Tag Archives: Meatballs

18Dec 2013

Meal Planning for Jelly’s Arrival

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:

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

Left to Cook/Freeze:

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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18Apr 2013

Ten Tidbits Thursdays

by Nicole ⋅ 2 Comments

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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