Fiesta Soup

From 30 day gourmet:

http://www.30daygourmet.com/recipes/1261.aspx

1 lb ground beef

1/2 c. chopped onion

15 oz diced tomatoes

12 oz Ro-Tel tomatoes

1 taco seasoning envelope

1 ranch dressing mix envelope

1 c. water

15 oz pinto beans

15 oz kidney beans

15 oz hominy or corn

Assembly Directions:

Brown the ground beef in a skillet with the onion. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix the tomatoes, Ro-Tel tomatoes, Taco seasoning, Ranch dressing, water, pinto beans, kidney beans and hominy. Do not drain any of the canned items before adding them. When the beef is cooked, drain it and add it to the soup mixture. Stir to mix well.

Freezing Directions:
Put soup into freezer bag(s). Seal, label and freeze.

Serving Directions:
Thaw. Place soup in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Calzones

I used the bread maker to make pizza dough. You can use a pizza dough recipe or store bought pizza dough. Here's the one for the bread machine.

Dough

1 C plus 2 Tbs Water

3 Tbs Olive Oil

1 tsp salt

4 tsp sugar

4 C All-Purpose Flour

2 1/2 tsp active yeast

Filling

4 C frozen broccoli

scant 2 C Ricotta Cheese

2 C Mozzarella Cheese

4 Garlic Cloves, Minced

To taste Pepper

12 Thin slices of Ham

1. Place all dough ingredients in the bread pan, select Dough setting, and press Start.

2. When the dough has risen long enough, the machine will beep. Turn off bread machine, remove bread pan, and turn out dough onto a heavily floured counter top or cutting board. Shape dough into a log.

With a sharp knife, divide dough into 12 pieces.

3. Grease a baking sheet. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

4. In a medium bowl, combine broccoli, cheeses, garlic and pepper; set aside.

5. With a rolling pin, roll each piece of dough into a 6-inch circle. On one half of each circle, place folded slice of ham, then spread 1/2 cup of broccoli mixture on top of ham. Fold each half of dough over filling. Seal well by pressing edges together with the tines of a fork. Brush each calzone with melted butter (see below).

Topping

4 Tbs Melted Butter

2 C Spaghetti Sauce

Parmesan Cheese to taste

6. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven. Serve warm with Spaghetti Sauce and Parmesan Cheese on the side.

**To freeze, allow to cool completely and then wrap in parchment paper and put in a freezer bag. When you are ready to eat, remove from freezer and place directly into preheated (350 degrees) oven and bake for 30-35 minutes.

**You can add almost anything to the inside of your calzone. You are not limited to the fillings I've listed here.

Recipe obtained from Bread Machine Magic: 138 Exciting Recipes Created Especially for Use in All Types of Bread Machines.

Pizza Braid

Dough:
• 1 pkg. (1 scant T.) yeast
• 1 c. very warm water
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 egg
• 2 T. butter
• 3 c. flour (I use 2/3 white, 1/3 whole wheat)
Filling: This is what I used on the braids this month. Feel free to
adjust to your liking!
• pepperoni, sliced in quarters
• chopped ham

• 1/2 jar spaghetti sauce
• 8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
Dissolve yeast in water; add sugar, salt, egg, butter and 1 1/2 cups
flour. Beat until smooth; add enough remaining flour until dough is
stiff enough to knead. Knead for 10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl
and let rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours. (I used rapid rise
yeast so I adjusted the mixing instructions accordingly - all dry
mixed together with yeast then add hot liquid - and it only had to
rise about 10 minutes). While dough is rising, mix pepperoni and ham (and any other fillings you want to use) with spaghetti sauce. Set aside. Punch down risen dough. Roll dough into
a rectangle on a greased cookie sheet. (I rolled it out on the table
then moved it to wax paper on a cookie sheet) Spoon meat filling down
the center of the dough. Top with mozzarella cheese. Cut 8 even
slits from the filling out to the edge of the dough. (You can use a
pizza cutter to do this. Hint: for even strips, slice your middle
strip first. Then slice the middle of the halves, then the middle of
the quarters. - Actually, I discover that it was easier to do this if
I put the dough on the wax paper on the table then after I finished
slid the wax paper onto the cookie sheet for freezing)
Start at one end and criss cross the dough strips.
Tuck the last strip under.

At this point I put the braid on the cookie sheet in the freezer for
an hour or so to flash freeze. Then I came back and wrapped it in labeled foil. If you are going to
bake your pizza right away, the wax paper isn't necessary.

Be sure unwrap your braid and place it on a baking sheet to thaw.
Bake for 15 minutes at 400*.

Serve with a side salad or veggie for a fun twist on pizza night.

Mile High Enchilada Pie

5-8 (6 inch) corn tortillas
1 jar (12 oz) prepared salsa
1 can corn, drained (or frozen corn)*
1 cup shredded cooked chicken (I actually used turkey)
1 cup shredded cheese

Slow cooker directions
Prepare foil handles for slow cooker (see below); place in slow cooker. Place 1 tortilla on bottom of slow cooker. Top with small amount of salsa, corn, chicken & cheese. (I found that mixing the salsa and chicken together first worked well - reserve some salsa for the top). Continue layering using remaining ingredients, ending with only salsa and cheese on the top tortilla. 7 seemed to be the magic number of tortillas for me for using all the ingredients. Cover; cook on low 6 to 8 hours or on high 3 to 4 hours. Pull out by foil handles. Garnish with fresh cilantro and slice of red pepper if desired.

For freezing, I made the foil handles by folding pieces of aluminum foil in thirds and placed them on a piece of wax paper. Then I assembled the tower and carefully moved it to a pan in the freezer. I let it flash freeze for an hour or so before I took it out and completely wrapped the pie in foil.

For Serving Day, remove outer foil and wax paper. Leave inner foil handles and place in crock pot. Cover. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on High for 3-4 hours. Pull out by foil handles.

*(The original recipe called for kidney beans instead of corn. The first time I made this recipe I just omitted the beans and served corn on the side. We ended up mixing the corn with the pie so I decided to substitute corn in the recipe for the beans. I think olives might also be a nice touch but I haven't tried that.)

Chicken Stir Fry

3 cups diced chicken

1 head of broccoli – chopped

1 onion – sliced

1 cup (+/-) carrots

1/2 cup soy sauce (plus extra for marinade)

2 tablespoons brown sugar

Cut chicken, marinate in soy sauce, and cut in skillet w/1-2 tablespoons of oil. Cool and Freeze.

Combine Soy Sauce and Brown Sugar, freeze

Cut vegetables and freeze individually pieces. Once frozen combine vegetables in freezer bag or container.

COOKING DAY –

Thaw chicken and sauce mixture.

Cook frozen vegetables in hot skillet with 1-2 Tablespoons of oil. Add chicken and sauce, cook until warm.

Serve with cooked rice.