Lettuce Wraps

First, let me just say I have never been to PF Chang's.  With that said, I know this is a copycat recipe, and for any PF Chang fans out there, I apologize in advance if this does not resemble the real thing.  HOWEVER, even if this doesn't resemble theirs, my family finds this worth making.  This is not a leftover meal.  I froze a little the last time we made them, and I'll be defrosting it within the next week to let you know how it holds up as a freezer meal.  You won't be freezing the lettuce of course.

The page I picked up the recipe from is Wasabimon.com.

Did I do anything different?  Yes, but only because I was using what I had, not because of any culinary insight.  I used regular sesame seed oil, and the dijon mustard I had was not the "good stuff" but a store brand.  Also, I did not have fresh lemons, so I did use lemon juice from my fridge.  The verdict...they were still AMAZING.  We had no leftovers either time I have made them.  The only reason I was able to put some to the freezer test is because I put it in the freezer before we started eating.  Even if I can only freeze the cut chicken ahead of time this recipe is staying as a regular in our house.  If for any reason the link doesn't work let me know and I'll send you over the recipe I have printed from the website.

By the way...this has moved so high up our favorites list it is what I requested for my Mother's Day dinner...the bad news - I think I'm prepping it today. Such is life.

S'more Cereal Bars

We discovered this recipe on the back of some generic marshmallows.  I have tried to locate the recipe online to give credit somewhere with no luck as of yet, so I'll post it here to share.  I used it today with some Young Women handouts and my kids devoured all the extras.  Let me add that I made a double batch, so it is impressive that they ate ALL the extras!

1/2 cup peanut butter
2 Tbs milk
1 package miniature marshmallows
3 1/2 cups Cocoa Puffs
3 1/2 cups Golden Grahams
1/2 cup peanuts



In a large heavy bottom saucepan stir together peanut butter, milk and marshmallows until melted.
Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients.
Immediately pour into 9x13 pan and press down evenly in pan.
After the mixture has cooled, cut into 24 pieces. (For my handouts I only did 12 in a pan)

The original recipe only calls for 6 total cups of cereal, but I think they are a little TOO sticky and gooey if you don't add the extra cereal.  My general rule of thumb is if you add more to your homemade rice crispy treats, add more here also.

Cooking for the Month of April The Plan

We actually traveled for Spring Break this year.  We drove to Texas and stopped in New Mexico on our way back.  We had such a great time.  HOWEVER, every time we have a big trip I forget to schedule a couple days just to catch up.  Our first week home was full of play practices, church activities, volleyball and choir practices.  Needless to say it's taking a while to catch up.

I did start my freezer meal cooking for the month of April.  We had used all but two of our freezer meals before we left, so it was a mad dash and not nearly as much planning as usual.  So, why would I share the chaos version of freezer meal cooking?  The simple reason is I don't want people to think there has to be a perfect plan.  It's okay to wing it when needed, and it's absolutely okay to slow down and work with your schedule when necessary.

The mainstay of this month's menu was boneless skinless chicken breasts.  Our Sam's Club allows you to purchase a case of approximately fifty pounds at $1.66/lb.  This is by far less expensive than most sales, and it's a constant price so I don't have to worry about purchasing and cooking during the sale.  In addition, even though it's a "case" of chicken, it's really a box of their prepackaged chicken breasts in the display case so it's easy to work with.  Also, every package is individually labeled.  If you're thinking you can't use fifty pounds of chicken, think about teaming up with a friend and splitting the cost.  We also purchased 5 pounds of ground turkey, simply because tacos are a mainstay in our home and we can't live without them.

This is an approximate breakdown of how the meat was separated.  Please keep in mind I plan meals for six or more.  If your family is smaller, cater your menu to your needs.


Mexican Lasagna - 14 pounds (4 recipes)
Chicken for Chicken Alfredo - 7 pounds (5 recipes-I use 1 1/2 breasts for each meal)
Chicken Parmesan - 2 pounds (1 recipe)
Chicken Francese - 2 pounds (1 recipe)
Orange Chicken - 6 pounds (3 recipes-we make A LOT the kids INHALE this)
Thai Peanut Chicken - 2 pounds (1 recipe)
Stir Fry - 3 pounds (2 recipes)
Southwest Chicken Salad - 1 pound (1 recipe)
Chicken Enchilada Soup - 2 pounds (2 recipes)
Creamy Crockpot Chicken - 6 pounds (3 recipes)
Lettuce Wraps - 4 pounds - (was suppose to be 2 recipes, but the kids REALLY loved these and ate a little more than one recipe, so we froze what was left to use for when I have lunch company)
BBQ Chicken Salad - 1 pound (1 recipe)
Taco Meat - 5 pounds (4 recipes-we'll use the meat for Tacos, Taco Soup or Taco Salad)

I can't BELIEVE I haven't posted the Creamy Crockpot Chicken recipe yet, and will post it with the others soon.  We have already made the Lettuce Wraps, so that will be up soon also, but the others...well, they are new recipes, so you'll find out how they taste with us.

What's Next?
You have your food prepped, it's bagged and frozen, and you're not sure what to do.

Make a calendar.  One of our new favorites is Cilantro Lime Shrimp.  I bought 2 pounds of shrimp to make that this week, and we have pizza EVERY Friday.  So, the other item in our freezer is a HUGE bag of pepperoni.  Between all this and the chicken, we have 34 dinners, plus the southwest chicken salad was planned for lunch a weekend we have company.

I started my calendar on April 2nd.  We will be gone Easter weekend, so there were three free days.  With all this, we have our menu planned through Monday, May 9th.  One of the main things we look at when planning our menu is game schedules.  We have a volleyball player in our troop, and the games can go until 6:00 p.m. about 30 minutes from home.  Those nights always end up with a crockpot meal or a salad.  All the work can be done in advance, and we're ready to eat as soon as we get in the door.  The joy to planning is it eliminates the need for fast food stops on those crazy nights.

This post is getting really long, so I'll just finish up with a couple quick notes.  All of these meals require something more than what's in the freezer.  I don't have the space in my freezer to keep the full meal, and some things just don't freeze as well as others.  With that in mind, the last key to success is making sure you have supplies on hand for the night you are planning to use your frozen food.  For example, with the chicken alfredo we only freeze the chicken.  Because we made enough for five dinners, I also purchased enough pasta and alfredo sauce for the five dinners.  If you need to, label what's in your pantry to make sure it's there when you need it.

Last, the way I do freezer meals does not eliminate grocery shopping through the month.  We go through a lot of milk and fresh fruits, and as you can see salad is a frequent on our menu plan.  I do try to think about side dishes and plan according to keep shopping minimized to once a week when at all possible.  If you have room in your freezer for frozen vegetables, you may have a little more flexibility than I do.

This may seem like a lot, but I promise it is absolutely worth every ounce of effort you put into it.  I cooked over two days total, with stops in between for laundry, dishes, and everything else that goes with getting back from vacation. More to follow on the cooking details.

Garlic Lime Chicken

This recipe wins in all categories.  First off, two of my favorite things are garlic and lime.  Second, it's a freezer meal. Third, it's diet friendly. And last, it is flexible in preparation; it can be cooked in a crockpot or you can marinate the meat and cook it on a grill.  How can you possibly go wrong?

Yes, after I took the pretty picture I did add sauce to my rice and chicken...I'm a saucy kind of girl...

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup lime juice
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon black pepper


If you are marinating the meat, stab the chicken and place in a gallon size ziploc freezer bag.  Combine the other ingredients and pour over the chicken.  Marinate at least 2 hours and grill.

If you are using a crockpot place the chicken in the bottom of your crockpot.  I find a 4 quart works great for this recipe.  Combine the other ingredients and pour over the meat.  Cook on high 3 - 4 hours, or low 6 - 8 hours.  If you can, turn the meat about half way through.  Also, if you are cooking in a larger crockpot this will cook MUCH faster.  Check your meat frequently or double the chicken.  There is no need to double the sauce, there will be plenty.

For those who are counting calories...I cut the chicken as best I could into 4 ounce pieces before I placed it in the crockpot.  With the chicken I purchased, it four chicken breasts allowed for approximately two and a quarter pounds of chicken.

To prepare as a freezer meal.  Place the chicken in a labeled ziploc freezer bag.  Combine the other ingredients, then pour into the bag.  Again, if you plan to grill the chicken, it's best to stab the chicken first. For grilling, thaw overnight in the refrigerator.  The meat will marinate while it's thawing.  For crockpot cooking, on cooking day place the items from the bag in the crockpot and cook as above.  If you cook from frozen remember your cooking time will be on the high side.

We usually serve this with rice and steamed veggies.  LOVE IT!!!

Nutritional information per Spark People Recipe Calculator

For each 4 oz serving of chicken:
115     calories
0.5 g   fat
2.3 g   carbohydrate
0.1 g   fiber
0.5 g   sugar
24.1 g protein

Cinnamon Rolls

Not to pat myself on the back, but these cinnamon rolls are absolutely AMAZING!!!  I had promised them to my young women for their presidency meeting Sunday, so I'm posting the recipe to share with all the rest of you cinnamon roll lovers.

2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 cup warm milk
1 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup margarine or butter, softened
2 eggs, beaten
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt

Dissolve the yeast and the sugar in the milk.  Wait about five minutes to be sure it proofs.  I have found from sharing this recipe in the past it is really easy to overheat the milk, and you don't want to kill the yeast...it's easier to redo the yeast than the entire batch of dough.

Add butter, eggs, flour and salt.  Knead together until you have a smooth ball of dough.

Place dough in a bowl and cover with a warm damp towel. Allow the dough to rise until it is double.  This is a heavier dough, so it may take a while.

Mix together the filling while the dough is rising:
1 cup brown sugar
2 1/2 Tablespoons cinnamon

On a floured surface roll it out to about 1/4" thick. The idea is to get 1 dozen good size rolls from this dough. we make them a little smaller, so my kids feel as though they were able to eat more.
Spread evenly 1/3 cup butter or margarine across the surface of the dough.  Sprinkle the filling over the butter.  Roll from the widest side of the dough to make a roll. Cut into even pieces, approximately 1-1/2" for smaller rolls and 2" for larger rolls.

Place the rolls onto a greased baking sheet and cover with a warm damp cloth. Allow them to rise for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400.
Bake for 10 - 12 minutes.

Icing
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup cream cheese softened
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt

Beat together while the rolls are baking.

Chicken and Potatoes...on the lighter side.

The weather is warming, and it's time to face the reality a swimsuit may have to worn this summer.  In an effort to do so, I tried to find some new recipes that were a little less on the calorie count.  I found this amazing website, Skinnytaste, that I am now in love with.  We tried her recipe for Baked Chicken with Dijon and Lime tonight.  It was absolutely amazing.  Because I have a family of seven, I did increase the chicken from 8 pieces to 12.  The younger kids only ate one piece each, so it was plenty and the hubby even has two pieces for lunch tomorrow.  I was worried about the salt generously part, so I used about a half tablespoon of sea salt.  I also forgot to press the garlic clove into the sauce before I tossed the chicken, so I pressed garlic and spread it around on top of the chicken thighs in the pan.  It worked great.

As a side I roasted potatoes.  My kids love the onion soup mix roasted potatoes, but again, there's a ton of sodium in the package, and it calls for three tablespoons of oil.  This was our homemade lighter version:




Oven Roasted Potatoes
4 pounds red potatoes, washed and cut into 1 - 2" pieces
4 teaspoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons dry minced onion
2 teaspoons garlic
1 teaspoon salt



Preheat oven to 400
Spray a 9x13 pan with non-stick cooking spray.


Mix together dry ingredients.
Toss the potato pieces in the olive oil.
Add dry ingredients and toss until coated.
Spread evenly in greased pan.
Bake 40 minutes or until potatoes are tender when poked with a fork.  To brown the potatoes, after the 40 minutes I turned to broiler on high, leaving the pan on the center rack, and left them in the oven about five more minutes. DELICIOUS!!!



Okay, this is where I made my fatal mistake.  I have garlic, fresh garlic, I don't know why I opted for the granulated, but I did.  I will make it next time with the fresh garlic and let you know how things go.


Using a recipe calculator online I came up with the following nutritional information.  Please remember this is and online tool, not a science lab...



Serves 10 (I think we got closer to twelve even servings from the pan, but I didn't measure exactly so I'm erring high on the calorie count)

Calories	151.9
Total Fat	2.1 g
Saturated Fat	0.3 g
Sodium	243.8 mg
Carbohydrates	29.9 g
Fiber	3.2 g
Protein	3.6 g

To top the meal off we served steamed broccoli. It was wonderful, and I'm excited to see if we can make the chicken as a freezer meal!  Wish us luck.

Soft Pretzels

We made these last night to test on my family, then made then tonight for Young Womens.  They were delicious!  The recipe I had was a little too dry to work with, so I ended up with the following.  Not one left at the activity, and the family was certainly eager to eat what wouldn't fit on the tray for Young Womens!

In a small bowl combine:
1 1/2 cups warm water
4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
Dissolve the yeast mixture and set it aside for about ten minutes.

In your mixing bowl mix together:
4 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt

Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add:
1 Tablespoon oil
and the yeast mixture.

Mix together and knead for about ten minutes.  Remember soft pretzels are a little heavier than traditional bread so kneading the dough may give you a workout.  I like to start mine in the Kitchen-Aid, then knead the last four or five minutes by hand.
Set aside in a greased bowl until the dough is double, about one hour.

Once the dough has risen, divide into 16 equal parts.  Make a long rope from the dough and shape into a pretzel.  Bake on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 450 for 8 minutes.

If serving right away, brush generously with melted butter and top with salt or cinnamon and sugar.  If you will be serving these later, reheat in the microwave for about fifteen seconds, then top with melter butter and salt or cinnamon sugar.