Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

2 tablespoons oil
8 medium sized portabella mushrooms, stems and gills removed
1 (10 ounce) package frozen spinach, thawed, drained and coarsely chopped
1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and coarsely chopped
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

1 clove garlic, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon butter, melted (or oil)

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs or regular bread crumbled

1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Brush the mushrooms with oil and roast in a preheated 450 F oven, with the inside

facing up, until tender, about 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile mix the spinach, artichokes, cream cheese, mayo, mozzarella, garlic, salt and

pepper.

Mix the oil, breadcrumbs and parmesan.

Divide the filling between the mushrooms and sprinkle on the bread crumbs.

Roast in a preheated 350 F oven until the filling is hot and the breadcrumbs are

golden brown, about 10 minutes.

Serve as main dish, Serve with rice, potatoes, or quinoa AND steamed vegetables to the side.

Ham

Thaw ham in fridge.

Marinate overnight or for a minimum of 3 hours with the following

Mix together:
1/2 cup Oil
1/2 cup Lemon Juice
1 tbs Soy Sauce
1 tbs Liquid Smoke
1 tbs Lemongrass
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Onion Powder
2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper

Pour over meat and sprinkle the following all over the ham:
Paprika
Salt
Pepper

When time to cook, put ham on a rack inside the Instapot and pour in 1 cup of vegetable broth. Cook in the Instapot for about 3 hours.

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Thanksgiving Dinner

I'm pretty sure I will want these recipes again!

Ham

Cranberry Sauce

Homemade Stuffing

Instant Pot Green Beans

Lemon Mustard Carrots

Potatoes

Yam/Sweet Potato

Dinner Rolls

Now for the flow of getting it all done by the same household.

Start with the cranberry sauce and get it done and in the fridge to cool.

Then work on marinating the ham and into the fridge.

Next is the bread for the stuffing. If you don't pull it out to dry out the night before,  get it done in the oven and dump it in a large bowl to continue drying for the rest of the day.

Next cut up your potatoes, and wrap your sweet potatoes and put into the fridge.

Next is the onion. Cut up the onion for the stuffing, potatoes, and green beans. (slice for green beans, dice for everything else)

Cut up the carrots and get them marinating in the fridge.

Cut up the green beans and bacon and get in the fridge.

Once all the prep work is done, start by cooking the dinner rolls.

3 hours before dinner, get the ham in the instapot.

2 hours before dinner, start to work on the stuffing.

With an hour before dinner, put the green beans in the other instapot, the carrots and the potatoes on the stove top.

For the sweet potatoes, 2 options. Either put them in the oven at 350 at the same time as the ham goes in the instapot, they will need about 2-3 hours to cook at this temperature. The stuffing can be put in when it's time. Or if you have a convection microwave, set the temperature to cook at 400 degrees and cook them for 20-30 minutes.

Everything should be done about the same time!!  As you are getting food out to the table, use the juice from the ham and potatoes to make your gravy.

This is done by taking 1/2 - 3/4 cup cold water and mixing it with 3-4 tbs of your starch of choice. Blend until smooth.  Pour slowly into the heated juices with a wire whisk stirring constantly over medium heat until boils and thickens.

Put everything to the table and enjoy your feast!

If you are asking about dessert...go to the dessert tab, pick your favorites and make them the day before!!

If you want hot pumpkin pie, then once the food of the last hour is up you have about 20 minutes to assemble your pie. Cook it during dinner and it will be hot and ready to go!

Slow Cooker Shredded Beef

3 pound roast beef
1 Italian seasoning dry packet
16 ounce sliced pepperoncini (juice and all)

Place all in the crockpot for desired time. Shred beef and serve in a salad, on a sandwich, on rice or quinoa, or all by itself.

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Meat Loaf

2.25 lb Ground Meat (For the meat you can use ground turkey, chicken, or beef!)
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup Green Onions, minced
1/4 cup Parsley, chopped
1 1/2 tsp Dijon Mustard
1 1/2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

Preheat oven to 350.  Combine all ingredients, form into greased bread pan. Cook for 1 hour.

Variation:
Instead of Meat Loaf, you can make them into patty's and grill them instead!

Side Dish:
Wild Rice
Asparagus
Tomato Soup  My favorite and goes with really anything!

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Vegetable/Chicken Soup

I really should rename this the everything but the kitchen sink recipe!  There is no wrong way to cook this.  Well, don't use freezer burned food's that's nasty.

5 cups Chicken Broth
2 Red Potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 cups Onions, quartered
1/2 cup Carrots, sliced 1-inch thick
1 1/2 cup Celery, sliced 1-inch thick
1 cup of Green Vegetable: Zucchini, sliced 1 inch thick or Green Beans
1-pint jar of Tomato Soup
About 2 cups cooked Leftover Rice
About 2 cups Leftover Cooked Chicken
1 scoop of Protein Powder

In a large stockpot, combine chicken broth, potatoes, onions, carrots, and celery.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-high, and simmer until the potatoes are tender about 30 minutes.  Add Green Vegetable, Tomato Soup, Rice, and Chicken. Reduce heat to med-low and cook for 10 to 15 minutes more, or until Vegetable is just tender.  Add Protein Powder just before serving.


Side Dishes:
Adding the Rice and Chicken, this is a complete meal all on its own.  You can add more or less of any item to fit the needs of your personal style and family.

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Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry

1/3 cup Soy Sauce
1 small Red Onion, Sliced
6 cloves Garlic, Minced
2 lbs Steak, sliced 1 inch thick
1 1/2 tbs Sesame Oil
3 tbs Rice Vinegar
1 1/2 tbs Ginger, Minced
6 cups Broccoli Florets (I buy mine at Costco in the freezer section)
12 oz Soba Noodles (I found mine in the produce area, they are already cooked), or you can use spaghetti noodles

Heat small amount of soy sauce in large saute pan, add the onions and garlic saute until cooked.  Add beef, saute turning often for 7 to 10 minutes.  Stir together the oil, vinegar, and ginger and add to the saute mixture.  Add broccoli to the meat and simmer until broccoli is cooked.  Prepare noodles according to package if needed to be cooked.  Toss with beef and broccoli mixture and serve!

For Side Dishes:
Egg Drop Soup
If you don't want the noodles, you can always do Rice

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Lemon-Garlic Chicken

1/2 cup Lemon Juice
1/4 cup Molasses
1 1/2 tbs Worcestershire Sauce
8 garlic Cloves, chopped
4 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste

Combine first 4 ingredients into a baking dish.  Add chicken.  Cover and marinate in refrigerator for a couple of hours, turning occasionally as they need to be well coated.

Preheat oven to 425.  Remove chicken from dish, reserve marinade, and put onto aluminum foiled covered cookie sheet that has been coated with cooking spray.  Baste chicken with marinade. Sprinkle with salt and pepper

Bake for 20 minutes, basting occasionally with marinade.  Bake without basting for an additional 20 minutes or until chicken is done.


Variations:
I think every recipe has a variation on it...it just depends on how much time I have.
If you don't have time to marinate, mix the top 3 items.  Dip chicken into mixture and place on pan (like above) Sprinkle the Seasoning Salt (See Picture, bought from Costco).  Follow from the last paragraph above.

For Side Dishes
Butternut Squash Soup
Wild Rice, Black Rice, or my favorite Quinoa
I love the Frozen mixed Veggies from Costco

OK, hint on cooking my veggies.

In a pan, heat olive oil and red wine vinegar.  Add veggies, pour on a packet of Italian Dressing Seasoning.  Mix all cook on med covered until thawed and cooked!  Easy!

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Lemon-Dill Salmon Dinner

For Salmon:

I use the prepackaged in the freezer section Salmon.  They are individually wrapped so I can use as many or as few as I want. While mixing the following, I would put the desired amount of Salmon into your sink with water to thaw. If you use fresh Salmon than don't worry about thawing it out!

1/2 cup Onions, diced (or shallots)
1-2 Garlic Cloves (if you use Onions)
1 tbs (ish) of Olive Oil
2 cups White Grape Juice (not cocktail)
2 tbs Tapioca Powder
2 cups Chicken Broth
1/3 cup Lemon Juice
1 tsp Lemongrass (found in a tube in the fresh produce section)
1 tbs dill (Can use fresh)

Saute Onions and Garlic or Shallots in olive oil. Dissolve Tapioca Powder in 1/2 cup of Broth. Set aside. Add Grape Juice to Onions, reduce the temperature.  Add remaining broth and reduce temperature again.  Add Tapioca Powder mixture.  Stir until mixed in.  Transfer mixture to blender to puree until smooth.  Return to saucepan.  Add Lemon Juice and Lemongrass and simmer over low heat for about 30 minutes until thick. Stir in the dill.

Set oven to 350 degrees, put Salmon onto aluminum foiled cookie sheet (this helps with the clean up). Drizzle the Sauce over the Salmon.  Cook for about 20 minutes or until flaky.

The Temperature and Time are from the back of the Salmon!


For Side Dish:
Cook Fresh Asparagus
Wild Rice
Tomato Soup

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Eggplant Parmesan Casserole

Eggplants prep: Cut the top off, slice ¼ inch thick lengthwise

Egg mixture: 6 eggs, ½ tsp salt, 3 tbs fresh parsley, ½ tsp pepper, ¼ cup Parmesan cheese

Take sliced Eggplant and dip in plain flour, then mix into egg mixture, letting sit for a while to soak it up for a couple of minutes.

Fry in olive oil, draining well.

In a Casserole dish, place in bottom of the pan in the following order:

marinara sauce(Can use Spaghetti Sauce)

Parmesan cheese

parsley

eggplant (layering them), getting sauce in between layers. 

Add ½ the marinara sauce as you did last time

Parmesan cheese

fresh basil leaves

mozzarella cheese

again with eggplant

Add more sauce

Parmesan cheese

parsley
basil

cover with mozzarella cheese

Bake 450 degrees middle rack for 8-12 minutes

My kids call this Eggplant Lasagna. As it tastes just like Lasagna.

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Meatloaf or Meatballs

1 lb Hamburger

½ lb Sausage

1 Egg, Slightly Beaten

¼ cup Onion

1 ¼ tsp Salt

1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

1 cup Dried Breadcrumbs plus 1 ¼ cups milk or 1 cup Fresh Breadcrumbs plus 1 cup Milk

¼ tsp of EACH of the following Pepper, Celery Salt, Garlic Salt, Dry Mustard, and Sage

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Separate into two loaf pans and bake at 350 for 1 ½ hour or make into meatballs and place on a cookie sheet. Cook at 350 degrees until done, the cooking time will vary according to the size of the meatballs.

If freezing, I have done both, cooked and uncooked for the meatloaf. If you cook it first, then you just microwave to warm up. If uncooked, then thaw first then cook like above. Freeze the meatballs cooked, then just thaw and heat to eat.

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Lasagna

1 ½ lb Hamburger

½ Large Chopped Onion

1 Jar Spaghetti Sauce

2 Cups Ricotta Cheese

2 Eggs, Slightly Beaten

1 Cup Parmesan Cheese

2 Cups Grated Mozzarella Cheese

8 to 12 Lasagna Noodles

Cook your Lasagna Noodles but only for ½ the time it says to on the package.

Brown hamburger and onion, drain the fat.

Add the spaghetti sauce to the meat mixture.

In a small bowl combine ricotta cheese, eggs, and ½ of the parmesan cheese.

Grease an 8 ½ x 11 pan.

Layer ½ of the noodles, ½ the meat sauce ½ the cheese mixture and 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese, repeat layers adding the ½ cup parmesan cheese to the top.

Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes or until bubbly. Keep covered with foil until the last 15 minutes.

You can also substitute penne pasta for the lasagna noodles, mix the cheese in with the penne, put that in the bottom of the pan, then the sauce, then the mozzarella and the parmesan.

When you freeze a meal with noodles, only cook the noodles for ½ the cooking time.

Another great meal from my sister-in-law Jodi.

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Cheese Manicotti

1 8oz pkg Manicotti

2 cups cottage cheese

1 ½ cups ricotta cheese

4 oz Cream Cheese

½ cup Parmesan Cheese

1 ½ cups grated Mozzarella Cheese

1 Tbsp Dried Parsley Flakes

1 tsp Salt

¼ tsp Pepper

3-4 cups Spaghetti Sauce

Do Not Cook Manicotti. Combine all ingredients except manicotti and spaghetti sauce. Grease 8 ½ x 11 foil baking pan. Cover bottom of the pan with spaghetti sauce. Stuff manicotti with cheese mixture. Arrange on spaghetti sauce in the pan. Pour spaghetti sauce over all. Cover with heavy freezer foil. Label and freeze.

To Serve: Thaw. Bake covered for 45 min at 350 degrees. Uncover, top with more mozzarella cheese and bake an additional 10 minutes or until cheese melts.

We also used penne pasta instead of the manicotti for this one. Mix the pasta and cheese together then put it in the pan.

This recipe comes from my wonderful sister-in-law Jodi, who made a lot of my freezer meals and gave them to my family as a gift. It originates from the book Dinner is Ready by Deanna Buxton.

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