Lemon Rice - Freezable

A super easy recipe for rice. I do not rinse my rice first. I used white rice this time, will try brown next. Next time I may add chicken and veggies and make it a meal!!

1 cup rice, uncooked
1 tsp butter
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 tsp lemon peel, grated
1/4 tsp pepper
2 cups chicken broth
2 tsp dried parsley flakes

Combine rice, butter, garlic, lemon peel, pepper and broth in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer 15 minutes or until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed. Stir in parsley. To freeze: cool and place in freezer bag. Label and freeze. To serve: Heat rice, fluff with a fork and serve.

Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

I found it- I found my chocolate Chip cookie Recipe that I didn't screw up! Normally I make CC Cookies and they spread out real thin. I have tried a number of recipes, and this one worked for me. I made the dough and thought it looked dry- even Leila said that- but I wondered if that had been my problem from the get go. I also bought real butter- not margarine. I am ELATED I can make a successful cookie after so very many tries and failures!

Anyway- long story short- here is the recipe:

Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies (from the Essential Mormon Cookbook- I don't own this book, but might have to look on Amazon to get it).

• 3 C butter or margarine softened
• 3/4 C White Sugar
• 1 C Brown Sugar
• 2 eggs (2 T powdered eggs + 1/4 C water)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 C Wheat Flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 (12 oz) bag Chocolate Chips

1. Cream together butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla.
2. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt and baking soda.
3. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture and beat well.
4. Stir in Chocolate Chips
5. Drop onto greased cookie sheet by heaping tablespoons
6. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes until lightly browned.
7. Makes about 3 dozen

Caribbean Pork over Rice

Caribbean Pork over Rice

This recipe comes from on my my favorite freezer meal recipe books, Dream Dinners. I haven't actually worked up to an all day cooking for the entire month session, however every weekend I try to make something I can triple, or more. This way I am gradually building of my freezer supply. A couple of weeks this has come in handy when the budget does not allow for a large shopping trip. I just check the freezer and supplement a couple of that week's meals with freezer meals. This meal is tasty, and VERY easy to make! I've got some in the freezer that I can't wait to get out and heat up!

Start off by placing a lean pork loin in a crockpot, cover it with canned low-sodium chicken broth, and simmer for eight hours on low. The pork will shred easily when you pull the meat apart with two forks.

Ingredients:

For One Dinner that feeds 6

4 cups (1½ pounds) shredded cooked pork
2 cups canned chicken broth
½ cup light unsweetened coconut milk
2 teaspoons jerk seasoning(couldn't find, I substituted a creole seasoning)
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1 cup uncooked white rice for serving
½ cup (4 ounces) sliced almonds for garnish

For Three Meals (freeze two)

12 cups (4½ pounds) shredded cooked pork
6 cups canned chicken broth
1½ cups light unsweetened coconut milk
2 tablespoons jerk seasoning
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
3 cups uncooked white rice for serving
1½ cups (12 ounces) sliced almonds for garnish

Instructions:

Putting the dinner together

Prepare the rice according to the package directions. In a large bowl, combine the pork, chicken broth, coconut milk, jerk seasoning, and orange zest and stir until incorporated. If you are preparing a triple batch, divide the mixture into three equal portions. Set aside one portion for tonight and divide the other two portions equally between two 1-gallon resealable freezer bags.

For dinner tonight

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the meat mixture and bring to a boil. The pork should be heated through. Serve over the rice and garnish with the sliced almonds.

To freeze

Place ½ cup of the remaining sliced almonds into each of two 1-quart resealable freezer bags. Place 3 cups cooked and cooled rice in a 1-gallon resealable freezer bag. Place the bags of almonds, rice, and pork into a 1-gallon resealable freezer bag. Repeat with the remaining almonds, rice, and pork. Label, date, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator before cooking as directed above. To reheat the rice, put the rice and ½ cup broth or water in a dish. Cover and cook in the microwave for 1-minute intervals until the broth is absorbed.

Mexican meatball soup

Meatballs:

2lbs lean ground beef
1 small can diced green chilies
1/2 bunch green onions - chopped
2 cloves garlic - minced or pressed
1/2 bunch cilantro - chopped
1/4 cup rice
1 egg
salt/pepper/hot sauce to taste
Preheat oven to 400˚. Combine all ingredients by hand and roll into 1″ meatballs, bake on a cookie sheet for 10 - 12 minutes. Place on a papertowel to absorb grease. Set aside

Broth:
2qts water
2 - 3 tablespoons beef base (or use two cans beef broth and reduce water by 1 qt)
1 clove garlic minced
1 small can diced green chilies
2 cans diced tomatoes (feel free to use fresh, in season)
1/2 bunch green onions -chopped
1/2 bunch cilantro - chopped
1/4 cup rice
salt/pepper/hot sauce to taste
Bring water, beef base, garlic, chilies, and tomatoes to a roiling boil. Add meatballs and rice. Reduce the heat and simmer until the rice is soft. Add cilantro, green onions, and season to taste, simmering for an additional 10 minutes to allow the flavors to combine.
Serve hot with fresh, warm flour tortillas.

Easy Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

I never saw the appeal of chicken tortilla soup. Tried it for the first time today, YUMMY! Very good. I am going to make a double batch next time and freeze some to see how that works out. I am very into freezer cooking right now.

Easy Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 packet enchilada sauce or taco meat seasoning mix
1 1/2 C water
1 can tomato sauce
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 C milk
3-4 boneless chicken breasts (again, to be cheap, I used boneless thighs, turned out great)
1 can black beans, drained
1 can corn, drained
1 can diced tomatoes (southwest style)

In crock pot, mix the enchilada/taco packet together with the water and tomato sauce. Add cream of chicken soup and milk and whisk together until smooth. Add chicken. Pour drained black beans, drained corn and diced tomatoes on top of that. Cook on low 6-8 hours.Before serving, take out chicken and shred or dice, then put back and stir it all together. Serve with sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, avocado, or tortilla chips, or strips of tortilla for dipping.

Festive Coconut Bread

This recipe comes from the kitchen of my friend Beth Stimpson! She brought some over to us at Christmastime and it was gone in a flash. I begged for the recipe and she was so kind as to share with me. I have made it many times since, this bread freezes great! My recipe card is getting a little gunky, so at the risk of losing the recipe forever, I am posting it here! Thanks Beth for sharing your holiday family favorite with us!

Festive Coconut Bread

Mix
4 Eggs
2 C Sugar
1 C oil
2 tsp Coconut extract

Add & Mix
3 C flour
1/2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Add
1 c buttermilk
1 c coconut
1 c chopped walnuts(optional) havent tried this yet

Pour in greased pans and Bake at 325.
Small loaves take about 40 minutes
Large loaves take closer to an hour

Make glaze shortly before you pull the bread out of the oven, I usually do this when the timer says 15 minutes.

1 c sugar
1/2 c water
2 T butter
Boil 5 minutes, stir in 1 tsp coconut extract

Pour over loaves when taken from oven, wait 5 minutes or so then remove bread from pan to cool.

It might look like an intimidating recipe, but its really pretty easy. The results are fabulous. I like to make all mini loaves and then freeze some for easy gift giving later!

Hawaiin Haystacks...or are they Utahn Haystacks...

Hey we had something really fun for dinner tonight! I don't live in Utah, therefore I had to be introduced to Hawaiian Haystacks by someone who grew up there. These are a fun treat for the whole family because you can pick and choose what you want on them. You start with a base of white rice and add a yummy creamy chicken in sauce. Then you pile on whatever else sounds good(see list below) and it looks like a giant haystack by the time you are done. Here is the EASY recipe for the chicken:

Hawaiian Haystacks

2 cans cream of chicken soup

2 frozen chicken breasts(I used thighs, cheaper and they were still really good)

milk (I did not end up adding any since it was already a good consistency)

Put chicken in the crock pot and then cover with soup. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Remove chicken from the crock pot and shred or dice the chicken and return to the crock pot. Add enough milk to make the consistency of gravy.

Serve the sauce over cooked rice. Then top with any of the following toppings. If you don't have some of these don't worry, they will still be great. I thought coconut and pineapple sounded a bit odd, but I tried it and loved it!

shredded cheddar cheese
diced tomatos

pineapple tidbits
peas

sliced olives

diced green onion

chopped celery

shredded coconut

slice almonds

diced fresh mushroom

Chow mien noodles

mandarin oranges

diced green pepper

water chestnuts

cashews