger, Red Pepper Flakes, Olive Oil, Corn Starch, Salt, Pepper, White Vinegar.

If you don’t have a well stocked spice rack or your spices have been around longer than you’ve been married, invest in some.   I’ve polled some kitchen goddesses at work and their rule of thumb is spices start losing their zing after about a year.

 Here comes the Recipes:

Italian Chicken

Cranberry Chicken

Cashew Chicken

Brown Sugar & Balsamic Glazed Pork

Brown Sugar Ham

Chicken & Dressing

Chicken Parisienne

Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken Parisienne

Easy Roast Dinner

Ham & Potatoes

Peach Ham

Shepherd’s Pie

Baby Back Ribs

Taco Bake

Parmesean Honey Pork

Ranch House Crock Pot Pork

Slow Cooker Lasagna

Teriyaki Honey Chicken

We're back with more recipes :)

Hey everyone out there in bloggerland, you might have thought we'd forgotten about cooking but you could say we've been busy. Another "meals for a month" cooking marathon is under our belts and we've learned a lot from our first experience. First. Most of the recipes you've seen on the blog to this point are good for a small family and if you're not hoping for leftovers. Well, we like our leftovers to help stretch the meals out a little longer so this time around, for each recipe we quadrupled most of the ingrediants to allow for leftovers and maybe even that unexpected guest for supper (translation, your son/daughter has a friend over and they're going to stay for supper). Second. We're always on the look out for a good meat deal. It's gotta be fantastic. And when it is, we buy, buy, buy. Just for boneless, skinless chicken breasts alone this month, we needed 76. Yep, not 75, not 77. 76. Ok, so I'm a little OCD about some things. One we get our stock pile of meat, then we pick our recipes. You will notice that this months recipes are for the most part different from what me made last month. Blame it on the sale, baby. So, sit back and enjoy this months' assortment of "meals for month".

Life Saver

I must say....having meals in the freezer can really save you if you become sick...and have NO GROCERIES in the house! :) Stay tuned for more tasty recipes...and we hope to get the shopping list posted here as well....very soon!

A learning on thawing.... :)

FYI everyone!  If your meal requires thawing, I would highly encourage you to place the bag in a bowl....as the bags CAN leak and you can lose much liquid!  :)   Thankfully, I had it sitting in a deep dish plate and it all ended up in the slow cooker!  Ah the things we learn as we go!  More recipes to come soon....so stay tuned!

Cheesy Beef and Rice

Ingredients
1C long grain rice
1 lb ground beef
1/2 t garlic powder
3 T minced onion
a pinch of salt to taste
1 C sour cream
1/3 C milk
1 C shredded cheddar cheese

Directions
Boil two cups of water.  Stir in rice, cover and simmer for 45 minutes.
Brown ground beef with onion and garlic powder.  Mix with rice and add a bit more salt.
Stir in sour cream, milk, cheese, and stir well.  Place into a large freezer bag. 

Throw frozen mixture into the slow cooker for 5-6 hours and add some more shredded cheese on top for serving.  Makes a lovely side dish to any meal!

Planning....

Getting ready to organize some new recipes and meals for our next big cooking day.  Coming up...grocery list for the recipes that are part of February's meal plan.  Stay tuned....