Chipotle Chicken Taco

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons minced canned chipotle chilies in adobo sauce
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
salt and pepper
flour or corn tortillas

1. Poach Chicken.  Melt butter in large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add garlic and chipotle and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Stir in orange juice, Worcestershire, and 1/2 cup cilantro and bring to boil.  Add chicken and simmer, covered, over medium-low heat until cooked through, about 10-15 minutes, flipping chicken halfway through cooking.  Transfer to plate and tent with foil. 

2. Shred and Sauce.  Increase heat to medium-high and cook until liquid is reduced to 1/4 cup, about 5 minutes.  Off heat, whisk in mustard.  Using 2 forks, shred chicken into bite-size pieces and return to skillet.  Add remaining cilantro to skillet and toss until well combined.  Season with salt and pepper.  Serve with tortillas. 

FROM FROZEN:
Thaw.  Heat on stovetop until heated through.  Serve with tortillas and favorite taco toppings like cheese, shredded lettuce, grated cheese, diced avocado, diced tomatoes and sour cream.

Baked Penne

1 pound of ground beef or sausage
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp fennel
1 tsp anise
1 can of diced tomatoes (drained)
1 jar favorite spaghetti sauce
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 container of cottage cheese
2/3 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
1 box of penne pasta or whatever style pasta you like

Sauce Mixture: Season meat liberally with salt and pepper. Brown meat with garlic, fennel and anise.  Drain fat.  Add can of diced tomatoes and jar of spaghetti sauce.

Cheese mixture: Combine cottage cheese, plain yogurt, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese and parsely.  Season with pepper.  May want to add one beaten egg to cheese mixture to help it set.

Cook pasta to a little before al dente.

Spray 9x13 (or two 8x8) dish with cooking spray.  Coat bottom of dish with tomato sauce or reserve a little spaghetti sauce from the jar to coat the bottom of the dish.  Layer in this order: noodles, cheese mixture, sauce mixture.  Repeat.  Make sure all noodles are covered in sauce.  Top with a little mozzarella and parmesan cheese.

Cover with foil. Freeze or bake.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until hot and bubbly at the sides.  Remove foil the last 10-15 minutes.  If baking from frozen, will take about 2 hours.

Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup

3 chicken breasts
1 cup peeled and diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
2 quarts of chicken broth, either canned, from bouillon, or homemade
1 cup instant brown rice
1 tablespoon minced onion flakes
1-2 tablespoons parsley flakes
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 tablespoon sugar
 1/2 teaspoon black pepper or more per taste

White Sauce:
1/4 cup butter
1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup evaporated milk

1. Season chicken with salt and pepper.  Grill chicken.  Let stand and cool.  Dice chicken and set aside.
2. In large pot, combine broth, carrots and celery. Bring to boil.  Add rice and onion flakes.  Simmer about 15 minutes.
3. Make white sauce separately: heat butter, flour and cornstarch.  Once melted and combined, add evaporated milk.
4. Add white sauce to rest of soup.   Add spices and sugar.  Stir constantly until soup thickens.  Add chicken.
5. Enjoy or cool completely then freeze.

Freezing note:  I added 3 extra cups of broth because that is how I usually make it and I thought it would help not get too thick as it cooled and sat frozen.  This made enough for two meals.

Mexican Lasagna

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 lb ground beef

2 Tbsp chili powder

2 tsp cumin

Salt and pepper

½ red onion- chopped

1 (14 oz.) can stewed tomatoes

½ c. taco sauce

1 (15oz.) can black beans

1c. corn kernels

6 flour tortillas

2 ½ c. shredded cheese- cheddar or pepper jack if you like it spicy

2 green onions finely chopped (optional)

Preheat large skillet over medium high heat.  Add olive oil –let heat up for a minute.  Then add meat and season with chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper, and red onion.  Brown meat for 5 minutes.  Add tomatoes, taco sauce, corn, and black beans.  Heat mixture through for 2 to 3 minutes.  Spray a baking dish (8x8) with cooking spray.  Cut tortillas into quarters or halves to make them fit in your pan, then layer in pan in this order- tortillas, meat mixture, cheese and repeat two more times so you have 3 layers.  Top with green onions if desired.  Freeze now or bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes.  

If using from frozen:  Thaw and bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Biscuits

1 egg, well beaten
1 cup sour cream (I substitute plain yogurt)
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease cookie sheet.  In a mixing bowl, beat egg with a fork.  Mix in sour cream, sugar and shortening. In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Gradually add to egg mixture.  Mix well. Dough will be sticky. Sprinkle a little flour over dough and scoop onto a well floured board. Handle dough gently.  Flour hands and quickly knead dough 4 strokes to form into a ball.  Sprinkle top lightly with flour. Roll to 3/4" to 1" thickness (1/2" thickness if using for pot pie).  Cut with biscuit cutter, dipping cutter into flour with each cut. Place in prepared pan. Bake 15 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown.

Chicken Pot Pie

4 chicken breasts
4-6 red potatoes
4 medium carrots
1 can of green beans
1 can of corn
1 can of peas
2-3 cans Campbell's Chicken Gravy (the store brand gravies I have tried do not even compare)
Biscuits

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Chop chicken into bite-size pieces and cook in skillet.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Cut up potatoes and carrots.  Boil potatoes and carrots until almost done (still a little firm). Drain and put into large bowl.  Add chicken and cans of green beans, corn, and peas.  Add 2-3 cans of chicken gravy.  Mix so all is covered in gravy. Place in 9 x 13 baking dish.  Place biscuits on top of filling, leaving a little space between biscuits.  Or, biscuit dough can be dropped by tablespoons over filling.  Bake uncovered 20 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown

If freezing for later use: Let chicken, potatoes and carrots cool completely before mixing with canned ingredients. Spread in dish or place in freezer bags.

If cooking from frozen: Let mixture thaw.  Place in 8x8 dish (for 1 bag of filling). Bake at 400 degrees.  Cook mixture for 10 minutes, then place biscuits on top of mixture and cook according to biscuit package directions, or if using homemade biscuits, cook another 15-20 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown and filling is hot and bubbly. (When cooking from refrigerated or frozen, I think the biscuits cook better if the mixture is already warmed up. I have also found that thinner biscuits cook better than jumbo size biscuits. The larger biscuits tend to stay doughy on the bottom).