My Favorite Once a Month Cooking Recipes

I highly recommend Once a Month cooking to all busy moms! It made meals so simple for my family and I was shocked at how cook the food tasted! Just in case you are wondering, once a month cooking means that you spend one day cooking all of your family's dinners for a month and freeze them. At first it sounds overwhelming. But you get quicker at the cooking and you will love not having to figure out what to make every day and having to head to the grocery store for last minute ingredients! It is a time and money saver! They are also great for blessing a friend or neighbor who is ill. No planning needed!

So over the past few months I hae gotten asked over and over to share some recipes. I keep typing them and just emailing to the person who asked. I am realizing it would be so much easier to post them here. So here are some of my family's favorite meals that taste great after being frozen:

Chicken and Bows

Ingredients:
1 package of bow tie pasta
2 pounds of chicken breasts or tenders, cubed
1 cup of chopped sweet red pepper
1/4 cub of butter
2 cans of cream of chicken soup
2 cups of frozen peas (or one can of peas)
1 1/2 cups of milk
1/2 tsp of salt
1 tsp of garlic powder
1/4 tsp of pepper
2/3 cup of grated parmasan cheese

1. Cook pasta
2. In a dutch oven (or very large frying pan) cook the chicken and red pepper in butter.
3. Stir in soup, peas, milk, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer for 1-2 minutes. Stir in parmasan cheese. Drain pasta and ass to the chicken mixture.

Serve half of the mixture immediatly. Cool the remaining and put it in a gallon ziplock bag and freeze.

Pasta Casserole

Ingredient:
1 package of Mostaccioli pasta
1 1/2 jars of Ragu spaghetti sauce
1 pound of ground beef
4 cups of Motzerella cheese
1 can of cheddar cheese soup
1 tsp of Italien seasoning
1/2 tsp of pepper

1. Cook the pasta.
2. Brown the ground beef.
In a large casserole dish mix the pasta, beef, sauce, cheese soup, pepper, Italien seasoning and 2 cups of Motzerella cheese.
3. Top the casserole with the remaining motzerella cheese
4. Put it in a gallon freezer bag abd freeze.
5. When you heat it up add the remaining 2 cups of Motzerella to the top and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Cream Cheese Chicken

Ingredients:
Chicken Tenders (we like the tenders but you could also use breasts)
An envelope of Italien Salad dressing mix
Half a stick of butter
1 can of Cream of Chicken Soup
1 8oz package of cream cheese

1. Melt butter in a frying pan. Add the Italien Dressing Mix.
2. Brown the Chicken Tenders in the butter mixture.
3. Add the can of soup and cream cheese. Stir until melted and creamy.

After it cools, put it in a gallon freezer bag and freeze. When you reheat, put it in a casserole dish and back at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Hope this helps get you started! We also freeze pancakes, mashed potatoes, candy carrots, meatloaf, lasagne, shepards pie, stroganoff, and more!

Dance Matrix D-Backs Game

Take me out to the ballgame!

The girls had such a great time performing at the Diamonbacks game last night! Especially Danika! She was a little nervous before the game. But during the performance she was all smiles. Afterwards she told me "That wasn't scary at all! It was awesome!" All the girls looked so pretty. We did special hair styles, glitter, make up, and hand made bows.

They were on the jumbo tron....

Scott is working on a video!

Dance, Divas, and Diamondbacks!

I don't have any pictures today. Mostly because I am feeling too lazy to edit and upload! I just wanted to post about how proud I am of all three girls!!! They are all going to be dancing at the Diamondbacks game on Saturday! They have been going to practices twice a week and they are excited. The dance is to a jazzed up version of Take Me Out to the Ballgame. I just got done making the perfect hair bow and the girls have already informed me that they will be wearing makeup and glitter. So cute. And grown up!!! Can't wait! And you know we will have pictures!

My baby is 4!!!!

Yesterday was Laynee's 4th birthday. Now how did that happen?!!!! Wasn't she just this little a few days ago?....So Laynee shared a party with the twins over the weekend. But we still wanted to make her day special. She had school and brought cupcakes to share with her friends. After school. she REALLY REALLY wanted to go see the movie Toy Story 3 again! We tried to talk her into other really fun stuff but she insisted!!! How could we say no?! After the movie we picked up pizza, as requested by the birthday girl, and had cake at home followed by present opening! I think Laynee had a great day!

So I am NOT a cake maker. They always turn out a mess! But Laynee asked for a ladybug cake and that sounded easy enough, so I agreed. Here is what it looked like...

Laynee was thrilled....

But this is what it looked like when we got home from the movie theater...

Oye!!!!

I can't belive my 'baby" is 4! It's just not fair!!! She was the easiest baby. I swear I feel like she was born just yesterday as I remember the details so clearly!

Sears Family Summer 2010

Dance!!!

The girls had their first dance class at their new dance studio this afternoon! They had so much fun and I am very impressed with the studio. They are going to be dancing at a Diamondbacks game at the end of the month! Isn't that fun?! I can't wait! And don't these girls look cute?! I had the tutus and tutu bags (with their name embroidered on them) made for them for a birthday gift!

Three girls....one FUN party!

Every year we have just one joint party for all three of the girls. This year we decided to do the party at McDonalds and their gym. We almost had a swim party but I am so glad we didn't because it poured all day! Plus, the girls told me this was the best birthday party ever. That is all that matters!!! So we started at McDonald's for some play, food and present opening....

Then we headed across the street to My Gym for more play, games, and cake....

Kyler spent most of the party upside down! lol

Makenzie can do some impressive head stands!

Then the Shamu swing, which the girls agreed was their favorite part of the party (with cake and presents being close behind!).....

And the mommies couldn't be left out. But he made it go much faster and higher for us. It was fun! And a little scary! We nearly lost Amie off the the back!

Then they had a birthday march for the girls. It was so cute! They dressed them up and then carried them in like royalty while playing "Isn't she lovely." The girls smiled and waved at their friends. Priceless!!!

The kids being super sily....

And super cute....

And then it was time for the zip line which is another one of the girls' favorites....

Cake time. The cake was the shape of a monkey to match the gym mascot. It was super cute!!!

Now you have to check out the video that Scott made in the next post. It is so cute! He did a great job!