Lasagna Rolls

Natalie & Kendra October meal

Southwest Egg Rolls (Natalie & Kendra)

Natalie & Kendra's September Plan:

We will be doing Southwest Egg Rolls. Here's a picture of them that my friend had posted on her blog. I wanted you to all see a picture so you could see that they are actually wrapped in tortilla shells, not actual egg roll wraps that you fry.

















1 chicken breast fillet, diced
½ red bell pepper, minced
2 tsp dry onion
1 can corn
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 small can green chilies
½ T parsley
½ t cumin
½ t salt
Dash cayenne pepper

1 c. cheddar cheese, shredded
Flour Tortillas

Optional Dipping Sauce: (Will not include ingredients for this, but you can make it if you wish)
*Tastes great served with salsa

Avocado-ranch dipping sauce:
1 c. ranch
1 whole avocado, mashed
1 tsp. minced onion
Salt & pepper
Blend together with blender

Cook chicken and dice. In large bowl mix all ingredients together. Sauté all ingredients until warm. Remove from heat and add shredded cheese. Warm tortillas. Place 1/3 c. or so of mixture inside a tortilla. Fold completely together so mixture cannot escape (fold ends and roll up center). Place inside a panni grill or George Forman to grill (can also just do it with a warm pan- turn often to avoid burning- just want to crisp the outside a bit.) and melt cheese. Serve with dipping sauce or salsa.

Hamburger Tin Foil Dinners

Kendra & Natalie are doing hamburger tin foil dinners for August. Here's the basic idea.

Hamburger Patties
Chopped Onions
Chopped Carrots
Bag of freezer corn

Will Need:
Tin foil
Diced potatoes

Options to add to tin foil meal:
Cream of Mushroom Soup
Cheese
Add any other veggies or spices/seasonings that your family enjoys

These can be cooked in your oven, fire pits or on the camp fire if anyone has a camping trip planned.

Italian Chicken & Veggie Kabobs

Freezer Meal Instructions: Unthaw Kabobs, place on oiled grill (spray some Pam on it) to prevent sticking. Rotate to prevent burning. Cook until chicken is cooked throughout.

Instructions:
3 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast- cubed in large chunks

Dice into large chunks:
Red, green, yellow, orange peppers
Yellow squash
Zuchinni
Red onion
Sweet onion
*Other veggies that taste great are mushrooms and tomatoes. Pineapple also grills well.

Marinade chicken & veggies in:
Zesty Italian Salad Dressing
*Soak chicken in marinade overnight, only soak veggies for a few hrs. prior to placing them on skewer to prevent sogginess.

Supplies: Bamboo skewer sticks (soak in water for 20 minutes to prevent burning and slivers)

(Yield: 3 lbs. of chicken= 9 Kabobs with approx. 5 chunks of chicken per skewer)

Serve with: Fresh fruit, over a bed of salad, side of rice.

Calzones

Calzones: (Yield: 8 large calzones)- {May Meal}
32 frozen dinner roll dough, thawed
1 can pizza sauce (about 15 oz. jar)
2 c. (8 oz.) shredded mozzarella or pizza blend cheese
Sliced olives
Pepperoni slices (about 4 pieces per calzone or a pinch of the mini ones for kids)
Vegetable oil

Homemade pizza sauce:
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
1 can water
1 tsp. salt, garlic salt, basil and oregano
1/4 tsp. pepper

Idea: This meal is so fun to do on family night or for another get-together. My kids love rolling out and creating their own- I just put out all of the toppings in a bowl, give each kid a paper plate with a little flour on it and let them have at it. (Supervise with sauce- they tend to want to do too much or too messy). It makes for some fun kitchen time with your kids, if you're into that. ;)

*Add: Any other toppings your family enjoys: Chopped green pepper, mushrooms, pineapple, diced tomatoes, canadian bacon, sausage, etc.

Serve with: Tossed green salad, calzones are also good dipped in sauce (marinara, alfredo or ranch)

Tip/Recommendation: We have included enough to make 8 large calzones, however, if you have smaller children, I would recommend just doing 1 dough ball for the top and one for the bottom rather than pressing 2 together for both (read instruction below). Once rolled out, this is plenty big for a child (more Bambino size). You can also make these open-face if you don't want all the carbs. Another option is to roll a bunch of dough balls together into one big pizza. Do whatever works, but my kids enjoy having their own individual one.

Instructions:
Remove calzone pack from freezer. Set dough balls out on greased cookie sheet to thaw individually(unthaw however many you want to make- may not need them all. For large calzone, 4 dough balls per person, for small bambino- 2 balls per person). The dough just needs to be unthawed, you don't want it to rise (I'd say allow about 2 hrs for unthaw- they just need to be soft throughout). Also unthaw your cheese and pepperoni slices. Prep any other toppings needed. Place all ingredients in a bowl.

For each calzone, press two dinner rolls together. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 4-5 inch circle. Spread 1/4 cup sauce to within 1/2 inch of edge. Top with 1/4 cup cheese, olives and about 4 pepperoni slices (and any other desired toppings). Press two more rolls together and roll into a lightly larger oval. Place over filling; firmly press edges to seal.

Transfer to a greased baking sheet. Lightly brush tops with oil. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 15 minutres. Bake, uncovered, at 375 degress for 16-17 minutes or until golden brown.

Cafe Rio Pork Salad/Taco

Attention: Will everyone please check to see if you got accidentely got 2 bags of Cafe Rio Pork- you should only have one. Amber did not end up with one. Please let us know if you got extra ASAP so their family can enjoy it too. Thanks

Will need:
Additions you may need (options for toppings):
Ingredients for *Tomatillos Ranch Dip * (recipe below), 2 C. rice

Cheese

Chopped romaine lettuce

Black beans

Cilantro

Salsa

Avocados

Zest of Lime

Crunchy strips of pan fried tortillas (or crushed chips)

1 TBS. Lime Juice for rice (optional)

How to Serve: You can eat this as a salad on a bed of lettuce or melt some cheese on a tortilla in a pan and serve underneath the whole salad. You can also just roll this up like a taco for kids.

Freezer Meal Prep: Unthaw shredded pork meat and cilantro-lime rice topping from freezer. Re-heat the meat (this goes pretty far with all the other toppings- it's a very filling meal- about 1/4-1/2 C. per person is suggested). Take 2 C. of dry rice and brown it in olive oil in a pan. Add the unthawed rice liquid mixture to rice and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 mins.  When cooked add 1 TBS lime juice and fluff with fork.

Dressing Recipes: (We have included two options- both are great)

{Not Included:}

Tomatillo Ranch Dip

3 tomatillos- unwrapped, rinsed and quartered.

1 package ranch buttermilk mix

½ C mayo

½ C sour cream

2 cloves crushed garlic

½ C buttermilk

¼ tsp cayenne pepper (less if you want it less spicey)

Blend and chill.

Tomatillo Dressing:

1 pkg. Hidden Valley Ranch

1/2 bunch of cilantro

1/2 jalapeno

1 Cup Mayo

2 tomatillos (unwrapped, rinsed and quartered)

1 clove garlic

1 tsp. lime juice

1 C. buttermilk

Put all ingredients in a blender and mix together.

Café Rio

Meat:

In a Crockpot mix pork rubbed with A.  Add B to Crockpot.

4-6 lb pork

A

2 TBS brown sugar

2 tsp red pepper

2 tsp kosher salt

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp paprika

B

1 sliced onion

2 cloves garlic crushed

1 C chicken broth

1 C cocoa cola 

Cook on low for 8 hours.  Refrigerate overnight or at least a few hours.  Scrape off fat and onions off the top.  Shred the meat leaving the liquid.  Add C.

C

½ - ¾ C brown sugar (I use on the low end)

2 tsp paprika

Cook 3-4 hours on low.

Serve with:

Warmed tortillas

Cheese

Romaine lettuce

Black beans

Shredded meat

Cilantro

*Cilantro- Lime rice*  (see recipe below)

Salsa

Avocados

Lime

*Tomatillos Ranch Dip *

Crunchy strips of pan fried tortillas

Cilantro-Lime Rice

1 C rice

1 TBS olive oil

½ bunch cilantro (clean and cut stems off)

½ tsp salt

½ C chopped onion

2 C water with 2 chicken bouillon cubes

Zest of lime (finely grated)

Brown rice in hot oil until light brown.  In a blender place water, onion, bouillon, cilantro, lime zest, salt and blend thoroughly.  Add liquid to rice and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 20 mins.  When cooked add 1 TBS lime juice and fluff with fork.

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*There are many variations of this recipe- here's a quick version in case you want a faster way to basically the same result. It is not as "by scratch" ingredients wise, but I've made it this way before and it's also good.

Quicker Cafe Rio Pulled Pork:
Put pork roast in crock pot around 10 pm on low. Fill crockpot 1/2 full with water. Take off fat in the morning. Drain water. Add 20 oz. of Coke or Dr. Pepper, 1 bottle of taco sauce, 1 cup brown sugar and 1 tbs. of cumin. Cook until noon. Shred & Serve.

Kendra's Lasagna, (Natalie/Kendra- Feb. meal)

Kendra's Lasagna
1 lb. ground beef
Minced onion
3 cups spaghetti sauce
1 small can tomato paste
2 eggs
2 cups cottage cheese (one regular container)
1 TBSP parsley
3/4 tsp salt
1-2 cloves garlic or 1 tsp garlic powder
6 lasagna noodles, precooked works well
16 oz mozzarella cheese
Parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 350. Brown beef with onion and drain. Combine beef, spaghetti sauce and tomato paste in large bowl.

In another bowl, combine eggs, cottage cheese, parsley, salt and garlic. Cover bottome of 9x13 pan with sauce.

Layer: 1/2 noodles, 1/2 cottage cheese mix, 1/2 mozzarella cheese, 1/2 sauce. Repeat ad put parmesan and mozzarella on top.

Bake uncovered 30-35 minutes.
Prep time 25 minutes.


Side dish suggestions: Garlic french bread or breadsticks, green beans, green salad with dressing.

Freezer meal instructions: Remove plastic wrap before baking. Unthaw before cooking.

Contact: Kendra Angell 313-5226 or Natalie Taylor 359-0826

Poppyseed Chicken

Poppyseed Chicken Bake:

*You will need rice to complete this meal. This is served on top of rice. I usually do half brown/half white. Do whatever your family prefers.

Recommended Sides: Green beans, steamed broccoli, tossed green salad

Freezer Meal Instructions: Remove plastic wrap before baking. Re-cover with tin foil and bake covered. Bake on 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Optional: We usually make this meal with canned Cream of Chicken soup. We made the scratch recipe, but if your family prefers the creaminess/flavor of the canned soup, you can mix 1 can of Cream of Chicken soup with it before baking.


Recipe:
Saute 2-3 Chicken Breasts in butter, cube.

Mix:
2 cans of Cream of Chicken Soup
1 Carton of Sour Cream
Add cooked/cubed chicken to sauce mix

Crumble 1 package of Townhouse crackers into 1 tbsp. butter- sprinkle on top
Then Sprinkle 2 tsp. of Poppy Seed on top.

Bake @ 350 for 45 minutes. Cover with tin foil.


*Next month, I think we've decided to do Lasagna.

Thanks- we've really enjoyed this!