"Stuffy Noodles"

I'm not sure where my 13 year old came up with the name for this one, but it stuck and these alfredo chicken and broccoli noodles became the now famous "Stuffy Noodles" in our house. This one really is a family favorite. Without further ado...the yummiest noodles that all my children love!

Scene 1
4 Chicken Breasts @ $1.88 a pound - $5.00
Frozen chopped broccoli - $1.25
Box of large shells - $2.50
Box of manicotti noodles - 1.00 (many were broken)
2 jars of alfredo sauce - $1.49 each
4 cups shredded cheddar cheese - approx $1.00
Parmesean cheese - $.50

Scene 2 - Staples (not counted in final costs)
Chopped Dried Onion, Olive oil, Smoked Paprika and Salt and Pepper

(Smoked Paprika...who would have thought but it is YUMMY! I got this bottle in my stocking at Christmas, yes..for Christmas and I love it. My sister gave this to me and we use it all the time now. Trust me, you won't be sorry you tried it!)

Scene 3
First cook the chicken and chop or shred. I cooked all four chicken breasts with the onion, but decided that it was just too much chicken. I scooped out a quarter of it to freeze for something else later. So really, these meals just got cheaper! $3.75 worth of chicken instead of $5.00!

Scene 4
Cook the large shells and the manicotti noodles to Al Dente (not quite fully cooked). I would normally use two boxes of shells, but I had these manicotti noodles in the pantry and they needed to be used. It also made the meals costs less because they were on clearance. Gotta love sales!

Scene 5
Add the bag of chopped frozen broccoli, 1 jar of alfredo sauce and 2 cups of the shredded cheddar. I also dump in probably 1/4 cup of shredded parmesean. I just guess on this one. Stir well. I had planned on using 2 jars of sauce, but in reality I only used 1/2 of the second one. I put the rest of it in a freezer bag to add to another dish. Once again..saved me money!

Scene 6
These are my "molds" I line these with foil and build my dishes. Once they are frozen I take the casserole dishes out of the molds and stack them in the freezer. This way I can make other casserole dishes without having to buy more of these foil pans or use my good pans in the freezer. Cool eh?

Scene 7
Now the fun part...stuff the noodles! Go ahead, use your hands...stuff away! Line the pans with the noodles and cover with the remaining cheese. I also dump some more parmesean on top..we like cheese around here!

Scene 8
I stick these in the freezer until they are partially frozen or totally frozen, depends on how much time I have. After they are frozen I take them out of the molds and I package them up and put in the directions. They get stacked in the chest freezer in the garage for use later! Tonight however, one pan went right into the oven for dinner! 350 degrees until heated through. This is normally around 30 minutes if you do it from a thawed casserole. 20 minutes if you are making it fresh. Hint, when you thaw these kinds of casseroles, thaw them in the pan they are going to cook in. That way they don't fall apart while thawing because you didn't freeze them in the pan...the mold system. Does that make sense?


Scene 9
Now what does a good cook do after all that hard work?

Scene 10
And what does slave child, aka Kyle do? The dishes! (by the way, he offered to pay me not to put this pic on the internet..hehe)

Scene 11
Here is what our fantastic dinner looks like! YUMMO!!



So for a total of three dinners $12.00. This is $4.00 a dinner! Gotta love it! I partnered it with $1.00 worth of lettuce and a 1/2 a loaf of french bread (.75)tonight for a grand one dinner total of $5.75 Isn't that awesome?? And even better...I have two more dinners and 1/2 a loaf of sliced french bread ready for another time. I love freezer cooking! :)