Freezer spree

This  past weekend I spent about 2 hours in the kitchen with Doctor Who episodes running on my Kindle and doing freezer meal prep for the next two weeks.  Because Hubs is off in the afternoon, these are perfect and easy for him to cook in either crock-pot or oven before I get home later in the evening.

Don't forget to pull these out the night before and thaw in fridge!

Chicken & Stuffing (Crock pot)
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts  ( I only use 3 for our little family)
1 can cream of chicken soup
4 oz  (1/2 cup) sour cream
6 oz box Stove Top stuffing ( I like the Traditional Sage)
1/4 cup milk

* Place chicken in bottom of crock pot, dump stuffing on top. Mix soup, sour cream & milk together and pour on top.  Cook LOW 4 hours.

Creamy Italian Chicken (Crock pot)

Meatloaf  (oven)

Beef Shepherd's Pie (Crockpot)

Creamy Beef & Noodles (Crock pot)
*I'm making the sauce more gravy like this time and serving it with mashed taters.

Beef Stew (Crock pot)

Cheesy Ham & Potatoes (oven)


Smothered Pork Chops (Crock pot)
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp mustard
1/2 tsp garlic pepper salt
2 T olive oil
4 boneless pork loin chops

1/2 cup flour
14 oz chicken broth (1 3/4 cup)

In large ziplock bag: combine 1/4 cup flour, mustard & garlic pepper salt.
Add chops one at a time, shake to coat.
Brown in skillet with olive oil on each side. Transfer to crock pot.  (I let them cool and put them in a new bag and freeze them for use later)
Whisky flour and broth until smooth, pour over chops.
Cook on low 3- 3 1/2 hours.

8 meals. We already had crock pot meatballs (a bag of meatballs, two jars of spaghetti sauce, cooked on low all day and served over spaghetti noodles) per my 5 year old's request. We'll also do 2 days of pizza, 2 days of hamburger helper, and one "fend for yourself" night (where we each decide what we feel like having that's quick & easy. Like spaghettios & meatballs, sandwich, can of soup, whatever.

Chicken Alfredo Tater Tot Casserole

This first time I had this was at a "Ladies Only" party at my friend Jen's.  After my initial, polite, helping size, I went back for more.  I whipped it together and tossed it into the freezer.  This is definitely one to thaw out before baking though.  Had to bake it twice as long at 40 degrees higher than if it had been thawed.
It doesn't look like much in the picture, but it is delicious!

What I used:
1 jar alfredo sauce
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 large cans of chicken (found near the cans of tuna usually, I really like Swanson)
half bag of shredded mild cheddar cheese.
bacon bits (half a small bag, found in the salad dressing aisle - or make your own)
frozen tater tots (2/3 bag is all I used)

(c)Keytee 2013

1. Dump tater tots in 9 x 13  foil pan
2. Mix sauce, soup, and chicken together.  Pour over tater tots.
3. Sprinkle with bacon bits and top with cheese.

*If freezing, cover with foil and remove before baking. Tots also kind of lose their form and could just as easily be replaced with hashbrowns if you wanted to.

Bake at 350 degrees  for 25 mins.

Oven Baked Stew

Another good find via Pinterest from The Girl Who Everything.  An easy, throw together meal that you can do in the crock pot too.  Hubs and I enjoyed it.  The 5 year old did not approve of this one. Of course, she's also the one who told her friends mom that she was allergic to normal size carrots but not the baby ones.

What I used:

1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1 1/2 lbs beef stew meat (cut into bite size pieces.)
6-8 baby red potatoes, peeled and cut into fourths
1 small, sweet white onion.  Cut into 2" chunks
half of a small bag of baby carrots, cut in half
1 (14.5 oz) can cream of celery soup
1/2 C. ketchup

(c) Keytee 2013

1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees
2. In a large zip lock bag combine onion soup mix, paprika, salt and stew meat.  Shake until well coated. Place seasoned meat in baking dish.
3.  Arrange potatoes, onions and carrots on top of meat.
4.  In small bowl, combine cream of celery soup and ketchup.  Pour mixture over meat and vegetables.
5.  Cover and bake for 2 hours.

Crock pot option:  Prepare as above, cook on low for 4-6 hours or until potatoes are tender.

Creamy Sausage and Tomato Pasta

So, the last couple of night I'd been trying to come up with a dish that I could use some italian sausage that my mom's boyfriend, Papa Joe, gave us.  I sifted through multiple site and recipes until I came upon The Girl Who Ate Everything and had a total "YES!" moment.  Go to the site to see the original recipe.  As I often do, I've tweaked it to suit our tastes and my cooking style.

What I used:
5  Italian sausage - casing removed.
3 shakes of minced, dried onion
2 shakes mince, dried garlic
2 C.  (16 oz) Italian style diced/chopped tomatoes
1 C. (8 oz) tomato sauce
1 C.  heavy cream
2/3 of 16 oz box Penne pasta

(c) Keytee2 2013

1. Cook pasta in salted water al dente, according to package.
2. While pasta is cooking, brown sausage (I used my deep sided 12" fry pan).
3.  Add onion and garlic, saute for a couple minutes.
4.  Pour in tomatoes & tomato sauce, heat through.
5.  Pour in cream and heat through. (Supposedly it'll thicken the longer it simmers, mine did not get very thick in the 3 minutes I let it simmer).
6.  Mix in pasta and serve.

This dish is Picky Five Year Old Approved.

Baked Pork Chops

I had some pork chops defrosted. The really thick, boneless kind. I didn't want to fry them or use my electric grill. I was busy sewing and wanted something I could whip up and walk away from.  This is what I ended up doing and boy was it scrumpious!

What you need:
4-6 boneless pork loin chops
1 can mushroom soup
3/4 soup can of water
thyme
basil
salt
pepper
crushed, dried garlic
dried, minced onion
bread crumbs

(c) Keytee 2013

Pre-heat oven to 350*
1. Mix in a bowl all except pork chops & bread crumbs.  I didn't bother measuring the spices, sorry. I used just a pinch of basil, thyme and garlic. Three shakes of the onion and a shake or two of salt & pepper.
2.  Pour half  mixture in bottom of 9X13 baking dish.
3.  Dampen pork chops and coat with bread crumbs, set on top of soup mixture.
4.  Pour remaining soup mixture on top of chops
Cover with foil and bake 50-60 minutes

I had a can of sliced, new potatoes in the cabinet.  Dumped them in a pan with a glob of butter and a couple shakes of onion, salt & pepper and fried them bad boys up.

Cinnamon Crescent Rolls

I had a hankering for something sweet tonight.  I've had a craving for cinnamon rolls for days now, but I didn't want to go through all the mess of making the dough.  Then I remembered seeing  them made with crescent rolls on Pinterest so I went searching and found a quick and easy version by The Hungry Housewife. Oh My Heaven! They melt in your mouth!

What you need:

1 tube (8 count) crescent rolls, unrolled & separated.

Filling
5 T. butter, softened.
1/4 C. granulate sugar
2 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Glaze
2 T butter, melted
1/4 C. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

(c)Keytee 2013
A little filling will ooze out, that's okay!

• Preheat oven to 375*  F.
• Place the unrolled and separated crescent rolls on an un-greased rimmed cookie sheet with sides.

• In a small bowl, mix together the filling ingredients.

• Evenly spread the cinnamon butter over crescent rolls and roll up tightly. 
• Place tip side down on cookie sheet
• Bake 10-12 minutes

• In a small bowl, mix together glaze ingredients until smooth.
• Place in small ziplock/sandwich bag and snip a tiny corner off.
• Drizzle glaze over warm cinnamon rolls.

I let my 4 1/2 year old help with the rolling and mixing the glaze.  Then she washed all the dishes we used!  She excited to try one at breakfast tomorrow.

Creamy Italian Chicken (crock pot)

4 year old didn't eat much of it. Can't blame her though, it's beautiful outside and she'd rather be outside playing.  Hubby and I really liked it though!

What you need:

2-4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
8 oz soft cream cheese (1 cup)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 packet Italian dressing seasoning.

©Keytee 2013

-Place chicken in crock pot.
- Mix cream cheese, soup and seasoning together. Pour over chicken.

Cook on high 4-6 hours.
Serve over rice or noodles.  (We like this one over egg noodles.)


This is a great freezer meal.  I dump everything into a gallon size freezer bag and toss it in the freezer.  Just pull it out the night before to thaw in the fridge.  Hubby can handle emptying the bag into the crock pot and turning on when he gets home from work, so all I have to do is boil noodles when I get home and voila! A really tasty and filling dinner!