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Cookin' up a storm

It's true.  I love to cook, but I also have those days when the mere thought of putting something together makes me curl up into fetal position.  I had read several recipes on Pinterest (yes, I'm fully aware of my addiction) and it dawned on me that precooking meals and freezing them was the most AMAZING idea ever.

I've been doing it for a while but the sight of fresh ingredients in my fridge and the smell of delicious pesto shrimp in my kitchen has left me wanting to share!

Tonight I put together two dishes:  Mac & Cheese and Creamy Pesto Shrimp
The secret is to line your 8x8 dish with foil (I've also tried plastic wrap but always come back to foil) so you can freeze the meal in the dish & pop it out to put into a storage bag.  Stay with me.

Marvelous Shells & Cheese (yeah, I just used elbow mac since that's what I had in my cabinet)

  • 16 oz pasta
  • 8 oz Velveeta
  • 1/3 C milk
  • 2 C cottage cheese (2%)
  • 1 can (10 3/4 oz) cream of onion soup, undiluted
  • 3 C shredded Mexican cheese

Cook pasta according to directions.
Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, combine Velveeta & milk; cook and stir over low heat until melted.
Remove from heat.
Stir in cottage cheese & soup.
Drain pasta & add to cheese sauce; stir until coated.  Transfer to your pan (this would fit into 13x9 dish, but I use (2) 8x8 pans since it's just the two of us & this seems to be the perfect size for us).  Sprinkle with cheese.  I then added French's fried onions (to complement the onion soup).  You can use bread crumbs or something similar.
I froze one at this stage.
The other got thrown into the oven at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until heated through.







Creamy Pesto Shrimp


  • 1 lb linguine
  • 1/2 C butter
  • 2 C heavy whipping cream
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1C Parmesan cheese
  • 1/3 C pesto
  • 1 lb shrimp



Bring large pot of lightly salted water to boil.  Add pasta & cook 8-10 min (al dente)
In large skillet, melt butter.  Stir in cream & season with pepper.  Cook 6-8 minutes.
Stir in Parmesan.  Blend in pesto.  Cook 3-5 minutes until thick.
Stir in shrimp & cook until pink.
Serve over linguine.



The mac & cheese got rave reviews tonight from Porch and I'm pretty eager to try the Pesto Shrimp sometime this week!

Hope the recipes make your tummy happy!

Ready for those nights when I want to do nothing but lounge on the couch!!!!!

Comments

  1. mebsNovember 8, 2011 at 9:10 PM

    Where does one find cream of onion soup?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Crabby SunflowerNovember 8, 2011 at 9:13 PM

    I found it at the grocery store near all of the soups... :)

    ReplyDelete

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