10 Easy Meals

Ten Easy Meals to Take to New Moms

by Angie Ballard on June 6, 2012

Diapers are great as baby gifts, but what if you want to do a bit more for a friend? Have you ever taken food as a present?

10 Easy Meals to Take to Others

These dishes are great to take not only to new moms, but to anyone who’s recuperating from illness, injury, or surgery. The important thing to remember is that other friends and family may be bringing food, too, so there a few suggestions I’d like to make:

Don’t take anything that must be eaten within the next twenty-four hours.
Don’t take anything in a container you want returned.
Ask about allergies or food intolerance if you don’t know the family well. Or, better yet, just don’t take anything with tree nuts or shellfish just in case.
Label whatever you’re taking clearly (with cooking instructions if necessary).

Things you’ll need:

Not all of what I’m including are full meals. With a new baby in the house, especially if there are also other little ones running around, there will be a lot of middle-of-the-night snacking and sleep-deprived mornings when a quick breakfast-to-go is just what’s needed. All of these are freezer-friendly.

1.) Hot Browns ~ This is one of my family’s favorite meals, from my favorite recipe source, Beverly’s Back Porch. This is a nice one to take over in a foil pan already prepped and ready for them to pop in the oven that night if they like, but it freezes very nicely if they want to have it a month later.

2.) Beef Vegetable Soup ~ One of my friends brought this to me after I had surgery, and it truly was comfort food. She brought it in two ziplocks, and we ate one and froze the other for later – perfect!

3.) Banana White Chocolate Chip Muffins ~ Great to throw in the freezer and defrost a few when you need them at 3am.

4.) Chicken Burritos ~ Wrap individually in waxed paper so they can cook as many as you need.(Be sure and check out our Freezer Cooking post – these were a huge hit at my house.)

5.) Breakfast Pies ~ Plenty of protein in these, plus, they’re easily to eat on the go. (Note from Dianna – I LOVE THESE! So delicious, and well-loved by everyone in my house.)

6.) Beef Roast ~ Almost embarrassingly easy to make. Want to make a statement? Add the rice bread below.

7.) Rice Bread ~ This bread turns the most ordinary lunchmeat or spread into something special. Also makes great bread bowls.

8.) Chicken Pesto Ravioli ~ Make yourself a batch of this while you’re making some for your friend. Can go into a ziplock or a foil pan.

9.) Chicken Chili ~ Not too spicy, I promise!

10.) Pancake Muffins ~ These are my latest discovery via Pinterest. We tried them plain, with chocolate chips, and with blueberries. All versions were delicious!

Kentucky Hot Brown
4 servings
Printer Friendly Version

4 slices of toast
12 ounces sliced turkey breast
4 cups Mornay Sauce (recipe follows)
1/2 cup grated Romano Cheese
Paprika
8 slices tomato
8 strips half-cooked bacon

Mornay Sauce

4 ounces of butter
1/2 cup flour
2 cups strong chicken broth(I prefer chicken stock)
2 cups scaled milk
1/2 cup grated Romano Cheese
Salt and white pepper to taste

In a saucepan, melt butter and blend in flour, but do not let it brown. Remove saucepan from heat and chill. Heat broth and milk to boiling point. Add milk to the flour mixture while beating vigorously with a wire whisk until sauce thickens. Season with salt and white pepper and cheese. Simmer until cheese melts.

To assemble Hot Brown, trim toast and place on 4 individual ovenproof platters. Arrange the turkey slices over the toast and divide the Mornay Sauce over each servings, covering turkey and toast completely. Sprinkle with grated Romano Cheese and dust with paprika.

Place two slices of tomatoes opposite each other and in between, 2-strips of bacon. Place platters in preheated 375 degrees F. oven for 15 minutes or until Hot Browns are bubbly.

Boil ¾ big pot of water with Beef Stew Beef

After about 2 ½ hours, skim top, add salt/pepper and onion (one or two because we like onions) and a can of Tomato Sauce

Another 30-45 minutes add chopped cabbage and cut canned green beans (I cut them in half in the colander for bite size)

Another 1 hour later add bag diced carrots and several diced potatoes

When the carrots and potatoes are done (soft or how you like them) about 30-45 minutes

I turn off the Soup and dump in a can of peas (I like small peas) and a can of diced tomatoes

Kim says she really never measures anything, just dumps stuff in. I’ve decided that what I do wrong with vegetable soup is that I leave out the meat (which seriously compromises the flavor) and I add in every vegetable I can get my hands on. I always end up with a vat of soup that could feed a third world country if they wanted to eat it, which they don’t because it’s too bland. Colorful, healthy, fiber-rich – but bland. This is the way I’m making vegetable soup from now on. Amen.

Banana White Chocolate Chip Muffins

3 large ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 cup self-rising flour
1/2 cup oats
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix all ingredients well.
Spray mini-muffin tin with non-stick spray.
Fill each tin completely full.
Bake for 15 minutes.
Yield: 24 overflowing mini-muffins (and we all know anything “mini” has so few calories they’re hardly worth counting, right?
I may or may not have scarfed down all five of these muffins right after I took the picture.

Chicken Burritos

A favorite freezer meal because it’s so easy to pull out and thaw the exact number you need.

· 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
· 1/2 jar salsa
· 1 bag frozen pinto beans, thawed and smashed with a fork (or 1 can refried beans)
· 1 cup shredded cheddar
· 8 flour tortillas


1. Warm tortillas in microwave 15-20 seconds to make them easier to fold. Keep them wrapped in a clean dish towel until you’re ready to use them.

2. Spread each tortilla with about two tablespoons of beans. Spread almost all the way to the edges – this is what holds the burrito together.

3. Top each with an equal amount of chicken, salsa, and cheese. Pile them in the middle of the tortilla and don’t use too much – the most common mistake in burrito-making (or so I’ve been told) is to try to stuff too much inside.

4. Everyone’s burrito-rolling technique is different (my husband swears I do it completely wrong) but since this is my book I’m going to share my technique. I start rolling away from me, and then when I reach the middle I turn in both sides, and then continue rolling away from me. I lay each burrito seam side down, then wrap securely in waxed paper before I put them all in a gallon-sized Ziploc.

5. Thaw them overnight in the fridge and then bake them in a 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned. I like mine with a little sour cream.

Ingredients:
3/4 pound ground sausage
1/8 cup minced onion
1 tube refrigerated biscuits (10 per tube, not
3 eggs
3 Tbsp milk
1/2 cup shredded cheddar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In large skillet, combine sausage and onion. Cook until brown, then drain and set aside.
Spray muffin tin with non-stick spray.
Flatten each biscuit into a large, thin circle, and then use it to line the bottom and sides of each muffin cup.
Divide sausage mixture evenly between muffin cups.
Mix eggs and milk, and divide evenly between muffin cups.
Sprinkle with cheese, and bake about 15 minutes (until set and lightly brown).

I bet these would also be good with chopped ham instead of sausage and Swiss instead of cheddar, or with spinach and bacon, or with broccoli, or . . . I need to get out more, don’t I?

This is a recipe I found on Food.com, and I knew I had to try it when I saw it had almost 150 reviews and was rated at five stars! Yes, all the ingredients (except the roast itself) come out of a can or a box, but you would never guess it from the taste of the finished product. This is s great supper for when you’re home, but busy. I cooked it yesterday because I was supposed to be taking it easy after a myelogram, and this is so quick I could throw it together while the movie I was watching was paused and the dogs were outside for a potty break. Add some canned or frozen veggies, and potatoes that you threw in for the last hour to bake alongside the roast, and it’s a meal fit for company.

3 1/2 – 5 pound beef roast (whatever’s on sale this week)
2 small jars or one large jar of beef gravy
1 can sliced mushrooms (small or large can depending on your preference)
1 envelope onion soup mix
1/2 cup pre-made Italian dressing

Mix everything up, pour it over the roast, and cook (covered) at 300 degress for 4-5 hours depending on the size of the roast.

Delicious, and melt-in-your-mouth tender.

Chicken Pesto Ravioli

2 bags frozen cheese-stuffed ravioli (ends up being 3-4 pounds)
2 pounds chicken, cooked and cubed (I boil mine)
1 1/2 cups chicken broth (I use the water I boiled the chicken in - clever, huh?)
4 cups zucchini, cuts into rounds, then into crescents if they are really big
3/4 cup chopped red bell pepper (I leave this out - my guys won't eat it)
1 cup sliced mushrooms (my addition to make up for the loss of the red pepper)
3/4 cup chopped green onions
1 cup basil pesto (I make my own in the summer and freeze it, but store-bought is fine, too)
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp coarse-ground black pepper
2 cups grated Parmesan

Mix all this stuff together in a great big bowl and then dump it into a couple of gallon ziplocks. Mark them as follows:

Chicken Pesto Ravioli
Thaw
Bake covered at 350 degrees for 1 hour

White Chili

I first tried this recipe on one of the hottest days of the summer. We’d driven to Atlanta to visit our friends, the Rhineheimers, and when we called to say we’d hit town they said, Come on over! We’ve got chili ready!” There is nothing hotter than summer in Atlanta, and I thought they’d surely lost their minds. Chili? Really? Now we fix this year-round. Oddly enough, beef and tomato based chili doesn’t ever sound appealing in the summer, but this is wonderful. Maybe it’s the color. Whatever. This is one of my favorite freezer meals. I almost always have a gallon Ziploc of this in the freezer because I make it every time chicken goes on sale. This isn’t as spicy a dish as you might think, buy you can always omit the jalapeños if you want to tone it down.



· 3 bags Great Northern Beans (or 3 cans, drained)
· 2 cups cooked and shredded chicken
· 1 cup chopped onion
· 1 chopped jalapeño (mine are usually frozen cubes)
· 2 tsp minced garlic
· 2 tsp cumin
· 1/2 tsp kosher salt
· 1/2 tsp oregano
· 2 bags frozen chicken broth (about 3 cups)



1. Put everything into the crock pot and let it cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-5 hours.

2. Bowls of this are especially good topped with shredded cheddar, sour cream, and crumbled corn chips.

3. This makes a huge batch, because it’s too good not to have leftovers available.

4. You can freeze this after combining ingredients but before putting it in the crock pot, and then thaw it the night before you want to cook it.

The Magic PUFFIN

2 cups Bisquick
2/3 cup milk
2 eggs
3/4 cup syrup
Toppings – chocolate chips, bacon, sausage, blueberries, cranberries, bananas, nuts, etc.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Mix Bisquick, milk, eggs, and syrup together and pour into muffin pans with cupcake liners. Fill each cup half way, and top with your favorite topping. Bake for 14-15 minutes or until a toothpick, inserted, comes out clean. Makes 17-18, normal sized, puffins.