***BABY CONNOR PHILIP DAHMS arrived April 15th, 2018! I wrote this post a few weeks before giving birth and didn’t get around to posting it. Here it is!***
I have been promising this post for the last few weeks, but it has taken me forever to actually sit down and write it. I have been completely SWAMPED lately with work and school because I’m trying to do as much as a can before going on maternity leave in a few short weeks (or really any day). I’m finally starting to feel more prepared, which is a great feeling!
I knew I wanted to have some freezer meals on hand for after the baby arrives. It will just make my life and Kevin’s life a little easier to know we have food to eat if neither of us is feeling up to cooking. I also don’t want to rely TOO heavily on take-out because I like to eat healthy meals most of the time. So, I came up with a few meals and snacks I wanted to have in the freezer to help get us through those first few weeks with a newborn. Here is what I made:
For the pasta bake, enchiladas, black bean burgers, and stuffed peppers, I whipped up double batches and we ate one fresh and froze the other. The Lentil Pasta Bake I did not use a recipe. I just cooked a package of Trader Joe’s lentil pasta and layered it with a ricotta/mozzarella mixture and store-bought sauce. So easy. The Brown Rice and Lentil Stuffed Peppers recipe I kind of just adapted on the fly using my Quinoa and Black Bean Stuffed Peppers recipe as a guide. HOWEVER, you can see I have a lot of black bean meals on that list so I wanted to use something other than those for my protein in the peppers. The black bean burgers usually make a decent amount. We ate 4 of them fresh and I was able to freeze six for later.
The Enchilada Sweet Potatoes make a great meal for me with a side salad and a good side dish for Kevin with a chicken breast. Both types of breakfast burritos are pretty hefty and will make a good breakfast, lunch, or even dinner. I ended up making 3 of each using the recipes listed as a guide, but I adapted to our own tastes and quantities needed. For the vegan burritos, I made a tofu scramble with tofu, bell pepper, mushrooms, onion, and spinach (along with spices- turmeric, garlic powder, salt, pepper, mustard, cumin) and wrapped them in a whole wheat wrap. For Kevin’s burritos, I scrambled eggs, turkey sausage, cheddar cheese, and the same veggies that were in my burrito and wrapped in a wheat wrap.
Both muffins freeze great and make a nice snack or sweet treat. I made a full batch of each type of muffin and froze half (6 of each flavor). I individually wrapped them in plastic wrap and them put them into a larger freezer bag. To thaw them out, just remove all of the wrapping and microwave for a few seconds until soft and warm.
Hope this is helpful for any new mamas out there or really just anyone who is busy and could benefit from making freezer meals!
