When the kids go back to school, I tend to stock my freezer full of ready made products. You know, the ones that take minutes to cook or heat up? I do this because A) The kids are usually starving right after school and supper isn’t ready until 6 and B) back to school usually means I’m the one helping with most of the chores here on the ranch instead of the kiddos, well, because they’re at school! That means my time will get eaten up by chores, the little cowpoke (since the kids won’t be around to help watch), and trips to and from school helping out.
I love to cook from scratch and do it often but there are times when the kids need something fast to hold them through until supper or sometimes we need a meal in less than 30 minutes because we’re headed to town or school function.
Something I buy are Hot Pockets, Fully Cooked Chicken, and Stouffer’s Easy Express Skillet meals. I’m obsessed with the Stouffer’s lasagna but don’t always have time to cook the family version of it so the express meals come in handy!
We have two freezers, one big one for our beef and other stuff and our top freezer on our fridge. This is where the quick foods are easily accessible.
As you can see, it’s not very well organized. I’ve got veggies on bottom, hot pockets, chicken, Popsicles and bacon on top. My other freezer holds the Stouffer goods because well, obviously I can’t fit much else in here!
Here is one of my 20 minute meals using the Stouffer’s Easy Express Meals. First, I use Easy Express Skillets Grilled Chicken & Vegetables. It has the vegetables already in it but I still need one more filler. Since these meals literally only take 20 minutes, I need something that takes the same amount or less. That’s where biscuits come in! Bread is always a great filler and I’ve got a recipe that takes 20 min or less.
BISCUITS!
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 c. flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- dash of salt
- 2 Tbl. sugar
- 1/2 c. butter
- 3/4 c. Carnation Evaporated Milk
PREPARATION:
Mix dry ingredients. Add butter, milk and form into soft dough. Do not over knead! Pat into a ungreased 6×6 pan. I use a pie pan myself so you can use whatever. Cut into serving size portions before you cook. Bake at 400′ for 15 to 20 minutes or until done and golden brown.
$500 Walmart Gift Card
I usually make my giveaways pretty simple, and while this one is still simple, it requires a bit more thought than the others I’ve done in the past. Hey, it’s $500, if you wanna the chance to win something big like that, it’s gonna take a bit more work!
TO ENTER
Leave a comment here with a recipe using one of these Nestle products that would be great for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack:
- Carnation Evaporated Milk
- Nestle Raisinets
- Haagen Dazs Ice Cream (any flavor)
- Nestle Coffee-Mate Creamer (any flavor)
ONLY ONE RECIPE COMMENT PER PERSON! Put a little effort into the recipe folks. Please don’t be lazy;) I’d like to try some of the recipes myself! In fact, those of you who are saying, ice cream between two cookies, etc–WILL NOT COUNT!!! Geez!
Additional/Optional ways to enter, leaving each one in a separate comment:
- Twitter the giveaway, including a link back here and my handle, @ACowboysWife -1 entry
- Share on facebook or similar social networking site and leave a comment telling me. -1 entry
- Create a Whrrl story using photos of your recipe and I’ll give you an additional (include link to story)-25 entries!
FINE PRINT
This giveaway is sponsored by Nestle. Giveaway closes on August 18th at about 10pm CST.
About A Cowboy's Wife
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CHOCOLATE BANANA COCONUT CREPES
- Crepes Batter:
Ingredients (for about 15 crepes):
2 cups Flour
2 1/2 cups Whole Milk
4 Eggs
2 tbsp. Butter (melted)
Pinch of Salt
1-2 teaspoon French Vanilla Nestle Coffee-Mate Creamer
Vegetable Oil (for pan)
1. Sift flour and mix with salt in a bowl.
2. Make a well and pour in eggs. Stir well.
3. Slowly pour in milk while stirring. Keep stirring batter until small bubbles form on the surface.
4. Stir in Butter and Creamer
1. Pour a little vegetable oil on a folded paper towel, and wipe the pan evenly. Keep paper towel at hand while preparing crepes, in case you want to give it another wipe.
2. Pour in 2 – 3 tbsp. of batter and quickly move pan around, so that batter spreads evenly, covering the whole surface with a thin layer.
3. Let cook for about 1 minute. Then, flip with a metal spatula, and cook other side for about 30 seconds.
Repeat these steps until you are out of batter, stacking cooked crepes on a plate. Yum!
- Filling:
8 oz. Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate (or your favorite high quality dark chocolate with 70% cocoa content)
1 cup Crème Fraîche (or heavy cream)
3-4 Bananas
1/3 cup Shredded Coconut
Haagen Dazs Chocolate or Vanilla Ice-Cream
Break chocolate into small pieces. Melt the chocolate and then add cream, stir well, and remove from heat. Place Crepes on individual plates. Line one half of each crepe with chocolate, and then banana slices. Then fold empty half over. Pour more chocolate on top and sprinkle with coconut. Add a scoop of ice cream. Serve right away.
Bon Apetite!
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OK. Here goes… this is my DH’s favorite dish…
Boil 2 lbs. of chicken breasts until cooked thru
At the same time, make 2 packages of stovetop stuffing
Cut chicken into 1″ chunks (size is personal taste)
In a large cassarole dish, mix chicken chunks with 1 lb box uncooked (dry) cavatapi noodles (your choice on noodles too)
Add 1 can cream of mushroom soup and 1 can cream of chicken soup and about 1 can of water (will depend on the size of your dish)
take the stovetop which you cooked earlier and spread it over the whole thing like a paste.
Add about 1lb (or more to taste) of shredded cheddar cheese on top of everything.
Bake it for 15-20 minutes at 350.
Presto, the most delicious and only somewhat unhealthy dish ever! Like I said, its DH’s favorite and I end up making it at least once every few weeks. The beautiful thing about this recipe is that you can adjust almost anything in it to your own specific tastes or portion sizes.
Thanks so much for the contest! I totally intend on trying a few of these recipes too!
Here’s a candy recipe I like since it has oatmeal and is low fat.
* 2 cups sugar
* 6 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1/2 cup Carnation evaporated low-fat (2 percent) milk
* 1/2 cup margarine
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 3 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
* 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, cocoa, evaporated milk, and margarine. Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. Add rolled oats, and coconut and mix well. Drop by tablespoons onto a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes to 1 hour. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator or at room temperature.
COFFEE SYRUP
(Makes 1 cup)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon NESCAFÉ CLÁSICO Pure Instant Coffee Granules
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Serve over
Haagen Dazs Ice Cream (any flavor)
COMBINE sugar, water and coffee granules in medium saucepan. Heat over medium heat until it reaches a boil. Reduce heat to low; cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until syrup thickens. Remove from heat; add vanilla extract.
Haagen Dazs Ice Cream (any flavor)
1 and 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese shredded (or medium, if you prefer)
1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese shredded
1/2 cup of asiago cheese shredded
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
1 cup of elbow noodles
5 large potatoes diced (not too small)
2 and 1/2 cups of fresh milk
1 can of carnation evaporated milk
2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp butter
You can cook your elbow noodles and potatoes, separately, as you normally would – just boil until soft – strain, washing with cold water so they will not stick together. Sautee onions.
In a large pot, blend/whisk together flour and butter until creamy. Add fresh and condensed milk, whisking continuously as you add onions, potatoes, noodles and all three cheeses. Be sure you stir or whisk continuously to avoid burning. Allow cheese to melt, add salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 15-20 minutes after all of the cheese melts and soup thickens. Set aside and let soup cool for a bit before serving.
An alternative to this would be to add a few pieces of cooked, cripsy bacon – chopped.
BAKED CHICKEN WITH CREAMY GRAVY
1 (3 lb.) fryer or you can use just breasts or legs and thighs
1 stick butter
lg. can Carnation Evaporated milk
Flour
A little salt and pepper as desired.
Shake chicken in paper bag with flour. Melt butter in baking dish in oven. Remove and lay chicken, skin side up, in dish with butter. Pour milk over all and a little water. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour, adding a little water as needed. Turn chicken over during baking.
Serve with rice. This cream gravy is very good.