2 Chicken Dinners and Easy Homemade Stuffing (Full Video)

Cooking like a Chef-Boss has never been so easy! This is 2 chicken dinners, homemade stove-cook stuffing and the secrets to freezer-friendly potatoes all in one episode. That’s right! Today I'm back with incredibly delicious homemade convenience meals that will save you time, money and energy. Strap on your oven mitts and let’s get rockin’!


I am frequently asked how I make so many freezer meals so quickly. Here is the big secret. Sit down, it may be too much AWESOMENESS at once... It's called Dove tailing. You see it a lot in restaurants. One kind of meat 12 different sauces. This is basically how a lot of them do it. I think it's quite remarkable. I'm only using 2 sauces here today, but you will get the main idea. Don't worry, I will add a lot of sauce recipes along the way. This is the start.

First...I season and bake 5 lb of Chicken. Salt, Pepper, Garlic...you can use any "all purpose seasoning" out there. 5 lbs of legs and thighs is about $4 at my local Wal-mart. Gotta love that. It will make us 4 dinners. My kids eat a leg each, I eat a thigh, and my husband has all the side dishes because he thinks any cooked meat is just nasty. Ace is out of town this week. I am cooking FISH and CHICKEN and all kinds of animal stuff. Hint: side dishes .

Chicken Legs and Thighs

4-5 lbs leg and thigh meat (about 12 thighs)
2 T all purpose seasoning blend
Place legs and thighs on a large cookie sheet and season generously with seasoning blend. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes (until juices run clear when pricked with a fork or temperature reads 170 degrees when inserted with a meat thermometer). Divide meat between three plates, 4 thighs each and season with three different sauces...today I did two.

Mustard Glaze: 

2T whole grain mustard

2T molasses. Mix and wipe all over the chicken....

Put in a freezer bag clearly labeled. Put in the fridge immediately. Once cooled transfer to the freezer. (I do this cool, then freeze thing so that I don't have a lot of medium temperature meat sitting in my freezer making germs grow...the quicker the meat gets cold, the less chance my family has of getting a food born illness...which is good.)

Pesto sauce: 

3T prepared Pesto sauce. I also added 2T chopped Italian flat leaf parsley

and 1T fresh rosemary leaves....

Put Pesto Chicken in a freezer bag and label clearly. Transfer to the fridge immediately and then once cool, to the freezer.

Now I have 2 of each of these dinners in my freezer. I will be doing a lot more of these so don't feel like you are being left out of any secrets.

Oh. To reheat the chicken, DEFROST and then heat in the microwave 5-7 minutes on a microwave safe dish, or heat in the oven (covered casserole) 350 degrees 20-25 minutes until internal temperature is over 150. Simple stuff.

There you go darlings!

Always My Very Best,

Your Friend Chef Tess

Full Video: 3 Freezer Meals from One Beef Base

For those of you who don't live in Las Vegas, here's the full video of last Saturday's show. It was so much fun! If you want the Recipes click here.


Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

Bacon Wrapped Shrimp Lemon and Herb Linguine...7$ Dinner for a family of 5

We're back for another Money Monday! Let's just dive right in to this week's ideas...

Money-saving shopping tips

• Shop the discount stores like the 99cent Only Store chains for veggies and pasta. They have fresh produce, including a lot of organic choices.
• Use salad shrimp. It costs a lot less because of the size.
• The biggest cost on this is the bacon. The pre-cooked bits are going to save you money and fat grams.

Ingredients

• 1/3-1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil (lemon infused)
• 1 small red bell pepper, julienne
• 2 leeks, trimmed, halved, cut lengthwise, sliced thin, washed, rinsed, dried
• 2 cloves Garlic, pressed
• 2 lemons, zested and juiced
• 1 2.5 oz pre-cooked packaged diced bacon
• 1/2 lb salad shrimp, frozen
• 1/2 lb linguine, cooked according to package directions 
• 2 zucchini, sliced thin in ribbons
• 6 oz  extra large black olives, drained (optional) 
• smoked paprika, salt and pepper to taste
• Fresh parsley to taste (about 1/4 cup chopped)

Instructions

• Trim off the dark green parts of the leeks  and use the light green stuff. Chop in half lengthwise and then slice thin.
• In a large 14 inch skillet, heat the oil. Add the bell pepper, leek, garlic, lemon zest and bacon. Cook until vegetables are just tender.  Push the vegetable to the side of the pan.
• Add the shrimp and cook until pink, about 3 minutes. Don't overcook the shrimp. I'm a nerd here, but honestly, I'm not a fan of rubber shrimp. If food bounces back when you chew it, you should spit it out. That's just my humble (yet highly accurate) opinion.
• Add the cooked pasta, and olives and lemon juice. Toss with the vegetables. Season with pepper. Taste. Season as needed.
• Transfer to a serving platter or bowl. Garnish with chopped parsley and sprinkle with smoked paprika.
• Serve hot.  

There you go darlings!

Always My Very Best,

Your Friend Chef Tess

A 33 Minute Video of one of my Preparedness Seminars.

At the Utah State University Prepare Fair in Utah, some adorable person filmed my seminar! Thank you so much!! Here you go darlings!!




Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

The Skinny on Brownies! Today's Valentine's Brownie Segment

Okay, are you looking for a great Valentine's brownie recipe? This is my Chef Tess Gourmet Brownie Recipe! It is by and far my favorite! Oh...and we shared it on 3TV this morning!

Ingredients
1 1/4 cup butter
4 cups sugar
1 T vanilla,
2 tsp rum or amaretto extract
1 T cinnamon
1 T orange zest
1/2 tsp ground Cayenne pepper
8 eggs
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cup dark cocoa powder
1 T salt

Instructions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cream the butter,sugar, eggs, vanilla, and spice until light. (Everything should be at room temperature for best mixing.) Add the flour, cocoa, and salt, mixing 2 minutes.

Pour int a lightly greased bar pan, at least 9-x13. Bake 40-45 minutes -- slightly undercooked is better than overdone and dry.

Cover with ganache and toasted almonds.

Ganache

Ingredients
16 oz. high quality chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream
2 cups toasted almonds

Instructions
Boil cream.

Place chocolate in a metal bowl and pour hot cream over the chocolate. Stir with a wire whisk until smooth. It doesn't take long.

Pour over brownies when they are cool and cover with toasted almonds.

Allow to cool -- if you can wait that long -- and cut into squares.

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Personal Sized Meals in a Jar

Monday! It's Meal in a Jar day! Holiday happiness is upon us and wouldn't you know it...we still need to eat every single day. So, here's the latest video tutorial on how to make some personal sized meals in a jar using one basic pasta base. I take these when I travel and have them in my hotel rooms instead of eating out. They're great for work, play, school, college students, military or anyone! The tutorial on making them in lightweight mylar bags is found here: How to make homemade mylar packed meals. If you want more information on the 52 method meals in a jar, along with recipes, go to the 52 Jar Method Recipe Tab.

For the Noodle Base:
1 oz broken spaghetti or macaroni noodles (about 1/4 cup)
1T Dehydrated Carrot
2T Freeze Dried Bell Peppers
1/4 cup Freeze Dried Mushrooms
2 tsp Freeze Dried Onion
1/4 cup Freeze Dried Ground Beef or Sausage

Classic Italian Tomato Sauce
To each Noodle Base Jar add:
3T Tomato Powder
1 tsp Chef Tess Italian Seasoning

To prepare:Bring 1 1/3 cups water to a rolling boil. Remove and discard oxygen absorber (they are only good once). Pour contents of jar into boiling water and stir. Boil 8-10 minutes until noodles are tender. Serve hot.

Cheeseburger Sauce
To each Noodle Base Jar add:
1/4 cup Cheese Sauce Powder
2T Instant Dry Milk
2T Freeze Dried Cheddar Cheese
1/4 tsp granulated garlic
To prepare:Put contents of mix in a 12 inch skillet (with a lid). Add 1 1/3 cups water. Bring to a boil and cover. Simmer 12-15 minutes until noodles are tender. Sauce will thicken a little more as it cools. Yield 1 1/2 cups prepared.

There you go! Make some delicious personal sized meals! They're fast, easy, and great for travel! By the way, if you like having these video tutorials, I'm asking if you'd please post them on your facebook, twitter, and pinterest...let's share the love. 


Always My Very Best,

Your Friend Chef Tess

The 3 Best Fall Apple Cakes and Pies (Healthier Versions)

Tomorrow morning at 9:15 I'll be on our local 3 TV here in Phoenix for a segment on how to make some healthier choices for Fall cakes and pies. I'm using a lot of apples!  I'm sharing the recipes today so that everyone will be able to access the deliciousness in one post! Now, these recipes use organic sugar or can also use granulated natural sugar sweeteners instead. I've made them using stevia and haven't found one that I really like. The sweeteners that I really like for lower sugar and lower GI are:

Fructose Sugar

Granular Erythritol

This cake used organic cake mix and pudding mix. I make my own Chef Tess Bakeresse: My Yellow Homemade Cake Mix as well as Chef Tess Bakeresse: Homemade Instant Pudding Mix and use them instead. The cake mix I make uses 6 grain flour and natural Granular Erythritol.

Chef Tess Mulled Apple Cider Bundt Cake with Lemon Glaze

4 cups organic white cake mix ,

½ cup organic vanilla pudding mix (1 box),

1 ½ tsp Chef Tess Wise Woman of the East Spice blend.Chef Tess Spices

Glaze mix: 1 cup organic powdered sugar, 1 T lemon zest

To prepare cake you will need: 1 cups high quality apple juice concentrate, ½ cup Myer lemon infused olive oil, 4 eggs, 1 Bundt pan, flour for dusting the pan. To prepare glaze you will need: 2T hot water.

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly mist Bundt pan with non-stick spray and dust with flour. Shake out excess flour and set aside. Place the cake mix in a mixer and combine with apple cider and olive oil, and eggs mixing on low speed 30 seconds and then increase to medium speed 2 minutes, scraping down sides again. The batter should be thick and well combined. Pour into pan, place in oven and bake 42-48 minutes. Remove pan from oven and place on wire rack to cool. Meanwhile prepare the glaze by combining the mix with 2T hot water and mixing until smooth. Inver the cake onto a platter while it is still warm and pour the glaze over the cake. Garnish with spices, and fruit if desired. Slice and serve.

Chef Tess Natural Fall Apple Cake

Cream together:
2 cups natural sugar replacement (Granular Erythritol or Xylitol)
1/2 cup butter (or heart-healthy butter replacement)
½ cup egg beaters
1 tsp double strength vanilla

Sift together:
2 cups 9 grain cake flour or organic cake flour
2 tsp Chef Tess Wise Woman of the East Spice Blend ( Chef Tess Spices)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp soda

Add flour mixture to creamed mixture, alternating with 1/2 cup soy milk or low-fat buttermilk.
Add: 3 granny smith apples (peeled, and pared and and diced)

Bake at 350 degrees in a greased 9 by 13 inch cake pan (about 40 minutes) or 2 8 inch rounds (20-25 minutes). Frost generously with cream cheese frosting. I also add a tsp of crushed lavender petals to the sifted ingredients.

This I did in 2 8 inch cake pans. I grease and flour the pans to keep them from sticking, but you could just line them with parchment paper.
Cream cheese frosting (optional, not pictured above)
1 stick (1/4 pound) regular butter, softened

1 package (8 ounce) light cream cheese, softened

1 pound powdered sugar (about 3 cups)

2 teaspoons vanilla

In large bowl, cream butter and cream cheese. Add sugar and vanilla and blend until smooth. Don't over mix as cream cheese will separate and become runny.

 

Chef Tess' Fall Natural 6 Grain Apple Pie
5 large Jonathan or Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored and sliced thin
1 tsp Wise Woman of the East spice blend  (Chef Tess Spices)
2T fresh lemon juice
2T flour or 1T cornstarch
2tsp double strength vanilla
¼ cup honey (I use flavor infused)

Combine in a large bowl until well coated. I put the bowl in the microwave for 5 minutes on high and stir well. This helps the apples to partially cook and reduces the baking time. This may also be done on the stove-top. Once partially cooked, transfer into a 9 inch uncooked pie crust.

For the crust you will need:

2 1/4 cup 6 grain pastry flour (all purpose will work)

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup shortening (non trans fat try Spectrum organic brand)

3 T cold water

3 T white distilled vinegar

Crust: Combine the flour and the salt in a large bowl. I keep the fat pretty cold. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender. combine lightly until the mix resembles course meal or tiny peas: its texture will not be uniform, but will contain small crumbs and small bits and pieces. If you don't have a pastry blender, you can certainly use the wire whisk from your mixer.Or, my personal favorite...the techno-chef fingers. Just make sure your hands are freezing cold. It's winter, I'm sure you can work that out. I use vinegar in my crust. I have for years. It helps with the flaky texture and it actually does make an amazing crust. Make a well in the dry stuff and add 3 T cold water and 3 T vinegar. You may need more or less, so go with 2 T of vinegar at first...but I can't think if the last time I needed to change the recipe and add more water or vinegar than what it says. Lightly combine, just until mixed. Over mixing the dough will always result in hard non-flake-like crust. Kneading it only a few times and making into a ball. Refrigerate about 30 minutes. It will be easier to work with, and it gives the gluten (protein in the wheat) time to rest so the dough will roll out easier. Take half of the dough. With your hands form it into a patty. I put my dough between two pieces of wax paper. I've used this method since my granny W. Forever. It's never failed me. Lightly...and I do mean lightly...wipe the counter top with a lightly damp clean washcloth. Place a piece of wax paper down, about 1 foot by 1 foot. Put the dough down. Top with another piece of wax paper of same proportions. Wax paper helps contribute to a tender crust, using extra flour on the counter instead may lead to a dry crust if overdone. Roll the dough out into a circle. This may take practice to get it just right. Take your time.

Once to the edges of the wax paper, remove the top piece of paper. Place crust, uncovered side down in the pan, with an inch or so of crust hanging over the edge of the pan. Now remove the second piece of paper.Trim the edge so it hangs over about 3/4 inch, then fold it under so it leaves a little rim on the pan. This one comes up about 1/2 inch.

There you go! Make some gorgeous things with apple!

Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

Sweet Potato Biscuits 2 Ways (Video Segment)

Here's today's segment on NBC 12 with my darling friend Syleste Rodrigez! I had such a wonderful time with these folks!



Sweet Potato Biscuit Recipes are:  Here. In the segment I said 2 cups buttermilk, it was early. That should only be 2/3 cup buttermilk. Sorry about that. There's 2 cups of buttermilk in the gravy!

Saving Money and Eating Clean?! Today's 3TV Segment! With Printable Recipes!

I joined the famous and fabulous crew down at 3TV Phoenix this morning with some great money saving and clean eating ideas that I use! Check it out. I had so much fun!

What Are The Top 5 Money Saving Recipes Every Cook Should Know?

 I usually share a little on cooking with food storage and also money saving ideas for anyone who is just trying to make ends meet and wants to be able to take control of their family budget. Sometimes the difference in being able to have the chance to be home with kids or work full time is just a few hundred dollars a month. If I can help you save some precious funds so you can you use them places that you want, cool. A lot of people read my blog for various reasons. If you want things more natural, I'm here to help if I can with that as well. You have to do what is best for your family in the long run. So take my advice for what it is. Use it or not. I'm not checking your cupboards. I just know what has worked for us in the past.  Today I want to share my top 5 Money saving areas in cooking and baking. They really do make those dollars and pennies stretch out! Note: If you use organic and non-GMO ingredients in the recipes I suggest, you will probably pay a little more for the raw ingredients, but over-all it will still cost a lot less than the individual organic mixes. I purchase organic grains and ingredients in bulk and it cuts the cost quite a bit. 

Here are My Top 5 Money Savers!

#1.  Sauce, Condensed Soup, and Gravy Mixes 

Usually you will go from dollars to mere pennies if you learn how to make your own white sauce and gravy mixes from scratch. They usually only take a few ingredients and the money you save can be substantial! Usually from almost 2$ a can for condensed soup to about 14cents to make it from scratch. 

 #2. Basic Bread Dough  How much do you pay for a single loaf of bread? Making it from scratch can save you up to 3$ a loaf for the whole grain breads. Think about that and maybe try to gain a new skill. I think the greatest gift you can give yourself is the ability to take any flour in any given situation and be able to make a loaf of bread that would not only satisfy, but delight your family. In taking back the art of making your family bread from someone else and placing it in your own able hands, you become very empowered! It is the staff of life. If you know the basic recipe "by heart" and can make it anywhere, anytime...you're prepared for anything! If you buy the whole grain flour in bulk, your savings will add up even more. If you don't think you'll use all the flour, consider "going in" on a bag with a friend and splitting the cost. (My favorite online source is here)

#3. Homemade "Bisquick" Baking biscuits, muffins and pancakes from one homemade mix can save a lot of cash...even over buying the pre-made store bought mix! Did you know that the average box of pre-made baking mix costs around 4$ for 2 lbs? Making it from scratch...about 1.50$ (cheaper if you buy the flour in bulk). Making it at home, you control all the ingredients. Initially it may seem to cost more to get all your supplies, but once you have all the ingredients, it's a snap! Every penny counts right? I also suggest going whole grain whenever you can. 9 grain all purpose baking mix is a great one for that!

#4 Basic Beans. On average, a 15 oz can of beans is around 1$...depending on where you shop. If they are organic they will be a lot more than that. Now, imagine you took a 1$ one pound bag of dry beans and cooked them yourself? Keep in mind, on average a pound of dry beans will make about 7 cups of cooked beans! We eat a lot of beans. Buy them in bulk and save even more than what it costs to get a single pound bag of beans. This also applies to knowing how to cook other basic grains from scratch. You'll save a lot of money if you use long grain rice instead of instant rice. Par-boiled rice and brown rice are great nutritionally and will keep your stomach filled longer. 

#5 Home Spun Breakfast Cereal. Isn't it crazy how much they charge for cereal in the grocery store?! One thing that saved us a lot of money and still does is the ability to make homemade breakfast cereal. My favorite is granola, but we also love homemade "grape-nugget". Generally I use the granola as a boost to cereal I buy. I'll get the rolled grain in bulk, make the granola and then mix it into the flake cereals like corn flakes, bran flakes, or crispy rice. This not only adds to the cereals nutritionally, but also it satisfied hunger longer. I for one, can keep going for hours on a bowl of cereal if it has granola added to the flakes...instead of just the flakes alone.  This also applies to saving money buying the whole grain and grinding it yourself if you can. When you make creamy-wheat from wheat you gain nutrition and save money!

Ultimately, there are a lot of areas you can start saving money cooking with food storage. You may also want to try baking with alternative cooking tools like Solar cooking with a Solar Oven . I know it saved our utility bill a lot in the Arizona sun cooking all summer outside instead of heating the house and having to cool it back down again . I don't know what you're saving your money for, I just want to help if I can.  Share your favorite money saving tips too! We are all in this together! I'd love to share them here on the blog! 

 You can get the printable PDF here. 

There you go!

Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

The Top 5 Money Saving Recipes Every Cook Should Know Video Segment on Fox 10

Enjoy! It was a fabulous segment! Xoxo!

FOX 10 News - Phoenix, AZ | KSAZ-TV

Convenient Summer Kids Meals for Camping and Beyond 3TV Chef Tess Segment!

Okay folks. I have to share! Look how much fun we had today at the Channel 3 studio! Xoxo!

I loved it! Tell me what you think!

Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

Skillet Pizza for Camping and an Easy Summer Meal

 Tomorrow I'm visiting our local Good Morning Arizona channel 3 TV station for a cooking segment on easy camping and summer meals for kids! I'm so excited to meet everyone there and cook with some new folks! The segment airs at 8:45 so if you're local, it should be a fun piece. I wanted to share one of the ideas I've used for camping that is just way too fun for kids and adults! I make pizza while camping using a skillet with a lid on a butane or Coleman stove or in my solar oven. It can also be done over the camp-fire with a skillet or folded in half like a sandwich in a foil pouch and cooked right in the coals.
At home it is fast, easy, and certainly can be done on the stove or BBQ grill! In the summer this will give you that crispy crust and gooey melted cheese without the oven heating your house. I can make them a lot healthier and cheaper than purchasing the pre-made frozen meals and they take about 20 minutes to make 10-12 ready-to-eat pizzas!  For the most part, camping meals need to be simple. If I'm not using one of my shelf-stable convenient 52 jar method meals, I'll usually bring along some of these! You will need store purchased pita bread or you can use the  homemade pita bread tutorial. Today I'm using some grilled panini flat bread. It really doesn't matter what you use for the crust, as long as it is thick enough for a pizza. When the boys were younger I'd use homemade English Muffins, split in half they made two mini pizzas. Now we need the bigger size. They're getting into teen years and it is a whole new grand adventure!  The best part of the skillet-pizza is that it doesn't heat the oven and it gives us a gooey cheese with a crispy crust. That's hard to do in the microwave. It's just freakishly cool!

 I still try to suck the life out of the time I have with them and that included having them help make the meals they'll be eating while I'm at work. They like having some time with me. I have to admit, I adore having some time with them as well. So, this is my son aka Face. He's shredding the cheese and helping spread the sauce.

 I lay out enough pieces of foil to accommodate all the pizzas. In this way, we can make a whole bunch at once and have 10-12 pizzas on-hand for quick meals. This is great for camping too because the work is already done. I like not having to prepare food in the rough.

 Put a pita on each 10 inch piece of foil. Add sauce of your choice, just about 2 Tablespoons.

Put the children to work. They love this part!

 Top with cheese and your favorite toppings.

 Sprinkle with an outstanding Italian Seasoning. Um...I tend to lean toward my own blends whenever possible. Yup. I'm a fan.

 Now if you use a tomato based sauce, be sure not to use a foil to cover the pizza. The acid in the tomato sauce will react to the foil and make a terrible mess. It will taste horrid. I'm using a parchment lined foil. You can use wax paper here as well. Just cover the top of the pizza. Wrap the foil from the bottom around the pizza.

 Place in a gallon size freezer bag. We can usually get 5 pizzas in a bag. Freeze. I keep 3 or 4 in the fridge (up to 4 days) so the boys don't have to even defrost the pizzas. For camping, I always freeze them. This keeps them at a safe temperature and helps prevent food born illness. Remember the picnic food safety segment? It keeps them together and adds to the cold of my ice chest. For more information on picnic safety go here.

 To prepare, simply slip the pizza out of the wrap and place in a thick covered skillet. Mine is 14 inches and the bottom is thick enough to not burn the crust.

 The main secret is making sure the flame is low and letting them cook with the lid on the pan about 7-10 minutes.

 The cheese will melt and the pizza will have a crispy crust. It's just what we love in a pizza without all the trouble of baking it.

Ironically we find ourselves using this stove-top method a lot more at home than we do camping. After all, how often do we really go camping? On the other hand, when we have taken them camping we have been very excited to have pizza! This is great for a Dutch oven or even on "no burn days" here in Arizona when we have to use our Solar Oven.

Tomorrow I'll be sharing a few new tips for camping as well as the fun Hobo Foil Dinner that my kids adore! I'm looking forward to an amazing segment tomorrow!

There you go! Make skillet Pizza and don't forget to watch tomorrow morning!

Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

I am no longer the corporate chef for Honeyville but we still love them dearly. My family is greatly blessed and relies heavily on the extra money brought in by sales tracked back to this site. This is also the company that packages and sells my spice line as well as my food storage cookbooks. Thank you so very much for your support. Xoxo!