Pepperoncini Beef Sandwiches

I found this recipe over at Crockpot365, and Stephanie really nailed it with this one. Oh.my.goodness.

If you are looking for a seriously flavorful and ridiculously easy entree to bring to a tailgate, pot luck, or just to eat with your family, look no further!

This recipe is one of my favorites for both of those reasons. It is bursting with flavor and requires all of 2 ingredients. YES! It really doesn't get much easier.

It is a great OAMC candidate because it's so simple. One of those that you toss into the bag and forget about until you decide to cook it. 

And when you DO choose to make it, be prepared for some tantalizing, aromatic smells coming from your crockpot. If you're like me, it will take a considerable amount of self-control to wait the full 8 hours to dig in to this one. :)

Pepperoncini Beef Sandwiches

Ingredients:
2-2.5 lb chuck roast
1 (12-16 oz.) jar banana pepper or pepperoncini rings

For Today:
1. Trim fat off of roast. Place roast in crockpot. Pour contents of jar over the roast. Cook on low 8 hours. (You probably could cook it on high for about half the time, but for tender, juicy, fall-apart meat, slow and low is the winning combination)
2. Shred meat with two forks. Serve over crusty Italian bread, top with your choice of white cheese (mozzarella, provolone, swiss, pepper jack, whatever you like!... but only if you want to...)
*I like to pour a little of the flavorful juice over the meat too. Some people don't like soggy sandwiches and I totally get that, but if you want extra flavor, give it a try!
**Also, to melt the cheese and make the bread extra crispy, you can broil it in the oven  for a minute or two. 

For the Freezer:
1. Trim fat off of roast and place in gallon-size freezer bag. Pour contents of jar over roast, seal bag and place in freezer.
2. Place frozen contents of bag in crockpot. Cook on low 8-10 hours. Shred with 2 forks and serve as called for above.

So easy and SO good! I love it! It may be that I've been on a banana pepper kick lately, but still... Try it, it'll be worth it!

Cheesy Chicken and Rotini

Soo... this picture is courtesy of BettyCrocker.com. If you haven't noticed yet, I'm not super great with a camera. I'm hoping I'll get better... we'll see. :)

If you feel the need to break up the OAMC rotation with some non-crockpot meals, this little recipe  just might come in handy. It comes together quickly with a frozen mix of veggies and precooked chicken. This casserole is nice and light, the perfect Summertime pasta dish... I realize Summer is officially over, I'm just trying to appropriately convey the level of richness of this meal. :) So yes, it is a pasta, but it's not one of those where you feel like you might need to loosen your belt after eating it.

The flavor is fresh! Especially with those delicious Roma tomato wedges on top.

Quick, light and fresh - I know I'm not the only person who finds those qualities attractive! 

Here goes:

Cheesy Chicken and Rotini

Ingredients:

8 oz cooked rotini pasta

2 cups cooked chicken

1 cup frozen onions, celery, bell pepper and parsley seasoning blend. (I have a hard time finding this sometimes. The brand is Pictsweet, but not everybody carries it... so you may substitute it with another veggie/seasoning blend. I think I've tried it with a gumbo mix and it worked out pretty well!)

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 cup chicken broth

2 Roma tomatoes cut into 6 wedges each

3 green onions, sliced

1/2 cup cheddar cheese

For Today:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Combine first 5 ingredients in 8x8 baking dish. Bake uncovered for 35-40 minutes or until bubbly.

2. Remove from oven, top with tomatoes, onions and cheese and return to oven for a few minutes, just until the cheese is melty.

For the Freezer:
1. Combine first 5 ingredients in 8x8 foil pan. Cover with a double layer of tinfoil and place in freezer.
*As for the remaining ingredients, usually I'll put the cheese in a small bag and duct tape it to the top of the pan, just so I know I have it on hand when I decide to make this dish. However, I've never tried freezing the green onions or tomatoes, so I can't recommend it. You may just need to have a note on your recipe list to have those items handy when you want to use this particular freezer meal. It may seem like a hassle, but the tomatoes really make this dish...
2. Allow the casserole to thaw in your fridge overnight, or on the counter for a few hours. The cooking time and temperature should be the same as above - 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes, then add the tomatoes, onions and cheese and return to the oven for a few more minutes.

I like to serve it with my go-to Italian bread recipe... YUM!

Creamy Chicken and Broccoli

Ok, so in our cooking group all of us have our favorite OAMC meals, and while mine switches up every now and then, it is usually Creamy Chicken and Broccoli.

Cheesy and delicious... This dish seriously has "comfort food" written alllllll over it! 

This recipe was a fabulous Pinterest find that I just HAD to try! And when it turned out to be delicious... I decided to give it a go as a freezer meal. And it worked! You seriously wouldn't even know it was frozen.

In fact, I made it for a friend and her family this past week and they LOVED it! So much so that she even asked for the recipe (that's the real test - whether or not they ask for the recipe...). YES! Little did they know that that particular meal had been in my freezer for just about a month. Hooray for freezer meals!

With no more ado, here's this wonderful little recipe -

Creamy Chicken and Broccoli

3-4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts

10 3/4 oz. can cream of chicken soup

10 3/4 oz. can cheddar cheese soup

14 oz. can chicken broth

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. Cajun seasoning (such as Tony Chachere's)

1/4 tsp. garlic salt

6 cups frozen broccoli (florets or cuts, it's up to you!)

1 cup sour cream

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

For Today: 

1. place chicken breasts in the crockpot. Combine soups and broth and pour over chicken. Sprinkle with seasonings and cook on low 6 hours, or on high 3 hours.

2. With 30 minutes left in cooking time, use 2 forks to shred the chicken breasts. Stir in the broccoli and sour cream. Serve over steamed rice and sprinkle with cheese.

For the Freezer:

1. Place chicken breasts in gallon-size freezer bag. Pour in soups and broth. Sprinkle on seasonings. Measure 1 cup of shredded cheese into a quart-size freezer bag. Use duct tape, or some other means to hold the cheese and broccoli to the main bag. (see picture!)

2. Place frozen contents or main bag into crockpot. Cook on low 6-8 hours, high for 3-5 hours. With 30 minutes left, shred the chicken and add sour cream and broccoli. Serve over steamed rice and sprinkle with cheese.

Pesto Chicken Penne

Check out that delicious, crispy spinach! Throw in some cheese, tomatoes and a creamy alfredo-pesto sauce, and I'm SURE you'll find some excuse to make this sometime soon. :)

You know what I said about overlapping ingredients? Well, I really like to do that. So every time I decide to do a cook that involves Spinach Pesto Manicotti, it has to include Pesto Chicken Penne as well - they both use about half of a 7.5 oz bottle of pesto, so that keeps things much easier for me. I know that I'll need 1 full bottle of pesto, rather than storing a half-used bottle in my fridge and waiting for another opportunity to use it. 

The original recipe comes from here, but the proportions are ALL KINDS of crazy. So I have made a lot of modifications and have finally tweaked it into a recipe that our family enjoys. It's one of those recipes that sneaks in some vegetables - YES!! :) Yummy spinach...

Pesto Chicken Penne
Ingredients:
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 TBSP Olive Oil
8 oz cooked penne pasta
3 cups cooked chicken (I always use shredded)
2 cups Italian blend cheese
2 cups baby spinach leaves
15 oz can diced tomatoes
4 oz prepared pesto sauce
7.5 oz prepared alfredo sauce
3/4 cup milk

1.  Combine bread crumbs, parmesan cheese and olive oil in a small bowl, just until moistened. Set aside.
2. Prepare pasta according to package directions. Drain Well.
3. Combine chicken, Italian cheese blend, spinach, tomatoes, pesto sauce, alfredo sauce and milk in a bowl. Add pasta, when done, and spoon mixture into baking pan. Top with bread crumb/parmesan cheese mixture.

To prepare immediately: Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.

To freeze: use foil pan, and double wrap the top with tinfoil. Place in freezer. When you decide to cook it, allow PLENTY of time to thaw. I recommend putting it in your fridge the night before, then moving it to your kitchen counter a few hours before you plan to bake it, just to be sure it's not a solid brick of food. Baking times will still vary. Bake at 350 for at least 45 minutes, it may take a bit longer, though.

Lazy Chicken

So I'm kind of curious as to how you will react to this recipe... It could go two very different ways. Either you'll be disappointed because it's so ridiculously simple OR you'll feel like you've hit the jackpot. Either way, I'm just glad you're reading. :)

Lazy Chicken is a recipe I picked up here, at my favorite crockpot recipe destination! This recipe is so amazingly easy and the possibilities really are endless! All you do is throw some chicken in the crockpot (I usually use 2 or 3 big chicken breasts), add a jar/bottle of your favorite sauce and cook on low all day. Then you use two forks to shred it and serve it however your heart desires. In the original recipe she uses chicken and red pasta sauce... as delicious as that probably is, I have never actually done it that way. Our favorite is bbq sauce, but we'll mix it up from time to time using various other bottles of Lawry's sauces or marinades. We probably should give that pasta sauce a try though...

Maybe that doesn't sound that exciting to you, but wait, there's more! :) You could follow those directions and cook it in the crockpot all day... OR you could thaw it and cook it on the grill... OR you could thaw it and bake it. How's THAT for versatile? Not only can you use whatever sauce tickles your fancy, you can cook it pretty much however you want as well! Oh, and then you can serve it in a variety of ways too - over pasta or rice, on a sandwich, by itself, etc....

Like I said before, our favorite is bbq sauce. I'll take it out and let it thaw in the fridge during the day, then Chris will grill it and we'll add some lettuce and tomato and eat it as bbq chicken sandwiches on those delicious 40-minute rolls. Oh yeah! I seriously need to make a couple of these each month...

Lazy Chicken

Ingredients:
2-3 large chicken breasts
1 bottle/jar of your favorite sauce/marinade

To make immediately: place chicken in crockpot, add sauce. Cook on low 6-8 hours. Shred with two forks, serve as desired.

To Freeze: place chicken in gallon-size freezer safe bag, add sauce. Freeze. :)
When ready to prepare, either follow directions above.
OR thaw and grill.
OR thaw and place in 8x8 baking dish. Bake at 350 for 30-ish minutes. I'm not so good with times, just check to make sure it's not pink in the center.

and Voila! Tell me that's not the easiest recipe ever...

Cilantro-Lime Chicken

Mexican food is basically a staple in our household. During our first couple of years of marriage, before I really had this cooking thing figured out, we ate fajitas and quesadillas several times a week. I actually kind of miss it - we would make some pretty amazing fajita quesadillas! Maybe we should make some soon...

Anyway, I've found a couple of recipes to incorporate our love of mexican food into our OAMC rotation. They're both equally delicious and they're both made in the crockpot, so the effort is minimal. YAY!

I'll go ahead and share one now, but save the other for later to keep you coming back for more. :) Prepare yourself for some DELICIOUS tacos! 

Yes, there is an excessive amount of salsa on this taco... but that's how I like it! 

Cilantro-Lime Chicken
2 cups prepared Salsa (the beauty of this is that you can choose whatever level of spice you like!)
1 (1.25 oz) package taco seasoning
1 lime
3 TBSP chopped fresh cilantro
3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts

To Prepare for today:
1. Place chicken breasts in the crockpot, combine salsa, taco seasoning and cilantro in a small bowl and pour over chicken. Squeeze lime juice over the mixture. (I usually squeeze out all of the lime juice, then throw the lime halves into the crockpot too, just to add a little extra lime-y flavor.)
2. Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours. Shred with two forks and serve with tortillas, cheese, sour cream, etc...

To Freeze:
1. Place all ingredients in freezer safe bag. Squeeze lime juice on top, then throw in those empty halves.
2. Cook and serve just as you would in the directions above!

This really is wonderfully juicy and delicious! And so easy too, right? Not very many ingredients, but they all come together beautifully! I always serve it as tacos, but you could definitely serve it over rice too - they're seriously that juicy! Or make some rice and beans and use it for burritos! There are lots of options and I highly doubt that you'll be disappointed with any of them.

The other beautiful part of this recipe is the speed with which it comes together on the day that we do our big cook. All you do is dump the ingredients in the bag and put it in the freezer! So quick and easy! I've been using this in our rotation since my very first try at OAMC and I imagine that won't be changing any time in the foreseeable future!

Honey Garlic Chicken

I'm sure we all have our go-to resource for recipes, right? I know I do... When I'm looking for a crockpot recipe (which happens QUITE often), the first place I peruse is this little blog.

I've used TONS of her recipes! I love the way she writes, I love her honesty (she'll tell you if it just did NOT work out), and I simply love her recipes (because I, too, love my crockpot... even if it does run too hot). Another plus is that all of her recipes are gluten free! Not that I need that... but you know, if I had to cook something for someone with a gluten allergy I totally could!

A few of the recipes from her site have made their way into my OAMC rotation,  including 3 packet pot roast, Salsa, chicken and black bean soup, Pepperoncini beef sandwiches, and plenty of others... my personal favorite being the Honey Garlic Chicken.



This was the first recipe (and still the only recipe, I believe) with which I use chicken thighs, and Oh.My.Goodness are they good! I don't have an aversion to dark meat, I've just always used chicken breasts. They're cheap, they're easy to use and they come in big quantities. All of which are big pluses in my book. So obviously, I was a little bit hesitant to follow the directions... but, being the obedient girl that I am and trusting Stephanie's judgment, I gave it a shot. And I'm totally glad that I did!

This chicken always turns out so moist and flavorful, and the sauce is AWESOME! I always spoon a bunch over my chicken and rice.... yeah, these leftovers don't last long. :)

This is the recipe almost exactly as it's found on her blog - one of the few recipes I haven't tweaked, it's just that good!


Honey Garlic Chicken Ingredients:
2 lbs boneless/skinless chicken thighs
1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
1/3 cup honey

To make immediately, place the chicken in the crockpot. Combine the other ingredients in a bowl. Mix well, then pour over the chicken. Cook on low for 5-7 hours. Serve over rice.

To Freeze: Throw all ingredients into a gallon-sized freezer bag and pop that bag right into the freezer. When you decide to cook it, just put the contents into the crockpot and cook as directed above. :) It's that simple!

Surprise!

Have you ever gone out on a limb and tried a brand new recipe just out of curiosity? I most definitely have. And while a lot of the times my high hopes end up being deflated by my crock pot's tendency to cook things WAY too fast, or my lack of culinary expertise, there is occasionally a recipe that makes being adventurous TOTALLY worth it!

I had an experience like this not too long ago... I found a recipe for red beans and rice and decided to check it out. I was REALLY hesitant - as I said before, my hubby's a little on the picky side, so I didn't think it would be something he'd be into... but I was willing to take that chance (it sounded WAY good to me! haha).

Now this is not a recipe that I'd ever even considered before because we're not really into soups and stews in our house (there are a few exceptions, of course). But this particular recipe is for the crockpot and I'm ALWAYS on the lookout for new/delicious/easy crockpot recipes, so I figured - why not?

The list of ingredients is pretty basic, and really inexpensive too (that's always a plus, right?). So even if my husband hated it, we could go pick up some Wendy's afterwards and still not have spent much on dinner. :)

Well, as the heading obviously suggests, we absolutely LOVED it! Like really loved it... like my DH has bragged about it to friends and family, and asked to have it every WEEK kind of loved it! YES! It's moments like those that make me feel like a hero of my little home - like I've accomplished an amazing feat, or created a priceless work of art. Oh, the simple joys of being a stay-at-home-mom... :) and then I do the dishes... haha

Anyway, here is the recipe. Go ahead and try it - take a risk and enjoy the wonderful rewards!



The ONLY adjustment I made, per my DH's request, was to leave out the cinnamon. The first few times I made it I left he cinnamon in. The change in flavor is very slight, so it may not make a difference for you either way, but that's the way we usually do it now.

Also, this is a staple on our OAMC list and it's super easy to convert to a freezer meal. You just throw everything except the water into a gallon-sized freezer bag. The day that you decide to cook it, pour the ingredients into the crockpot, measure 6 cups of water into the bag and then pour that in over the other ingredients (I do this because seasonings ALWAYS end up getting stuck to the insides of the bag and this way they all make it into the pot. AND who wants to make 6 trips back and forth between the sink and the crockpot? Not this girl...) Then simply cook as directed, serve over rice and enjoy! I hope this recipe is as successful in your home as it was in mine!

I love food.

I do. I really, really do. I love to eat it. I love the social nature of it - I mean, seriously, when you're coming up with things to do with a group of friends, eating is ALWAYS at the top of the list. Right:? Or is it just me? I even love to cook. Sometimes. As a mother of two very young children, there's not always a whole lot of time to slave over a delicious home-cooked meal. That is why I came to embrace once-a-month-cooking.

I was really nervous to give it a shot at first. The concept REALLY intrigued me but it seemed like so much work and it seemed like the grocery bill would be HUGE! But as the arrival of my second little one got closer and we decided we should try to move right before her grand entrance, I sucked it up and took the plunge.

That first time around I very ambitiously decided to make 23 meals! (WHAT?) Yes, that's right. I have since scaled back a bit, realizing that 23 meals lasts WAY longer than a month. But I was pregnant and moving and wanted to be overly prepared, just in case. While it was a ton of food and required lots of strategic planning and skillful arrangement within the freezer, it worked out beautifully! So beautifully, in fact, that I have been completely converted to the ways of OAMC.

While I can't confidently say that it is saving me tons and tons of money (we still make weekly trips to the grocery store for milk, bread, etc... and if the husband goes, there's no telling how much money he'll spend or what interesting treats he'll come home with - am I the only girl with this problem?!), I can assure you that dishes sometimit is saving us money because we aren't going out to eat... as often... (a girl still needs a break from doing the dishes!), and it is saving me time - which is SUPER valuable with little ones hanging around.

And THAT is precisely why I want to share this concept with other moms like me. I know it's nothing new - there are TONS of blogs around that give great insight into the world of OAMC, and while I've gotten a lot of great information from them, I have learned some things on my own that I think are worth sharing.

With a picky 2-year-old and almost-as-picky husband I've had to come up with my own recipes to attempt as freezer meals. It has been a lot of trial and error as I continue to perfect our ideal monthly menu, so what I will gladly pass along to you is what I have found to work best. With this first post, I wanted to include my family's all-time FAVORITE recipe for OAMC, Spinach Pesto Manicotti. (We've got several favorites and I'll pass them all along too, but I think my husband would dub this one his ULTIMATE favorite recipe.) I found it shortly after we got married and have making it at least once a month ever since. The original recipe is found here and I've really only made some minor changes...

Spinach Pesto Manicotti

Prep Time: 35 mins               Bake Time: 45 mins          Servings: 6

Ingredients:
8 oz. uncooked manicotti
1 lb extra lean ground beef (I like to use turkey!)
9 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
4 oz (1 cup) shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup purchased pesto (I use Classico)
1 egg
1 jar tomato pasta sauce

Directions:
Spray foil pan with cooking spray. Cook manicotti according to instructions on package until desired doneness. Drain. Rinse with cold water and drain well.

In a large bowl, combine ground beef (or turkey), spinach, mozzarella, pesto, and egg. Fill each manicotti with meat/cheese mixture. (I usually open each manicotti shell along one side, add the filling, then fold the top back over... nobody ever notices and it's WAY easier than trying to get all that filling into that little tube!) Place each filled manicotti in pan. Pour tomato sauce over the filled pasta. Cover with two layers of foil and place in the freezer.

Heating directions:
Thaw manicotti in fridge that day. Preheat oven to 400*. Bake covered for 40-45 minutes or until filling is no longer pink in the center. (The cooking time can really vary, so please check the center before digging in... it may require some self-control, but I don't want anybody getting sick!)