Help! Recipes for Meals for New Mom and Dad??

[chicagosarah]

Hey, folks!

I am notoriously inept in the kitchen, but for some insane reason I volunteered to deliver meals for my friends who just had a baby this Sunday.

Do any of you have recipes that are simple and are good reheated (as in, don't become soggy if nuked in the microwave by a groggy-eyed sleepdeprived exhausted new dad)? I'm also wondering if anyone actually has a collection of recipes aimed at new moms to promote lactation and/or easy on ingredients that a newborn may be sensitive to. I know in the Korean culture (which I come from) seaweed soup is a staple for new moms, as it supposedly promotes milk AND replenishes iron supply in the mom.

We're in Chicago, where it will become pretty hot this week, so I don't think a pot of chili will be a good idea...

Any ideas will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[BetsyS]

My staple to take is a chicken adn rice casserole. It's fairly mild, easy to reheat, and it's good. I tend to stay away from lasagna, cause everyone does that. In the winter, sometimes I take split pea soup and cornbread or regular bread.

I also sometimes take breakfast/snacky stuff, like muffins or a coffee cake. Sometimes lunch stuff, like hummus and baby carrots or pimento cheese and a loaf of bread or chicken salad with either bread or crackers. That's easy stuff that doesn't have to be heated, can be eaten with one hand, and will last a couple of days.

You're a good friend for doing this!

[Radish4ever]

I loved simple stuff! Breakfast burritos (my cousin made me an egg casserole that was PERFECT for those!), chicken salad sandwiches, etc. Simple and easy to just pick up and eat!

[Maggirayne]

Someone made us sloppy joes for one meal. A little messy, but easy to reheat. Fajitas were good, again messy. I was meat-hungry after my baby (eight weeks) was born.

I make Chicken Alfredo (recipe below) that takes 15 minutes to fix the sauce. I do chickens tenders or cut up skinless, boneless breast and throw on the little George Foreman with rosemary--fast, easy AND good.

Also I make an easy broccoli casserole, broccoli, cut up and cooked until soft (or as desired), Ritz crackers crushed, Velveeta cheese cubed, and a can of cream of chicken, mix and bake till warmed thru. I mess with the amounts, usually one crown of broccoli, half package Ritz crackers, pkge, NOT box, 1 1/4-1/2 inch slice of Velveeta.

Fettuccine Alfredo
Ingredients
8 oz cream cheese, cut in bits ¾ c Parmesan cheese, grated
½ c butter or margarine½ c milk
8 oz. fettuccine, cooked and drained
Instructions
In large saucepan combine cream cheese, parmesan, butter and milk, stirring constantly until smooth.
Toss pasta lightly with sauce, coating well.
Leftovers freeze well.

It goes well with chicken tenders or breasts sprinkled with rosemary and baked, broiled or grilled. Add a salad and/or garlic bread, and you have a full meal. The sauce cooks as quickly as the noodles. I prefer to use angel hair. The sauce is very rich and serves more than the amount would appear to. It fits easily into a small saucepan. It freezes well. It is thick and ‘burps’ as it boils and can splatter on you.

HTH!

[mchalehm]

When we got home from the hospital after I had my baby, we immediately got into the freezer and dug out the package of enchiladas that I had frozen a couple of months before. They were easy to heat up one at a time (except that I was starving and heated them up more like four at a time).

My husband just corrected me. That was the second thing we did. The first thing was to stop at Popeye's (chicken take-out) on the way home and buy an enormous amount of fried chicken, which we lived on for days. Not the healthiest thing, maybe, but it was easy--and cheap--and extremely easy to eat with one hand while nursing a baby.

[naturalthinker]

an easy 'enchilada' recipe is to get frozen burritos (two per person is good for one meal) and a can of enchilada sauce and a bag of shredded cheese. give these to the recipient (buritos and cheese can freeze, can/jar sits in cupboard).

When they are hungry and in need of food, they take the burritos from freezer, put them in a caserole dish, pour the enchilada sauce on them cook them either in the oven or microwave, adding the cheese when they are 2/3 of the way cooked.

This takes us about 18 minutes to do when we do it in the microwave. Our favorites are the frozen buritos from costco and trader joe's enchilada sauce (not very spicy), and tillamok cheese we grate ourselves, but obviously your own variations are fine...

[naturalthinker]

I'm not sure about promoting lactation, but a breakfast caserole would be a good source of protein (presuming it is egg based) and would be something that could go from freezer to microwave easily.

Also, a tip for giving dishes is to freeze the meal in a 9x9 glass dish like pyrex, which is narrow at the base and wider at the top. When it is frozen, transfer it to a gallon-sized freezer bag with the cooking instructions written on it (hence the dish being larger at the top important, easier to get the frozen food out). Most people have a 9x9 pan that they can cook the food in and this saves from having to arrange to get a dish back. (you could confirm that the person has this size or another before freezing)

[terrordactyl]

enchaladas are always so yummy. any type of yummy caserole especially breakfast ones you could eat with toast or make into breakfast burritos

[Cullens_Girl]

Originally Posted by BetsyS

I also sometimes take breakfast/snacky stuff, like muffins or a coffee cake. Sometimes lunch stuff, like hummus and baby carrots or pimento cheese and a loaf of bread or chicken salad with either bread or crackers. That's easy stuff that doesn't have to be heated, can be eaten with one hand, and will last a couple of days.

I love the snacky stuff. My MIL came and stayed with us for a few days and there were always cut up celery, carrots, peppers to munch on. Perfect with a bit of hummus to snack on while nursing. Even cut up that stuff lasts a few days.

[velochic]

I think healthful recipes that contain whole, fresh foods and grains would be the best because of all the energy drain in those first weeks. I think that as long as she can keep up her energy, her little nursling will make sure the milk is flowing.

How about modular ideas where each component is separately stored and they can quickly assemble and microwave? Here are a few ideas. I like to do this for us to put together on a busy weeknight.

- Salad kit: salad mix, homemade whole grain croutons, grilled & chilled chicken chunks, chopped vegetables, cheese... all in their separate containers so they can just toss whichever ingredients they want together and add their favorite dressing.

-Pasta kit: cooked whole grain pasta noodles, homemade spaghetti sauce with lots and lots of cooked veggies whizzed up with it, cooked meat (ground turkey, ground beef, etc), nice melty cheese or parmigiano reggiano. They can just assemble it, nuke it and eat. Maybe a nice loaf of homemade garlic bread with this.

-Gyros or Falafal kit: cooked ground lamb with mediterranean spice mix or falafals, greek pitas, onions, tomatoes, tzaziki, served along with a nice hummus. This would be great even cold.

There are probably many other ideas like this one.

[springmama]

Originally Posted by naturalthinker

I'm not sure about promoting lactation, but a breakfast caserole would be a good source of protein (presuming it is egg based) and would be something that could go from freezer to microwave easily.

Also, a tip for giving dishes is to freeze the meal in a 9x9 glass dish like pyrex, which is narrow at the base and wider at the top. When it is frozen, transfer it to a gallon-sized freezer bag with the cooking instructions written on it (hence the dish being larger at the top important, easier to get the frozen food out). Most people have a 9x9 pan that they can cook the food in and this saves from having to arrange to get a dish back. (you could confirm that the person has this size or another before freezing)

I'm curious if it is easy to get the frozen food out of the pan and into the bag or does it tend to stick? Sorry I have never done anyhting like that and it sounds great I want to try it!

[naturalthinker]

The dishes i have are wider at the top than the bottom, so *usually* it isn't that big of a hassle to wedge a utensil along the edge to get a little bit of air on the side, so that when the dish is upside down it will fall down. - it depends though on what is in the pan, how easy it comes out, liquid is the hardest - like chicken in a liquid/watery sauce - if the sauce is super rock hard solid, it might be worth leaving the dish out a few minutes or with the rubber lid still on, run warm water on the bottom of the dish (upside down in the sink) and wait for it to drop down to the lid on its own rather than 'fighting' it out. Pasta/rice dishes usually come out quite easily - but if you have challenges getting food out, you could experiment with lining the pan with a couple strips of parchment paper/ tin foil that extend up past the sides so you could use them as a 'handle' of sort to lift the food out (or cotton string might be a stronger solution)...