Thanksgiving Leftovers: Crockpot Ham & Egg Breakfast Bake

Leftover Ham?

First, make some Grilled Ham & Cheese Sandwiches :)

Then dice the remaining leftover ham and portion into 2 cup increments.
I made this into a freezer meal and then pulled it when I was ready to Crock.

<- Grilled cheese :oP

In a Gallon sized freezer bag:
4-5 cups frozen tater tots
2 cups diced ham
2 heaping cups shredded cheese

When ready to cook, layer into crock:
3 tbsp butter (On the bottom)
The Freezer mix (above)
14 eggs/1 cup milk whisked
Tony's seasoning

I 'crocked' on {keep warm} starting at 11:45 PM and it was perfectly done at 6:15 AM

Super delicious with Franks hot sauce!!!

Thanksgiving Leftovers: Cranberry Orange Sour Cream Oatmeal Muffins

Cranberry Orange Relish

You need:
1 bag fresh cranberries
2 cans mandarin oranges (with syrup)
Cinnamon
Cloves
1 package jello of your choice (I used sugar free orange)

Put it all in a pot and simmer until saucy and starts setting.  I randomly mash and stir.

I transfer 1/2 to my mini crockpot (to serve warm)
The other 1/2 I blend in my Vita-Mix and put in the fridge (to serve cold)

With the leftovers:

Cranberry Orange Sour Cream Oatmeal Muffins

Gather your ingredients:

Mix:
2 11oz cans mandarin oranges (drained)
Leftover cranberry orange relish
2 cup oats
1 c sour cream or yogurt
Let sit 10-15 mins

Add & mix well:
2/3 c shortening (or 1/2 cup applesauce & 1/4 cup oil)
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c white sugar
2 eggs
2 2/3 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder

Fold in 1 bag {frozen} fresh cranberries.

These are VERY tart.  If you would prefer a sweeter taste, up the white sugar to 1 cup and the brown sugar to 1 1/2 cups.

Bake @ 350 degrees for 25 mins.  Test with a toothpick to come out clean. 

Makes 24 muffins and 2 small loaves.



Thanksgiving Leftovers: Wild Rice Turkey Casserole

Everyone typically has leftovers after Thanksgiving.... but who wants to keep on eating ALL that stuff for a week straight?

Solution: This casserole

You need:

**Put in the Crock on {High}and let cook until rice is done (About 3-4 hours)

2 Cups Wild Rice Mix
3 Boullion cubes
3 cups water
2 cups largely diced carrots
Leftover Gravy
Cream of whatever you have (I used Celery)

**When rice is done, mix everything below into the crock:
Either leftover green bean casserole or a can of green beans
1 can small diced water chestnuts
2 cups largely diced fresh mushrooms
3-4 cups diced leftover turkey

Then top with a couple handfulls of shredded cheese and leftover fried onions (if you have any left!)

Cook on keep warm for an hour or so. Salt & Pepper if you'd like.

Buffalo Chicken 2 ways: Tacos & Salad

It's getting crazy in here.

Organize your ingredients:

For the Tacos:
Tortillas
Buffalo Chicken
Bacon
Avocado
Tomatoes
Green Onion
Sprouts
Ranch Dressing (Don't forget you can make a healthy ranch with yochee!)

For the Salad:
Salad Mix- I like Iceburg blend for this one (needs the crunch)
Tortilla chips- crushed or strips
Buffalo Chicken (Use leftovers)
Bacon
Avocado
Tomatoes
Green Onion
Feta or Bleu Cheese Crumbles
Ranch dressing

I used leftover crocked chicken thighs, tore the meat off the bone and then tossed in 4 tbsp melted butter & 1/2 cup Franks hot sauce. 

I cut up 2 packages of bacon (into ~ 1" strips) with kitchen shears and then fried in a pan.

Let bacon drain on paper towels and store the rest for another recipe.

Assemble your tacos and enjoy!

Blackberry Cream French Toast Casserole

I got a new Crockpot (I know, YAY!)

I was on a roll using it, then washing and doing something else so after I made Gumbo the other night, I washed it and made this dashing beauty!

You will need:

• 1 loaf bread of your choice (cubed)- If it's slightly stale, thats better
• 12 Eggs
• 1 C Milk of your choice (I used non dairy- less likely to have a curdling situation in the crock)
• Yochee (About 1 - 1 1/2 Cups)
• 2 Tbsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
• 2 pints berries of your choice

1. Cube the bread and put in the crock (lined if you can)
2. In a container mix the yochee, cinnamon and brown sugar well
3. In another container, put the eggs, vanilla and milk
4. Coat the bread with the egg mixture until the bread is evenly soaked (remove 1/2 the bread for now)
5. Take your yochee mix and spread evenly over the bottom layer of bread
6. Top with your berries
7. Cover with the remaining bread
8. Maple syrup & powdered sugar (for garnish)

Crock on 'Keep Warm' for around 6 hours. Mine went for 8 and was a little dark on the edges.

At least 8 servings!  I froze the leftovers :)

Winter Salad

This is one of my favorite salads EVER!!!

First is because of the HONEYCRISP APPLES!!!
Second, POMEGRANATES!

You will need:
1 apple
1 pear
1 asian pear
1 pomegranate (just the arils)
Romaine Lettuce
sliced Almonds
shredded swiss cheese or feta

Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing:

In a food processor or blender (until smooth):
1/2 medium yellow onion
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp celery salt
1/2 tsp dry mustard
Add and blend:
1/3 cup sugar or agave nectar
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup lemon juice
Add 1 tbsp poppy seeds and mix.

Copycat Olive Garden 4 Cheese Marinara with Mozzerella Stuffed Turkey Meatballs

Gather your ingredients together:

Turkey Meatball Ingredients

4 oz of fresh mozzerella

1 box pasta of your choice

1 jar Red Sauce of your choice

1 jar of white sauce of your choice

These meatballs are just like the ones I posted previously except for the addition of a piece of fresh mozzerella in the center of each.   

Cook your pasta and drain. Pour both the red & white sauce into a pot (get simmering)

After cooking the meatballs in the frying pan, put into the sauce to finish cooking.

Serve up and top with parmesean cheese.

Tastes JUST like the Olive Garden 4 Cheese Marinara

Crockpot Apple Butter

I will start off by saying that if you want to make apple butter, but don't have a plethora of apples, just use premade applesauce.  (P.S. I totally snuck some pears into this batch)

Get out everything you will need:

Step 1:  Make Applesauce.

Slice up your apples:

Cook the apples:

This is a PIA if you use the sieve thing that my friend and I used this go around. 

My best suggestion is find yourself an apple peeler/corer/slicer and then after you cook the apples, put them in the food processor to make the applesauce. (See below)

Measure out your applesauce and dump 5 qts into your crockpot

Add 2 cups sugar, 2 tbsp Cinnamon, 1 tbsp cloves, 1 tsp Allspice, 1 container of concentrate juice (I used Apple) and 1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

Set the vented crockpot to 'low' or 'keep warm' and stir occasionally.  You want to let it be vented so it will release steam and become thicker in the cooking process.  I normally try to cook for 24 hours.  In the cooking process, I will take some out of the crock and blend it to get nice and smooth and then return back to the cooking process. 

When you are happy with the taste (you can always add more spices, ACV or sugar) then jar and refrigerate! 

Don't forget to eat some while its warm!!!

* Note- I don't seal my jars, rather just keep them refrigerated! Keeps good for a couple months.

Homemade Wonton Soup

You will need:

• 1 package wonton wrappers
• 1- 1 1/2 cups cooked chicken
• Shredded white cheese of your choice
• 1 scallion
• Salt & Pepper
• 1 tbsp soy sauce or liquid aminos
• 4-6 cups chicken broth
• Parsley (for garnish)

Mix together your chicken, cheese, the scallion, soy sauce, some parsley and the salt & pepper.

Lay the wonton wrappers flat and put around 1 tbsp of the mixture inside each one.

Take a pastry brush and paint the sides of the wonton with water. 

Fold the wonton over the filling to seal it against itself.

Get your chicken stock boiling in a pot.  Drop the wontons into the boiling stock for just a few minutes.  They take almost no time at all and you don't want them falling apart or turing into goo.

Dish up and garnish with parsley.

You could premake these and freeze them, though I haven't tried it so don't hold me to that :)

Chocolate Zucchini Bread, Taco Meat, Salsa Chicken, Supreme Peanut Butter Banana Pancakes

It's preppin time!

Saturday night I prepped all my meals for the week freezer style.  Sunday morning I started looking around and decided to get prepping other things :)

From top- clockwise

Shredded Zucchini (For Zucchini Bread)

Cooked Ground Turkey (Taco Meat)

Salsa Chicken (Previously Crocked)

Supreme Peanut Butter Banana Pancakes

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

 In the order listed, add ingredients to a mixer.

• 3 eggs
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup applesauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 cups grated zucchini (cut, deseed and use shredding tool on food processer)
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Grease your pans and pour mixture in until pan is 1/2 full. 

Bake in a 350 degree preheated oven for 30-40 mins (for small pans) or 60-70 mins (for large loaf) until toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Regular sized muffins take between 18-28 minutes depending on your oven and bakeware.

*Tidbit:  For whatever reason, if you make muffins out of these, FREEZE them! When you go to eat thawed later, they taste amazingly like chocolate cake....Moreso than when fresh baked :)

Taco Meat

There are literally umpteen million recipes in which call for seasoned taco meat.  Cook a lot ahead of time, freeze, and then portion out for your recipe.  If you are using Ground Turkey, I have noticed you need to use around 1/3-1/2 cup seasoning for each pound of meat. 

2 cups cooked = 1 lb  Raw Hamburger or Ground Turkey

Shredded Salsa Chicken

This is a Crock pot 'dump and go' recipe.  You really aught not be concerned about amounts because in the end, you have one big pot of shredded chicken ooey gooey deliciousness.

My version: (Throw all in the Crock)

• 4 chicken breasts or 10 tenderloins
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup
• 1 can corn (drained)
• 1 can black beans (drained) -I didn't have these this time :(
• 1/4 cup taco seasoning
• 1 cup salsa
• 1 8 oz block cream cheese (wait for end)

Cook on low for 6-8 hours (I cook everything on 'keep warm' for longer periods of time, but you know your own crock pot). 

When ready to serve, stir in the cream cheese and shred the chicken.

Serve on tortillas and dress with sour cream, hot sauce or whatever you like.

Click here to see what I did with the leftovers!

Supreme Peanut Butter Banana Pancakes

In a mixer:

• 4 cups bisquick or homemade pancake mix
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 over ripe bananas
• 2 cups vanilla coconut milk
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 C sugar

Make pancakes.  When done, spread a thin layer of peanut butter over pancake, sandwich together and eat.  There is just something about peanut butter and banana. Freeze the leftovers...when ready to eat a frozen one, zap for 20-30 seconds and then pop in the toaster.

Super easy & aaahmazing.

5 Freezer Meals: Week of 10/29

This weekend I got a little too excited trying to use things up in my pantry and fridge and decided to make all my meals for the week ala freezer style.

Top Row (clockwise):

Rosemary Roasted Chicken & Potatoes

Teriyaki Chicken

Sweet & Sour Chicken

Beef Stroganoff

Beef Stew

Get all your ingredients out!



Rosemary Roasted Chicken & Potatoes

• Cut up about 1 1/2 lbs decent sized chunks of potatoes
• About 2 lbs chicken thighs, breasts or tenders

In a freezer bag mix & shake 2 tbsp olive oil & the following seasonings to cover the chicken & potatoes:

• 2 tsp Paprika
• 1 1/2 tsp Rosemary
• 1 tsp minced Garlic
• 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
• 1 tsp Salt

FREEZE!

When ready to prepare, pull out of the freezer and roast in a preheated 425 degree oven for 30-45 minutes.....I'm going to put this in my pampered chef deep covered stone baker.  Here it is right out of the freezer and then after cooked.

Check consistently to see how the chicken is cooking/Stir ingredients around.  I actually cooked the potatoes in the microwave (in the baker) for an additional 5 minutes after I pulled the chicken out.

This turned out delicious and I WILL be making again.  I served with broccoli and garlic bread.



Teriyaki Chicken

Put the following in a freezer bag:

• 1 C Soy Sauce
• 1 Large Can Crushed Pineapple (with the juice)
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 1- 1 1/2 C brown sugar
• 1/3 C corn starch
• Depending on how many mouths you need to feed, add chicken.  I normally do around 3 breasts to feed my family of four and have 2 servings for leftovers.
• (I added some already made teriyaki sauce, cause I was trying to get rid of it)

FREEZE!

Put in your crock on low for 4-6 hours (or in my case 'keep warm' for 10 hours).  Steam rice and serve.

* If your sauce isn't thick enough, add some more cornstarch.

Sweet & Sour Chicken

This Recipe ONLY available in my E-Book!..... COMING SOON!

Beef Stroganoff

Put the following ingredients in a gallon sized freezer bag:

• 2 Cans Cream of Mushroom Soup
• 10-12 larger white or crimini mushrooms (sliced)
• 1 large onion (diced on the large grate on the chopper:)
• 1 lb roast (have the butcher block slice for fajitas)

FREEZE!

Remove from freezer and let thaw enough so you can remove easily from the bag.  Place in crockpot on low for 4-6 hours.  When the crocking is complete, boil 1 package of egg noodles.   

Last step..... add 1 cup sour cream or YoChee (more if you'd like). Garlic Salt & Pepper to taste. (I served with green beans.)

Makes about 6 servings.

*Note- To me, this was the perfect meal to make to feed my family and myself!  It was easy for me to pick out the meat and just as satisfying as if it was still there.  Crocking the raw meat with the cream of mushroom soup made the most amazing gravy :)

Beef Stew

In a gallon sized freezer bag, put the following:

• 2 Cans diced tomatoes (undrained)
• 1 can sweet peas (drained)
• 7 medium potatoes chopped (about 1 " cubes- use large grate on chopper)
• 5 large carrots chopped (use large grate on chopper)
• 1 large yellow onion chopped (use large grate on chopper)
• 1 beef stew seasoning kit
• 1 recipe favorites onion seasoning envelope
• 1-2 lbs cubed beef (I get a roast sliced for fajitas, then use kitchen scissors to cut smaller)

FREEZE!

When ready to Crock, put everything in the crockpot and just barely cover with water.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

If it is too thin for your liking, mix 1/2 cup cornstarch with 1/2 cup cold water, mix thoroughly and then mix into the stew.

Season with salt & pepper.