March Freezer Swap Details

March....In like a lion, out like a lamb? Only time will tell! We'll be swapping on Thursday, March 10th at 10 a.m. at The Gathering Place. Can't wait to see you all there! 


Category Assignments:
Beef: ElishaBeef with Pasta: Josie   
Soup: Elizabeth 
Chicken: Casey  
Chicken with Pasta: Chastity  
Breakfast: Suzanne  
Other: Marti 
Soup/Crock Pot: Melanie  

Taco Filled Shells, Take 2!

I heard that this was yummy when Josie made it a few months ago, but didn't get to have it with my family. I decided to give it another whirl. You can view Josie's original post here.

I used Mexican blend cheese, and salsa only (like Josie did). I also used reduced fat cream cheese in an effort to reduce the fat content a little.

To serve:

Thaw, remove foil, bag of cheese, and plastic wrap. Recover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Uncover, top with cheese and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Hot Beef Hoagie's with Dipping Sauce

This recipe is adapted from Fix-It and Forget-It Recipes for Entertaining.

Cooking Day Directions:
Put the chuck roast, bag of spices, 1 c. of water in crockpot. Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours. Drain the broth but save for dipping sauce. Shred the meat. Serve on Hoagie Buns provided and dipping sauce.

Ingredients:
3 lb. beef chuck roast
1 lg. onion chopped
1/4 c. vinegar
2 t. minced garlic
1 t. salt
1 t. pepper

February Swap Details

This month's swap will be held at The Gathering Place--since that seemed to work well for everyone! Welcome back to Casey! We'll swap at 10:00 a.m. Any questions, please let us know!

Category Assignments:
Beef: Josie 
Beef with Pasta: Elizabeth 
Soup: Casey
Chicken: Chastity 
Chicken with Pasta: Suzanne 
Breakfast: Marti 
Other: Melanie 
Soup/Crock Pot: Elisha

Poppyseed Chicken

Ingredients:

-1 pound chicken, cubed and cooked
-16 oz. sour cream
-2 cans cream of chicken soup
-1-2 tsp. poppyseeds
-1 sleeve Ritz crackers
-4-8 tbsp. butter, melted

Directions: Cook chicken. Mix sour cream, soup, poppyseeds and chicken. Place in freezer bags.

From freezer: Thaw. Spread mixture in greased 9x13 dish. Crush crackers and mix with melted butter. Spread over top of chicken mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes. Crackers will brown and edges may bubble. Serve over rice or noodles. (We like ours over rice.)

Melanie's Overnight Caramel French Toast

Ingredients:

-1 cup brown sugar
-1/2 cup butter
-2 tbsp. light corn syrup
-12 slices bread
-1/4 cup sugar
-1 tsp. cinnamon, divided
-6 eggs
-1 and 1/2 cups milk
-1 tsp. vanilla

Directions: In saucepan on medium heat, bring brown sugar, butter and corn syrup to a boil. Pour into greased 9x13 pan. Top with 6 bread slices. Combine sugar and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon and sprinkle half over bread. Place remaining bread on top and sprinkle remaining cinnamon/sugar mixture on top. In large bowl, beat eggs, milk, vanilla, and remaining tsp. cinnamon. Pour over bread. Refrigerate overnight. The next morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for 30-35 minutes.

From freezer: Take your best guess! I'm assuming we can thaw it and follow the same baking instructions.

**This recipe came from Amish Friends Cookbook by Wanda E. Brunstetter. Mel says everything in this book is good!

Marinated Mini Ham & Cheese Sandwiches

In the spirit of game day appetizers I decided to try something new! I found the original recipe here and adapted it to be a freezer recipe. Hope you enjoy and may the best team win!

Ingredients:

Marinade:

6 T butter

1/8 cup sweet onion, minced

1 Tablespoon poppy seeds

1/4 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 Tablespoons yellow mustard

1/8 cup brown sugar

1/2 Tablespoon chopped parsley

Sandwiches:

12 (about 2 x 2-Inches each) small dinner rolls

mayonnaise

12 (about 1/3 lb.) thin slices of deli ham

12 (about 1/4 pound) thin slices of Swiss cheese

Preparation:

To prepare marinade, saute minced sweet onion in butter over low heat until onion is soft and translucent. Add poppy seeds, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and brown sugar. Stir until brown sugar is melted into the sauce. Remove from heat and stir in parsley. Set marinade aside to cool while you assemble the buns.

Slice the buns in half. Spread bottoms of buns with a thin layer of mayonnaise. Fold ham slices to fit the bottom of each bun. Repeat with Swiss cheese slices, folding to fit buns. Replace bun tops. Place ham and cheese buns onto foil. Pour marinade evenly over buns. Cover tightly with foil. Refrigerate overnight or freeze.

Serving Day: DO NOT THAW! Preheat oven to 350 F. Bake marinated buns covered for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes.