December 11, 2006 | Mama Smith
calling the troops!!
I don’t remember much of that first week with Brighton, being in a foggy, post-traumatic labor daze. But I do remember feasting…at least what seemed like feasting to my nursing, calorie-starved body. No thanks to myself, but rather all to my mom. Who faithfully, not only took care of little B, and her emotionally sapped daughter, but also cleaned the house, maintained the pile of dishes in our dishwasherless kitchen, placed fresh flowers in every room, and prepared amazing, healthy meals with a consistent flow of snacks throughout the day. All while battling an insane bout of poison ivy (which she’d never gotten in her life!) and sleeping on our pathetic sleeper sofa mattress, placed on the floor for better support. Yeesh, the things a mother will go through. And here I thought being a mom ended when Brighton graduated. Ha.
But thanks to Mom, I was able to do this…
...for a solid week. I just remember sleeping, cuddling with Brighton, and sleeping some more. I doubt I’ll have the same luxury this next go round.
So this is where the calling of the troops comes in.
I’m hoping to be a little more diligent about stocking my freezer with post-baby meals, since last time we maybe had a tray of ice cubes and some frozen fruit occuping the largely vacant space. Not leaving much for Mom to work with. And even more pathetically, after she left a week later, leaving Matthew and I standing around the kitchen at 6pm staring at each other, probably envisioning the other person as a large steaming leg of chicken or a slice of gooey pizza.
I blaimed it on working at a high-pressured job where I had little time to make dinner for the two of us, much less prepare meals in advance. But these days, with just one little toddler running around, I don’t think I have many excuses not to at least get a week or two worth of meals stored up in our freezer to save us from knawing on each other’s arm or leg come dinner time.
So far the only thing I’ve managed to store away is a whole wheat spinach pie. And the countdown of under 10 weeks until the due date has begun. We did have chili and squash soup, but Matthew and I couldn’t resist and already defrosted and ate those. Woops.
What I need from you all is IDEAS!! I’m a sporadic cook who usually decides what dinner will be that day and then ends up walking to our neighborhood coop for the needed items that morning. I am not a long-term planner or a meal freezer. I have no clue what freezes well. Most of my dishes are not freezer-friendly dishes.
So HELP! I know lots of you have been dying to comment and raise your voice (riiiight :0) but have been too hesitant in the past. Here’s your chance!
If I have to, I may resort to blackmailing and say that I will not post again until I have over 20 freezeable recipes in my comment section. Or I might resort to guilt trips and bemoaning how Matthew and I are wasting away into nothing, which would be equally, if not more annoying. But I don’t think I have that much self-discipline not to write for very long and really don’t feel like pity-partying…so either way, grab those recipe boxes and start posting!
alina said,
Amy Claire,
I am mesmerized by the picture of you and Brighton. It’s amazing! I am kind of like you when it comes to planning dinners (last minute and rushed). One thought I had was to make some sauces (meat, vegetarian, whatever you like) that can go over rice or noodles. That way you can heat up the premade sauce and just have to make rice or noodles the day of. Make-ahead meals…that’s a great idea I might steal in the months to come! Hope you guys are well and have a great time in London with family. Reunions are sweet!
Amy (used to be Yates, but now I'm a Roop:) said,
Amy,
I hope you remember me. We were long ago childhood buds from back at Covenant, and of course we shared the same name. I’ve been keeping up with your website for a couple of weeks now. I don’t remember who told me about it, but you have a wonderful talent for writing. I love seeing pics of your precious little man. I just recently had a daughter myself (Raegan is 5 months now) so I understand the need for nourishment while being to exhausted to prepare anything from scratch. Our church family (My family and I still go to Covenant) was WONDERFUL and prepared meals for us for a week, and then like you my mother took over the task of keeping us completely unprepared parents fed. :) What a blessing! I love to cook, so I’ll rumage through my recipes and see what I can find. My aunt is the queen of freezer friendly dishes, so I will go through her recipe box as well. Please email me… I’d love to talk to you.
kelly johnson said,
Amy,
I love Real Simple magazine for recipes and other fun stuff. I have never been disappointed with any of their recipes. Here is a link to an article with some recipes for cooking in bulk and freezing meals. I haven’t made these particular ones, but like I said…never been disappointed. Hope it helps.
http://www.realsimple.com/realsimple/content/0,21770,1160891,00.html
Autumn Fraits said,
Hi Amy-
I am a fan of making bulk proportions of soup to freeze. Chili, vegetable, lentil/split pea and chicken noodle are some easy ones we keep on hand here. When I was preparing for Aiden’s birth, I made lasagna (both meat/vegetable), but did the layering in bread loaf pans. We didn’t have an overwhelming casserole to look at for the week, but nice sized meal options to defrost w/out much left over to get sick of eating.
(If you’d like any of the soup recipes we use I’d be happy to email them!)
Hope the suggestions were helpful-
Autumn
laury said,
amy, chicken soup made from bone stock will be super nourishing for your body after the labor. the bones have an outrageous number of nutrients in them, the longer you simmer them the better. so, i agree with your friend Autumn about chicken soup. my recommendation is to not freeze the noodles if it’s a chicken NOODLE soup, but to add them in the re-heating process. thataway they don’t get mushy from being over-cooked. (is that how you do it, Autumn?) Or, you could speckle the soup with quinoa from the co-op. it’s super high in grain protein, which will soothe and rebond your bod after the labor. if you want a recipe for chicken soup, i have a great one or two! also, the cookbook Nourishing Traditions is a favorite of mine for recouperative and all around wonderful foods.
love and health, laury
Autumn Fraits said,
Amy, I had a thought after posting my last comment. I’m not sure how Brighton did with nursing, but I might not recommend the bean soups afterall…sorry! From my experience nursing, I had to cut out quite a few foods that contributed to a very gassy/fussy baby initially. And Laury, I haven’t tried freezing the chicken noodle w/out the noodles, but will next time. That’s an excellent suggestion!
Autumn
Anne Deeb said,
hey amy,
i’ll email you a few recipe ideas. thanks for the whole wheat dough recipe last week, we made calzones too. i made ground beef for coury, and portabella mushroom with brocilli for me and my older brother. they were a sucess, but i need your advice on how to make the outside of the calzone not so dry. by the time i used flour to roll them out and keep them from sticking, they were dry and powdery on top, but marinara sauce warmed up and served on the side helped a bit. what do you put in your calzones? I think i’ll try the chicken and spinach pizza next. it’s good to hear your updates, we miss you guys.
hubbs said,
You are so beautiful my bride. I can’t believe that’s our little boy. Do you remember that week? Oh man, that’s nuts. And now he’s got enough personality to pout with passion!
We are so blessed baby!
Matthew
aubrey said,
So I have this whole cookbook called “Don’t worry Dinner’s in the freezer.” A few months ago, I sent it to my sister-in-law so she could use it before they had their baby. Now that he’s here, she may not need it anymore. If you email me your address, I’ll see if I can get it in the mail to you. It has lots of specific instructions about how to freeze stuff, etc. Other thoughts: Whenever you make a meal now, just try to double it and freeze whatever is leftover. You can easily freeze dough (like the whole wheat pizza dough) and then just thaw it and assemble the calzone the day you need it. Meatballs are another good option. I’ll send you a good recipe I have for them. I think the recipe calls for 3 lbs of ground beef, but you can freeze it in small portions and just make enough to eat that day. Casseroles are also good, and apparently you can line the casserole dish with aluminum foil, and then once it’s frozen, you can just lift out the casserole so you don’t have tons of dishes in your freezer. If I think of anything else, I’ll pass it along.
Anna p. said,
Amy,
You are such an inspiration to me. Since i am only a week ahead of you i guess i’d better start pre-cooking as well. Thanks for the idea. I know i will be needing meals as well with a hubby that hates to cook. If you get some recipes that you would recommend from all your friends i would love them. I will check back often to see what others suggest! Can you believe our babies are almost here?! By the way i have a wonderful whole chicken recipe that is super easy, all you have to do is let it cook all day. I will email it to you.sandy mosolgo said,
Amy, your blog is delightful as you are a gifted writer.You probably don’t remember but I was briefly your first Kindrgarten teacher I took this chicken recipe when my Sara had her first.
Honey_-Dijon Chicken
12 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
4 garlic cloves,minced
2 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
1 T. oil
2 T. cornstarch
1-1/2 c.s pineapple juice
1/2 c. water
1/2 c. dijon mustard
1/3 c. honey
rub chicken w garlic and thyme.sprinkle w salt and pepper.saute chicken until no longer pink.combine cornstarch,juice and water until smooth,add mustard and honey.add to the skillet,bring to a boil,cook and stir til thickened.spoon half of chicken and sauce into greased 11×7 pan.freeze up to three months.serve remaining chicken and sauce over brown rice. for a mini family you could halve the recipe or divide into thirds.to use frozen chicken-thaw in refrigerator,remove from fridge 30 min before baking.bake covered at 350 for 35 min. look for a good sale on chicken.fresh pineapple chunks and sauted green pepper would be a good addition
Amy Smith said,
Woah! I am FLOORED at all these responses!! I never thought I could be such a persuasive person and really make you all come out of the woodwork. Ha, ha :) Thanks for all the great tips and recipes and ideas. I now have a list of over three weeks of meals I want to get working on. I made 3 yesterday, so that’s at least a start. I can’t believe my childhood friends and K-5 teacher are here! It was so great to hear from you both Amy & Mrs. Mosolgo!!
b said,
no recipe to contribute…yet…write me! i have much to share, as i am now back in whooville. xo,b
Geniene Simrak said,
Hi, Amy!
What a great idea to get women to talk about freezable dinners! I think we ALL need the ideas – children or not. I happen to have a husband who considers the kitchen his place where he relaxes so I didn’t need to worry too much after Elias was born. My mother also came and froze a bunch of stuff.
One of those things was chicken! Whether you boil, bake or fry it (unbreaded), chicken freezes well. On days when you’d like to do SOMETHING in the kitchen but don’t want to spend much time at it – esp if you have a toddler and a nursing baby – all you have to do is pull out the chicken (diced or pulled) and add it to your casserole, soup or gravy over rice. It’s been great for me.
Another idea is to buy tortellini or ravioli and freeze it. You can just pull them out and pour thawed tomato sauce over top. We make cheese ravioli every December and freeze it. It takes time, but it’s very easy. We usually invite people over to help and make an afternoon of it. We always top the evening off with freshly made tomato/meat sauce (always make extra and freeze some, and send some home with those that helped) over freshly made ravioli.
Always have stocked frozen veggies on hand.
Someone made us a meatloaf when Elias was born. We pulled it out several weeks later, topped it with homemade tomato sauce and mozzerella cheese and turned it into a “Pizza Loaf.” It’s one of our favorite meals.
(Can you tell I’m married to an Italian?)
Hope this was helpful even if it was long!
Geniene
Geniene Simrak said,
I wanted to add this new recipe for everyone. A friend made it and I loved it, so I asked for the recipe. I tried it last night and Dan couldn’t get enough of it. IT’S SO EASY!!!!
TACO SOUP
1 lb ground beef
½ chopped onion
1 can stewed or diced tomatoes
1 can corn (with juice) or ½ bag of frozen corn (or 1 small bag)
1 can black beans (with juice)
1 packet of taco seasoning
1 packet of ranch dressing mix (optional)
Spices to taste (salt, pepper, crushed red pepper flakes)
Brown meat in medium to large pot. Add water till it’s about an inch or two above the meat. Add the tomatoes, corn, black beans and seasonings. The longer you let it simmer the more flavorful it will become.
You can serve this with sour cream, cheese, sliced avocado, corn or tortilla chips, bread for dipping, or toasted flour tortillas. Be creative! It’s sooooo yummy!
While I haven’t tried freezing it, I imagine it would freeze very well and would be a warm cozy meal after a long day.
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