OWC - Week 2 - Mexican Fiesta

Once a Week Cooking (a take off of OMC Once a Month Cooking).
The beauty of this cooking plan is your food doesn't necessarily need to be frozen.

This is my general plan...

1 Crock-pot Meal
3 Casserole Meals
1 Oven Bake Meal
1 Stove-top Meal or Toaster Oven/Rotisserie Meal

I get my recipes ready, (trying to do some dishes that are a little bit the same to make it easier), check to make sure that I have my ingredients (if not I send Mister off to the store), and get started right after church.

OWC - DETAILS
Here is how this weeks cooking batch went. First I place my beef roast in the crock pot and poured barbecue sauce over the top (about 1 cup) and started it on high.  I placed the ham in the oven. I took a full 3 pounds of ground beef and browned it and drained it.  Then I cooked 2 pounds of bacon (crumbled the bacon and split into two servings), saving the grease.  Then I sauteed 1 diced onion in the bacon grease and drained, split it into two servings. Then I boiled the frozen chicken breasts in a large pot on the stove top (until white and no longer pink inside).  Then I assembled all the dishes, removed my ham (and upped the temperature) and then placed all my casserole dishes in the oven and cooked them.  Removed them and placed refrigerator for the week! So easy... seriously.

Weekday Breakfast - Cheesy Breakfast Casserole
I decided to take charge of breakfast this week and make something that would give our entire family a jump start with lots of energy.  I will be honest... it was so good I had it for lunch during the week two times!  Another great addition would be eggs (we were out).

Ingredients

1 & 1/2 can of condensed cream of chicken soup.

1 & 1/2 (16 oz) container of sour cream

2 pounds hash browns (frozen type but let it thaw)

2 chicken breasts cubed (precooked)

1 & 1/2 cup diced ham (precooked)

1 pound of crumbled bacon (precooked)

1 package sausage (precooked)

1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese

1 & 1/2 cup crushed potato chips

1/4 cup melted butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Combine hash browns, sour cream, soup, and meat. Mix thoroughly.

3. In 9x13 oven safe casserole dish spread mixture evenly.

4. Layer over top of mixture, cheese and then chips.

5. Drizzle butter over top

6. Bake for 20 minutes or until bubbly.

Sunday - Spiral Ham

Nothing more pleasing to the nose than a honey ham in the oven warming.  So easy.  And makes fantastic cold cuts for lunches during the week.

Ingredients

1 spiral ham

1 can pineapple slices

1/2 cup brown sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 250 F.

2. Place ham in a deep baking pan (to collect the juices), cover with tin foil and place in oven. (Heat for 10 minutes per pound. Example -10 pounds = 1 hour 40 minutes.

3. 20 minutes before ham is done combine juice from canned pineapple and brown sugar and heat over medium low on stove top stirring constantly until bubbly, when thickened remove foil from ham and pour glaze carefully over the top.  Finish baking.

4. Remove ham and let sit for 10 minutes.

Monday - Easy Mexican Casserole

I love that this recipe has the word easy in it! It has to be easy right? YES! It was in fact super easy and very good. Ground beef, chips, salsa, cheese and beans... how could you go wrong?

Ingredients

1 & 1/2 pound ground beef

2 & 2/3 cups chunky salsa

16 oz canned chili beans (drained)

4 cups tortilla chips (crushed)

2 & 2/3 cups sour cream

1 & 1/4 (2 ounces) cans sliced black olives (drained)

1/2 chopped onion

2 & 2/3 cups shredded Cheddar Cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Brown ground beef in large skillet on medium heat (until beef is no longer pink). Drain out grease into small sauce pan and saute onions. Then add salsa and onions to beef and simmer for 20 minutes add beans.

3. Spray 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. 

4. Take chips and place them in a large ziplock back and crush into 1/4-1/2 inch sized chips, measure out 4 cups and place in bottom of pan.

5. Layer beef, sour cream, cheese and olives over chips.

6. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minute or until cheese is hot and bubbly.

Tuesday - Chicken Pot Pie Soup

We just LOVE Chicken Pot Pie's and this soup was not a disappointment.  So creamy and perfect for a cold day.  It had all the goodness of a Chicken Pot Pie and was a hit with each one of my kiddos.

Ingredients

4 chicken breast cubed (precooked)

2 (16 oz) packages frozen veggies (we chose corn and peas)

2 (10.75 oz) cans condensed cream of potato soup

2 (10.75 oz) cans condensed cream of chicken soup

4 cups skim milk

Directions

In a large pot combine chicken, mixed veggies, all soups, and milk. Heat thoroughly.  Crumble your favorite crackers over the top and pepper to taste.

Wednesday - Beef Nacho Casserole

This dish was such a surprise!!! It seriously was so good, that Miss Queenie said it was the best dish so far! AND she actually had two huge helpings. It was gone in nothing flat and sadly not a drop of leftovers.  I will be making a double dish of this next time.  It had a surprisingly sweet taste to it and wasn't too spicy at all.

Ingredients

1 & 1/2 pound of ground beef 

2 cups of chunky salsa

1 large (10 oz) can of corn (drained)

1 cup of (miracle whip or mayonnaise which ever one you prefer... we did mayo)

1 & 1/4 teaspoon of chili powder

2 & 2/3 cup crushed tortilla chips

2 & 2/3cup of Colby Cheese (shredded)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Place ground beef in skillet and cook over medium-high heat. Cook until beef is crumbled and browned throughout. Drain. 

3. Mix into skillet meat, salsa, corn, mayo and chili powder.

4. In 2 quart casserole dish layer beef mixture, chips and cheese (2x) ending with cheese on top.

5. Bake for 20 minutes uncovered until cheese is bubbly.

Thursday - Barbecued Beef

This is such a great dish because you can eat it plane or you can spoon it over sourdough bread open face or have it in a roll as a sandwich.  

Ingredients

1 beef roast

1 cup of barbecue sauce

Directions

1. Place beef roast in crock pot and set to high heat for 6 hours

2. Pour 1 - 2 cups of barbecue sauce over top of roast.

3. 4 hours into baking shred beef with 2 forks, continue cooking or 2 more hours.

Friday - Teriyaki Chicken Parmesan Bake  

This was tasted like an elaborate dish but was super easy and so good!  Mister and I devoured our portions quickly and moved on to the kiddos leftovers. No really it was that good.

Ingredients

1 pound of bacon (precooked)

6 chicken breasts (precooked)

1/2 chopped onion (sauteed)

2/3 cup teriyaki sauce

1 & 1/3 cup Ranch style salad dressing

1 cup grated Parmesan Cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F

2. Place chicken breasts in oven safe cooking dish.  

3. Crumble bacon over the top of each chicken breast

4. Over the top of each chicken breast pour ranch dressing, sprinkle cheese, pour teriyaki sauce.

5. Bake for 20 minutes.

6. When serving make sure to ladle out drippings and pour over the top of chicken breast.

If you have any questions on any of these dishes or how I do a big cooking job, please ASK!  :-)
AND.... I would LOVE to hear about how your cooking adventure goes, how you liked the dishes or if you made any changes.

Happy cooking!
-Sister Pester

P.S. Once a month cooking is a big cooking project where you freeze meals.  Once a week is a smaller version where you can actually keep the dishes in your refrigerator.

OWC Week 1

Once a week cooking?

When I had less children and more time, I used to do OMC (Once a month cooking).

I would love to do it again, but for now, I am starting up with OWC (Once a week cooking).

We have been eating out too much.

We haven't been eating 'good' food.

We (namely me) have been gaining weight.

I made the decision to take charge and to first start cooking meals for my family again.

Next I will covertly change those meals to low fat, high nutrition meals, but for now I am working on just meals made at home.

This is extremely important considering, I haven't cooked at home in ohhhhhh lets say 4 years? Okay that is an exaggeration, but really it has been a LONG time.  Why you say?

I had a new baby and we were prepping to move to Hawaii.

Moved to Hawaii, across that great big ocean.

Got settled a bit, then moved to a new house.

Got settled a bit, then moved to a new house.

(Do you see a trend here?)

Got settled a bit, then moved to a new house.

Got settled a bit, then moved packed up and move back to the mainland.

I had a new baby....

Got settled a bit, then moved to a new house.

Yes, all within the last 4 years.

Phew, I am tired just reading all of that, and cannot believe we have lived it.

So yes, cooking was on the back burner.

Whatevah!  EXCUSES!!!

So we went shopping yesterday and bought all my supplies.

I made out my meal plans.

And then assembled and cooked the better half of the afternoon.

Including Sunday nights dinner in the Toaster Oven that has a Rotisserie option. (Which I WAY over cooked, because I was dealing with the other dishes and had the heat up too high...oops!  So I took the now special 'Cajun' meat out diced it up, set it aside, while I quickly sauteed red bell peppers, red onions in olive oil, tossed with left over pasta I had from the other dishes of the day and mixed with cream of mushroom soup and the meat). YUMMY!

Here is our plan for the week...

Sunday - Roast in the Rotisserie toaster oven

We just LOVE our little toaster oven and use it for just about everything.  Doing a rotisserie roast is perfect when you are home to enjoy the yummy smells!

This is a family favorite. Just make sure that you have a pan to catch all the yummy drippings (you can make it into a dipping sauce for later if you want).

Ingredients

1 Medium sized roast.

Seasonings

Directions

Easy!  Just rub the roast with your favorite seasonings. Our 2 favorites are Red Baron Barbecue Spice and Porterhouse and Roast Seasoning.  There are many other great options, these are just our favorites. Set the oven to go and let it cook for 3 hours.

Monday - Roasted Sticky Chicken

This is an old tried and true recipe!  I always make this when having a family gathering and we get rave reviews.  It falls off the bone and is just spicy enough to make you salivate but not too spicy to burn the kiddos mouths.

*(not precooked, instead I prepped it Sunday with everything else and had it sitting in the dish pan letting the spices permeate overnight and started it in the oven first thing in the morning).

Ingredients
4 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 onions, quartered
2 (4 pound) whole chickens

Directions
1. In a small bowl, mix together salt, paprika, onion powder, thyme, white pepper, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder. Remove and discard giblets from chicken. Rinse chicken cavity, and pat dry with paper towel. Rub each chicken inside and out with spice mixture. Place 1 onion into the cavity of each chicken. Place chickens in roasting pan and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight, or at least 4 to 6 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C).

3. Remove plastic wrap and cover with tin foil for first 2 hours. Bake for 3 more hours uncovered and drizzle with drippings every 30 min. Bake until a minimum internal temperature of 180 degrees F (85 degrees C). Let the chickens stand for 10 minutes before carving.

Tuesday - Pizza Casserole

Brand NEW recipe and can I just say YUM!  So easy to make, very little prep and was very easy to reheat!

Can I just say my family LOVED this!  SO GOOD!  We are going to LOAD it up with yummy goodness next time and put more toppings inside the casserole instead of just on top.

Ingredients

1 bag of your favorite pasta (we used bow ties)

1 extra large jar of spaghetti or pizza sauce

3 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese

1 1/2 lbs hamburger meat

1 package pepperonis

1 can of olives (if you choose)

1 package sausage (if you choose)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (120 degree C).

2. Boil pasta until soft.

3. Brown meat in skillet on stove - top. (drain, but don't rinse).

4. Layer ingredients (pasta, meat, sauce, cheese and repeat, then put pepperonis and olives on top).

5. Cook covered with tinfoil for 30 minutes.

6. Place in refrigerator until ready to serve, when ready to serve reheat without tinfoil.

Wednesday - Pot Roast

This is a fabulous meal to make ahead of time or for an all day cooking project. We cooked this all day and then reheated it for our evening dinner. It needed at least 1 hour to reheat in the crock.

Lots of gravy and can be spooned over sourdough toast or over rice to make it extra special.  We served it with Hawaiian sweet rolls.

Ingredients

1 Medium sized roast

1 packet Lipton Onion dried Soup Mix

2 cups of carrots

1 onion

4 red potatoes

2 cans of condensed mushroom soup

1.5 cans of water

Directions

1. Dice potatoes and onions, then place over the roast in the crockpot.

2. Add carrots, mushroom soup, Lipton Onion Soup Mix and water over the top.

3. Cook for 6 hours on highest setting.

4. When served make sure to dice up roast meat.

Thursday - Chicken and Rice Bake

This is a childhood favorite of mine.  Smells fantastic when cooking and is a pleaser for any age.

An added bonus is that it is so great as leftovers and is yummy the first time around!

Ingredients

2 cups of uncooked rice

1/2 bag of frozen corn

4 boneless skinless frozen chicken breasts

2 cans of cream of mushroom soup

1 can of water (after you empty it of mushroom soup)

1/2 cup French Fried Onions.

Sprinkle of season salt 

Sprinkle of pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Then in an oven safe cooking dish (9x13), spread evenly in the bottom 2 cups of uncooked rice. Place 3-4 frozen skinless/boneless chicken breast over the top of the rice. 1/2 cup French Fried Onions sprinkled in open spaces between chicken breasts. 1/2 cup of frozen corn in open spaces between chicken breasts.  Spoon 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup evenly over the top of all layers. 1 can of water (after you have emptied soup mixture), over entire mixture. Sprinkle salt and pepper to flavor.

2. Cover pan with tinfoil and place in warmed oven for 40 minutes.

3. Slice chicken breast in half to ensure no pink in the middle.

Friday - Teriyaki Meatball Pasta Casserole

We had this for the first time and served it to others and everyone lapped it up!  So yummy with just a little kick of spiciness.

Was great reheated!  Took us back to our Hawaiian days with our Luau's and fun cookouts on the beach.  Aloha!

Ingredients

1 package of your favorite noodles

1 can of pineapple slices 

2 red bell peppers

1 onion

1 package of your favorite precooked meatballs

3 Chicken Bouillon Cubes

1/2-1 cup of Teriyaki Sauce

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Boil pasta in large pot with chicken bullion cubes, drain.

3. Dice peppers, pineapples and onions.

4. Then in an oven safe cooking dish (9x13), spread evenly in the bottom the cooked pasta.  Arrange meatballs, diced onions, diced pineapple and diced bell peppers.

5. Pour over the top of all ingredients Teriyaki Sauce.

6. Cover pan with tinfoil and place in warmed oven for 30 minutes (or until bell peppers are soft).

Happy Cooking!

~Sister Pester
P.S. Saturday we had leftovers from each meal :-)