Meal Planning for Jelly’s Arrival

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I might be 9 months pregnant and extremely tired, however I can’t seem to turn off the planner in me.  I’m pretty much “done” planning for the baby.  There are a few things left to do at this point, but if they don’t get done before she arrives it will be okay.  For example I still haven’t booked a newborn photographer, there are picture frames in the nursery that don’t have anything in them and I haven’t had my car cleaned {yet}.  These are not big ticket items so I’m not worrying about them too much.  I also haven’t washed any of the baby’s clothes, towels or sheets.  Lucky for me, my mom is going to take care of the laundry once Jellybean arrives so for all intensive purposes I consider that “to do” done.

I have tried to prepare myself and the husband for the baby’s arrival.  We have the hospital bag mostly packed, I’ve gotten a hair cut and have plans to get my nails done on Saturday (super important details … I swear!).  One of the last things on my list is meal prepping.  A lot of new parents laugh at how they are living off PB&Js and/or takeout.  I’m certainly not one to turn my nose up at takeout, however it does get old pretty fast … not to mention expensive.

I have been brainstorming meals that freeze well for about a month.  It was harder than I thought it would be to plan.  My first problem is our freezer really isn’t too big and my second is/was finding the energy to precook these meals.  I did my best to clean out the freezer on Sunday and then I got to cooking.  I made some pretty good progress, but didn’t get through all the recipes I had planned.

Completed: 

  1. Turkey Chili (=6 servings)
  2. Chicken Tortilla Soup (=4 servings – we ate one serving each for dinner the night I made the soup)
  3. Pesto (x2 – we will need to cook the pasta and add tomatoes/chicken, but that’s easy enough)

soup_chili_pesto

Left to Cook/Freeze:

  1. Meatballs
  2. Lasagna

meatballs_lasagna

I am hoping to at least motivate to make the meatballs before JB makes her debut.  But even if I can’t/don’t, it feels good to know we have a few home cooked meals in the freezer to fall back on when we don’t want takeout and we are too tired to cook.

Did you make any meals ahead of your baby’s arrival?  Any recommendations on recipes that are good for freezing?

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{Recipe} Chocolate Crumb Cake

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Admission – I am a sweetaholic!  Always have been and probably always will be.  I’m starting to believe Jellybean, like her mommy-to-be, has a wicked sweet tooth as well.  Yes, wicked … I am from Massachusetts and wicked is an adjective, promise!  I’ve been tried out a lot of new baked good recipes over the last couple of months.  Two of my favorites are classic brownies from Smitten Kitchen and white chocolate brownies from Bake or Break.

Recently I’ve been looking for new bloggers to follow when I stumbled upon Tin’a Chic Corner.  The chocolate crumb cake recipe immediately grabbed my attention.  Last weekend the husbands were away for a boys “football” weekend so the girls and I decided to do a dinner/game night!  I figured it was the perfect time to give this new recipe a whirl.

chocolatecrumbcake_slice

Ingredients Needed:

  • white sugar
  • dark brown sugar (I used light brown sugar since that’s what I had in the cabinet)
  • ground cinnamon
  • salt
  • butter
  • all-purpose
  • unsweetened cocoa powder
  • baking powder
  • baking soda
  • egg
  • skim milk (I substituted 2%)
  • oil (I think vegetable … at least that’s what I used)
  • vanilla extract
  • boiling water
  • miniature chocolate chips (totally forgot to put these on the cake and it was still delicious!)

Get the recipe and directions from Tina’s Chic Corner here.

chocolatecrumbcake_ingredients

chocolatecrumbcake

chocolatecrumbcake_piece

Although my crumb topping didn’t come our nearly as pretty as Tina’s the cake was absolutely DELISH!  The girls all loved it.  We even had seconds.  The husband, who isn’t a big chocolate fan (seriously, what’s wrong with him?!), really liked the piece he had when he returned from his trip.  I will definitely be making this chocolate crumb cake again … and soon!

Any recipes you’ve tried lately that you’d recommend?

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{Recipe} Taco Salad

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I was on the search for taco seasoning from scratch when I found the recipe below.  I like the seasoning you can buy at the grocery store in the package, but I felt it had to be easy enough to make from spices we already had in the house.  This recipe is SUPER easy to make and is perfect for dinner as well as lunches!  All in all the recipe is very healthy.  I ate A LOT of taco salads when I was doing the whole wedding / weight watches diet a couple years ago.  Although I got a little taco salad’ed out in 2011 it is still a go to dinner in our house every couple of weeks.

TacoSalad

Ingredients:
Salad
1 can Black Beans
1 pkg Ground Turkey

Taco Seasoning –
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (depending on how spicy you want it)

Directions:

This recipe makes about 5 servings.  Here’s all you’ve got to do …

Make your salad.  I use romaine lettuce, red pepper, yellow pepper, red onion and cucumber.

tacosalad_salad

Brown your ground turkey (you can also use ground beef if you want).  Meanwhile combine your spices in a small bowl and put the black beans in a pan to cook/warm on the stove top.  Once the meat is browned add the taco seasoning and about 1/4-1/2 cup of water.  Mix the spices, water and turkey well.  Allow it to simmer until most of the water has evaporated or been absorbed by the meat.  Drain the beans once heated through and add them to the turkey.

tacosalad_meatbeans

I like to portion out the salad first and then scoop the turkey/bean mixer on top.  Serve and enjoy!  I always serve the salad with corn chips.  The husband and I both like to crumble a few of the chips over the salad for a little extra crunch/salt/yumminess.

What are you having for dinner tonight??

Happy Cooking!

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{Recipe} Super Cheesy Homemade Mac & Cheese

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Last week I was totally craving homemade mac & cheese.  I am not really sure what triggered the need for this dish given I haven’t had it in ages.  In any event mac & cheese was going to happen in my belly!  This super cheese homemade mac & cheese is a serious comfort food dish.  According to the husband and a friend who joined us for dinner they said this mac & cheese recipe is a winner!  Just looking at the picture makes me want to eat some.  YUMMY!!

Recipe inspired from A Cup of Jo and The Pioneer Woman.

Ingredients:

1 box pasta
2 cups milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground/dry mustard
12 oz Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons grated parmesan
1/4 cup bread crumbs

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350*

Cook pasta until al dente and drain.  Remember to salt the water before adding the pasta!

In a sauce pan, melt butter and add in the flour. Whisk together over medium-low heat. Cook mixture for five minutes, whisking constantly.

Slowly add the milk and continuing whisking.   Add mustard and reduce the heat to low.  Add in cheddar cheese a handful at a time and only add more once the cheese is completely melted.  Add the grated parmesan last.   Pour cheese/milk mixture over the pasta and stir to combine.  Pour pasta into a baking pan.

In a separate bowl combine the bread crumbs and 2 tablespoons of parmesan and then  pour over the pasta as evenly as possible.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until bubbly and the top is golden.

Serve and most important enjoy!  This dish is a great main meal, side dish and makes wonderful lunches.

Happy Cooking!

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Ten Tidbits Thursdays

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1 – Sorry to start on a somber note, but I feel like I must touch on this.  I haven’t posted anything online about the tragedy that occurred Monday at the Boston marathon.  My thoughts and prayers have been with those impacted by this all week, but I find at times when people do horrible thing I am at a loss for words.  Even just saying thoughts and prayers doesn’t seem to do justice to how I feel or what I really would want to convey.  I grew up and Massachusetts and feel lucky to have so many wonderful friend/family who reached out to ensure my loved ones were okay.  Like I said I have no words …. I mean really what is wrong with people?

2 – A friend of mine shared this article with me … 22 Things Happy People Do Differently.  Although I can see the value in a lot of the items there’s just no way I can get up at the same time every day.  I like to sleep in on the weekends =)

3 – Sometimes cooking an “old” recipes that I haven’t had in a long time makes me rediscover my love for it all over again.  This week I made spicy meatballs for the hubby.  We both were laughing about how much we enjoyed them and why we hadn’t thought to make them in a while.  Welcome back to the rotation spicy meatballs!

4 – I played Bocce for the first time ever this week!  Our team is a lot of fun and even though I thought I might be terrible at it … it turns out I was able to score the winning point for my team.  Not bad if I do say so myself!! Have you ever played Bocce do you like it?

5 –  Have any of your been watching The Americans on FX?  The hubby and I are loving the first season and let’s be honest it is always a HUGE win when we can agree on a TV show.  We are also hooked on Scandal!  Any good shows you and your man agree upon that you would recommend?

6 – I know it’s a really old and over played song at this point, but I still get excited when “Call me Maybe” comes on the radio or on my ipod.  Can’t really pin point what about this song I like so much … it must be the beat … yeah let’s go with that.  =)

7 –  Planning a bachelorette party?  Check out these two super cute (and affordable) ideas from The McBaileys … party boxes and party tanks.  I love both ideas!

8 – Sophi, our dog, met my friend’s 7+ week old baby yesterday!  Sophi was very curious and wanted to sniff/see the baby, however once we started pay attention to only the baby she was less than thrilled.  The poor dog was JEALOUS, but luckily by the end of the visit I had my friend’s baby in my lap and Sophi laying next to us.

9 – After killing my herb garden after one of the early snows last year, I have begun my quest to conquer the black thumb … again.  I am hopeful I will have better luck this time.  So far we have basil, chives, mint and thyme.

10 – I’ve been toying with the idea of becoming a brunette.  I have always been a blonde and I’m not really sure where this idea is coming from.  Random right?

What tidbit do you have to add this week?

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