Southwest Chicken Pasta Skillet in a Jar

Southwest Chicken Pasta Skillet in a jar

 Adapted from Chef Todd

This has been a family favorite for many meals. You can add more of any vegetable. Also, you can substitute the sour cream and limeade powders with fresh sour cream and lime when you fold in the pasta.

-Layer in jar

1 cup FD chopped chicken

½ cup FD red bell peppers

½ cup FD chopped onion

½ cup FD sweet corn

2 TBSP FD green chili peppers

¼ cup Instant black beans

-Bag in jar

1 tsp. Chef’s Choice Seasoning Blend

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. cumin

1 tbsp. FD cilantro

-Bag in jar

½ cup Veloute’

½ tsp. Summer Limeade Powder

½ cup Thrive sour cream powder

-From pantry

1 Tbsp. butter

1 Tbsp. garlic, minced (optional, may use powdered)

1 tsp. hot sauce

4 cups water

1 lb. Pasta

1.     Cook Pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

2.     Saute’ the garlic in butter. Add chicken, bell pepper, onion, corn, chili peppers and black beans. Add 4 cups of water and spices. Bring to a simmer.

3.     Cover with lid, simmer for 15-20 minutes until beans are tender.

4.     Once cooked, add in the Veloute’, limeade powder, sour cream powder and hot sauce with. Simmer 1-2 minutes while stirring.

5.     Fold in cooked pasta. Garnish with cilantro, diced avocado and tomato. Serves 6-8

New Meals in Jar using February Specials!

February Specials from Thrive are here! 

I've created some amazing recipes for you to try using this month's specials. My teenage son loves that he can pick a dish and make it. I love that a healthy meal is prepared and I didn't have to cook it!

  

True to my Indian food craze, I have another Indian inspired meal for you. I found this recipe from Whole Foods, and I must say, it warms my soul on these cold Midwest winter days. We made it twice in one day this week. 

I love curry. It's earthy, yet, it's versatile in what you can pair it with. Curry is different in every dish. Did you know that curry is not a single spice? It's a combination of turmeric, cumin, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, cayenne, and ginger. Each blend is different, so try out different blends. Curry pastes are what I prefer when I cook from the refrigerator. If I use a dry curry, then I prefer to make my own. This way I can control the flavor, heat and the salt. The curry you choose is what makes the dish. Here is a good recipe for making your own curry spice. Here is a good grocery store curry. If you prefer a milder curry, I recommend checking out a local Indian Grocery or you can order one off amazon here. 

With Thrive, you are finished in 30 minutes! Did you check out the original recipe? Did you calculate the time to make the dish? Almost 1 ½ hours!

  

Beef and Potato Curry with Spinach

½ c. Thrive onion, FD

1 tbsp. Thrive green chilis, FD

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 c. Thrive beef slices (alternative – mushrooms), FD

½ teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste

1 ½ tbsp. mild or spicy curry

½ c. Thrive diced tomatoes, FD

½ teaspoon sugar

1 ½ c. Thrive potato chunks, D

½ c Thrive spinach, FD

1 tbsp. Thrive cilantro, FD

Ingredients for cooking day:

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 (13.5-ounce) can light coconut milk

½ of a lime

To Cook: Heat olive oil in a deep skillet or medium pot on medium heat. Measure 4 cups water. Empty jar into pot with hot oil and stir constantly for 10 seconds. Pour in 4 cups water and coconut milk and stir. Bring to boil. Cover and reduce to low. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. For a thicker sauce, uncover and simmer for 10 more minutes, stirring often. Squeeze lime juice into dish. Salt to taste. (Careful! The salt varies greatly on curries) Serve with rice and garnish with fresh cilantro.

Spinach Frittata

Breakfast for dinner. Or just have yourself a fancy breakfast in half the time!

Layer in Jar:

1 c. Thrive Scrambled Egg mix, FD

Zipper Sandwich bag:
½ c. Thrive Chopped Onion, FD

½ c. Thrive Spinach, FD

½ c. Thrive Tomato dices, FD

½ c. Thrive Mushrooms, FD

½ tsp. Thrive Chef’s Choice Seasoning

½ tsp. Thrive Pepper Blend

Zipper Sandwich bag:

½ c. Monterey Jack Cheese, FD

Cooking Day Ingredients:

1 tbsp. Butter

1 tbsp. Olive oil

Layer ingredients in order in quart size jar. Place cheese in sipper sandwich bag and place in jar. Close tight with lid.

To cook: Preheat Oven to 400 degrees.

In a small container with lid, toss cheese with 2 tbsp. of water. Gently shake container several times during the cooking process. Measure 2 ½ cups of water. Melt oil and butter on medium heat in non-stick skillet. Add water and whisk in vegetables and spice bag. Simmer 2-3 minutes. Quickly whisk in egg and cheese and immediately transfer skillet to oven and cook 5-6 minutes, watching closely until eggs set and begins to brown slightly. Cut into wedges and serve with salsa.

Applesauce Banana Muffins in a Jar

This makes a very moist muffin. The bananas must be chopped well, to fit everything into the jar. My bananas are not chopped enough in the picture. I had to use some tricks and a lot of patience to get it to all fit.

Applesauce Banana Muffins in a Jar

Layer in jar:

3 c. Thrive banana slices, chopped

1 c. vanilla flavored sugar

¼ c. Thrive applesauce

¼ c. Thrive Scrambled Egg mix

Zipper sandwich jar:

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Day of cooking:

Mix-ins (Optional): ½ c. Chocolate chips, ½ c. walnuts, 1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350.

Remove sandwich bag from jar. Pour 2 ½ c. water into blender. Pour contents of jar into blender. Blend just until smooth. Add flour mix and pulse just until combined. Remove blender from base and hand stir in any mix-ins. Spoon into paper lined muffin tins.

Bake for 20 minutes, rotate pans and bake another 5-10 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack. Makes 24 muffins.

Creamy Mushroom Rice with Spinach         

This is a traditional dish in my family. I grew up making this with good ol’ cream of mushroom soup. Now I prefer to have this as a lighter, healthier dish. The Jack Cheese in the end gives it a nice creamy texture. Of course, if you are craving comfort food like your mom used to make it, add ½ cup sour cream powder and ½ c more water.

Creamy Mushroom Rice with Spinach     

Layer in Jar:

2 c. Thrive Instant Brown Rice

¾ c. Thrive Spinach, FD

¾ c Thrive Mushrooms, FD

1 tbsp. Thrive Chicken Bouillon

2 c. Thrive Instant Brown Rice

1 tbsp. Thrive parsley, FD

Zipper sandwich bag:

½ c. Thrive Monterey Jack Cheese

To cook:

Remove bag of cheese from jar. Pour cheese and 2 tbsp. water into container with lid. Gently shake to moisten cheese and repeat throughout cooking process.  Add contents of jar to 2 2/3 c. water and 2 tbsp. butter. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer. Cover and cook on medium low for 8 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes covered. Stir in Cheese and serve. For vegetarian option, substitute mushrooms for chicken. Serves 4-6

Tip: If using regular brown rice, increase water to 5 c. and increase bouillon to 5 tsp. Cover and bring to a boil until steam releases from covered pot, about 15 minutes. Keeping lid on, turn to low and cook another 10 minutes. Turn off heat and let sit 5 minutes.

Strawberry Banana Butter Cream Frosting

The first time I made this, I had to restrain myself from eating it with a spoon. I am not a frosting person, but this is AMAZING!  I put this frosting on a plain yellow cupcake and I had to look at the cupcake twice while I was eating it to make sure it wasn't a strawberry cupcake. 

Thrive Bananas are very different in color and texture from dehydrated bananas. They taste like a real banana, because they are!

Strawberry Banana Butter Cream Frosting

½ lb. Butter

1 lb. Powdered Sugar, sifted

¼ - ½ c. milk

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

¼ c. freeze dried banana powder

¼ c. freeze dried strawberry powder

Whip butter until almost white. Slowly mix in fruit powders, ¼ c. milk and sugar, 1 cup at a time. If frosting is too stiff, add more milk, 1 tbsp. at a time. Makes enough frosting for an 8 or 9 inch two-layer cake.

Chocolate Frosting: Omit fruit powder and add ½ c. fine cocoa powder.

Chicken Tikka Masala

My goal is to post monthly. I even aspire to post weekly...But this recipe is so good that I can't wait!

My family has indulged in Chicken Tikka Masala for years. I stumbled upon this recipe while looking for a Butter Chicken recipe and we've been hooked ever since. I was  introduced to Indian Cuisine about 10 years ago and the spice and flavor keep bringing me back to it. I love ethnic dishes. I grew up in a vegetarian household and a large majority of ethnic dishes are vegetarian. Lots of flavor and lots of spice were the star in those meals of my youth, and although it is not vegetarian, spice and flavor take a front seat in this dish.

I was given a challenge to convert Chicken Tikka Masala into a meal in a jar. I LOVE Chicken Tikka Masala, so I could not pass up this challenge. Actually, I think I hijacked this opportunity. I love this dish!

I'm also excited to use a new ingredient. Garlic! You might be thinking, "Really?" That's new? Well, for a meal in a jar, Thrive doesn't sell freeze dried garlic in bulk because they won't source their ingredients from countries like China. So, I'm on my own in the garlic department. This week I shopped at a discount surplus store and found a 5 lb. bag of dried garlic slices!! I should probably compose myself, because after all, its just garlic, but I won't. I'm excited to use this in my Meals in a Jar!

Chicken Tikka Masala in a Jar

Layer ingredients in 3 parts.

In a Quart Size Jar:

1^st part: Chicken Marinade

½ c. Thrive Greek yogurt bites

½ tsp. Thrive Lemonade powder

2 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

½ tsp. cayenne pepper

1 tsp. Thrive Peppercorn blend

1 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. Thrive Chef’s Choice Seasoning or salt

2 c. Thrive Grilled Chicken Slices

In a ZIPPER SANDWICH BAG:

2^nd part: Sauce

1 tsp. dried garlic flakes or ½ tsp, granulated garlic

1 tsp. Thrive Green Chilis

1 tsp. ground cumin

2 tsp. smoked paprika

1 tsp. Thrive Chef’s Choice Seasoning or salt

½ c. Thrive Tomato Powder

1/3 c. Thrive Sour Cream Powder

1 tsp. Thrive Cilantro

  

In a ZIPPER SANDWICH BAG

3^rd part: Rice Seasoning

1 tsp. whole cumin

2 tbsp. Thrive Chopped Onion

1 tsp. Thrive Chef’s Choice Seasoning

1 tsp. dried garlic or ½ tsp granulated garlic

Day of cooking Ingredients:

2 C. Uncooked basmati or white rice

2 Tbsp. olive oil or butter, divided

Layer 1^st part of ingredients in a quart jar. 

Measure 2^nd part of ingredients into a zipper sandwich bag. Close bag and label as sauce bag and place in jar. 

Measure 3^rd part of ingredients into a zipper snack size bag. Close and label as Rice Spice bag and place into jar

Cooking day:

Remove 2 bags from jar. Add 1 c. of water to chicken and marinade in jar. Close jar tightly and gently toss to coat all the ingredients with water - repeat this often as you cook the rest of the meal. 

In a medium pot, add 1 tbsp. olive oil, spice bag and 2 cups basmati rice to 4 c. cold water. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to low for 15 minutes. Turn heat off but do not remove lid. 

While rice is cooking, place a cold sauce pan on the stove. In sauce pan, whisk contents of sauce bag with 2 ½ cups of water. Add 1 tbsp. olive oil, turn heat to medium and bring to a simmer, whisking often until sauce starts to thicken.   

Fold chicken and marinade into sauce. 

Simmer 2-3 minutes. Serve over rice. Garnish with fresh cilantro.

If you like Indian food, and even better if you like Chicken Tikka Masala, 

your taste buds will thank you for days!

Meals in a Jar

Cooking healthy for my family has always been important to me. Healthy convenience food, at a price point affordable to a middle, working class family, has been challenging.

A few years ago, I was introduced to the concept of meals in a jar.  I love to cook and consider myself a knowledgeable home chef. However, the time to devote one or two hours making dinner is not available. I am a busy mom of 7 children and my time is constrained. The meals in a jar are the dinner solution I needed!

With the meals in a jar, I can choose my ingredients, making healthy meals in advance for my family and making them in minutes instead of hours. I am not worried about produce spoiling in my refrigerator, or food getting lost in my freezer and freezer burned. I sat on this idea for two years. I'm slow to change and needed to wrap my head around freeze dried food. However, the though of having meals shelf stable was very appealing to me. I mean, dump and go HEALTHY dinners in under 30 minutes! That's a dream come true for crazy, busy people!

Is it the same as dehydrated? No. Will it taste like WWII survival crackers? No. Yuck. What preservatives are used? Zero. Is it allergen free? Yes.

 A few years ago learned about the company Thrive Life and their freeze dried food. Briefly, I will explain Thrive Life's freeze drying process: Thrive's food is picked at peak ripeness, because food ripened on the plant tastes better. All of the food is flash frozen within 48 hours. The more perishable the food, the sooner it is frozen. Bananas, for example, once they are perfectly ripe on the plant, start to go down hill quickly and so they are frozen within 4 hours of being picked. Once the food is flash frozen, it is transported to the Thrive Life freeze drying facility in American Fork, UT. The food is naturally prepared. This means that there is no MSG, no preservatives, not genetically modified, and most foods have only one ingredient. Sealed in the can, the food lasts up to 25 years. Once opened, you have months, even up to a year to use it. You can see their food standards here. This site explains freeze drying in simple terms if you want to know more. 

You can order all of these ingredients on my website here. The delivery service is the best way to go! You get free shipping on all preferred items (freeze dried) if your order is over $100. A great way to try multiple foods is by purchasing Thrive's Simple Plate meals. You get to try the food, all in one complete meal, and see how easy it is to cook with.

I love Thrivealizing recipes! These are my first batch of recipes. Some of these are from friends and some are my own. If you don't use Thrive's bouillons, then beware of sodium content. Thrive's bouillon is low sodium and no MSG or gluten. 

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Recipe by Sarah Griesmyer

                               

I crave the flavor of this soup. Sometimes, we add only about 5-6 cups of water and make this a taco dip. After it is cooked we top it with cheese, avocado and red onion and dig in!

Layer ingredients in jar in the order listed, except masa. Pour masa into bag and tie to jar.

Jar Ingredients:

2 tbsp. Thrive Chicken Bouillon

1 tbsp. Thrive Signature tomato sauce

½ tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. chili powder

1 ½ tsp cumin

1 tsp cilantro, FD

½ c. chopped onion, FD

2 tbsp. green chilis, FD

¼ c. red bell pepper, FD

¼ c. green bell pepper, FD

½ c. tomato dices, FD

½ c. corn, FD

1 c. instant black beans

2/3 c. chopped chicken, FD

¼ cup. Masa

Day of Cooking Ingredients:
2 tbsp. Olive oil or better
1/2 of a lime, juiced or 1 tsp. hot sauce.

To cook:

Heat 2 tbsp. olive oil or butter in large sauce pot. Add contents of jar and stir, toasting 10 sec. Add 2 jars of water (8c.) and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low-med, cover and cook 30 minutes. Taste and salt if needed. Mix masa with 1/2 c. cold water. Add to soup and cook an additional 5 minutes, stir in lime juice. Serve with tortilla strips, fresh onion, avocado and shredded cheddar cheese.

Beef Stroganoff

Recipe from Shelli Rasmussen

This is my children’s favorite!!

Put in a quart jar in this order:

1 cup FD Beef Dices or Ground Beef
2 cups Egg Noodles (I use gluten free noodles for my family)
1/3 cup Espagnole (Savory Beef Gravy)
1/4 cup FD Chopped Onions
1/4 cup Sour Cream Powder
1 tsp Chef's Choice Seasoning Blend
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 1/4 TBSP Salad Seasoning Blend

Bring 5 cups of water to a boil. Pour contents of jar in the water. Let return to full boil. Reduce to medium heat and simmer for 12-15 minutes or until noodles are done. You may need to add in a little more water as it is cooking- it will depend on what kind of noodles you used and how many you crammed in to your 2 cups!  Cover and let sit for 8-10 minutes before serving.

Sausage Zuppa Toscana

Recipe courtesy of Melissa Coombs, adaptation by Alison Larue

I've loved this soup since the first time I tasted it at Olive Garden. I've made many different copycat recipes and this one is as good as the original. I love the little spice kick that it has. Even my children tolerate the spice because it's so yummy!

Put in quart jar in this order:

½ cup Sour Cream Powder

1 TBSP Chicken Bouillon

1/4 tsp Crushed Red Pepper

½ tsp Freeze Dried Garlic (or use some garlic powder instead)

1 cup chopped kale, FD

¼ cup Freeze Dried Onions

1 cup Freeze Dried Sausage Crumbles

1 ½ cups Potato Chunks (dehydrated), plus a little more to fill the jar.

Day of cooking:

4 Strips of bacon

2 cloves of garlic, minced

To prepare in a crock pot, add soup to 6-8 cups of water and cook on low for 4 hours. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and bread sticks.

To cook in a pot, cook bacon until crispy. Remove bacon, saute fresh garlic in bacon grease and then dump all ingredients of jar into a pot. Add 7-8 cups of water. Bring to a boil, turn down to medium heat and let simmer for about 20 minutes or until potatoes and beans are tender. Serve and garnish with crumbled bacon.

Tortellini Soup

Recipe by Sarah Griesmyer

The original recipe did not call for carrots or celery, but after eating it with celery and carrots, I liked the balance in flavor it brought. So here you go, just a little bit of veggie, and a lot of color. 

Ingredients 

Layer in Jar in order listed:

1 tsp. garlic powder or 1 tbsp. dried garlic slices
1 tsp. Chef's Choice Seasoning or salt

1 tsp each of basil, thyme and oregano

¼ tsp crushed red pepper, or to taste (optional)

1 tsp. Thrive Beef Bouillon

½ c. Signature Tomato Sauce

½ c. chopped onion, FD

¼ c. celery, FD, packed

¼ c. diced carrot, dehydrated

1 c. ground beef, FD, crushed slightly

½ c. tomato dices, FD

8 oz mini Ravioli (dried from Trader Joe’s is perfect)

or tortellini (All of the tortellini will not fit in the jar. You will have to tie the pasta bag to the jar)

½ c. Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Instructions:

Layer ingredient in order listed in quart size jar. Put parmesan in sealed bag and tie to outside of jar.

To cook:

Empty contents of jar into 8 cups of boiling water. Less water for thicker soup, more for thinner soup. Return to a simmer and cook, covered for 10 minutes or until ravioli float, stirring occasionally. Taste and salt if needed. Garnish with freeze dried Parmesan cheese before serving.

Chicken Broccoli Alfredo

by Sabrina Winder on March 12, 2015

    

                   

Ingredients:

1/2 c. THRIVE Béchamel (Creamy White Sauce)

2 tbsp. THRIVE Sour Cream Powder

1 1/2 tsp. THRIVE Chopped Onions - Freeze Dried

1/2 tsp. Garlic Powder

1 1/2 tsp. THRIVE Italian Seasoning Blend

1/2 tsp. THRIVE Chef's Choice

1 1/2 tsp. THRIVE Chicken Bouillon

1 c. THRIVE Seasoned Chicken Slices – Freeze Dried

1 c. THRIVE Broccoli - Freeze Dried

1 c. Egg Noodle Pasta (I use gluten free noodles)

1/2 c. THRIVE Shredded Parmesan Cheese - Freeze Dried

Directions:

Pre-measure all ingredients in a jar

Layer all of the ingredients in the order listed, into a wide mouth Quart-sized mason jar, except for the Parmesan cheese.

Put the Parmesan cheese in a separate bag alongside the jar. Or, you can just use fresh Parmesan cheese instead of the Freeze Dried cheese.

To cook:

Dump contents of the jar into a saucepan with 4 cups room temperature water. Let it sit in the cold water for 10 minutes, before turning on the stove. Bring to a boil on the stove, then turn stove down to low and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add additional water if needed. Taste and salt if needed.

Add the Parmesan cheese to the mixture and cook on low heat for 5 more minutes, stirring frequently until noodles are soft and cheese is incorporated.