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I really like to find recipes that fit with my busy life, often times when I find a recipe I like I will make two at the same time. I will cook one for dinner that night and put another one in the freezer for later. This is great, because when you know you are going to have a busy day you just have to pull your meal out of the freezer and dinner is nearly done.
Ingredients:
Makes two dinners (you can cut in half, if you only want to make one)
- 4 cups chicken breast, cooked and diced
- 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 6 green onions, diced
- 1 green pepper, diced
- 1 red pepper, diced
- 3 small tomatoes
- 2-3 (8 oz.) blocks cream cheese, softened (not melted)
- 1 (14 oz) cans diced tomatoes with chiles, undrained
- 1/4 cup chicken broth
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
- 3 cups salsa
- 40 large pasta shells
Cook pasta in boiling water until they are mostly cooked, you do not want to over cook them because it makes them harder to stuff. They will finish cooking in the oven, so no worries.
To make the filling, mix diced chicken, drained black beans, green onions, diced peppers, and cumin into a large mixing bowl and mix well.
In a different bowl, mix the cream cheese, chicken broth and undrained tomatoes with chiles, chopped tomatoes. When it is all mixed well, pour over the chicken mixture and mix them well together.
You will need (2) 9×13 dishes to bake (and store one for later). Spread 1 cup salsa in the bottom of each 9×13 baking pan.
Fill each of your cooked pasta shells with chicken mixture, placing them into the pan. Continue until all shells are filled and added to the pans.
Once all the shells are complete, add the remaining 1 cup of salsa (1/2 cup per pan) and then sprinkle the shredded cheese on top.
Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. It should be bubbly once it is done.
Bake one of the dishes and cover the extra one with foil and put in freezer. Too cook at a later date, pull out 24 hours in advance and thaw in fridge, Bake as directed above.
Recipe slightly adapted from Busy-at-Home
Mbf says
I often make a little extra to freeze, but I discovered in college that tomato sauce and aluminum don’t mix…at least not for a long period of time. Lasagnas and enchiladas often “rusted out” holes in the foil and pans. What I do now is line a pan with plastic wrap or parchment paper, fill it, freeze until solid, pop it out and then store the brick in the freezer. When ready to eat, unwrap and plop it back in the pan to cook.