Once-a-month cooking saves cash
By Leah Gliniewicz • Bankrate.com

Nanci Slagle and Tara Wohlenhaus wrote The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet: A Month of Meals Made Easy to share their recipes, including parsley Parmesan chicken and champagne salad.

Parsley Parmesan Chicken

Containers: 1-gallon freezer bags for chicken, quart freezer bags for crumbs.

Assembly directions:

To pre-bake on cooking day: Pour salad dressing in a large bowl. Add the chicken parts to the dressing, coating well. Cover and chill about four hours, or overnight. Turn chicken in the dressing occasionally. Combine Parmesan cheese, dry breadcrumbs, parsley flakes, paprika, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl. Roll chicken one piece at a time in the crumbs, then place chicken in a greased 9' x 13' baking pan or on a cookie sheet. Spoon excess over the chicken and bake at 350 degrees for one hour, or until the thickest piece is done.

To bake on serving day: Pour chicken parts and salad dressing into freezer bag. Combine the Parmesan cheese, dry-bread crumbs, parsley flakes, paprika, salt and pepper and pour into a quart-sized freezer bag. Attach to the bag of chicken or put both bags into a larger freezer bag.

Freezing and cooking directions:

Pre-baked chicken:

Remove from oven and cool. Put baked chicken pieces into a freezer bag or rigid freezer container. Label and freeze. To serve: place chicken in a 9' x 13' baking dish or pan. Warm oven in oven at 400 degrees for 10 minutes or until warmed through.

Non-baked chicken: Seal, label and freeze. To serve: thaw marinated chicken and crumb mixtureRoll chicken one piece at a time in the crumbs, or shake in a bag, then place chicken in a greased 9' x 13' pan or on a cookie sheet. Spoon excess dressing over the chicken. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until thickest piece is done.