Cooking ahead

So, I'm traveling this week for work, so I went ahead and cooked two meals for the boys. Both turned out well, so I thought I'd share with three other working moms!

First, I made my mom's Shrimp Salad recipe:

1 or 1 1/2 pounds shrimp, peeled

1 pound of pasta (usually use shells or tubes), cooked

6 eggs, hard boiled and chopped

2 stalks of celeby, finely chopped

Mazetti Slaw dressing

garlic powder

seasoned salt

pepper

Cook the shrimp for about 2-3 minutes. I usually cook in chicken broth to give some flavor. Add the shrimp, the pasta, eggs and celery to a large bowl. Stir in about 1/2 cup of Mazetti dressing. Stir well. Add about tsp of garlic powder, salt and pepper. Stir well. Add another 1/2 cup of the dressing. Stir well. At this point, at more dressing, if necessary. The salad is even better the next day!

Second, I made a modified version of an Oven Chicken Risotto recipe that Heather Fleming gave me:

2 T butter

1 cup Arbiso rice

3 cups chicken broth

1 cup of broccoli

1/2 onion, diced

1-2 cups of diced or shredded chicken (you can use rotisserie chicken, Tyson shortcuts or boil some yourself)

6 oz fresh mozzarella

1 cup of grape tomatoes, halved

Preheat oven to 400. Melt the butter in the bottom of 9x13 pan. Add the rice, broth, broccoli, and onion, and stir to distribute. Bake, covered, for 35 minutes. Check towards the end if you need to add another 1/2 cup of water. I had to add a bit more. Once done, add the chiken, mozzarella and tomatoes and stir. Delish!

I love make ahead meals....