Friday, August 29, 2008

Friends at the Park


We were able to visit our friends who moved to Pittsburgh recently. Here are some pictures of all the kids playing at the park.

What you don't see is me.... I was a very brave soul and wore my Philadelphia Eagles shirt in Pittsburgh Steeler territory. I got a few looks from people but I just smiled and showed my team spirit!

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Heavenly Chicken

I've gotten quite a few requests for the recipe to Heavenly Chicken. This is one of my "Once-a-Month" meals so at the bottom you can see immediate cooking instructions as well as freezing instructions. "Cooking Day" is the corporate cooking day at my house where we prepare all 30 meals. If you are making this for tonight, then just do all the steps today! This recipe is also part of Today's Housewife's Please Pass The Chicken Recipes.

Heavenly Chicken
1 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach
½ cup sliced green onion
2 TBSP margarine
2 TBSP flour
1 cup milk
1 cup soda cracker crumbs
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
8 boneless chicken breast halves, skinned
1 cup cooked cubed ham

PREPRATION PRIOR TO COOKING DAY: Cook and squeeze spinach to drain well.

CORPORATE COOKING DAY INSTRUCTIONS: Make white sauce: sauté onion in margarine over low heat until tender. Stir in flour, add milk all at once. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until bubbly. Boil and stir 1 minute more until smooth and thickened. Combine cracker crumbs and cheese. Dip chicken breast halves in crumb mixture to coat lightly. Arrange breast halves in a 13x9 baker that has been treated with nonstick spray. Seal leftover crumb mixture in ziplock bag.
Stir spinach and ham into white sauce, spoon sauce over chicken breasts. Allow to cool and cover baking dish with foil, attaching bag of crumb mixture to side of dish. Label with name and cooking instructions. Freeze until serving day.

SERVING DAY INSTRUCTIONS: Thaw and preheat oven to 350. Cover and bake for 60 to 75 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle top with crumbs. Bake 10 minute more.

SERVING TODAY: Don't cool, don't attach bag of crumbs, and don't freeze. Immediately after preparing meal, preheat oven to 350, cover and bake for 60-75 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle top with crumbs and bake 10 minutes more.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Dinner with friends

We had dinner last night with some friends. It's nice to be friends with your pastor and his wife! Unfortunately I was so preoccupied with playing hostess that I forgot to take some pictures. Lucky for me, my guests brought their camera. Check out the pics over here.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Cooking Day Arrived



We had a few bumps trying to get us all here but we finally made it. This month went considerably better than our first try in June and we finished and cleaned up by 2:30 yesterday. 3 ladies came to my house and we had a great time making our meals. My freezer is completely full and I still have 7 more meals in my fridge. One of those we will eat tonight and the rest will move to the freezer tomorrow once some of the Ziploc bag meals freeze flat and I can stand them straight up. Once again I had to take out my ice maker to get most of the meals fit. 3 of the ladies were repeats this month and we had one new gal who already wants to take this program to her Sunday school class members. Overall it was a very successful day and now we have lots of choices for dinners. I'll post my menu for next month's cooking when I have it prepared.