Super Baby Food

I have a few friends right now who are starting their babies on solid foods. I was talking to Nate about it and he suggested I do a quick post! Sorry to the non-baby people out there...although, the book I mention below is a great baby gift idea!

Tip #1: When it's time to start your baby on rice cereal, use Earth's Best brand. Trust me...not to get too graphic on a food website, but it will keep your baby's system happy, if you know what I mean. :)

Tip #2: Super Baby Foodby Ruth Yaron is a GREAT resource. If you want to make your own baby food, it's a must-have. If you don't want to make your own baby food, it is still a very handy book to have around. I used it a lot in the beginning. It really helped me to know what foods I could feed to Cate at what stages, etc. Despite eventually giving up on making my own baby food, I'm still very glad I had the book at my fingertips. You gotta get it, mommies!

So, that's all I have to say on the subject...well not really, I've got plenty to say on the subject. I'm just giving you a break for now. :)

Having a Baby = Paper Plate Week

When I had Cate, a friend who gave us dinner also brought a big stack of paper plates, which ended up being one of the best baby presents we received! We made sure this time around we had some paper plates and plastic cups in stock. This is a must for any family with a new baby...it is SO NICE not having to worry about dishes, especially when people are bringing you food and you don't have to cook either!


I went out to the playground the other day and was talking with my friend Emily, who was bringing us dinner that night. We were talking about meals that we make for people. She said I should do a post about the topic, so here we are!

What's your "go-to" meal when you have to take dinner to someone? Here's mine...and I've gotta say, it's pretty awesome for the giver AND the givee.

Jane's Dinner That She "Makes" When Someone Has a Baby:
- Costco Chicken (at $4.99, it's a steal..plus it's delicious)
- Mashed potatoes - I make these myself - it's the only thing I have to cook on the menu!
- Gravy - I either make gravy using juice in the Costco chicken container and some broth, or I swing by Boston Market and buy a container of gravy
- Bag of microwaveable veggies from Trader Joe's
- French bread/Rolls from Trader Joe's
- Bucket of Trader Joe's mini chocolate chip cookies

For those of you who don't have Trader Joe's, you could easily substitute similar products from another gorcery store. Here's why this meal is awesome for taking to people.

1) No dishes to return. The potatoes are the only item that need a container. I just put them in a disposable ziploc tupperware thingy.

2) Good food. Most people like this assortment of food, it tastes pretty homemade and it isn't spicy for nursing mothers.

3) Low cost. It's not expensive for the giver.

4) Easy. Not much cooking involved, and it's easy to double up to have dinner for yourself the same night.

Leftover potential is another thing to consider...this is one aspect that my meal plan falls a bit short on. When Cate was born we received a homemade lasagna that was not only delicious, but froze well into individual servings...it was so nice to have that yummy lasagna waiting for us in the freezer when we needed it!

Now it's time for you to share your great ideas!

Week 48 Menu...and a Whole New Life!

Anna Maynard is here! Everything went very smoothly and she is proving to be a great baby! We are all super happy and big sister Cate seems to be adjusting very well...phew. It's been a happy and wonderful week around here!


As I'm sure you've surmised, I'm still not cooking much...I am going to make some Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding tonight. Mmmmmm. And I made omelettes for Nate and my mom yesterday (the picture below represents about all the cooking I've done in weeks). I figured it was the least I could do after all the help they've given me this week. But I am still not planning a real menu this week, or the next, and maybe the next?!?! :)


MONDAY:
- Christmas Eve dinner...which at the Maynards means "Order Chinese". We'll be ordering from Pei Wei...I can't wait! (Next year when I'm not busy having a baby, I promise I'll talk more about Christmas cooking...and maybe even attempt a Swedish Christmas Eve dinner, which is my family's tradition. Those posts next year are gonna be AWESOME. :) )

TUESDAY:
- Grazing and leftovers. I'm going to try to pull together some cinnamon rolls...using Rhodes frozen bread dough of course.

WEDNESDAY:
- My mom leaves Monday, and Nate's parents don't get here until Wednesday night. I think we might just go hungry this night.

THURSDAY - MONDAY:
- Hey Pat, what's cookin? (Pat's my mother-in-law)

Share your menus!

Sick of Lunch

Hello everyone! Hope all your meal planning is going well! I think I may actually be able to cook a few of my items on the menu this week - yippee! This medicine I'm on has been a lifesaver.


The most annoying part of morning sickness is that you can never let yourself get hungry or you'll get sick, but you absolutely don't feel like eating ANYTHING. So all you do is think about food, which you would rather not do. So fun. My current quandary is lunch. Technically I'm not supposed to eat lunch meats (risk of listeria), tuna (high mercury) or peanut butter (I have a medium peanut allergy so not supposed to eat them when pregnant). Okay, so without those three options tell me, what am I supposed to have for lunch?!?! As if thinking of things to eat wasn't hard enough. Bagels and cream cheese have been the lunch favorite lately, although I think I might get SICK of it soon. Not to mention I'm eating enough cream cheese to keep the cream cheese industry in business, which may be good for their pockets but probably not for my love handles.

(ps - please post your comments and menus... for some reason comments were disabled today, but they're back!)

Musings: Confession Time

So, it's time make a little confession...I haven't cooked in over a month. I know, I know...what are all these menus I've been posting? Doesn't this make Jane a fraud?!?! Well, on the surface, perhaps yes. HOWEVER...I have a GOOD reason...









That's right! Number 2 is on the way! Yippee! And while this is spectacular news for our little family, food has been my worst enemy the last few weeks. I can't even really LOOK at my own blog without getting queezy. Just try writing about food when you are sick as a dog - it is HARD. I finally have some medicine to help me out, so things are starting to look up a bit and I promise to post as often as I can. I think I've done PRETTY good considering. I'll continue to post my weekly menus...at least what I dream of being my menu each week. And this phase should only last another 2 months or so, if I'm lucky! Keep your menus and ideas coming - I need you all now more than ever! :)