I am all Cooked Out!

I came across this item in the back of my pantry a few days ago, while cleaning it out. The cleaning thing is all part of my Cleaning out the Pantry/Freezer Challenge I was taking part in over on the Compact Mailing List in June. I'm working on this Challenge through July too.

I must have picked this up on clearance at Big Lots back when my daughter still ate tuna fish. It has to be over a year old in that case, or older.

I wanted to serve this but no one besides me really likes tuna much. So I decided to shake things up a bit.
I made the Tuna Helper as directed on the box, except I left out the tuna. Then I cut up some leftover raw summer squash, broccoli we bought last Friday and got some bagged crinkle cut carrots out of the freezer. I put a little Olive Oil in a hot skillet and sort of 'stir fried' the veggies while the fettuccine and sauce were simmering.

When all was cooked, instead of Tuna Fettuccine Alfredo.....


I had Fettuccine Alfredo Primavera!

We had a yummy non-meat meal for 3 and I didn't have to throw away the box of Tuna Helper.

In other Cooking news....I spent most of Monday preparing food for later use.

I chopped onions, red & yellow bell peppers.
Then I cooked multiple packages of ground beef and grilled chicken breasts on the gas grill.
I made up a meatball mixture with some of the raw ground beef, formed & cooked 42 meatballs(1/2 are for Thursday night's dinner, 1/2 for the freezer to eat later).
While the meatballs cooked I picked & pulled apart the grilled chicken, then sauted the veggies/aromatics with tomatoes, garlic and herbs/spice.
After I grated 1/2lb. each of jack and cheddar cheese, it was time to grab the tortillas and start the burrito assembly line.
A little refried beans, a big spoon of grilled chicken or ground beef, another spoon of tomato & veggies and a clump of cheese to fill each tortilla.
Fold & roll each tortilla up in foil.
Over & over again.....until I had 12 chicken & 12 beef burritos all ready to be loaded into the freezer. Here are some of them.....



The last 6 tortillas were used to make a dish of Enchiladas for Tuesday night's dinner(we've moved this meal to Wednesday now, as we had leftovers tonight). The Enchiladas are covered with foil in the fridge, awaiting the enchilada sauce and monterey jack cheese, which I'll add right before heating them up.

We'll be eating good food and doing it frugally this week!

Enchiladas on Wednesday(just top & shove it in the oven).
Spaghetti & Meatballs on Thursday(just have to boil the noodles and assemble the meal)
More leftovers on Friday(pork bbq or fettucine or enchiladas, etc, just reheat)
Eating out Chinese on Saturday(Lunch time not dinner because the lunch price is less expensive)
Corned Beef, Cabbage, Potatoes, Carrots(in the crockpot-no work just dump it in & leave it)

I've gotten all my "real" cooking out of the way for the week. More time to spend on other things....like enjoying the pool! ;-)

Who the heck wants to be chained to the stove/oven in the summer?

Sluggy