A word about this recipe: I never have had Catalina dressing before and was pretty skeptical about mixing it with the onion mix. But oh my...this is tasty! I opted to use the Kraft Light version dressing and I think it did not take away from the recipe. Also, since Larry and I are trying to watch our weight, after I baked the 2 chicken breasts, I immediately cut each breast in half and saved 2 of the halves for dinner the next night - that way you won't have the whole breast on your plate tempting you to eat it. This little method has been really helpful for us.
Enjoy!
Ingredients:
4 servings:
8 oz. Kraft Catalina dressing (Light)
1 pkg. dry onion soup mix
1 - 1 lb. can whole-berry cranberry
4 boned chicken breasts
12 servings:
24 oz. Kraft Catalina dressing (Light)
3 pkgs. dry onion soup mix
3 - 1 lb. can whole-berry cranberry
12 boned chicken breasts
24 servings:
48 oz. Kraft Catalina dressing (Light)
6 pkgs. dry onion soup mix
6 - 1 lb. can whole-berry cranberry
24 boned chicken breasts
36 servings:
72 oz. Kraft Catalina dressing (Light)
9 pkgs. dry onion soup mix
9 - 1 lb. can whole-berry cranberry
36 boned chicken breasts
Directions:
1. Combine ingredients in a large bowl.
For Freezer Meals: Place chicken and mixture together in freezer bags. I put two chicken breasts per bag - which would be 1 meal for Larry and I. Freeze.
Serving Day Instructions: Thaw completely. Place chicken with cranberry sauce in greased baking dish, and bake uncovered at 350° for 1 - 1 ½ hours, but check after 45 minutes.
Source: Don't Panic - Dinner's in the Freezer, Susie Martinez, Vanda Howell & Bonnie Garcia
Cranberry Chicken
Moroccan Hamburgers
As promised, I wanted to share some of the recipes I discovered for investment cooking, AKA freezer meals. I can't tell you how much I am in love with this concept! As long as you rememberto take the meal out of the freezer the night before you are golden for dunner the following night.
As I mentioned before, you can either assemble and cook the recipes, then freeze or assemble and freeze uncooked. I definitely prefer the latter because you really are cooking the meal fresh and it tastes fresh rather than pulling a cooked meal out of the frezer and maybe having to deal with loss of flavor or freezer burn.
A word about this recipe: Make sure you finely chop up the onions and herbs - the hamburgers hold together better. We served the hambugers sans buns - much healthier because less carbs! I will also say that I'm not sure how "Moroccan" this tasted - it tasted very similar to meatloaf - not a bad thing, but something I wanted to at least note. Honestly I'd have to say that regular meatloaf has a better all-around taste - but it's a personal taste; I'm kind of "iffy" on this particular recipe.
Enjoy!
Ingredients:
2 pounds ground beef
1 t salt
1 medium onion, finely chopped
½ t ground black pepper
⅓ cup finely chopped fresh parsley
¼ t ground red pepper
¼ cup fine dry breadcrumbs1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 large egg
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 t paprika
1 t ground cumin
Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients thoroughly; shape into 8 (4-inch) patties. Cover and chill at least 2 hours.
For Freezer Meals: Freeze uncooked patties 5 to 6 months. Thaw before grilling.
Serving Day Instructions: Grill, covered with grill lid, over medium-high heat (350° to 400°) 6 to 8 minutes on each side or until beef is no longer pink.
Yield: 8 servings
Source: Southern Living, November 2003
Larry’s Famous Red Lentil Soup with Chicken
This may be out of order and I will post the recipes I mentioned earlier that I did on my frenzied meal assembly day, but I wanted to post another recipe that we (Larry) make often and freeze - Larry's fabulous Red Lentil Chicken Soup. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
3-4 chicken breasts, bone-in, skin-on
10 cups water or more
1 medium carrot, diced
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic
½ cup (or 3-4) fresh tomatoes, diced
Large pinch: ground saffron and ground ginger
¼ to ½ t crushed red pepper flakes
Salt to taste, about 2 ½ tsp.
1 ½ cups red lentils, rinsed twice in cold water (very important)
Egg noodles
Directions:
1. Put chicken breasts in a 4-to 5-quart pot; add water to cover. Heat to boil, reduce to a simmer and skim off any foam that rises to surface. When foam subsides, cover partly and simmer until chicken starts to fall off the bone.
2. Remove the chicken from the broth and pull off the bone. Shred the meat. Discard bone and skin.
3. While you are shredding the chicken, add the red lentils to the broth (don’t forget to rinse twice before adding).
4. Add the garlic, tomatoes, all the spices and the chicken to the broth. Salt and pepper to taste. (Jane’s Crazy Mixed Up Salt is fabulous - http://www.janeskrazy.com/home.asp - a favorite of Mom Vassallo’s!)
5. Bring to a boil again and reduce to a simmer, cover partly. Simmer gently until the veggies are soft and lentils are disintegrating, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. To prevent scorching, stir frequently and add more water as necessary.
6. In a separate pot boil water for the egg noodles. I add the pasta to the individual soup bowls and not in the soup pot because the pasta tends to get mushy.
7. Top individual servings with salt and pepper to taste; great with shredded parmesan.
8. Let soup completely cool before putting in the refrigerator.
For Freezer Meals: Let soup completely cool and then divide up into small containers for the freezer.
Sloth-ness Leads to Investment Cooking
I’m not sure how or why we started doing this, perhaps a lack of sustenance in the fridge, but it seems lately Larry and I have been going out for dinner probably a little to much.
Don’t get me wrong, we love to go out to eat, but I started to feel that perhaps, maybe, I was being a slouch with preparing our weekly meals. I love to cook and bake and I just think I’ve had zero desire to cook lately because everything seems to be a downer lately with the economy, the weather, the fact that it gets dark dreadfully early etc. – it’s no wonder we were driven out of the house for a little pick-me-up! Of course the down turned economy is precisely why we should be staying in and I decided I needed to get out of my funk and get back to my love of cooking.
Our major dilemma is that when I get home from work and when Larry stops for the night from his home office, we are just wiped. I mean it, as soon as I come in the front door I head for the chair and TV – I just feel I need to decompress. And unfortunately once I decompress, I decompress so much, that you can kiss dinner goodbye!
So I thought I’d get off my butt and start looking into how we can do some meal planning, make healthy meals and make some more time for us at night where we can relax and not feel guilty because we went out again for dinner.
Our solution: pre-preparing meals for the freezer, (investment cooking) in bulk, so we’re not fumbling around on any given weeknight trying to figure out what to make for dinner and then ultimately choosing Tommy’s our favorite hot dog place…not a good solution for the butt, thighs, gut…need I go on???
A couple of years ago Larry and I went to Simply Homemade, which offers the same concept of pre-paring meals. You pay them and they provide the food, spices etc. and all you have to do is assemble and go.
It’s actually a brilliant concept especially for busy couples and families. But we found that the meals started tasting a lot alike because the meals you prepared there used all the same spices etc. — it’s kind of like when you use a crock pot and everything starts to taste like stew. And of course there’s the convenience they offer but at a cost. So I thought, hey, we could do this at home and also save some money.
Anyway, I decided I was going to tackle this project full-force and hit the ground running. First I went to the library and took out all the freezer meal books and then I hit the Internet. I poured through a ton of recipes and tried to pick those that were healthy (lower in carbs) – hint…no casseroles!
So I waited for this past weekend to get things kicked started. I planned on shopping on Saturday and then assemble the meals on Sunday. However, sloth kicked in and I ended up doing everything on Sunday. Note to self…Walmart on a Sunday…not a good thing. I was there 3 hours and almost had a panic attack at buying all the meat. I know the point of investment cooking is to buy in bulk and then prepare meals for the whole month, but my gosh does it add up!
When I got home I set up all my stations and started assembling. 
There are two kinds of investment cooking options: assembling and then freezing without baking or assembling, baking, and then freezing. I’ve done both, but thought with the meals I was preparing would be better using the former method.
Well after about 4 hours later and a ton of chicken cutlets later we now have over a month’s worth of food in our extra freezer!
I’ll post the recipes separately, but here’s what I made:
* Mini meatloaves
* Lemon Glazed Chicken Breasts
* Cranberry Chicken
* Moroccan Hamburgers
After testing the recipes, we were very pleased. And I really believe that this is the answer for nighttime bliss – not worrying about what to make for dinner. But I will tell you assembling all at once can be a little daunting, however, it was so worth it!
Christmas in Wilmette & Hawthorn Woods
The festivities continued on Christmas Eve at Brett and Carol’s house in Wilmette. Brett once again outdid himself with a phenomenal meal: great appetizers (I need the salmon recipe!), soup, pasta and a Braciole to die for. I swear he needs to retire from being a doctor and become a full-time chef – he’s that good!
It was wonderful to get together with Brett and Carol and Charlie (8), Johnny (6) and Lydia (3), Mom and Dad, Michael and Penny (Carol’s parents), Fred (Carol’s uncle), and Bruce (Carol’s brother). We had a wonderful time eating, drinking and opening the Secret Santa gifts.
Larry and I stayed over at Mom and Dad’s and opened presents when we got back to Hawthorn Woods. Pretty late, but not as bad when Brett and I used to get poor Mom and Dad, and Granny up at 2:00 am – poor Granny!
Christmas day started with mass at St. Francis de Sales – Mom & Dad’s church. Fr. Ryan was great, albeit hoarse from all the Christmas masses he did!
The party continued when everyone (plus Ben, Bruce’s son) from Christmas Eve headed to Mom and Dad’s in Hawthorne Woods for a Christmas Day dinner. Mom always prepares a fabulous meal – antipasto and other yummy appetizers, pierogi, pork, Maltese stuffing, fresh cranberry sauce, and desserts! It was so good, that I think I “suffered” from “food-coma” afterwards!
It was so great to see the kids open their presents and just enjoy the day.
Not to be outdone by the holiday cds playing, Charlie, Johnny and Lydia serenaded the family:
For some reason I couldn't flip Charlie's and Lydia's video - so you'll have to turn your head. :)
What a great holiday!
