OAMC - Once A Month Cooking #1

In the middle of everything that was going on last week, I also started on my OAMC.  Once A Month Cooking is a great idea, if you have time to do it!  The idea is to do as much prep work as you can and freeze the dishes, so all you have to do is thaw them out and warm them up.  I have done this once before and it was a lot of work, but worth it if you are really busy and don't have time most nights to cook a good meal.  While my kiddos would be fine with hamburger helper and mac-n-cheese, my hubby prefers a little more substance to his meals.  I have been too busy to do all of the cooking in one day, but I did manage to get quite a few meals done in down time over the week.  I did not take pictures of the process, like I wanted to, but I was in a hurry :)

This is some of the stockpile I have been working on.  What I did was one or two meals at a time that had the same meat.  That way I could prepare the meat all at once and then divide it up with the other ingredients.  I would serve one of the meals I cooked that night, and put the rest in the freezer.  Some of them can go in ziplock baggies and some of them have to go in casserole pans (because they are layered or have toppings).  All of the meat and noodles are cooked, so they can be thawed the night before and just popped in the oven for 45 minutes.  I don't have to spend all of my time in the kitchen!  I can focus more time on my kiddos and hubby :)  I am going to post the recipes that I found and used.  I have not had any negative responses from the family on any that we have tried so far.  Brianna is not crazy about the chicken packets, but she eats them, and this is one of my favorites!  If you don't like these recipes, you can look up OAMC and find tons of sites with recipes that work for freezing.  I usually double, triple, or quadruple a recipe (depending on how much we like it) and make several meals at one time.

Chicken Packets

40 min/ 20 min prep

Serves 8/ 8 packets

2 cups chopped cooked chicken

1 (6-8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 Tbsp chives, chopped

2 Tbsp milk

salt

1/2 cup seasoned croutons, crushed to crumbs

2 (8 ounce) packages refrigerated crescent dinner rolls

1/4 cup melted margarine

1)  Mix chicken, cream cheese, chives, milk, and salt in a medium bowl to make filling, and store in a 1 quart freezer bag.  (I just put everything in the bag, seal it, and mix it in the bag).

2)  Put crouton crumbs in another 1 quart bag, attach it to the bag of chicken filling, and freeze.

3)  Refrigerate crescent rolls.

4)  To prepare for serving, thaw chicken mixture.

5)  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

6)  Unroll crescent rolls.  Each tube contains 4 rectangles of dough with a diagonal perforation. Press dough along each perforation so that the rectangle halves do not separate.  

7)  Place about 1/4 cup of the chicken mixture into the center of each rectangle.

8)  Fold dough over the filling,k and pinch the edges to seal tightly.

9)  Dip each packet in melted margarine, and coat with crouton crumbs.

10)  Place packets on baking sheet.

11)  Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

12)  Packets can be eaten hot or cold.

This is another chicken recipe that I made (we have not tried this one yet, but it looks yummy!)  I made this at the same time as I made the chicken packets, so I wouldn't have to cook chicken twice!  This time I cooked the chicken in the crock pot, so I wouldn't have to stand over it.  This makes the chicken more shredded when you cut it up, which works in both recipes.  However, I liked the chicken packets better with cubed chicken....

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

4 cups boneless chicken, cooked and cubed

2 (10 1/2 ounce) cans cream of celery soup

8 ounces of sour cream

2 cups cubed ham

1 1/2 cups Swiss cheese, shredded

1 (6 ounce) seasoned stuffing mix

1)  Mix all ingredients but stuffing mix together.

2)  Place in freezer bag and freeze.

3)  To serve, thaw in refrigerator over night.

4)  Put mixture in the bottom of a casserole dish.

5)  Fix stuffing, and spread on top of soup mixture.

6)  Cover with foil.  Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

I did not read all of the directions and fixed the stuffing mix.  So, I put mine in a foil casserole pan and went ahead and put on the stuffing and froze it.  I will let you know when we eat it if it turns out ok.

I will post some more recipes soon!

Happy cooking!!