Cooking up a storm

Probably the best thing I did as far as baby prep with Arabella was cooking and freezing several meals.  Those few months when you're heavy in the newborn stage (aka the "fourth trimester"or quarter I guess...or constant insanity/zombie-esque...or to some, close to Hades...I digress), cooking a full on meal is one of the last thing a mama wants to worry about.  Thankfully, we have an incredible support system of church family and close friends that provided us with meals the first few weeks.  But once those waned away, those frozen meals were a life saver.

My little mama is about to have back surgery at the end of the month, so our cooking day had to move up some-- #1, she needs meals of her own frozen this go round! and #2 who knows how long recovery will take and if she'll be able to help me much with that closer to baby time.  So this weekend, we're gathering up all our pots and pans and crockpots and putting her stoves to work.

I plan to make double batches of most of the recipes I'm making which will give me about 4-6 portions of each (a quart size bag is perfect for Hunter, myself, and Bella to all eat from).  For the ones that require noodles and rice and what not, we just make the sauce and freeze.  I can easily boil some noodles or rice while the sauce is heating on the stove.  Throw it all in the pan and dinner in done-zo.  Just stinkin' fabulous.

I'll be making:
--Crawfish Soup
--White Chili
--Broccoli Casserole
--Pork Chops and Gravy
--Roast and Gravy
--Crawfish Fetuccini
--Johnny Marzetti (tomato based casserole)
--Red Beans and Rice

And later I'll whip up some gumbo and spaghetti (and possibly a few others I run across...)

With Bella, I was able to have over 40 meals frozen and ready to go after one cooking spree with mom.  That would be amazing to have this time as well--and I plan on having just that (and maybe more!)

I may not be able to move well next week after all that kitchen time...  But I know I'd rather feel slow now while baby no name is contained than have to worry with all the cooking after he's out and about with his sister!

Do y'all have any good freezer meal recipes?  I'd love to know them if you're willing to share!  Hopefully one day soon I can share some of the ones listed above.

And if you know anyone who is having or recently had a baby--food is a great gift and was always well received by us!  And if you portion and freeze it, they can pull it out when they need/want it :)

happy cooking
love, angie