Making weeknight meals

Since Hubby and I both work we are always look for ways to have good healthy meals that we can make quickly. After trying Let's Dish a few times, we decided this was something we can do ourselves on weekends and just put in the freezer. I will add that since we have a Food Saver it makes the process easier.

So to the store I went to stock up on much need ingredients. We decided to make big batch of our favorites to give some to my SIL who is due on April 20th with a baby girl! Here are all the supplies:

 We decided on making Risotto (posted last night), half batch of Emeri's Chili Recipe (which we love and make all the time), Chicken continental, chicken pot pie filling, Rachel Ray's Black Bean stoup, and Shepard's Pie.This is some of the meals packaged and ready to go.

Here are some of the other recipes.

Black Bean stoup per Food Network and my Rachel Ray Express Lane Book

• 2 tablespoons extra- virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 ribs celery with greens, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 fresh bay leaf or 1 large dried bay leaf
• 2 (15-ounce) cans black beans
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin, a couple of palm fulls
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander, 1/3 palm full
• Salt and pepper
• Hot sauce, to taste
• 1 quart chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes, diced tomatoes with peppers and onions, or stewed tomatoes
• 1 cup rice

Heat a medium soup pot over medium high heat. Add 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil to the hot pot, then onion, celery, garlic, and bay leaf. Drain 1 can of beans and add them. Use a fork to mash up the beans in the remaining can. Stir the mashed beans into the pot and season with cumin, coriander, salt and pepper and 2 to 3 tablespoons hot sauce. Add stock and tomatoes to the stoup and bring to a bubble. Reduce heat add rice and simmer 15-20 minutes over low heat. Remove and discard the bay leaf

Hubby and I love this, you will be seeing it later this week.

Mother In Law's Shepard's Pie
1 pound ground meat
1 small onion
1 can mixed veg
1 can diced tomatoes
Italian herbs to taste
Mashed potatoes

This is really easy brown the meat and onion add the vegetables and spices, cook for 1 hour. Make mashed potatoes (instant are fine). Cover filling with potatoes broil until brown and serve.

Mother In Law's Chicken Pot Pie Filling 
1/2 green pepper sliced
2 ounces mushrooms sliced
8 ounces cooked chicken (those rotissure ones at the grocery store are awesome in this, although I forgot that until we starting cooking a chicken breast)
1 can cream of celery soup
1 tablespoon parsely

Blanch pepper and mushrooms. Mix chicken, mushrooms, pepper, soup and parsley. Heat and serve in  a pot pie filling or with a starch side.


Chicken Continental
2 chicken breasts cut into pieces
Flour, salt and pepper
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can mushrooms
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 clove garlic
1 onion sliced
1 can black olives (optional)

Coat the chicken in the flour, salt and pepper and brown slightly in a skillet. Combine the garlic, soy sauce, tomatoes, and mushroom juices. Add to brown chicken with onions. All to simmer for 40-45 mins. Add the mushrooms and olives and serves over rice.



Hubby and I really enjoy doing these every few weeks, hope some of you might like the idea and the recipes.

Let me know if you have any questions!