One Pot Wonder: Chicken Pasta Salad

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This refreshing pasta salad, can be ready in just 10 minutes! Welcome, my guest blogger Blake from Style-Island as she shares her spring recipe.

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I don’t know about you but many weeknights, especially once the weather gets warm…the idea of slaving over a hot kitchen is not appealing. When you still need to pull off an awesome and delicious dinner, one pot recipes come in handy.

As the weather warms up, it’s time to put away the soups, and take out the spring salads starting with this one pot chicken pasta salad. This dish is packed with protein, and perfect for spring!

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1 bag bowtie pasta

Grilled chicken strips – 1 Pound

2 Cups grape tomatoes

2 cups baby spinach

1/4 cup ricotta salata

1/3 cup mozzarella – cut up into squares

Boil pasta 8-10 minutes. Mix everything together in pot. Add 3 tbsp olive oil and 3 garlic gloves. Stir occasionally. Serve warm or cold. 

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It’s One Pot Wonder Week!

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one pot wondersOooooooh, I’m so excited!  One Pot Wonders are deliciously easy meals that
require minimal clean up.  They often work well for outdoor cooking over an open fire with a skillet. (A flame is ok, no need to wait for coals.) And a lot of them can go in a freezer bag for make ahead prep, and dump and go cooking.

This is my preferred cooking method when I’m in a hurry, low on groceries, or tired of washing dishes. (And by preferred method, I mean using one pot on our indoor stove, not an open flame.) It’s perfect when the fridge is mostly bare, because you can combine bits of leftover things and turn it into one BIG dish.  If that sentence just grossed you out, try to hang on a little longer.  There are a few “rules” to make sure you get something delicious at the end.  Here’s what you need:

1.  Flavor theme:  Southwest, Italian, Oriental, BBQ….. For best results, stick to one flavor profile.

2. Protein:  Ground beef, Shredded chicken, Ground Turkey, Smoked Sausage, Breakfast Sausage; Italian Sausage; Eggs; Shrimp; Salmon…

3. Vegetables: Southwest: bell peppers; onions; corn; tomatoes. Italian: everything. Oriental: Everything, but especially baby corn; sugar snap peas; bamboo shoots; water chestnuts. BBQ: corn, carrots, onions, mushrooms; sweet potatoes; potatoes.

4. Starch: Pasta; Corn; Potatoes; Sweet Potatoes; Beans; Rice.

5.  Sauce or herbs; Cheese

I’ll be featuring recipes of tried and true one pot wonders the rest of this week.  I’m sure you can think of some you’ve had before:  Frittata; stir fry; fried rice; skillet lasagna; (hamburger helper….)

What’s your favorite one pot wonder?  Leave a comment and help us with ideas.

 

Freezer Bag Cooking: Lunch and Dinner

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Freezer Bag Recipes lunch and dinner

Yesterday I shared with you some really simple Freezer Bag Breakfast Recipes perfect for camping or just to make ahead for busy moments.  Today I’m going to give you my best Freezer Bag Lunch and Dinner recipes.  When meals are packed frozen in a cooler, you need less ice and they gradually thaw to be ready when needed. (My FAVORITE part of this series is how often I can use the word smoosh <3.)

 Dutch Oven

Dutch Oven Pizza

Crust: 1 2/3 cup water; 1 Tbs yeast; 1 Tbs olive oil; 2 Tbs Honey; 1 tsp salt; 4 cups flour.  Mix together, kneading right in the bag, then press out the air and freeze.

Sauce: 6 oz tomato paste; 1/4 cup water; 1 tsp sugar; 1 tsp garlic powder; 1 tsp onion powder; 2 tsp parsley flakes; 1 tsp basil; 1/4 tsp oregano; a few dashes of oregano.  Mix in a smaller baggie and freeze.  Snip the corner to easily spread onto the pizza crust.

Additional ingredients:  Shredded mozzarella cheese; browned ground beef, pepperoni;

This is enough for 2 pizzas. Spread the thawed crust in the bottom and up the sides a bit of your well seasoned dutch oven.  Top with sauce, cheese and desired toppings.  Top with a lid. Bake for 20-3o minutes with 7 briquettes under the oven and 21 on the lid.
Sloppy Joe

Sloppy Joes

2 lb Ground meat (I use a combination of turkey and beef.)

1 cup diced onion

1 cup diced bell pepper

2 cans, 8 oz tomato sauce

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp garlic salt

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Brown the ground beef, peppers and onions together, drain.  Place the tomato sauce, chili powder, garlic salt and worcestershire in a freezer baggie.  Smoosh it around.  Add remaining ingredients and smoosh to mix evenly. Seal well and lay flat to freeze.  To prepare, squeeze thawed contents into a dutch oven or saucepan and heat through. Serve on buns or stuffed into pitas with slices of cheese.

 

goulashGoulash

l lb macaroni noodles (dry)

8 cups tomato juice

4 tsp sugar, xylitol or similar

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 tsp garlic powder

1 lb ground beef, browned and drained

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped bell pepper

8 American cheeses slices

Brown ground beef with onion and bell pepper, drain.  Combine all but the cheese slices in a baggie (pasta should still be dry.)  Seal, and smoosh flat to freeze.   To prepare, pour contents of the bag into a casserole dish or dutch oven.  Top with cheese slices.  Bake at 350 for 45 minutes (For a Dutch oven: 7 hot coals on the bottom 21 coals on the lid) or until heated through and pasta is soft.

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Spaghetti

8 oz broken spaghetti noodles

4 cups tomato sauce

3 cups water

1 tsp basil flakes

2 tsp parsley flakes

1 tsp salt

dash of cayenne pepper (opt)

1 lb ground beef

1 cup onion

Brown and drain ground beef with onion.  Add all ingredients to a freezer bag (use the noodles dry.)  Smoosh flat and freeze.  To prepare, pour thawed contents of the bag into a pot, bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes or until pasta is tender and dish is thickened.

Fajitas

2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, sliced into strips.

1 green bell pepper

1 red bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

1 red onion

1 white onion

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup lime juice

1 1/2 Tbs Seasoned Salt (like Lowry’s)

1 1/2 Tbs oregano flakes

1 1/2 Tbs ground cumin

1 Tbs garlic powder

1 Tbs chili powder

1 Tbs paprika

1 tsp salt

In a large baggie combine the oil, lime juice and herbs and spices.  Smoosh all around.  Add the chicken and sliced vegetables.  Press flat and freeze.  To prepare, thaw the bag. Use tongs to lift the meat and vegetables out of the bag into a hot skillet, discard remaining marinate. Stir fry until meat is cooked through and vegetables are tender.  Serve with tortillas and salsa.  (Other toppings as desired: lettuce, cheese, chopped tomatoes, sour cream, guacamole….)

Fiesta Chicken Bowls

2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
1/4 cup lime juice
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 lb corn kernels
1 tsp garlic powder
1 chopped red onion
1 can, 15 oz  black beans, drained and rinsed
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Combine everything into a freezer bag and smoosh flat to freeze. To prepare, thaw bag.  Pour entire contents into a hot skillet and sauté until meat is cooked through.  Layer bowls with crushed tortilla chips and chopped lettuce.  Top with chicken mixture and serve with salsa, cheese, and ranch dressing.

Teriyaki chicken over Rice

2 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces

1 lb sugar snap peas

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup pineapple juice (I drain it from canned pineapple)

1 tsp fresh grated ginger

1 tsp garlic powder

Combine all ingredients into a freezer bag and smoosh to freeze.  Freeze 4-6 cups cooked brown rice in a separate bag.  To prepare, pour contents of the bag into a skillet and saute until chicken is cooked through. Heat rice, by simmering the bag in hot water for 2-3 minutes.  Serve Teriyaki chicken over rice.

Taco Soup

2 lb ground beef or turkey

1 cup chopped onion

1 lb corn kernels

2 cans, 15 oz each black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can rotel tomatoes, undrained

4 Tbs taco seasoning

Brown ground beef with onion, drain.  Combine everything in a freezer bag.  Smoosh flat to freeze.  To serve, pour contents of the bag into a stock pot or dutch oven. Add 1 cup of water. Heat through.  Serve with Frito style corn chips and cheese or sour cream.

Freezer Bag Cooking: Breakfast

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Freezer Bag Recipes Breakfast

Prepping food at home and freezing it in baggies takes up less space in the cooler for camping.  Things stay colder longer this way. (Here’s hoping they thaw out in time for cooking. I’ll let you know on that one.) Even if you aren’t planning a camping trip, these recipes can easily be cooked in a regular kitchen and make rushed mornings that much easier.

Today is just about breakfast.  Tomorrow we’ll talk about dinner and then desserts :).  All of these recipes are good feed our family of 8.

Quick tip: Be sure to label your bags with a sharpee.  A few weeks later pancake batter and frozen smoothie can look kind of similar.

Breakfast Recipes

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Pancakes

3 cups flour

1 Tbs sugar or stevia blend

1 Tbs baking powder (or 1 tsp baking soda plus 1/4 tsp cream of tartar.)

3 eggs

3 Tbs oil

3 cups milk

Blend all ingredients together and process for 1 minute.  Pour into a gallon freezer baggie and squeeze out the air.  Lay the bag flat smooshing all the batter into an even layer and place it on a cookie sheet or tray to freeze it flat.

To cook, thaw the batter.  Then snip off a lower corner of the bag and use it to pipe the batter into a hot skillet.  (I’m going to test this method on my protein pancake batter and let you know how it freezes.) If you don’t want to use a blender, you could also just dump the ingredients in the bag and smoosh it around. It won’t be as smooth, but it will be ok.

Hash Brown and Egg Casserole

1 lb frozen hash browns (Raw potatoes don’t freeze well, so if you want a homemade substitute, cube leftover baked potatoes. For a low carb substitute, try frozen cauliflower bits or diced radishes.)

1 lb bulk sausage, browned and drained

1 cup diced onion

1 cup diced bell pepper (I like the baby bell peppers because of the pretty colors.)

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1 cup shredded cheese

8 beaten eggs

1 cup plain yogurt or sour cream

2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper

Beat yogurt or sour cream and salt and pepper into eggs.  Pour into a gallon baggie and add remaining ingredients. smoosh around until well blended.  Seal well, removing all air. Lay flat and freeze on a tray to keep it flat. To bake, pour thawed casserole into a dutch oven.  Use this handy guide to decide how and where to place your coals: http://www.dutchovendude.com/campfire-cooking.shtml Bake at 350 for about an hour.  You’ll need around 24 hot briquetts, 6 underneath and 18 on the lid.

This casserole can be made without all vegetables (but why?!) To make it dairy free, 1/2 as much plain almond milk can be subbed for the yogurt and the cheese can be left out or replaced with Daiya cheese.  I’m slightly milk sensitive, but found Daiya cheese (cheddar variety) to be pretty gross and would rather just skip it.

Apple Muffins

¾ C milk

½ C applesauce (or oil)

1 egg

2 C flour

½ C sugar

3 t baking powder

1 t salt

½ t cinnamon

1 med apple, pared and chopped

Mix everything together in the gallon baggie, then freeze flat.  To bake, snip off a corner and pipe into a seasoned cast iron muffin tin OR fill hollowed out orange skin halves 2/3 full with batter. Wrap loosely with aluminum foil (to give room for rising batter.) Nestle down into the hot coals (right side up!) and bake for about 1o minutes.  Any muffin batter can be baked this way.  Imagine chocolate in an orange. (If you compare recipes, the difference between a muffin and a cupcake are minimal….)

Omelets

Use a quart sized freezer bag for each person.  Crack in 2 eggs then add whatever you like:  spinach, onions, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, ham, bacon, sausage, cheese etc.  Mush it all around, then freeze.  To cook, drop the bags in a large kettle (or dutch oven) of boiling water.  Boil for 8 minutes.  Only put in enough bags that can float freely (you don’t want them resting on the bottom of the pot.)

Smoothies

Blend up your favorite smoothie ingredients, then freeze flat in a freezer bag.  Thaw until slushy, cut off a corner and pipe into drinking glasses.

Portable Yogurt

Fill snack size baggies with a half cup of flavored yogurt.  Fold over and tape the zipper seal to the side and freeze firm. Snip off the end and push up to eat. Credit

Quick Oatmeal

This doesn’t need to be frozen, but goes in a baggie….so here you go.  Add 1/3 cup quick oats; 1 Tbs sweetener (brown sugar, coconut sugar, or xylitol etc….); 2 Tbs dried fruit; and 1/4 tsp of flavor (Cinnamon, nutmeg etc.)  Other flavor options: 1 Tbs chopped nuts; 1 Tbs mini chocolate chips;  1 Tbs peanut flour; 1 tsp flax meal; 1 tsp chia seeds; 1 Tbs cocoa powder; 1 Tbs dry milk; scraped vanilla bean.  To prepare, pour contents of the bag into a mug.  Add 2/3-3/4 cup of boiling water and let stand for 5 minutes.

Just for fun, let’s clear up some confusion about the different types of oatmeal.

1. Whole Oat Groats: look similar to wheat berries and are the hulled seeds of the oat plan. Since the seed is intact, there is no danger of oils going rancid. These take a long time to cook.

2. Steel cut oats: Whole oats that have been chopped into pieces for faster cooking.

3. Old-fashioned rolled oats: Whole oat Groats that have been rolled on a press. Oats can be thick rolled if the setting is changed on the roller.

3. Quick Oats: Rolled oats that have been chopped into smaller pieces for faster cooking. Nutritionally no different than Old-Fashioned roll oats.

4. Instant Oats: Quick oats that have been steamed and re-dried for faster cooking.  There is likely some nutrition loss in the heat process, but instant oat’s bad reputation mostly comes from the sugary additions in the prepackaged individual serving variety that make it so yummy.  By packaging up your own flavors you can control the quality of the ingredients and nutrition profile.

Bean and Cheese Enchiladas

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Frugal food doesn’t have to be time consuming.  Here’s a fast dish I threw together with all convenience items while our bread was baking last night.  Tuesday’s activities include violin lessons for the big boy, piano lessons for the littles, and then scouts for the 2 biggest boys.  There’s a tiny gap for eating in there, but not much time for cooking.

Our kids are growing quickly and with 2 teenagers in our family of 8, we’ve outgrown a 9×13  casserole dish.  This 10×15 dish holds as much food as a 7×11 plus a 9×13, which is perfect for us with a few leftovers for lunches the next day.  I haven’t been able to find a lid for it yet though.  If you know a source, put it in the comments below.

Bean and Cheese enchiladas

Print
Bean and Cheese Enchiladas

Ingredients

  • 20 6" tortillas
  • 1 can, 15 oz, refried beans
  • 1 can, 15 oz, black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 8 oz of shredded cheddar blend cheese
  • 1 can, 28 oz of red enchilada sauce

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 10x15 baking dish.
  2. Place a small amount of enchilada sauce in the bottom of the pan and spread to coat.
  3. Stir together the refried beans and drained black beans. Divide among tortillas. Add a sprinkling of cheese. Roll up and place seam side down in the baking dish.
  4. Top with enchilada sauce pressing down all the edges.
  5. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.
  6. Sprinkle with cheese and bake for 5 minutes more or until the cheese is melted.
  7. Serve with salad, corn, or rice.
https://www.groceryshrink.com/bean-and-cheese-enchiladas/

Cost estimate:

Tortillas:  $1.50 (Aldi)

Refried Beans: $.69 (Aldi)

Black Beans: $.69 (Aldi)

Cheese: $1.50 (Taken from a 5 lb bag of Costco cheese.)

Enchilada Sauce: $1.67 (Walmart)

Total: $6.05

12 servings: $.50 each 🙂

 

 

When it’s Time to Bake Bread

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Crescent Rolls Homemade Bread

There are  just a few days left in the month. I used the last of our grocery money on Monday and discovered this morning that we are out of bread. It matters because all the kids pack their own lunches in a half asleep state at 6:30 am and when there’s no bread they get confused, and require my help.  I’m not good help at 6:30 am.

Danish Dough Wisk

I haven’t baked bread in a long time.  I just needed a little motivation to get back to it. Thankfully none of us are gluten sensitive.  Here’s why we still eat wheat: “Wheat ranks first among the grains for its nutritional value.  Wheat is an excellent source of fiber and many critical B-vitamins when used in its entirety, including the bran, germ, and endosperm.  Wheat germ is one of the richest sources of vitamin E if used when freshly milled, before oxidation takes place.” Source Plus it tastes good and it’s affordable.

Here’s why I don’t always soak it.  Well, that’s how I sleep at night.  The actual reason I don’t soak is it’s an extra step that stresses me out, and we prefer the taste without soaking.

Danish Dough Wisk

My all time favorite bread recipe is Vickilynn’s Absolute Best Challah. I usually bake her 2 loaf version, but today went with the whopper 6 loaf one.  It takes 15 cups of flour!  My kitchen aid can only handle about 6 before the dough starts climbing up into the motor shaft….so I mixed this by hand with a Danish Dough Wisk.  When it got too hard to do with the wisk, I dumped it out and kneaded it by hand for 15 minutes (while watching Brain Games on Netflix.)

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I really wanted a lot of bread, but I only have 3 loaf pans.

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No matter, the dough makes good rolls too.  I usually do clover leaf rolls with 3 small balls of dough in each muffin tin, but we had to leave for violin lessons in 5 minutes and I just plopped a big ball in each well.

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And then I ran out of muffin tins….so I made crescents.

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Before rising.

Bread DoughWhen we got back from violin, they were nice and big.  Time to proof the oven and let them rise a little more.

Muffin Tin Dinner Rolls

They went over well :).

How to Make Homemade Fortified Almond Milk

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I turned my nose up at vegan milks for years.  Real milk has protein and calcium, it’s affordable, and tastes great.  Why mess with a good thing?

Then I met up with the symptoms of lactose intolerance.  Sometimes I could eat dairy products without consequence and sometimes I would be doubled over in pain.  It was like a dietary game of Mumblety peg.

Almond milk sparked my interest when I found out it only has 30 calories per cup, is low in carbs and tastes pretty good.  It boasts a good serving of calcium, but only because it is added artificially.  This is not a drink for babies or kids unless the diet has other rich sources of fats or protein.

Almond milk makes good smoothies, custards, cream soups, cream gravy, and fettuccini sauce.  It costs about $3 for a half gallon, or $6 a gallon.  The cost is about 50% more than regular milk.  My children do not show signs of lactose intolerance or milk allergy so I do not feed them almond milk.

It’s not hard to make homemade almond milk and homemade costs quite a bit less than store bought–PLUS Almond flour is a by-product of almond milk production.  That’s good news for low carb and gluten free bakers everywhere.

At Costco, almonds are $15 for 3 pounds.  (Or almonds that haven’t been treated with fungicide are available at Trader Joes for $6 a lb.) It takes 2 oz of almonds to make a half gallon of milk.  So one 3 lb bag of almonds makes 24 half gallons (plus almond flour) at $.62 each.  If you want fortified almond milk that has the same nutrition as milk, you will want to add 8 calcium, magnesium, vitamin d3 tablets.

Adding vitamins adds to the cost slightly.  These tablets* are $.07 each and I would need 8 of them to create a homemade nutritional profile comparable to store bought almond milk.  Homemade fortified almond milk is $1.18 per half gallon vs $3.28 for store bought for a savings of $2.10.

Here’s how to make your own almond milk.

Measure 1/4 cup of almonds into a class cup and cover with twice as much water. 1/4 cup of almonds makes 1 quart of milk.  1/2 cup makes half a gallon–the same as in the typical grocery store carton.  Let stand for 8 hours or overnight.

 

After 8 hours, drain your almonds, then place in a blender.  Add a generous pinch of sea salt and any supplements or flavors (like vanilla and honey or stevia) you are adding.  I used 4 calcium tablets so each cup of milk would have 30% RDA of calcium, plus magnesium and vitamin D3.

Cover with just enough fresh water to keep the blades running smoothly.  Too much water will allow the almonds to get away from the blades and not grind as fine.

Blend for a couple of minutes until the nuts are all ground up into tiny bits.

Strain though a nut bag (I use a huge straining bag that I purchased for Kombucha.)  Amazon* has nut bags also, or you could use cheese cloth, a clean flour sack towel, or even a coffee filter.  They all work, but the nut bag is fastest and easiest.  At the end, give the mass of ground nuts a good squeeze to get as much water out as possible.

Pour the strained milk into a canning jar.

Pour in enough fresh water to make a quart, or half gallon–whatever you used enough nuts for.

Voila!

Now scrape the nut meal out of your straining bag (or whatever you used.)  Spread it onto a silicone mat, wax paper or parchment.  Let it dry thoroughly.  (In the dry weather, mine dries overnight.)  If it’s humid, you can spread it on a cookie sheet and bake at 200 degrees for 2 hours.  Then turn off the oven and let it stay in there for a few hours more. Transfer the dry stuff back to a clean dry blender cup and pulverize it super fine.  Use it as you would any almond flour.

Q.  How long does the almond milk last?

A.  If you are using raw almonds it will go “sour” in 3-4 days.  Costco’s almonds are  blanched and the milk lasts longer.  I’ve gone a week and it was still fine.  It’s never lasted longer than that, so I can’t say when it sours.

Q.  Shouldn’t you remove the skins from the almonds first?

A.  Who’s got time for that?  The milk tastes great either way.  With the skins on the almonds, the almond flour will have flecks of color in it, compared to commercial almond flour which is just white.  I haven’t noticed a difference in performance between the two flours.  And the almond milk comes out white either way.

Q.  I don’t like almonds.  Can I do this with other nuts?

A.  Yes.  Cashews and sunflower seeds work especially well.  Let me know if you try it :).

More questions?  Concerns?  Put them below.  Have you ever made your own almond milk?

* P.S. The Amazon links are for your benefit only and are not affiliate links.  As a Missouri resident I am not eligible to be an Amazon Affiliate.

Allergy Free Creamy Wild Rice Chicken Soup

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Creamy Wild Rice Chicken Soup

One of my strategies for sticking to my elimination diet is making a big pot of something delicious and eating it for every meal until it’s gone.  Then making something new.  My family doesn’t touch it (except to taste it’s amazingness), and I cook them a traditional yummy dish.  It sure beats cooking 2 different meals every time and we can still sit down together for a family meal.

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My first big delicious pot was this Creamy Wild Rice Chicken Soup.  I splurged on fresh mushrooms and it was worth the extra $1 over buying canned.  A little treat like fresh mushrooms made it feel like a privilege to eat it instead of a sacrifice. It really was delicious.  I sprinkled some crushed Van’s gluten free crackers over the top.  Soooo good.

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I always feel funny typing the words “allergy free,” because nothing is truly allergy free.  I have a friend who’s allergic to chicken….and another who’s allergic to almonds and coconuts. But really, you can sub for almost anything in here.  Plain rice milk will work fine, and another oil can be used instead of coconut oil.  Flaked white fish would work instead of chicken. Own this recipe and make it fit your needs.

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This is also Trim Healthy Mama friendly under E meals.  And Fit Yummy Mummy friendly too.  It’s gluten free/dairy free.  But still super delicious.

Creamy Wild Rice Chicken Soup

1 lb fresh mushrooms

1 medium onion, chopped

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 Tbs Coconut Oil

1 cup of wild rice (Plain, not the mix kind.  I found mine in the bulk food section of our health food store.)

3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced

2 stalks of celery, diced

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts

4 cups water

2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp each thyme and rosemary

2 cups almond milk

Melt the coconut oil in a skillet and sauté onion, garlic, celery and mushrooms until fragrant and tender. Stir in wild rice and cook a few minutes longer, until toasted.  Transfer everything to a stock pot and add remaining ingredients.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer.  Cover and simmer for 30-45 minutes or until rice is done.  Shred chicken with two forks (or pull out of the pan and chop with a knife.) Stir in almond milk and chicken and heat just until warmed through.