Freezer Meals, New Moms & Babies

This week has been a week of getting it done.  No choices, find joy in it all, love the weather good or bad, and DO NOT sit down....you may just take a Cinderella nap!  I won't bore you with all the details, but I will highlight a few.  We had a baby shower for my friend Natalie (my favorite recipe is the meatball recipe on my PINTEREST board, 

 

Source: themeaningofpie.com via April on Pinterest

had a garage sale for our Youth Group at Gethsemane Baptist Church (at which there was some modeling),

The boys trying to sell the workout equipment!

My husband modeling a belt to try and sell it!

celebrated and remembered on Memorial Day by attending a Flag Raising and ended up in the local newspaper,  

 and then the rest of the story (yes, that does sound a little like Paul Harvey) is below.

This week chicken was on sale at Fred Meyer for $1.88/lb.  Definitely not the lowest price we have seen, but cheaper than we have seen for a bit.  I also happened to be OUT of chicken.  So, I think (I shouldn't do this sometimes) that I should buy up and make a bunch of freezer meals.  My dear friend, Natalie Messano, also likes to make meals ahead of time.  She is due any day and will need some easy grab recipes, so I call her up to see if she wants to take on 5-6 recipes, and I will take 5-6 and then we will swap recipes.  Yes, she does!  We decide to shop on Wednesday and then cook on Thursday. 

I started some of the chicken baking on Wednesday night, while I was making dinner, before church.  Thursday morning I decide to jump right on it and start trimming chicken for another recipe, shredding chicken (in the next post you will see the easiest way to do this), and warming up the crock pot for another recipe.  I decided to check in with Natalie who texts back and says, "What about a huge change of plans?!"  I said, "You better be having a baby!"  She was going in to the hospital and dropping off her son, Carson, at my house!!  YAY! 

Thank goodness for my little Noah who loves to play with Carson.  As he played with Carson I worked on the recipes I was in the middle of, started lunch for the kids, partially cleaned up the kitchen, started load number two of the dishwasher and nursed the baby.  We then went out front so the kids could ride bikes, and then back inside to eat the most nutritious lunch ever - Mini Corn Dogs, Tater Gems & Pears.  As they napped/had movie quiet time, I finished up the mornings recipes.

Hanging out in Noah's room!

Natalie had her beautiful baby that night around 8:45 pm.  What a blessing!  What a miracle!  Noah could not wait until the next morning when he was able to see her!

What a beautiful mommy!

Look at the dark hair!!

Friday afternoon during nap I decide to work on some more recipes and start some pizza dough for HOMEMADE PIZZA NIGHT!  Our family favorite recipe was posted on this blog (here) a long time ago.  I made double so that Natalie could have this later as well...new moms need easy things to pull out of the freezer...that don't taste mushy and casserol-y (I know, totally NOT a word!) 

Natalie had also purchased a bunch of chicken that was now just sitting in her fridge.  I took over her finished ones from the recipes that were already completed, and pick up her chicken to work on some more recipes.  Today, Saturday, two more recipes were completed during morning nap while Noah and Daddy mowed the back yard.  As you can see throughout this post....new moms desperately NEED nap time to happen in order to get things done.  Use it to your advantage most days and take naps yourself the other days. 

Little Charlotte napping...

All in all, as of today, we have 7 different completed recipes (most of these double per family) for a total of 16 plus meals for each our families. 

In the next post I will share the recipes, with my fun pictures, for you to try!  Thanks be to God for the energy as moms to power through what is necessary to keep the family running and joyful!