Zesty Chicken Tortilla Bake

I took this neat little package out of the freezer last night:

I found this recipe for 'Zesty Chicken Tortilla Bake' on the Kraft website:

Ingredients
1/2 cup MIRACLE WHIP Dressing (or hellmans 1/2 fat)
1/2 cup flour
3 cups milk (i used skim)
1 pkg. (8 oz.) KRAFT Shredded Cheddar Cheese, divided (or save-on brand 1/2 fat cheddar, and I didn't use nearly this much cheese)
1-1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked, cut into bite-size pieces (i used left over shredded chicken)
1/2 cup TACO BELL® HOME ORIGINALS® Thick 'N Chunky Salsa (i'm pretty sure any salsa would work....)
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley (i didn't have any)
16 flour tortillas (6 inch)
 
Directions
MIX dressing and flour in medium saucepan with whisk until well blended. Gradually stir in milk. Bring to boil on medium heat, stirring constantly; cook and stir until thickened. Add 1 cup cheese; cook until melted, stirring constantly. Reserve 1 cup sauce.

STIR chicken, salsa and parsley into remaining sauce; spoon 1/3 cup down center of each tortilla. Roll up. Place 8 roll-ups, seam-sides down, in each of 2 (13x9-inch) baking dishes sprayed with cooking spray; top with reserved sauce and remaining cheese.

BAKE 25 min. at 375 or until heated through (Or do what I did - put them in pans, cover with aluminum foil and seal in a freezer bag. Remember to label what's in there or you'll forget! Take it out the night before and defrost in the fridge. It took about 40 minutes total on 375 and I took the cover off for the last 10 to brown the cheese).

JASON'S REVIEW: It tasted really good and it hit the spot. My taste buds danced and sang and danced and sang etc. (Oh Jason.)

MY REVIEW: This was good! Perfect with a salad and pretty easy to (pre)make. Also, it's a good use for left over chicken.  Kraft has some great recipes... and you don't even need to follow all their brand name ingredient suggestions!! It will still work!

Turkey Shepards Pie with Garlic Toast

I actually did lots of cooking this weekend, but most of it went straight in the freezer! Once it's defrosted, cooked and consumed I will post the recipes on here.

This evening I made 3 dishes of Shepards Pie - 1 to eat and 2 for the freezer. Here's the recipe I used:

Shepherd's Pie Freezer Cooking Recipe
Can easily double or triple to make multiples for the freezer.

2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 carrots, chopped
2 small onions, chopped
1 tbsp flour
1-1/4 cups beef stock (use chicken stock if using ground turkey instead of beef)
2 tbsp ketchup
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp thyme
salt
pepper
1 lb cooked ground beef or turkey (PLEASE NOTE: COOKED turkey. Good to note before you get started...)
1 1/2 lbs mashed potatoes (i didn't add any of the stuff below to my potatoes, just some skim milk)
2 tbsp butter, softened
3 tbsp cream
1 egg, slightly beaten (for cooking day) (didn't use this)

In medium saucepan, heat oil and fry onions and carrots until soft. Add flour, creating a paste, cooking for one minute. Add ketchup, beef stock, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, salt and pepper, bringing to a boil. Simmer 2-3 minutes, then add ground beef or turkey, simmering until heated through. Add to foil disposable casserole. In a separate bowl, combine mashed potatoes with butter and cream, then top meat mixture with it. Cool and freeze. If you have a small family, split into two casseroles instead of one.

Cooking day:
Thaw overnight in fridge or 4-5 hours at room temperature. Brush top with egg (optional). Preheat oven to 425F and bake for 20-30 minutes (if you split into two casseroles, cooking time may be shorter).

The garlic toast was also special! We often just have pasta or soup or salad for dinner but rarely have any bread to go with it. I found this recipe for make ahead garlic toast and just did the bare essentials. I got a loaf of french bread and cut it into 20 pieces. With margarine, I mixed garlic powder, onion powder and some fresh pressed garlic. I spread it on each piece and put them all on a baking sheet in the freezer for about an hour. They are now all in the freezer in packages of 2. When we want garlic bread all we have to do is take out a package and throw it in the oven for about 6 minutes. It tasted really good too!

MY REVIEW: Yum! Shepards pie was good with a little hot sauce and I'm excited for toast of the future.

JASON'S REVIEW: He's doing laundry but I'm pretty sure he loved it...