Chicken Spaghetti

OK, like I said I have been freezing meals. Well, today we had the chicken spaghetti. It was the B-O-M-B. Here are the before and after, and the recipe from The Freezer Chicks blog. You can find a link on the side bar of our blog.

Frozen in a bag.

After

Thawed and added to cooked pasta. In the oven for 30 minutes and you have deliciousness (and one more in the freezer!... the recipe made me about 2 x 2.2 quart casseroles. And you just cook 8 oz. of pasta for each dish.)

Here is the recipe. If you don't want to freeze it just cute the recipe in half. Also, I only used a half of a bell pepper and half of an onion ( which made 1/4 of each in each dish). I also did not crock pot the chicken breasts. I just boiled them for about 10 minutes and then shredded them and put the broth from that in the freezer!

Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti

Chicken Spaghetti
From Diana Rattray, Your Guide to Southern Food. (altered for the freezer)

INGREDIENTS:
4 to 6 chicken breasts, cooked, reserve broth
1 bell pepper. green or combination, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes, (with green chiles), I drained the rotel
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 package shredded cheddar cheese, (16 ounces)
1 package spaghetti, (16 ounces) --save for serving day


PREPARATION for freezer:
Place chicken in a crockpot with chicken broth and cook on low for about 6 hours. When chicken is cooked, shred or chop.
In a plastic freezer bag add chicken, onion & green peppers, soups, Ro-Tel, and stewed tomatoes and cheese. I then stirred it with a spoon (in the bag), sealed the bag, and squished it a little more to mix it up.

On serving day: Thaw the sauce. Boil the spaghetti, drain. Mix sauce and spaghetti together and bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes or until the sauce thickens and is bubbly.

What's Up Doc?

Today, Chuck got to eat some carrots. At first he tried to suck on the spoon like a bottle but by the end of it, he was opening his mouth..... but only if you opened your mouth too. We didn't get too messy and didn't have much of a reaction. We did love them though! Yea for carrots!

Shake It, Don't Break It

Well, it seems that Chuckaroo can not shake this cough! He has got lots of icky in his chest. We just sit there waiting for him to cough because it sounds so gunky in there. So for his congestion, Dr. sat in front of the humidifier with him. Chuck thought it was pretty funny and could not figure out why there was white stuff in front of him.

And, I can't shake this fat. I have been taking my big self to the gym but nothing gives. Well, today Zumba started. Yes, I got Zumbafied and got something handed to me on a silver platter! I think I may have actually gotten my groove back.... I mean as much groove as a white girl can have. There was a great turn out of about 30 people. The teacher focused more on exercise than dance steps ( like that last dude we had..... which i had to eventually stop going to because he was SOOO boring... I would make my to do list while he was teaching). By the end of it I had sweat dripping off my nose.... yes, yuck. I couldn't even think about my to do list because I was focusing on my next breath. Like I said, they have it on Wednesday nights and I will get to go whenever Dr. has Wednesdays off. In September, my chances of being able to go will increase because they will also be doing it on Monday nights! Yea!

My face that matches my shirt is proof I went to Zumba.

Daily Grind

Well, it is true. I start back to school next week. I am doubting myself as both a teacher and a mother but it has been done before so I can't whine too much! Chuck still loves daycare. In fact this morning, he saw his teacher and started smiling. She took him and when I was saying goodbye to him he would not look at me. I think he just wanted me to leave so he could start playing and looking at all his friends. No smiles for mom. I do get some smiles and cooing when I pick him up though.

Chuck and I are going to Mobile from Thursday to Sunday. My mother is going to take me shopping because I do not have any professional wear for school. I have really been living in yoga pants this summer. I have been working out but have not seen much weight loss. I guess I gotta give it time but I am the type that must have immediate gratification or positive reinforcement. Dr. did buy me the Zumba DVD's ( we all know how obsessed I am ) and my Zumba class starts tonight. I will get to go on the Wednesdays that Dr. is not working.

I have been up at school the past two weeks but have no motivation. I just go up there and sit in my room, talk, get up every once in a while. I guess this being my third year I have a lot of things already taken care of. I thought that this year was going to be an awesome year but already the gossip has begun! (which kinda makes the whole thing bearable.)

I have been trying to find money saving ideas( since we are now paying a good amount for daycare) and time saving ideas. I have started curling my hair with hot rollers so i can do other things while my hair is being "fixed". I will not have time to curl it or straight iron it. I have cooked a lot of meals for our freezer. In addition to the three pots of spaghetti, we also have two chicken spaghetti's, chicken enchiladas, steaks, beef tips, and roasts. Today I am going to try and make some meatloaves and put some hamburger patties and taco meat in there. All the directions are written on the bag so if I thaw something, Dr. can go ahead and start cooking it if he is off or he can always pull something out and fix it. Now the only thing is that when you open my freezer you will most likely get hit with a falling roast! I am also thinking about blanching and freezing some green beans. They say that freezing in season fresh vegetables is more nutritious than eating fresh vegetables that are out of season.

Chuckers is doing good. He has hair on his legs ( he is growing up so fast!). He is showing interest in rolling from his back to his stomach ( just gets a little frustrated when it doesn't work out). He has figured out how to get his thumb away from the rest of his fingers but still takes pleasure in sucking the whole hand. He is eating cereal ( if he wakes up after daycare). If he will not wake up, we put the cereal in a bottle which has increased his three hour sleeping to seven hours. I am going to start putting some cereal in the "middle of the night" bottle too. Mainly for selfish reasons..... I know how horrible! I took him to the pool the other day and he did not want to sit in his float. He actually started kicking those little fat legs. He is still our little chilled out guy. He looks at the babies that cry at daycare like "why are you crying, we are here with all our friends". I am just hoping they do not teach him to cry! He is growing lots of hair on his head. Someone at daycare asked me if I had cut his hair because he is sporting a perfect buzz cut. No, unfortunately we are blessed with perfect marine style hair growth. Maybe one day it will decide to start laying down... surely it won't stand up straight forever.

Well, I am on my way to stare at my classroom, make some meatloaves, and maybe take Chuck swimming. I will try and post some video and pictures tonight!