On the Menu

We've been baking and cooking up a storm lately. And thanks to a friend I have a new website I am completely addicted to for delicious recipes. Great for those who are Gluten Free or Vegan, but equally as awesome if you aren't either of those! You must check it out Nutritionist in the Kitch. 

Today we tried out a Peanut Butter Honey Muffin recipe. They were probably the simplest recipe I have tried and so tasty!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 3 tablespoons sugar free peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk

PREPARATION

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt.
2. Add the peanut butter and oil and mix with a fork until crumbs form.
3. Add the milk and honey and mix until just combined. Do not beat.
4. Pour into muffin tins (about 3/4 full) and bake for 10-12 minutes, until tops are golden brown and spring back when you touch them.

Mmmm seriously divine. Another recipe we gave a go tonight was Pesto & Cheese Stuffed Chicken. If you are anything like me and completely useless at cooking any meat other than salmon and chicken, this was a great recipe to spice things up. Although still chicken, it took away from the same old boring "chicken and veggies" dinner. 

You can steal the printer friendly recipe here or copy it from my blog

Baked Chicken Stuffed with Pesto and Cheese
(Makes two servings, but recipe can easily be doubled or tripled; recipe created by Kalyn in 2005 and adapted again in 2011.)

Ingredients:
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 T Basil Pesto with Lemon or your favorite commercial pesto
2 T low-fat sour cream
2 T grated mozzarella cheese
(I used heaping tablespoons of pesto, sour cream and cheese) 
2 eggs, beaten (or if they're large eggs one will probably be enough)
3 T finely grated Parmesan cheese
3 T almond flour (or almond meal, but almond flour is better for this because it's more finely ground)
black pepper to taste

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375F/190C.  Spray a small casserole dish with non-stick spray. Trim any visible fat from chicken breasts, then put them one at a time inside a heavy plastic bag and pound with meat mallet until the chicken is as thin as you can get it.  Don't worry too much about the shape or whether there are some loose pieces, you can tuck them in when you roll up the chicken.

In a small bowl mix together the basil pesto, sour cream, and grated mozzarella.  Use a rubber scraper to spread a thin layer of this mixture over each chicken breast, stopping about 1/2 inch from the edge of the chicken (so it doesn't run out so much as it cooks.)   Roll up the chicken breasts and secure them with a couple of toothpicks.  (I roll them so the finished piece is as thin as I can get it so they will cook quickly.)

Prepare two bowls, one with the beaten egg and the other with the grated Parmesan-almond flour mixture, seasoned with black pepper to taste.  Dip each chicken breast roll first into the egg mixture and then into the Parmesan-almond flour mixture, patting it on so the chicken breast roll is well-coated with the mixture. 

Put chicken breasts into the casserole dish and bake until the chicken is firm and lightly browned.  (Start checking after about 25-30 minutes; total baking time will be 30-35 minutes.)  Serve hot.

We've also been big on smoothies lately so here are a few of my favourites that I have found

Iced Coffee Smoothie

Orange Creamsicle Smoothie

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Smoothie

Coconut Raspberry Smoothie

• ¾ cup fresh raspberries – note that you can also use ½ cup frozen raspberries if you cannot find them fresh
• 1 can coconut milk – this is a 15 ounce can
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup or light honey
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon – this is based on preference
• Water – depending on how thin or thick you like your smoothie

Maternity Photos

I just received our maternity photos for baby #2 in the mail today. Love them!

Melissa was a fabulous photographer, and definitely very patient with our uncooperative "big brother".

I seriously love her editing style, so soft and creamy. Makes me think of Vanilla. 

Check out more of her work here. 

Mud Room Project

My husband spent a couple hours over the past week working on a house project for me. A few weeks ago I finally decided I was fed up with our system at the back door. By 'system' I mean the way we were storing our jackets and children's winter gear. Everything seemed mismanaged and I was sick of having my hubby's work jackets piled on top of my nicer smelling jackets. So naturally I began to peruse Pinterest. This pinterest thing paired with nesting is a very bad idea. We have a very large mudroom that enters through our garage and carries through the pantry, but the space was just not being utilized. Plus we have a large coat and shoe closet, but coats rarely seem to ever get hung up on their hangers. We needed a more convenient and quick way to stash away our 'stuff'. These are the ideas I found:

simple and efficient and we liked
the idea of two rows of hooks
(one for adults one for kids)

these colours go well with our home, and again
a very simple idea, although probably wouldn't use
our storage space for decor

slightly more complicated but a nice
polished look, plus the bench cushion is cute

Loved this one for the use of the corner space
which is exactly what we were dealing with

 

A nice one piece unit

Liked the idea of the overhead cabinets

We talked about the pro's and con's of each idea and came up with three possible options. 1) We built a unit ourselves. Probably more cost efficient but maybe wouldn't be as professional or polished looking 2) try to assemble something ourselves from pre-built pieces such as good ol' Ikea. Again relatively cost effective but would it be durable and reliable for such a dirty and "lived-in" space. 3) Hire a woodworker or carpenter to custom build a unit for us. Least cost effective but would result in a beautiful addition to our home. 

Being pregnant and indecisive we went back and forth and finally settled on doing nothing at all. After allowing some time to pass my husband suggested he give it a whirl. He is not a woodworker by trade but anyone who knows my darling hubby, knows that he can pretty much tackle anything. He is a hands-on kind of guy and is awesome at every project he takes on. From car building to plumbing, to deck building to tree and flower planting, he is seriously amazing! Anyway we decided to go with a shelf row of hooks, followed by a lower row of hooks, followed by a bench. We designed it to have space for baskets on the top shelf as well as under the bench. 

I dont know how he just knows this stuff, but it turned out awesome. I am so pleased with our mudroom now and feel so much more organized. With a second boy on the way I know we are going to need lots of room for muddy boots, hats, winter gear and coats. It is perfect. 

working away with Dad

The mirror that used to hang where

the shelves are now

The finished product.
Still needs a bench cushion but we will
see if I get around to that before baby

Freezer Cook

Hello Pinteresters and welcome!
I seem to be getting a ton of traffic to this post via Pinterest so I thought I would spruce it up a bit for you! Below is my blog post about a giant freezer meal prep I did just before I had baby number two. I have included all of my planning and prep work (for the freezer meal prep) as well as links to all the recipes!




As promised here is the post about my giant, pre-baby, freezer meal cook. I wanted to have a ton of meals ready for when baby arrives so that I don't have much to worry about in terms of dinner. Hubby often works late and the question of him cooking even if he were home is a funny thought (unless you consider KD and eggs an acceptable meal). So my plan was to have crockpot and "one-dish" meals prepped and frozen so that I have at least a few weeks of easy dinners. Turns out I will probably have close to 2 months worth of food but there is nothing wrong with that! I did a few meals over a few days and then did the bulk of the meals last Thursday with C. It is a pretty intense process but if you are well prepared it usually goes well. So how to begin you ask?  Here is how I tackled this project.

Step 1. Recipe Selection
Back in January we picked out all the recipes we wanted to make. As mentioned above I stuck to crockpot meals, one-dish meals and I also did soups. Where to get the recipes? Well I use some of my own family recipes such as lasagna or Ham & Cheese Buns, I use my casserole and crockpot cookbooks (or any cookbooks for that matter), I use the internet for inspiration (specifically the Kraft website) and lastly Pinterest! For this round I chose to stick to recipes that are tried and true so that we don't end up with a dinner that no one likes. Once we have our list of recipes compiled it's onto the next step.

Step 2. Planning
Once you have your recipes chosen it's time to compile your lists! List #1 consists of ingredients. I wrote/typed out every ingredient required for each recipe. This will help you start a tally chart for your grocery list. Using your ingredient list you can tally up all the different ingredients you will need to purchase. That brings us to List #2 the grocery list. Using your tally chart of ingredients you can compile a master grocery list. Since I was cooking so much food I decided to get a few things at Costco to cut cost. If I didn't have baby brain I would have done the rest of my shopping on 15% Tuesday at Save On but sadly I thought of that after I had bought all my groceries. Sigh, next time. Once you have your grocery list ready you are good to go!

This is part of my master Grocery list,
I wrote out a list of each meal I wanted to prep and numbered them 1 - 30. I then pulled out the recipe for each meal and wrote out the ingredients with corresponding number to the meal list (this step is pictured above). I then used this list to do a tally chart of each ingredient, pictured below. 

Once you have compiled your tally chart of each ingredient (for example 10 cans of chicken broth, 15 large potatoes) you can then decide how and where to grocery shop. From all of the meals I had planned to prep I tallied out that I would need 15cans of broth. From there I decided it would be best to purchase it in bulk so I assigned that particular item (chicken broth) to a particular grocery store (Costco). Once you've finished your tally chart, go ahead and total each item (pictured above) and then assign a grocery store to each item. For example, dollar store for tinfoil pans, Costco for chicken breasts and local grocery store for bell peppers.
Lastly compile a master grocery list for each store! And to be extra organized write out your store lists in order of grocery store departments (ex. all dairy items together, all produce together) that way you won't forget anything on shopping day!
A reader also mentioned a website called zip list to help get organized with your lists! I haven't tried it out yet but I thought I would post a link incase you want to give it a try!

Step 3. Grocery Shopping
Buy in bulk to save some money, use coupons and take advantage of "discount days". I needed 50 chicken breasts for all my meals so I definitely utilized my Costco card. Once you've done a few freezer meal cooks you get the hang of the grocery shopping step and definitely figure out ways to make your dinners as cost effective as possible! I think I kept my meals around $8.00 a dinner. Not too bad, but like I said I could have done it better.

Step 4. Label and Plan
Now that you have everything it is time to label your freezer bags. Each bag will need to be labeled with the name of the meal, the cooking and serving instructions. Lasagna may look like this:

Lasagna

Thaw. Cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Sprinkle with parmesan and serve

Where as Italian Crockpot Chicken might look like this:

Italian Crockpot Chicken
Thaw
Place in crockpot on high for 3 hours
Drain liquid and serve

Once you've labeled all your bags you can put each recipe card with the corresponding bag. Lastly I lay out my non-parishable ingredients in front of each bag so that my groceries are divided and ready to go.

Step 5. Cook

Oh the best part of it all. You are about to cook a million dinners all at once, and when it feels like the chopping, frying and grating will never end, just remember you will get a whole week/month/or however many days off of cooking. Now that is a glorious thought! When prepping your crockpot meals you will chop and mix according to recipe but instead of placing items in the slow cooker you will stuff them in your freezer bag. I usually try to pick one step recipes to make the process much easier. Then you simply seal and lay flat to freeze. Laying flat is important because once you have 10 or more you can stack or store them much easier than if they are a giant frozen ball of food. As for one-dish meals you prep the meal up to the point of putting it in the oven. Instead of baking it you will simply insert your meal into the freezer bag and freeze. I chose to make my one-dish meals in disposable tinfoil pans (easy cook, easy cleanup). And the square size (8x8 i think it is) fits perfectly into freezer bags. The tinfoil pie pans fit nicely as well just FYI. Lastly for soup I cook the soup fully, allow to completely cool and then divide into freezer bags and lay flat to freeze. 
Ive also been told you can find tinfoil pans cheap cheap at the dollar store. You can also buy various sizes there so if you are only cooking for one, you can still prep all the meals the same just divide them into the smaller pans before you freeze so that you have smaller portion sizes when it comes time to cook! Super convenient. 

Here are some of the recipes I prepped:

Crockpot

TexMex Chicken

Chicken Bolognese

Scalloped Potatoes & Ham

Italian Crockpot Chicken on Rice

Healthy Mama BBQ Chicken

Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti

Italian Chicken

Broccoli Cheese Soup

Potato Soup

Chicken Noodle Soup

Easy Cheesy Chicken

Turkey Chili

One Dish Meals

Million Dollar Spaghetti

Chicken Veggie Potato Pan

Baked Ravioli

Cheddar & Cracker Chicken

Creamy Chicken Lasagna

Beef Lasagna

Sheperds Pie

Cheese Ham & Egg Buns

Sloppy Joes

Hashbrown Pizza

Macaroni Jumble

Hamburger Pie

Turkey Pot Pie

Mini Turkey Pot Pies

Salsa Chicken

Soups

Cheesy Ham & Turkey Soup

Cheesy Vegetable Chowder

Cheeseburger Soup

Ham Chowder

** I should mention that for the soup recipes listed above I cooked each soup fully, allowed to cool and then bagged or put in containers. They will be a thaw a reheat meal on the day of, no cooking required 

Each of the meals listed above contains a link to the recipe so feel free to click on it and you will be directed to a source containing the recipe! 

Everything except the soups!

With the tiny bit of room that is left over in my freezer I have also packed in the following frozen baked goods (which should hold us over until I am up to the task of baking again):

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Chocolate Cream Cheese Muffins

M&M cookies

Energy Bites

Homemade Granola Bars

Peanut Butter Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies

** I should also mention that for the baked goods recipes listed above I baked them fully, allowed to cool and then bagged or put in containers. They thaw perfectly and are ready to enjoy!

The Hospital Bag

I know, you're thinking "enough with all the pre-baby blogging". Sorry! But when I was searching things out on the internet, to get organized, I ran across quite a few blogs with great ideas. So I thought I would return the favour and share. I promise you my day consists of more than just baby-prepping. There is toddler fun in there as well ;)

Anyway preparing the hospital bag is a big one. Last time around I didn't even know what I would need, so like many others I followed a generic and impersonal list in "what to expect when you are expecting" or some other baby handbook. Trouble is everyone is different. We don't all have the same hospital experience so we end up needing or wanting very different things. Here is what I have packed this time around, and why:

Firstly the labour and delivery section of my bag. In it, are the following items: delivery gown, nursing bra and sleep bra, fuzzy socks with grips, hair elastics and clips and a house coat. 

Things that were useless to me that I did not include this time: pictures of my "happy place", music, books or entertainment.

I dont think the delivery gown is essential but I thought it was cute and decided it would be fun to look all posh in my own unique gown. I want to be able to nurse right after giving birth so having a nursing bra or sleep bra on underneath my gown will make this very easy. The fuzzy socks are for cold feed. Unfortunately last time around my feet were too big to get into anything I owned other than flip flops so when my toesies got a little chilly these socks were a life saver. Plus they have grips on the bottom so no worries about slipping. Hair elastics are important as who knows what your hair will look like when you go into labor. Housecoat is to throw over your nursing gown after you deliver for a little more coverage on your way to post-partum unit.

Next is the post-delivery wear. Included are: slippers, flip flops, nursing pyjamas, nursing tops, large underwear and a going home outfit (not pictured as it will be packed last minute).

I am pretty sure I stayed in my hospital gown for what seemed like forever. This time I am prepared with a nice set of nursing pyjamas to wear so that i am comfortable and accessible to baby. Slippers are for strolling the room and hallways. Flip flops are for the shower, I don't think anymore needs to be said about those. Nursing tops, large underwear and going home outfit are all for going home. They provide you with those beautiful mesh underwear while you are there so just have a pair of going home ones ready incase you don't like mesh shorts (although comfortable, not the best to look at). Buy a few pairs of cheap underwear in a size larger. You are going to bleed for weeks, why ruin your good stuff? And unless you are one of those walking miracles, your butt will be bigger, buy the right and comfy size for it!

The toiletries section includes: hair brushes, lotion, lanolin, breast pads (only a few), all essential shower items such as shampoo, soap, face wash, make up remover, deodorant, tooth brush & paste, flat iron, mascara and eyelash curler.

Maybe this is diva of me, but last time I brought a toothbrush and nothing more so this time I learned my lesson. I don't do well with change, so keeping my routine is best for me. Having my items is completely necessary. The lanolin is important for your poor nipples that are about to be ravaged (this stuff is a life saver seriously). I only brought a few breast pads as your milk usually doesn't come in for a few days so you wont be dealing with much leakage anyway. 

My snack section includes: a little treat for myself after babe arrives as well as granola bars to snack on between the delicious hospital meals. Gum incase getting up to brush my teeth gets delayed.

I remember being so hungry! My mom went out and bought me a box of muffins because I was so starved after dinner. This time I come prepared with treats and healthy snacks to keep my tummy full.

The miscellaneous stuff is some what lacking but will eventually include: phone, camera, wallet, along with the charger, pen and thank you cards.

Pen is for all the paper work you will have to fill out. Don't forget your pen. Thank you cards are just blank and will be used should I find the need to thank someone on staff. I believe the rest is self explanatory. 

Lastly is baby's section which includes: vaseline for the bum, 1 scrunch bottom jammies, one outfit and one going home outfit. Socks and mitts, 2 types of soothers and baby's first blanket for the carseat ride home. Of course the carseat is included in this section but wont be in my bag!

I normally use Desatin for bum cream but I read vaseline is good for the first few meconium poops. Plus I love vaseline for lip chap. I brought more than one type of soother incase one goes over better with babe. No diapers as the hospital provides those, just clothes to go home in. I brought my own baby PJ's for overnight as I am not a fan of the extra large snap up jammies they provide. Comfort is key! Last time all I brought for Al was a going home outfit. Looking back that seems a little under prepared.

I hope this helps any mama's out there preparing their hospital bags. Remember bring what makes you comfortable and don't over do it. You aren't there that long, all you'll need are the essentials.