I was busy this weekend and made a few of our favorite items. Three of my four kiddos have colds and it was a good time to pull out the homemade chicken noodle soup recipe. Notice I used penne pasta instead of my usual rotini.
I always have extra chicken and broth when I make a big batch of boiled chicken. I like to freeze two chicken breasts with a little broth to keep it moist.
Since I purchased an extra tray of chicken breasts, I decided to grill them on our indoor grill and season with blackening spice. It will make quick fajitas, wraps, salads and other Mexican dishes like tostada Mexican pizza.
I package them with two large chicken breasts and some of the broth for added moisture. You can read my post on grilled convenience chicken.
I also made a bulk crock pot full of marinara sauce. I made it “sneaky” by pureeing a cooked acorn squash. I figure it’s a good way to get some great vitamin and minerals into my kiddos.
I love having this marinara on hand for quick meatball subs during the work week.
It’s seriously easy to make homemade subs in a jiffy when I have the sauce and cooked meatballs thawed from the night before.
In case you’re wondering why I haven’t posted in a while, it’s because I’m planning the biggest Thanksgiving Feast ever at my school. My three foods classes are preparing a scratch made meal for 100. I’m super excited because we are giving away part of it to the needy. We’re purposely making extra servings for our needy students at our school and opening up the leftover packaged meals to our staff to give away to someone in need. This is my biggest meal project yet and I’m glad I have 45 foods students to help. However, we have a long way to go starting Thursday. My Foods 2 class has made and froze many desserts like pumpkin cake and angel food cake, apple pie and sweet potato pie filling. We’re starting side dishes at the end of the week and finishing up with the meats on Monday. And guess what? We are blessed to have local foods provided by a teacher grant I applied for during the summer. We’ll have fresh vegetable sides from a local CSA and local poultry and beef from our local meat CSA. I’m teaching the students to eat local and give local. Say a prayer for our team if you are able. I’m enlisting adult facilitators to help our students during this bulk prep session.
I’ll post more as we get closer to the Thanksgiving Feast. Have you planned your menu yet? Are you freezer cooking yet?