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Lemon Broccoli Farfalle with Chicken {and a freezer meal exchange}

By Michelle Marine

on Jul 18, 2012, Updated Jan 28, 2025

8 Comments

I participated in a freezer meal exchange for the first time last weekend! I was surprised a few weeks ago when a facebook group I belong to put out the call. Since I love to have meals in my freezer, I signed right up! We worked out the logistics, shared recipes we thought we would make, and then got busy cooking. In all, eight crunchy mamas {me included} decided to participate.

I found a recipe for Lemon Broccoli Farfalle with Chicken at Lovely Little Snippets and adapted it to fit my needs. I was drawn to this recipe because I had a ton of broccoli in my garden {free}, lots of lemons in my fridge {that I picked up for 10 cents each!}, and cheese that needed to be used up. Even better, noodles {1.19 a box} and chicken {1.68 / lb} were on sale that week so that helped keep my total cost down too. I also wanted to make a light meal, and this definitely fit the bill!

I spent the better part of Friday afternoon prepping the meals {from 2-5:30 ish}. The noodles took the longest because I cooked them one box at a time. Well, I got impatient at the end and cooked the last three boxes together. Everything else I prepped at the same time. When one box of noodles finished, I assembled the casserole in a 9×13 pan and let it cool as I worked on the next box. Then I bagged everything in a gallon ziploc and froze it. Easy peasy!

Last Saturday, we all met up at a lovely farm home , watched the kids play, and chatted. It was such a nice morning with lovely weather and great conversation. And then, we got down to business. We each set out our meals in the kitchen and took one of everyone else’s. I  brought home a freezer full of prepped meals – 8 meals in all! Plus, I miscounted and had enough ingredients for two more freezer meals of my own recipe! I also got rid of a bunch of kale… {not that you can tell because.it.just.won’t.die.} hehe! 😉

You can see the original recipe at Lovely Little Snippets. Here’s how I adapted it to fit my needs – basically I doubled the recipe, changed the way I cooked the chicken, and changed up the cheese. I’d love to hear if you’ve ever done anything similar and what meal you took!

Lemon Broccoli Farfalle with Chicken {for the freezer}

By: Michelle @ Simplify, Live, Love

Servings: 8

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Ingredients 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 box farfalle noodles
• ▢ 2 heaping cups cooked, cubed chicken
• ▢ 2 cups cooked, chopped broccoli
• ▢ 4 TBS fresh lemon juice
• ▢ 4 TBS olive oil
• ▢ salt & pepper to taste
• ▢ shredded cheese {whatever you have on hand}

Instructions 

• Cook the chicken. I sauteed mine over medium heat in olive oil and seasoned with dried basil & oregano, salt & pepper {~10 minutes}.
• Cube the chicken.
• Cook the noodles al dente according to package directions.
• Cook & chop the broccoli.
• Mix lemon juice and olive oil.
• Combine noodles, chicken, broccoli in a 9x13 pan.
• Stir in the lemon juice/olive oil combo.
• Grate fresh cheese on the top. {I used Asiago, white cheddar, fontina}
• Let cool 10-15 minutes, then put everything in a gallon freezer bag. Squeeze out all the air you can.
• Freeze.
• On Baking Day, thaw.
• Place in greased 9x13 pan. Add a bit more cheese if you'd like. Cover with foil.
• Bake @ 350 until heated ~ 20 minutes.
• Enjoy!

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