December Swap

Celebrating the Yuletide Season and the hustle and bustle this month, it sure will be handy to have meals in the freezer! We're also going to try to swap cookie dough. If you're interested in cookie dough swap simply bring dough to make 2 doz. cookies x the number of people who are participating. (i.e. 6 people participate x 2 doz. cookies frozen dough= 6 dough's) Email me or let Josie know if you're interested. It's a great way to cut down on the holiday baking and try new cookies too! We'll let you know soon how many are participating for you to gauge how much dough to bring to the swap.

The swap this month will be held at Josie's house at 10 a.m. on December 9, 2010. Happy cooking!

The categories for December are....

Beef: Casey

Beef with Pasta: Chastity

Soup: Suzanne

Chicken: Marti

Chicken with Pasta: Melanie

Breakfast: Elisha

Other: Josie

Soup/Crock Pot: Elizabeth

Lonnie's Winning Chili

Marti's husband Lonnie shares his recipe for this month's chili. The volleyball team he coaches at Lehman High School just won the state championships last weekend!

Congrats to Lonnie and the LHS girls volleyball team!

So last week among celebrations, playoff games and team dinners, he managed to make his chili for their first swap!

He writes, "The Chili I made was a recipe from Madonna Cohee, Russia, Ohio. It is sweet and typically pretty good.......... "

Ingredients for a full crock pot:
2 pounds sage sausage
51 oz can of Van De Camps pork and beans
small can of tomato paste
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 can of red chili beans
1 can of black chili beans
about a half cup of brown sugar (to taste)
1 package of chili seasoning powder
half an onion diced up
1 green pepper

Drain the pork and beans and chili beans (black and red), add in all of the other ingredients and brown the sausage and add to the crock pot. Let it cook until nice and hot. When serving it is good with shredded cheese added on top.

New person to the group

Thanks to Elisha for inviting me to your group. My husband Lonnie made the chili for this month. I did forget to provide the cheese that you can add on top of it. Sorry! We have been so busy with volleyball that we haven't had a chance to pick up our food from Elisha, but we are sure that we will love it.

Thanks again.
Marti

Classic Baked Mac & Cheese, Take 2!

This month, I decided to do a repeat. From what I heard, everyone enjoyed the Mac & Cheese that I made in March, so I thought we would re-run something that we know works. This is a staple at our house. It's yummy all by itself, or is also good served with pigs in a blanket, barbecue, or a green salad. The original post can be found at http://dinnersinthefreezer.blogspot.com/2010/03/classic-baked-mac-cheese.html.

On serving day: thaw then transfer to a baking dish (8x8 or 9x13 will do), top with provided bread crumbs, and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Potato Oven Omelet by Wendy

Ingredients:
1lb 12 oz. bag Potatoes O'Brien
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
8 oz. cubed ham
8 eggs
1 1/2 c. milk
1/3 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

To freeze: Prepare a 9" x 13" foil pan. Pour bag of potatoes in bottom of pan. Spread cheddar cheese over potatoes. Spread ham evenly over cheese. In 2 qt, bowl, whisk eggs, milk, flour salt and pepper (I use my mixer). Pour egg mixture over ham and cheese. Cover with foil and freeze.

To serve: Thaw completely. Bake at 400 degrees for 60 minutes or until knife inserted into center comes out clean. May spread a tomato over omlete at this time. Let stand 5 minutes. Cut and serve.

Spicy Chicken Lasagna Roll-Ups

This recipe is one that I found at Kraft Foods (a favorite site of mine!). I tweeked it just a little for us...but it sure looks tasty! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 jar (26 oz.) spaghetti sauce

1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper

1 1/2 cups shredded or chopped cooked chicken

1 cups KRAFT Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, divided

1/4 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese

1 egg beaten

6 lasagna noodles, cooked, rinsed and drained

HEAT oven to 375ºF.

MIX first 3 ingredients; combine 1/4 jar of sauce with chicken, 1 cup mozzarella, Parmesan and egg. Spread 1/4 cup onto each noodle; roll up.

SPREAD 1/2 of the remaining sauce onto bottom of 9x9-inch baking dish; cover with lasagna rolls (seam-sides down), remaining sauce mixture and mozzarella.

SERVING DAY: Remove from freezer...no need to thaw. Bake 1 hour covered with foil.