A Couple of Recipes

I am just loving those ideas you've written (or called) in. Keep 'em coming! In the mean time, I had promised Angie some new freezer cooking recipes so I thought I'd post them here for all to enjoy. If cooking is not your thing, I apologize. This just happens to be the topic on my mind this week. I will move on to other things when I've exhausted this one...or when I'm just plain exhausted. The latter will probably come first!

Hamburger Noodle Casserole (Thanks Kris!)
8 oz egg noodles
3 T. margarine
4 oz cheddar cheese--shredded-1 cup
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup cottage cheese
3/4 pound ground beef-browned
1/3 cup onions-chopped fine
1 1/2 cans tomato soup (10.75 oz cans)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2-1.5 quart casserole dishes

Cook noodles al dente. Drain, and add margarine. Stir to coat noodles, then cool. Once noodles are cooled, also add the cheddar, cottage cheese, and sour cream. Mix thoroughly. Brown ground beef, with onion, salt, and pepper. Drain meat and cool. Once meat is cool, add soup and mix thoroughly. Layer noodle mixture then meat mixture in each 1.5 quart casserole dish. Cover with saran, foil, label & freeze.

To prepare for serving: Thaw and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake covered for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake for another 15 minutes.


BBQ Cups (Thanks again Kris!)
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 cup BBQ sauce
4 oz cheddar cheese shredded
2 tubes large or giant refrigerated biscuits
4 quart-size ziploc bags
2 gallon size ziploc bags

Brown meat, onion, garlic and spices until meat is no longer pink. Drain fat. Divide BBQ sauce and meat into 2 1-quart bags. Divide cheese into 2 1-quart bags. Place a bag of meat mixture and a bag of cheese into each gallon bag. Label. Freeze.

To prepare for serving: Thaw. Warm meat mixture until heated through. Press biscuits onto the bottom and up the sides of greased muffin cups. Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of meat mixture into each muffin cup. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Top with cheese during the last 5 minutes of baking.


OK--This one has absolutely NOTHING to do with ground beef. The main ingredient is imitation crab meat. Maybe you Boston chics can buy giant tubes of imitation crab for 99 cents a pound since you live near the ocean. Actually, imitation crab is probably made from fish farmed in the Mid-West so we may be able to buy it cheaper. We'll have to compare. Anyway, it is a great freezer recipe that was received very well in my house, except for my son who does not like his food to touch, but he's funny like that. I'm sure he would have liked it if he would have tried it. He opted for PBJ instead. BUT, the little one said, "Mommy, dis dinnah yishish." (That means delicious in 2 year old language.)

Crab Shells (Thanks, yet again, Kris!)

6 T margarine, divided 2 and 4 T
6 green onions, chopped (1/2 cup)
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp Dijon style mustard
1/2 pound imitation crab meat, chopped or shredded
1 dash salt to taste
1 dash pepper to taste
12 jumbo pasta shells
4 T flour
2 1/2 cups milk
2 oz Parmesan cheese--1/2 cup divided 1/4 and 1/4 cup
2 1.5 quart casserole dishes

Cook pasta shells al dente. Cool. In a small saucepan or skillet melt 2 T of margarine. Add chopped green onion, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, crabmeat, and salt and pepper to taste. Sire over medium heat until heated through. Fill pasta shells with mixture and arrange shells in round baking dish that has been treated with non-stick spray.

In same skillet melt the remaining 4 T of margarine. Stir in flour. Remove from heat and gradually whisk in milk. Return to a boil and cook for 3 minutes, stirring. Stir in salt and pepper to taste, and 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese, stirring until the cheese melts. Pour sauce over shells, and top with remaining cheese. Cover with saran, foil, label and freeze.

To prepare for serving: Thaw and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake, covered, for 30 minutes.


If you need more recipes, let me know. My new freezer cookin' friend, Kris, gave me a ton. Plus I have a few favorites that I fall back on. I'm sure many of you have been subjected to my chicken broccoli ziti. Speaking of which, I had a major freezer cooking mishap with that one. While making the white sauce for this recipe, I accidentally scorched it. The bad news is that I didn't realize I had done it until I poured it over 4 whole 9x13" pans of chicken broccoli & ziti! I know it seems crazy that I didn't know, but I'm adjusting back to an electric stove (after having gas since college--that doesn't sound right, but you know what I mean!) and I thought that maybe something had dripped onto one of the burners and was making that awful smell. But NO, it was my white sauce that was now all over the chicken broccoli ziti! So now I have 3 pans of food that have a distinct smoky flavor and I'm too cheap to throw them away (we ate one for dinner that night--Bo said you can't taste the burn when you put hot sauce all over it). Maybe my next contest will be ideas on how not to waste 3 9x13" pans of chicken broccoli ziti. I was thinking that if we were invited to some large pot luck dinner where no one would have to know what we brought, I could quickly slip it onto the table and run away! That's just wrong, I know, but this is my blog and if I want to share my deepest, most evil thoughts, well, that's my prerogative. Feel free to comment.