Menu Planning and Bulk Cooking

Saturday, April 18, 2009


I am set to bulk cook this coming Monday with a friend. We have been doing this since last fall and it has been the most wonderful experience. Sharing the workload, having social time, and then not having to cook much the rest of the month have been a blessing! I just realized though that I have several meals still in the freezer from previous months. So I need to get organized and we need to eat those meals first before we dive into the ones I will bring home on Monday. Kendra over at Aussie Pumpkin Patch has some real cute menu planners. Check them out (you can see an example above.) I am going to use them to be a bit more organized about using our meals.
This month we will be cooking our favorites instead of experimenting with new recipes. Here are our plans:
Chicken Parmesan
Bubble Up Pizza
Tortellini Soup
Spring Veggie Soup with Dumplings
Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas
Here are the recipes:
Chicken Parmesan (we just coated chicken breasts will beaten egg and then breadcrumbs mixed with parmesan cheese and Italian spices, then baked in a pan with spaghetti sauce and a slice of mozzarella on the top of each breast.)
Tortellini Soup
1 pkg mild Italian sausage
1 small bell pepper, chopped
3/4 cup onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
5 cups broth
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup red wine
2 (15 oz) cans diced tomatoes
1 (8oz) can tomato sauce
1 (8oz) pkg tortellini
2 small zucchini, sliced
1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. oregano
1 T parsley
Parmesan cheese
Brown sausage with pepper, onion, and garlic. Drain grease. Add remaining ingredients except the zucchini and the tortellini. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 min. Add in zukes and cook a few more minutes. Bag and freeze. When reading to serve, thaw and warm then add the tortellini and cook according to the instructions on the tortellini package. Serve parmesan on top.

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