How To Make 38 Frozen Burritos for Lunches

This post is for my friend Maria.  We were talking the other day about how I make  freezer burritos and I thought I would put it in a post for her.  And you.  Whoever else is reading this.

This is one of my favorite projects because these burritos taste soooo good.  The hubby likes to take them in his lunches.  I like them when mac & cheese and dino chicken nuggets are on the menu and would prefer something else.

You can also use these for a quick dinner.  Place 4-6 burritos in an oven safe dish.  Cover with a can of green enchilada sauce and cheese.  Bake until warmed through.  Yum.

There are two main parts to my freezer burritos: homemade refried beans and sweet pulled pork.  They are both made in the crock pot and are both very easy.

THE BEANS.  Homemade refried beans taste vastly better than canned stuff and they are super easy to make.  I use this recipe I posted for the beans.  There are only two changes I make since that first post.  I add bacon grease from 1/2 to 1 pound of cooked bacon and I no longer remove any water.  I just cook them down after blending.

THE PULLED PORK.  I wish I had two crock pots.  Then I could made the pork in one and beans in the other.  Since I don't.  I will make the pork one day and beans the next.  Or the other way around.  Here is what I throw in for the pork.

3 lbs. pork roast

1 16 oz. jar of green salsa

1 c. brown sugar

I cook on low for 8-10 hours and then shred it.

Once the beans and pork are done you can assemble your burritos.  I use flour tortillas.

First a little beans . . .

Next a little pork . . .

Then some shredded cheese . . .

Roll them up and freeze them on a cookie sheet.  This will prevent them from sticking together when you put them in a bag.  You can also wrap them individually, but I usually don't bother.  This makes a lot, but it depends on how much of the ingredients you put inside.

Bountiful Basket Freezer Meals

A few weeks ago it occurred to me that a great way to use all the vegetables in my Bountiful Basket would be to create freezer meals.  I often don't get a chance to use all the veggies when they are at their freshest.  Creating meals and freezing them seems like a win win.  Fresh vegetables and meals that are ready to go. 

Not all the veggies in a bountiful basket will freeze well.  So here are the ones I am planning on using:

Spinach

3 Zucchini

Cabbage

I think I will create a freezer meal for each of them.

Spinach artichoke dip chicken

Pork chops with zucchini casserole and stuffing

Cabbage burgers

Spinach artichoke dip chicken

For this one I think I will just wilt the spinach in some garlic and butter.  I will add that to a spinach artichoke dip recipe like this one.  Before cooking it I plan on freezing the mix.  When I am ready to cook I will probably place several chicken breasts in the crock pot, cover them in the dip and cook until the chicken is done.  

Pork Chops with zucchini casserole and stuffing

This will be another crock pot meal.  I found this recipe that looks easy and yummy.  I think it will be easy to mix the soup, sour cream and the veggies together and freeze them.  When I am ready to cook I can mix the stuffing and the butter together.  Then layer half the stuffing, pork chops, veggies and soup, and last the other half of the stuffing.  Cook until the pork chops are done.

Cabbage Burgers

This one is a favorite.  I found this recipe some time ago and have made them two or three times since.  I like to use my pizza dough recipe, but am sure the frozen bread dough would be good too.  They freeze beautifully and make great lunches on the go.

There you have it.  Three freezer meals from the Bountiful Basket veggies this week.  

Slow Cooker Coconut Chicken Curry: Review

Would it surprise you to know that I didn't take a picture?  Oh, well.  Life is busy and I am mostly happy that I managed to make dinner and blog about it.  How about another moving picture instead?

 

What I put in my crock pot:

1-2 lbs chicken, cubed (I would lean towards more meat, just sayin')
1 whole onion, diced
1 t. garlic, diced
1/4 c. dehydrated bell pepper (use 1 whole green pepper diced)
1 6 oz. can of tomato paste
1 15 oz. can coconut milk
1 1/2 t. salt
1 T. curry powder
1 T. garam masala (I made my own with this recipe)

I cooked it on high for about 5 hours.  It smelled wonderful.  I served it over white calrose rice.

What I thought:

This one has by far been one of the best slow cooker recipes I have made.  I loved it.  The flavors were wonderful and my 5 year old had seconds.

In addition, this one would work really well as a freezer meal.  I will not hesitate to make this one again.  And again.

Slow Cooker Pizza Soup: Review

This is the second meal that I said I was going to make this week.  This one isn't really new for us because I am pretty sure I have made it before, but I haven't posted it.

I didn't take a picture of this one either.  I almost took a picture of a bowl of leftovers I had for lunch today but Kimball was playing Angry Birds Star Wars on my phone so I couldn't take a picture.  Plus the table was a mess and I didn't want to clean it before stuffing my face.

So how about this for a picture?

Lol.  He totally makes me laugh.

Anyway, here is what I put in my crock pot:

2 c. homemade spaghetti sauce from the freezer
6 c. water
1 small onion, diced
1/4 c. dehydrated bell peppers (use 1 whole bell pepper diced)
1 small package of cherry tomatoes, quartered (use 1 can diced tomatoes drained)
1 c. pepperoni, sliced and quartered
3/4 lb. mild Italian sausage, sliced and browned
1/4 wagon wheel pasta, added in the last half hour

I served it with a generous helping of mozzarella cheese and garlic pull-apart bread.

You could also add mushrooms to this or even black olives.  Mmmmm.

What I thought:

This on is a winner all around.  Everyone ate it.  The cheese is a must and makes it taste just like pizza.  It probably won't satisfy a real pizza craving because it's soup after all, but it's close.

I also think this would be a pretty easy freezer meal.  You would have to brown the sausage before freezing, but that's not too much trouble.  I would also leave out the water and add it to the crock pot when ready to cook.

Slow Cooker Scalloped Potatoes: Review

I didn't take a picture of my food.  To be honest I was hungry and anxious to get the kids fed so I could stuff them in bed and call it a night.  But I know that it's nicer to read a blog post with pictures,so how about this one?

Ha ha!!  I don't know how google+ does these little moving pictures, but this one makes me laugh!  Well, on to the food ...

What I put in the Slow Cooker:

3-4 medium-ish potatoes, sliced into rounds
1 large head of broccoli, chopped
1 cup turkey ham, diced
1-2 cups grated cheese, Monterrey jack and cheddar mix
1 can cream of chicken
1 can of milk

I assembled the items in layers.  First potatoes, then broccoli, ham and cheese. Another layer of potatoes, then broccoli ham and cheese.  I topped it off with another layer of potatoes and a little more cheese.  Then I mixed the soup and the milk together and poured it over the entire thing.  I cooked it on low for about 7.5 hours.

My thoughts:

I would say this was a success.  I was surprised to see that some of the potatoes browned on top, at least the ones near the edges. I thought the broccoli would turn to mush, and it was soft, but not gross.

Bryce and the boys liked it.  I thought it was good too.  Not fabulous, but Bryce said he liked it well enough to make it again.  When I do, I will make a few changes.

First, I used turkey ham and Bryce doesn't like the texture.  He also would like it in a smaller dice.

Second, I am unsure that this would make a great freezer meal.  I really liked the layering.  This would be hard to replicate if you dumped all the ingredients in the bag, froze it and then dumped them into the crock pot.  Also, I am a little wary of frozen potatoes.  However, I do think this would work with frozen broccoli.

This was a very easy meal to assemble.  The boys liked it, so I will make it again.

Cream of Chicken Soup for the Soul

I have a confession to make.  The last three recipes I cooked for my family were made with cream of chicken soup.  Not only that, but I will probably make them all again.  Because, yes, they were that good.

 I have mixed feelings about canned cream of chicken soup (hereinafter referred to as CCCS).  I'm a believer in the whole foods revolution. I don't want all of my food to come from a factory. I know there is crap in those cans of soup that I probably don't want in my body, or in the bodies of my children. But I'll be honest. I am eight months pregnant and pretty happy to be putting food on the table on a regular basis. So, don't judge. If you have sworn off CCCS you can stop reading now. You don't need to glory in my recipe success the way I do.  But ya know, these recipes were all easy. And these days, I am all about easy.



Recipe 1:  Curry and Rice

1 CCCS
1 T. curry powder
1-2 t. sugar
1/2-1 lb. cooked shredded chicken
1/2 c. frozen peas
Cooked rice

I didn't even use a recipe for this one.  I just mixed a CCCS with a tablespoon of curry and about a teaspoon or two of sugar added some cooked shredded chicken and some peas.  Heated it all in a sauce pan and served it over rice.  Even my two year old ate it.  He usually takes one look at what I put in front of him and says "No like it" before even tasting it.  It took a little coaxing (and maybe a few threats) to get over that hump, but he did eat it.  And he did like it.

Source: allrecipes.com via Katherine on Pinterest

Recipe 2: Crock Pot Salisbury Steak

2 lb. ground beef
1 pkg. onion soup mix
1/2 c. bread crumbs
1/4 c. milk
2 CCCS
1 pkg dry au jus mix
3/4 c. water

This recipe was a pin I stuck on my crock pot Pinterest board.  I made it to take to dinner at my in-laws.  We ate it with instant mashed potatoes and canned green beans and it was delicious.  Although next time I will probably make it with cream of mushroom soup instead.

Anyway, all you do is mix the beef, the onion soup mix, bread crumbs together and milk and then form 8 patties.  Brown them in a little oil and place them in the crock.  Mix the CCCS, au jus mix and water together and pour over the patties.  Cook on low for about 6 hours or high for 4.  Makes lots of yummy gravy.

Recipe 3: Creamy Pesto Sauce

1 CCCS
1/3-1/2 c. pesto
1/2 c. milk
1/2 lb. pasta uncooked (I used penne)
2 c. cooked shredded chicken

My sister-in-law and I made a TON of pesto this summer.  She grew an abundance of basil in her garden and we turned lots of it into pesto.  Now I have the pleasure of coming up with things to do with it.  Here is one that I will be making again because it's easy and the kids scarfed it down.  My four year old even had seconds.  When does that happen?

Just mix everything but the pasta in a sauce pan.  Obviously, you will want to boil the pasta before eating it, but I think you might have figured that out on your own.  When the pasta was done I mixed it into the sauce, but you don't have to follow my lead.

Well, there you have it: three easy meals from a pregnant lady.

Easy Caramel Popcorn

I have fond memories of making caramel popcorn on a Sunday afternoon when I was a kid.  I remember that it took a long time to cook the caramel and that it had to get to a soft ball stage.  I liked dripping some into a bowl of cold water to see if it formed a ball.  I didn't like how long it too.

Well, this last Sunday my childhood memories got the best of me and I was craving caramel popcorn.  Of course no one can find the recipe we used as kids so I found this one that seemed simple enough.  And wow!  Super simple, super fast, and super delicious.  No more lumps of caramel in a water bowl.  But I think I can get over that.

Caramel Popcorn

1 cup of unpopped popcorn, popped in a air popper

2 sticks butter

2 cups brown sugar

1/4 cup dark Karo syrup

We put all the popcorn in a large stock pot so we could cover it all at once.  Melt the butter on medium.  Add sugar and Karo.  Turn up the heat slightly and bring to a boil.  Boil one minute.  Stir into popcorn.

It's that easy.  The hard part is no eating it for breakfast.

Cinnamon Applesauce Pancakes/Waffles

Remember how clear back in October I mentioned that I had made some pancakes like these?  Well, I never got around to the post.  They were really too good not to share and we made them again this morning only as waffles.  The recipe works well for either pancakes or waffles.

I am also dedicating this post to my sis, Charlotte, because they use applesauce.  (Now you have something else to do with all that canning we did last year.)

Cinnamon Applesauce Pancakes/Waffles

1 c. wheat flour (Char, you can use all white if you don't want to break out your Blentec)
1/2 c. white flour
1/4 c. corn meal
1 T. baking powder
2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. salt
1/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. milk
 1/4 c. oil
1/2 c. appleasuace

Ginger Snaps for a Cold Wintery Day

It's been snowing where I live.  A lot.  We live near the mouths of both Little Cottonwood and Big Cottonwood Canyons.  It seems like the snow has barely taken a breather since yesterday morning.  I bet there is at least a foot and a half out there.

We did try to measure it, but it said that it was only a foot.  None of us believed it.

The snow caused me to cancel some plans that I was really looking forward to.  As compensation I made these ginger snaps with my two favorite cooks.  They are a really big help.  Sort of.

We ate them warm out of the oven.  Such a treat with so much snow outside.

Ginger Snaps

3/4 c. shortening
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. molasses
1 egg
1 T. ground ginger
2 t. baking soda
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. salt
1 c. whole wheat flour
1 c. white flour
more sugar for rolling

Cream the shortening and sugar together.  Add the molasses and egg and mix a little more.  Next mix in all the spices.  Add the flours last and mix until combined well.

Make balls of dough and roll in sugar.  I used my cookie scoop.  Place on ungreased cookie sheet and smoosh with fork.  Bake 10 minutes at 325.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake

I wanted to wait to post my pumpkin chocolate chip recipe until I could put up more pictures of the cakes I have made with it.  It makes a great wedding cake, you know.  But all my cake pictures are on our iMac and I use my laptop for most things.  I guess what I'm saying is that I'm too lazy to give you more cake pictures.  But in my defense I have had a sick 2 year old.  

Here is another picture of the 2 year old's cute cake.  Just ignore the lame background.  It's hard to take a good picture when two kids are about to stick their fingers in the cake and keep grabbing the train.

On another note, I have been working on making some recipe cards for a little project.  Hopefully I get around to posting that too.  I'm pretty excited about how the cards are turning out.  Just click on the picture and you can download a copy.  It's in the right size to have it printed on 4x6 photo paper.  Just send it to Costco or Wallgreens (or wherever you like to go) and then you can stick it with your other recipes.  What do you think?

Fruit Rollups with Applesauce and Jello

Yesterday I posted a pin for fruit rollups made with applesauce and jello and I couldn't wait to try it.  (The original recipe can be found here.)  

These were so easy and they were seriously the best fruit rollups I have EVER made!  Considering I have lots of applesauce from last years canning haul, this may become a favorite at our house.

1. Mix 1 quart of applesauce with one small box of jello.  I used red raspberry because that was what I had in the pantry.

 2. Spread the mixture in a dehydrator.  Mine is a pretty inexpensive one.  I have the plastic inserts for fruit rollups, but it would be nice to place the applesauce on parchment so the rollups would be easier to store when done.  I think I might have to invest in some precut parchment rounds like these.  All I would have to do it cut a hole in the middle for my dehydrator.

If you don't have a dehydrator, you can do this in your oven (see this article).  I might try this next but I am waiting until I can stand to have the oven on for more than 30 minutes.  As in, maybe in November?

3.  Dehydrate for approximately 6 hours.  Mine might have got left in too long because I went shopping with my mother-in-law and my kids LOVE going to grandma's and grandpa's so we were a little late getting home.  Don't judge. 

They were still SUPER DELICIOUS.  Seriously, better than store bought.  I can't wait to try other flavors of jello.  I should go to the store right now.

This post is linked at Mandy's Recipe Box, Sugar Bee Crafts, Naptime Creations, Vintage Wanna Bee, Inside Bru Crew Life and Ladybug Blessings.

The Best Banana Bread I Ever Made

I had a few nasty brownish bananas sitting around this weekend.  That left me with only two choices: make banana bread or throw them out.  The outcome was totally dependent on how much energy my pregnant body had available.  So, I made my decision.  Skip the dishes and make the bread.  My kitchen is a mess but the bread was a.maz.ing.

Want to know my secret?  Lemon cubes.  (To find out what a lemon cube is just follow the link or this one.)

You see my recipe for banana bread calls for lemon juice.  I decided to throw in a lemon cube in its place.  With the extra zest in with the lemon juice it made the bread zingy.  Oh, it was delicious.  And because I was in a healthy mood I threw in flax seeds.  This made the bread a bit chewy.  Even my husband commented on how good it was.  Here's how I made it.

1 c. white flour
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
2 T. flax seeds
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. butter melted and cooled
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
2 brown bananas
1 lemon cube or 2 T. lemon juice with a little zest
2 t. vanilla

Mix it all together and throw in the oven for baby and me!  I mean, place it in greased and floured mini bread  pans or muffin tins or a cake pan or whatever you have.  Bake at 350 until a toothpick comes clean.

This post is linked at sixsistersstuff.com, sweet-as-sugar-cookies.blogspot.com and Me And My Sweets

Healthy Chocolate Chunk Zucchini Muffins

The other day a friend gave me some zucchini.  I thought about using it for meal or a side dish like in this, but I knew all the boys in my house would prefer chocolate.  I used the recipe here as a starting point and then made some substitutions to make them a bit more healthy.  These were so delicious that they didn't last long. Now I need to make a second batch.

Healthy Chocolate Zucchini Muffins/Bread

1 c. whole wheat flour
1 1/2 c. white flour
1/2 c. cocoa
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 1/2 c. sugar
3 eggs
1/2 c. oil
1/2 c. applesauce
2 t. vanilla
2 c. shredded zucchini
1 c. chocolate chunks

Mix dry ingredients together.  Mix wet ingredients together.  Combine the two mixes.  Bake at 350 in muffin tins or bread pans until an inserted tooth pick comes clean.

6 Minute Microwave Caramels: Super Easy!

My internet travels recently led me to a recipe for caramels that you can make in 6 minutes in the microwave--no candy thermometer needed.  (You can retrace my steps by going here and here.)

I whipped these puppies up today and they were WAY TOO EASY.  These could easily be the fastest way to satisfy a candy craving ever.  I almost put melted chocolate on top, but I refrained.

All you need to do is mix the following in a microwave safe bowl.  I suggest one with a handle so you don't burn yourself when you have to pull them out.

5 T. butter
1/2 c. corn syrup
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar (or 1/2 c. white sugar + 1/2 T. molasses)
6 T. sweetened condensed milk.

Microwave for 6 minutes, stirring every two.  Pour into a greased 8x8 pan and cool in the fridge.

Eat.  Hord.  Let your kids poke them with a spoon (Don't ask).   I suppose you could cut them up and wrap them in wax paper, but that seems like a lot of effort to me.

Cardamom Spiced Applesauce Muffins

I have lots of powdered butter to play with.  I don't use it that much, so I decided to try it as a butter replacement in baking.  I started with a favorite recipe: cardamom spiced applesauce muffins.  The recipe is super rich because it calls for both butter and oil.  Since it has two oils, I figured replacing the butter with powdered butter couldn't hurt too much.

You don't need powdered butter to try this recipe.  It is super delicious on it's own.  But Hubby did say these were the best I had made.  Perhaps he was just hungry.  You can see that some of them appeared to have oozed something.  I don't think this was the powdered butter.  I think it might have been the sugar, which is very old and a bit lumpy.  In any event, they tasted great and didn't last long around the house.

Cardamom Spiced Applesauce Muffins

1 1/2 c. white sugar
1 stick butter melted (or 1/2 c. powdered butter)
1/2 c. oil
2 eggs
2 c. applesauce
2 t. baking soda
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. cardamom
1/2 t. cloves
1 t. salt
1/2 t. black pepper (weird, I know.  But don't skip it!)
2 1/2 c. flour (I think I did 1 1/2 c. whole wheat with 1 c. white.  Maybe it was the other way around.)

Mix together ingredients and scoop into lined muffin tin.  Bake at 350 until toothpick comes out clean.  Makes about 24 muffins.

Heidi's Zucchini Soup

This soup was so good that my three year old requested it for lunch!  I can barely get him to eat mac and cheese let alone anything with a vegetable.  I have to agree it was so delicious.  Thanks for the recipe, Heidi!

Here is how I made it:

1.  Bring 5 cups water, 1 T. chicken bullion, 1/2 onion diced and 4 zucchini chopped to a boil.  Reduce to medium heat and simmer until all the vegetables are tender.
2.  Blend soup until smooth.  I used an immersion blender, but a regular blender would do just fine.
3.  Add 3/4 c. potato pearls and blend until combined.  The original recipe called for real potatoes but since I didn't have any Heidi suggested I use instant.  They made the soup taste so creamy that I almost skipped the last step, but that would have been a shame.
4.  Add 8 ounces cream cheese and stir until melted.  Season with salt and pepper.

Asian Pork Meatballs with Brussel Sprouts

I have mentioned several times that I was thinking about making pork meatballs with brussel sprouts (here  for example).  Well, I finally got around to it.  I am not really a fan of brussel sprouts, but these meatballs are great.  So if you ever have some brussel sprouts that you need to use up, I am thinking that these are the way to go.

1.  Slice up the brussel spouts.  I think I probably had about 12 ounces there, don't you think?

2.  Add 1 pound ground pork.  I ground my own.  This is my little helper who was very impressed with the meat grinding attachment on my KitchenAid.

3.  Add in 1 T. minced garlic, 1 T. grated ginger, 1 T. sesame oil, 1/4 c. soy sauce, 2 T. dried onions, 2 eggs, 1/2-1 c. bread crumbs (enough so that it sticks together).

4.  Form small meat ball and place on a greased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 until the middle reaches 160 degrees.  About 30-45 minutes.  I didn't time it.  Don't hate me.

You can enjoy these with a side of rice and any of your favorite Asian sauces.  Sweet and sour would be good, but teriyaki would also be delicious.  And you ate some brussel sprouts.  Pat yourself on the back.

How I started my food storage: Part V--Sugar

Well, friends, this will be the last post in the how I started my food storage series.  I saved the best for last: sugar!

The food storage calculator I used as a reference point when I began my food storage journey 5 years ago suggests 40 pounds of sugar per person for a year supply.  I just use a 6 gallon bucket with a gamma lid.  At one point I had a back up bucket too, but that's now gone.  I should note, however, that if you like to can, especially, jam.  Store more sugar!

The suggested amount of honey at 3 pounds per person won't work for bread makers.  If you are going to be making a whole wheat bread recipe with honey (like mine) then you will need 33 pounds to make 4 loaves a week.  Thanks to my in-laws we have always had a full supply of honey.

I do have a few #10 cans of brown sugar in my storage, but I no longer buy the stuff since I can make it.  But this also means I need a larger supply of molasses.  One pound per person won't cut it.

I haven't ever put together a supply of sugared drinks or gelatin because I just don't use them.  But I have seen recipes on how to make fruit snacks from gelatin.  That could change my mind.

On to corn syrup.  Now I know that high fructose corn syrup has a bad rap, but I will make a plea for storing some corn syrup.  First of all, it's not the high fructose kind.  But more importantly there are a few handy uses.  The first is this pin:

Source: cometogetherkids.blogspot.com via Katherine on Pinterest

If your kids like to make bubbles as much as mine.  You will love this recipe for bubbles.

1/2 c. Dawn dish soap
1/2 c. corn syrup
2 1/2 c. water

Store some corn syrup.  Make your kids happy.

The second use for corn syrup is that adding a tablespoon to sugar based syrups (think home made maple syrup or even my vanilla recipe) will prevent it from crystalizing.  I  know.  Mind boggling.

So the last sugar item we store is jam.  Three pounds per person is not really enough for us.  I do, however, think measuring jam in pounds is less helpful than say, pints or quarts.  But that is beside the point.

This last year I canned 10 pints, 2 quarts and one 12 ounce jar of peach jam (and a few other jams).  We are down to our last 5 pints.  That's a lot of jam!  It's mostly my husband who loves it.  It's his mom's recipe.  He grew up eating it.  She once told me she canned 50 quarts a year!  Can you imagine?  In any event, we eat a lot of jam.  But then we make a lot of homemade bread.  The two seem to go together.

I hope all of this rambling about my food storage has been helpful.  Let me know if you have any specific questions.  Thanks for reading!!

Yellow Squash Casserole

I think I have mentioned before that I read cookbooks in bed.  The other night I was reading this:

It was written by three women who lived in the ward that I grew up in.  One of the women, Maurine Hegsted, lived across the street from us.  Another, Beth Brown, lived a block or so away.  Her girls were some of my best friends growing up.  This cookbook is really cool.  It had the recipe for 7 layer dip before it was popular.  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if these ladies invented it!  There is also the most amazing recipe for beef kabobs that has been a family favorite so long we claim it as our own.

Well, the other night I found a recipe for zucchini casserole.  I thought I would give it a try, but I gave it my own twist.  In the first place, I used summer squash.  Here's how I made it:

1.  I diced up three summer squash and half an onion.  I sauted them on medium heat in a little olive oil until they were good and soft.  Maybe 8-10 minutes.  

2.  I also added some small baby carrots sliced up.  

3.  In a separate bowl you are supposed to mix a can of cream of chicken soup with 1 cup of sour cream.  In my case it was about 1/2 c. sour cream and 1/2 c. plain yogurt because that was what I had.  I added in the squash mixture when everything was tender.

Then, in a separate bowl, I melted a cube of butter and mixed in a package of seasoned stuffing.  It makes crunchy stuffing flavored bread crumbs.  Yummy.

I layered a casserole dish with 1/2 stuffing mixture, the squash/soup mixture and the other 1/2 of the bread crumbs on top.  I baked it at 400 for 20-25 minutes until heated through and the stuffing was a bit brown.  You wouldn't have to do it that I, I just had the temperature up for some chicken.

It was so delicious!  Thank you Beth Brown, you are your co-authors created an awesome cookbook.

Homemade No Bake Chewy Granola Bars (almost like Quaker)

I have mentioned to several of you that I have this great recipe for chewy granola bars.  Well, I made some today just so I could share them with you.  The original recipe is found here.  They are so easy, I double the recipe.

1.  In a bowl (that can withstand some heat) mix 4 cups quick oats (not rolled) and 2 cups crispy rice.

2.  In a large sauce pan mix 1 cube butter (not pictured because I used 1/2 c. oil.  Butter tastes better but oil can be used in a pinch), 1/2 cup honey and 2/3 c. brown sugar (or 2/3 c. sugar and 2 t. molasses).

3.  Bring to a rolling boil.  Turn it down to medium heat and boil for two more minutes.

4.  Mix in 1 teaspoon vanilla.  Then pour syrup over dry ingredients and mix well until all the oats have been combined.

5.  Press into a greased cookie sheet.  Sprinkle 1/4 cup of mini chocolate chips over the top and gently press in.  They are ready to eat when the chocolate has set back up.  I sometimes use the fridge to help with that because I have no patience.  But careful because the are a bit tricky to cut once they are cooled.

There you go.  A quick snack from (mostly) food storage items.