1 cup margarine
1 cup flour
8 cups milk
salt and pepper to taste
4 cups cooked chicken, cut up
2 lbs. broccoli, cut up and lightly steamed
2 lbs. cheddar cheese, grated

Make white sauce; melt margarine in a large heavy pan.  Add flour, stirring constantly.  When it reaches the boiling point, add milk, mixing constantly with a wire whisk.  Heat until almost boiling, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Place cooked chicken into four 8×8 inch baking pans; sprinkle each pan with grated cheese; cover pans with foil; label and freeze.  You can also store this in zip top freezer bags, saving the grated cheese to sprinkle on the top at serving time.

To serve: Thaw.  bake at 350 for 30 minutes, or pour from freezer bag and heat in heavy pan on stove top.  Serve over cooked rice, spaghetti, or fettuccine noodles.

Servings: 16

I have done all of the grocery shopping and menu planning for my Once A Month Cooking extravaganza.  I will post a menu and the recipes as I go, but let’s just say that I got 6 weeks (excluding Sundays when we usually grill out) worth of meals for $240!  This doesn’t include the staples that we will need weekly, or items for breakfast or lunch, but the hubby usually takes leftovers for lunch and the kids and I will eat sandwiches or soup most of the time.  Included in the $240 was diapers, coffee, Drano, hangers, and some other odds and ends.  It also included the freezer bags, pans, aluminum foil and cling wrap.  I was thrilled.  So, here is one of the recipes that will be on the menu - haven’t cooked this up yet but plan to today, it sounds yummy!

CHEESY CHILI

2lbs. ground beef

2 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 cans (10 ozs each) diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained

1 can (28 ozs) diced tomatoes, undrained

2 cans (4 ozs each) chopped green chilies

1/2 tsp. pepper

2 lbs. processed cheese (Cheez Whiz or Velveeta)

In a large saucepan, cook the beef, onions and garlic until meat is no longer pink; drain.  Stir in the tomatoes, chilies and pepper; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 10-15 minutes.  Stir in cheese until melted.  Serve immediately or allow to cool before freezing.  May be frozen for up to 3 months.

To use frozen chili:  Thaw in the refrigerator; heat in a saucepan or microwave.

Servings: 12

Ok, this is another cheat menu.  We are still in the process of using up all of our stockpiled items in preparation for my Once A Month cooking - will probably do this in the middle of May.  So, I do apologize but will try to post some recipes this week to make up for it, lol!

Monday-Fish Sticks and Pasta Roni

Tuesday-Chicken Helper

Wednesday-Taquitos and Spanish Rice

Thursday-Hot dogs and mac and cheese

Friday-Roast chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, and veggies

Saturday-BBQ Cheese stuffed meatloaf, roasted potatoes and baby carrots and biscuits

Sunday-Kielbasa and french fries

And the winner is:

Diane with the #6 comment DidiLyn@aol.com

Congratulations Diane, please email me at amateurdelivre@gmail.com with your shipping info:)

It’s that time again and I am so excited!  I participated in this last time and really had a lot of fun.  I wanted to do something from this blog so I have decided to give away a new copy of

  Best of Country Pies from Taste of Home books

There are over 200 down-home favorites from the best cooks in the country.  Sound interesting (and delicious)? 

To enter, all you need to do is leave me a comment.  Yep, that’s it.  Just make sure to have a valid email or blog address so I know how to get a hold of you.  Thanks for visiting, and for more bloggy giveaways click here.

Well, I veered off of some of the planned items from last week.  So, here is this weeks menu:

Monday - Kielbasa Bow Tie Skillet

Tuesday - Cheeseburgers and French Fries

Wednesday - Chicken Helper

Thursday - Fish Stick and Pasta

Friday - Southwestern Casserole

Saturday - Spaghetti and garlic bread

Sunday - Roast chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy and veggies

I know that this is again a fairly simple menu.  I am in the process of cleaning out the freezers and cupboard in order to get ready for a Once A Month Cooking which I hope to do in early June.  So, until then you may see some of these same simple type meals, not only because we have been fairly busy, but to use up the things we have on hand.  Hope you all had a good weekend!

I am always looking for things in my life that will help simplify things.  I honestly can’t remember where I came across this software, but would truly be lost without it. 

It allows you to:

Add your own recipes (and create your own cookbooks)

Create a meal planning calendar

Do a nutritional analysis of any recipe

Create automatic shopping lists from the recipes you have entered and chosen

Track what food you have with an online inventory

Export cookbooks to MS Word

Share recipes with friends by importing and exporting

I use this software daily.  I think my favorite feature is the fact that you can literally copy recipes from anywhere online, and then just highlight the text to create your “recipe card”.  There is an online demo and it is VERY reasonable to purchase.

If interested, click here - I don’t think you will be disappointed.

This isn’t much of a recipe, but it is delicious and very easy.

3-4 lbs boneless round steak, cut into bite sized pieces

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 packet Lipton Onion Soup

Cooked rice, noodles, or mashed potatoes

Place the round steak in the crock pot.  Mix together the soup mix and mushroom soup and “plop” on the top of the round steak (don’t worry, the steak will produce enough juice to make the gravy).  Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours, stirring just a few times to mix the soups into a gravy.  Serve over rice, noodles, or mashed potatoes.

This is one of my family’s favorites and it couldn’t be easier!

This recipe is courtesy of Taste of Home Simple and Delicious February 2008 - I will be making this tonight so will keep you posted on how it turns out. 

Prep: 20 minutes

Bake: 35 minutes

2 unbaked pastry shells (9 inches)

2 cups cubed cooked chicken

2 envelopes taco seasoning, divided

2/3 cup salsa

2 cups (8 ozs) shredded cheddar cheese

8 eggs

2 cups half and half cream

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 can (4 ozs) chopped green chilies

1/2 cup sliced ripe olives

Line unpriced pastry shells with a double thickness of heavy- duty foil.  Bake at 400 ° for 4 minutes.  Remove foil; bake 4 minutes longer.

In a small bowl, combine chicken and one envelope taco seasoning; spoon into pastry shells.  Top with salsa and cheese.  In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, cream, butter and remaining taco seasoning.  Stir in chilies and olives.  Pour over cheese.

Cover and freeze one quiche for up to 3 months.  Cover edges of remaining quiche loosely with foil; place on a baking sheet.  Bake at 400º for 33-35 minutes or until knife inserted in near the center comes out clean.  Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

To use frozen quiche: Remove from the freezer 30 minutes before baking (do not thaw).  Cover edges of crust loosely with foil; place on a baking sheet.  Bake at 400º for 70-75 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.  Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

Yield: 2 quiches (6 servings each).