Seven Flavor Hamburger

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 pinch ground black pepper
1/3 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
6 hamburger buns, split

Prep:
Cook ground beef in a large skillet over medium heat until no longer pink. Stir frequently, and break into pieces. Drain off grease.
Add onion, celery, and green pepper to the skillet, and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring until onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in ketchup, vinegar, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, and tomato sauce. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes. To freeze, store meat mixture in gallon size freezer bag, removing all air.

Serve:
Heat meat mixture and serve over hamburger buns (or noodles).


Serves 6, Cost per meal $5
Prepared by Jana
from Robshar at Allrecipes.com

Chicken Pot Pie

Yield: 6 Servings
Ingredients:
1 pk Pillsbury Double Pie Crust
2 cups Chicken, Cooked, Diced
10 oz Frozen Mixed Vegetables
1 1/2 can Cream Of Chicken Soup
1/2 can Broth Or Water
Pepper, To Taste
Season Salt, To Taste
5 pats Butter

Line a 9" pie plate with crust. Mix chicken, vegetables, soups, broth
and spices together. Pour into the pan. Add pats of butter. Place
second crust on top and slit. Bake at 350° for 90 minutes until golden
brown. (This cooking time is when it is made fresh, not frozen)


Notes:
I did not put the 5 pats of butter in the pie.
I used healthy request cream of chicken soup to make it a little healthier
It took 41/2 hours to make 9 pies
Be sure and put pie on cookie sheet before cooking. It leaks!

Prepared by Virginia

March Swap

Small Group Swap Day: March 12 @ 7pm
Location: Kelly's House

Members & Recipes:
Kathy - Chicken Tetrazzini
Melissa S. - Teriyaki Chicken
Sue - Cheese Meatloaf
Leilani - Lemon Pepper Fish
McKell - Chicken Pot Pie
Jenny - Chicken Enchiladas
Melissa W. - Tortilla Soup
Kjavascript:void(0)aty - Cinnamon Apricot Chicken

Chicken Tortilla Soup

MARCI'S CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP
1 T. olive oil
1 (12.5 oz.) can chicken (do NOT drain)
1/2 c. finely diced onion
2 garlic cloves
1 t. ground cumin
1/4 t. salt
1/2 t. chili powder
1/4 t. ground pepper
(I use "heaping" teaspoons when measuring the spices)
1 (14 ½ oz.) can chicken broth
1 (15 ¼ oz.) can corn kernels (do NOT drain)
1 (15 oz.) can black beans (rinse and drain)
1 (14 ½ oz.) can Mexican-style stewed tomatoes (cut up)
Toppings:
tortilla strips (see below)
fresh cilantro
diced avocado
sour cream
cheese

-Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
-Heat oil in pan over medium heat and sautee onion and garlic.
-Add can of chicken and spices (cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper).
-Cook 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently.
-Stir in broth, undrained corn, black beans and tomatoes.
(I like a little extra broth in my finished soup so I add some extra water, maybe 1/4-1/3 cup)
-Increase heat to high and bring to a boil.
-Reduce heat, cover and simmer 15 min.

While the soup simmers you can prepare the tortilla strips (or if you are pressed for time, just crush tortilla chips):
Using kitchen scissors (there is probably an actual name for them) cut tortillas into thin strips (I cut 3 at a time). Spread evenly in a lightly greased 9x13 dish.
Bake them in oven approx 4 minutes then stir them around and bake 3 more.
I often put them under the broiler for a couple minutes at the end to make them golden brown. Let them cool and harden, then serve on top of the soup with your other favorite toppings. Avocados are to die for in it in my opinion.

Serves 6, cost per dish $5.49

Chicken Curry in a Hurry

1 1/2 T veg oil
1 med onion, diced
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp curry powder
1 (12-14 oz can) coconut milk
1 c canned diced tomatoes (I always just use a whole can)
2 T Tomato paste (I often skip this if I don't have any)
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch cubes (or you can use a can of chicken)
3 packed cups fresh baby spinach, chopped
1 or 2 cans garbanzo beans
1/2 c. toasted coconut

Heat oil over med heat. Add onion and 1/2 tsp salt. Cook until soft, about 7 min. Add curry and stir one more minute

Stir in cocnut milk, tomatoes and paste and cook another 5 minutes or until sauce thickens slightly.

Add chicken and cook 5-6 minutes until meat is cooked (sometimes I cook the meat beforehand- that's okay too). Add spinach and cook until wilted, about 3 minutes. Add salt to taste. Serve with rice.

To toast coconut, place on a cookie sheet in 300 oven and watch closely. Cook until golden, just a few minutes. This adds so much flavor to the dish and is my favorite part. Serve curry over rice- we love basmati!

Serves 8, Cost per dish $6.88

Tasty Sesame Tilapia

This recipe is found here.

Thanks for the great swap today. I am excited!

Serves 6, Cost per meal $6.75

Spicy Sloppy Joes

1 1/4 lb Lean Ground Turkey
3/4 lb Lean Ground Beef
1 1/2 cups Bell Peppers, Red & Green, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups Carrots, Shredded (3 medium)
2 (16 oz) jars Salsa
1/3 cup Tomato Paste
2 tsp Dried Basil, Crushed
1 tsp Dried Oregano, Crushed
1/2 tsp Salt (I used 1/4 tsp Sea Salt)
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
4 cloves garlic, minced

*On Hand: Buns or Brown Rice.

Prep Day: In skillet, brown Ground Turkey and Beef, over medium heat, breaking meat up into pieces. Drain any fat, and let cool. Combine cooled beef with all other ingredients in a gallon-size freezer bag.

To Serve: Thaw overnight in refrigerator or defrost in microwave. Cook in slow cooker, covered, on High 2-3 Hours, or on Low 4-6 Hours. (Could probably put it into the crockpot frozen and let cook 8 hours.) Serve over Hamburger Buns or Brown Rice.
*I tried to keep the spice down in this recipe by using mixture of medium and mild salsa. If your family likes more spice you can add more cayenne when you cook it.

Serves 8, Cost per meal $8.79

My Personal Notes: Can use 2 lbs of any ground meat, I like to use ground turkey b/c it's leaner and healthier, but I added lean beef this time, for flavor, in case some families aren't used to the taste of ground turkey. I haven't made this recipe before but I chose it b/c it's a healthy version of Sloppy Joes, with out all the sugar, and with lots of hidden veggies (they should soften up nicely after slow cooking all day and the kids might not even notice them!) I could not find the piece needed for my food processor, and had to shred the carrots by hand. Will try to avoid doing that again in the future!

Chicken Cacciatore

So I didn't get a picture of the actual meal, but I did take a shot of all my Grocery's to make 8 6-serving dishes!

2 lbs. Chicken Breasts, boneless skinless
1 Green Bell Pepper, chopped
1 Onion, chopped
1 can Spaghetti Sauce
1/4 cup red wine
1/2 tsp Basil
1/2 tsp Oregano
*On hand: 12 oz. Spaghetti

Prep Day:
Cut Chicken breasts into quarters. Combine with all ingredients into a gallon-size freezer bag and mush.

Serve: Place Cacciatore, frozen, into a crockpot and cook all day on low. Serve over cooked spaghetti.

Serves 6, Cost per dish $4.98

March Large Group

The participants and Recipes for our March Swap are:
Virginia - Chicken Pot Pie
Jana - Seven Flavor Hamburger
Kelly - Chicken Cacciatore
Kelly - Spicy Sloppy Joes
Marci - Chicken Tortilla Soup
Melissa S. - Sesame Tilapia
Cathy - Chicken Curry in a Hurry
Malissa O. - Chicken Enchiladas

Great swap today! We've got lots of yummy meals and I'm excited about doing very little cooking this week and trying all the new stuff. We're learning as we go. A few things we've learned so far:

1. It's really important to write a names on each bag/dish. This can really hep our Swap to go smoother and make sure everyone has the correct meals!

2. I think it might be best for everyone to bring a second container in addition to the cooler (Laundry basket, perhaps?) This way everyone can have one container to put your take-home meals into, as you're unloading your prepared meals from your cooler and distributing them.

3. We'll be sure to allow lots of time for shopping sales. Sale prices can stretch a long way when cooking on this scale.

Thanks ladies! I'm looking forward to April!

Teriyaki Chicken

Here is my recipe for Teriyaki Chicken

1/2 c Soy Sauce
1 1/2T Red Wine Vinegar
1 Garlic Clove
1/2 c Sugar
2 T Oil
3/4 T Ground Ginger
1 lb. Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast

To cook: Thaw. Put in pan and cook @ 350 for 3o min.



Prepared by Melissa Sa.

Chicken Tortilla Soup by Melissa

Hey all! Here is the recipe for the chicken tortilla soup that I made for the swap:

Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla soup
3 cans chicken broth (100% FF)
3 cans cream of chicken soup (98% FF)
3-4 chicken breasts
1 can Rotel
Mrs. Dash original seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

Place chicken breasts in the bottom of the crock pot. Add Mrs. Dash's seasoning to taste. Add broth and cream of chicken soup, and Rotel. Cook on low 6-8 hours. Shred chicken in crock pot.

To serve:

Defrost in refrigerator. Reheat on stove. Serve and top individual bowls with desired toppings (tomatoes, green onions, avocadoes/guacamole, cheese, tortilla chips, sour cream, etc.).

Lemon Pepper Tilapia

Tilapia fillets
Lemon pepper Mrs. Dash

Thaw. Grease a baking pan or line with foil and then grease. Drizzle or spray the fish with olive oil. I use one of these gotten here, filled with Olive Oil. Olive oil adds flavor and keeps the fish from drying out; plus it's good for you. (Canola or any oil could be used for the purpose of keeping it from drying out, but these won't add much flavor.) Fish can be baked or broiled. I usually broil it for about 2-5 minutes or until it flakes with a fork at the thickest part of the fillet. OR Bake at 400 degrees for about 5-10 minutes, checking it at 5 minutes. I only bake it if I am using the oven to bake something else already (NOTE: The fish was not salted. They recommended not salting fish if it was going to be frozen.)

Chicken Tetrazzini

Kathy got this recipe from Southern Living.



Prep: 20 min., Bake: 35 min.
Yield

Makes 12 servings
Ingredients

* 1 (16-ounce) package vermicelli
* 1/2 cup chicken broth
* 4 cups chopped cooked chicken breast (see recipes on page 166)
* 1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
* 1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of chicken soup
* 1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of celery soup
* 1 (8-ounce) container sour cream
* 1 (6-ounce) jar sliced mushrooms, drained
* 1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Parmesan cheese
* 1 teaspoon pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese

Preparation

Prepare vermicelli according to package directions; drain. Return to pot, and toss with chicken broth.

Stir together chopped cooked chicken and next 8 ingredients in a large bowl; add vermicelli, and toss well. Spoon mixture into 2 lightly greased 11- x 7-inch baking dishes. Sprinkle evenly with Cheddar cheese.

Bake, covered, at 350° for 30 minutes; uncover and bake 5 more minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Note: Freeze unbaked casserole up to 1 month, if desired. Thaw casserole overnight in refrigerator. Let stand 30 minutes at room temperature, and bake as directed.

Personal Notes: I suggest adding more spice if you like it. Maybe marinate/season the meat beforehand. I added garlic and italian seasoning spice. Enjoy.