Make Ahead Meals

A coworker of mine is going in for surgery tomorrow to remove some cancerous growths. I can only imagine what he is going through and I’m sure he is a mix of emotions. He is a single guy and doesn’t have much help from his family. A few of us at work have pitched in to make some meals for him since he will be off his feet for a few weeks. I thought I would share my freeze ahead meals.

Four Cheese Tortellini

• 2 (10 oz.) pkgs. refrigerated or frozen cheese tortellini, uncooked
• 28 oz. jar spaghetti sauce
• 1 cup water
• 1-1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In 3 quart glass baking dish, mix tortellini, spaghetti sauce, and water. Make sure all tortellini is coated with sauce. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Cover tightly with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Uncover and bake 10 minutes longer, until tortellini is tender. Once pasta has cooled, place in container to freeze.

Last minute preparation:

Remove pasta from the freezer. Unwrap, place into casserole dish, cover and allow to thaw overnight in the refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 350. Cook for 30 minutes. Top with the Parmesan and Mozzarella and continue to cook for another 15 minutes or until cheese is melted and pasta is heated through.

Breakfast Burritos

• 12 eggs
• 2 cups cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
• 1 cup chopped veggie trio (red, peppers, green peppers, onions)
• 1/2 cup milk
• salt & pepper to taste
• 24 medium flour tortillas OR 10 large flour tortillas
• salsa

Make-Ahead Preparation:

In a large bowl, lightly beat the eggs with the milk and salt and pepper.

Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add the egg mixture and cook, stirring constantly, being careful not to brown the eggs, until cooked through.

While the eggs are cooking, place your tortillas on a microwave-safe dish and cover with plastic wrap. Heat for 30 to 45 seconds or until tortillas are just slightly warm. (Warming the tortillas makes them more pliable. If your tortillas are already soft enough to roll, you can omit this step.)

When the eggs are cooked through, stir veggies.

Place ½ cup egg mixture into each tortilla (more if using larger tortillas); sprinkle with cheese and top with some salsa. Roll them up burrito-style.

Wrap each tortilla in tin foil, place on a large baking sheet and freeze. Once frozen through, transfer the burritos in batches to ziploc bags. Freeze for up to one month.

Last Minute Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove burritos from Ziploc bags and heat in the tin foil for 10 to 15 minutes or until heated through.

I can't take complete credit for these.  I believe I found them here.  I did adjust the pasta dish, it calls for alfredo cheese sauce, but I don't care for that and I bought four cheese tortellini, I thought there was plenty of cheese.  :)  I also thought about adding sausage or bacon to the burritos, but decided against it, maybe next time!

Photography Challenge: Orange

Orange has always been my favorite color!  When I was 2 years old, my mom wanted to have two year old pictures taken.  I insisted on an orange dress, and I have been hooked on the color ever since.  I promise I did not choose my college based on color, I'm just lucky!  I love wearing orange, my room at home is yellow and orange, I decorate my home with hues of orange and red.  I try to mix things up and I am still drawn to those colors.  One of the hardest though was my wedding.  I really wanted a fall wedding, because the colors would be perfect, but I ended up getting married in the winter.  Still that did not deter me, I was dead set on orange bridesmaid dresses!  I think the bridesmaid dresses took the cake, they were difficult to find.  But I love how they turned out.  So this week's challenge is easy!  Although I did not take some of these photos, they are some of my favorites!

Photography Challenge: Week #10

This week's challenge is hands.  I had the exact same thought LB did, since I don't have a child, I was going to use Miles as my subject.  But, since I have used Miles as my subject in most of the other challenges, I thought it would be best to choose someone else.  Check out how great LB's hand's picture turned out here.

I used my grandmother's hands for a previous post so I thought it would be best to use again. 



Pintest Inspired Diner Recipe

I pinned a recipe on Pinterest not too long ago for this soup...

1 can of Rotel

1 can of corn

1 can of black beans (drained and rinsed)

2 frozen chicken breasts

8 oz cream cheese

1 packet of dry ranch dressing

1 tablespoon cumin

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon chili powder

Put all ingredients in a crock pot and cook for 6-8 hours.

Shred chicken

I had been anxious to try it and also excited about the idea of cold enough weather to warrant making a soup.  Well, this week has definitely been cooler and I just couldn't wait any longer.  Plus, it's a crockpot meal, which are so easy!!

I ended up changing up the recipe.  I didn't have black beans, but had chili beans on hand.  I didn't have a packet of dry ranch, which I don't like much anyway.  And I didn't have a full 8 oz of cream cheese.  But, I went with what I had and I was plesently surprised with how it turned out.

Here are my ingredients:

1 can of Rotel (I used a Cilantro Lime Rotel, it's what I had)

1 can of corn

1 can of chili beans

2 frozen chicken breasts

a chuck of cream cheese (next time I would probably add a little more)

1 tablespoon garlic powder (roughly, I didn't measure)

1 tablespoon chili powder (roughly, again, I didn't measure)

Packet of Tequila Lime marinade (I used about half)

Put all ingredients in crock pot, I cooked on low for about 9 hours

Shred chicken

Mine did not come out as a soup, it was more of a stew.  I made some chicken fajita rice to go with it.  I served the stew over the rice in a bowl, it's a little less messy.  Plus I enjoyed mixing it all together.  Unfortunately I didn't take any picutres, but did take a picture of the finished dish. 

Ryan loved it and it was so easy, I will definitely be making this again.  He is even willing to eat as left overs (he hates left overs!!) it's that good!!