Lazy Meal Plan for a Sick Mama

March 6th, 2009

I begged for help during my sicky first trimester and you guys came through!  Please feel free to keep ‘em comin’ – this will last us about a week, maybe 2, but I have a full month left of this trimester.  You know, that is COMPLETELY hoping that the nausea goes away with the welcoming of the second trimester (don’t say ANYTHING, Chickadee, I have hope).  I spent more than I have in months for groceries this time, but considering what we spent on eating out the last two weeks and the fact that I’m really struggling to feed my family (and myself), I’ll just have to accept that in my new cooking and saving money ways I have taken 5 steps forward and 3 steps back.  And again, chant with me, “I’m in survival mode.  This is just a season.  I’m in survival mode.  This is just a season….”

Dinners (using any leftovers for lunches):

Steak Packets with Rice -

• 1 – 1/2 pounds chuck steak
• 1 envelope onion soup mix
• Carrots (money saving – use the real things and peel and cut.  this time – peeled baby carrots just stuck in the packet)
• 3 medium potatoes (we use more.  it calls for peeled – too much trouble right now, just washed and quartered)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika

Tear off a 2-3 foot length of 18 inch wide heavy duty foil.  Place meat in the center, sprinkle with onion soup mix, then cover with veggies.  Dot with butter and sprinkle with salt and paprika.  Fold foil over and seal well to hold in juices.  Place in a shallow baking pan; bake at 400 degrees for 1- 1 1/2 or until meat is tender.  Serve with rice.  I also drain off the drippings into a skillet, add flour, a little milk, water, and beef broth granules and make gravy.

Frozen Chimichangas (Thanks K.T.!)-

(Note: I didn”t think I could actually eat this one, but I did, and it was awesome!) -

I also added some frozen taquitas

Layer in casserole dish

Pour mild enchilada sauce or taco sauce over it

Sprinkle cheese on top-bake for 1 hour.

French Chicken with Rice (Thanks Brandy and Kristy!) -

(Note: Not sure if I can actually eat this right now, but it sounded good before I got sick, everyone raves about it, and I think my family will like it.)

• Chicken (for all my chicken recipes right now I’m going with frozen chicken breasts.  much more expensive and less versetile than a whole fryer, but I cannot bring myself to pull the innards out right now.)
• 1 bottle french dressing
• 1 can whole cranberry sauce
• 1 dry onion soup package

I plan to crockpot it and serve it over rice.

Potato Soup (Thanks again Brandy!) -

6 cups water, 6 chicken boullion cubes, 1/2 cup chopped onion, and 2 lbs frozen hashbrowns (I went ahead and got real potatoes, just because I was already buying them for steak packets, roast, and mashed potatoes, but I LOVE this idea).  Boil about 10 minutes.  Then add 1 can pet milk, 1 can cream of chicken, 1 can cream of celery, 1 bottle of REAL bacon bits…(unless you’re up for chopping bacon), and 1 lb velveeta cheese.  Simmer and stir pretty continuously until cheese is completely melted and all is hot! ;)  Add pepper to taste.

Roast

• Roast
• Slow Cookers Stew Seasoning Packet
• Potatoes – quartered (Again, I usually peel them, but probably just leave skin on this time)
• Carrots (Again, right now, I’m gonna cheat and use the peeled baby kind)
• 3 Cans Green Beans
• Onions

Put roast, potatoes, carrots, and onions in crockpot at bedtime.  Add enough water to cover and stir in seasoning packet. Mid-morning the next morning add the green beans.   Ready for dinner.  I’ll serve with bread or rice.

Tater Tot Casserole (Thanks again K.T. and the Duggars!)

• 1 lb. ground turkey
• 1 2lb. bag tater tots
• 1 can cream of mushroom
• 1 can evaporated milk
• 1 can cream of chicken

Brown meat and place in casserole dish.  Cover with tater tots.  Mix milk and soups together.  Pour over top.  Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Chicken Spaghetti (Thanks Cindy!)

• 1lb chicken
• 1 can rotel
• 1 block Velveeta
• 1 bag of spaghetti

Cook the noodles.  Boil chicken and cube.  Melt on stove Velveeta and rotel.  Mix all together in casserole dish and bake until melty.

Keeping on hand for snacks, lunches, in-between meals:

Chicken Noodle Soup (I already had some frozen homemade yummy stock with chicken in it from my cooking days).  I melted it down, added more water, chicken broth granules, and a bag of wide egg noodles.  Brought to a boil and now I have a vat of soup for anytime I need food – quick.

Pasta Salad - The non-creamy boxed kind.  Sounds palatable and easy to fix.

Granola

• 5 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 2 cups shredded coconut
• 8 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup white corn syrup
• 1 cup peanut butter (creamy or chunky works)
• 3 teaspoons vanilla

(all the rest of the goodies depend on what I have on hand – I just adjust the amount of gooey liquid above according to how much filler stuff I have)

This time I had:

• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1 bag Trail Mix from the dollar store
• 1/2 cup almonds
• 1 cup Rice Krispies

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Dump all the oats, coconut, and any nuts you have into 2 casserole dishes.  Toast them, stirring occasionally.  While those are toasting, melt butter, brown sugar, honey, corn syrup and peanut butter.  Boil for about 2 minutes.  At this point the toasty goods should be ready – remove them from the oven (but don’t turn the oven off) and remove the gooey stuff from heat.  Stir in vanilla to the hot liquid mix.  Dump all the toasty goodies into the biggest bowl ever or pot or something gigantic.  Add raisins, cranberries, other dried fruit, trail mix, Krispies, etc into the dry goodies.  Spray with non-stick cooking spray the casserole dishes you just toasted everything in.  Pour the gooey mix over the dry goodies and mix WELL.  Divide and pour the whole mix into the two casserole dishes.  Press firmly (I spray the bottom of each dish and use it to push down the other dish).  Bake at least 20 minutes at 300 degrees.  Cut while warm.

(Note:  a few things I’ve learned – boiling the gooey mix that long matters.  It helps it to “set”.  If you bake it too long it will be so hard you have to smash it to eat it.  Make sure to adjust more gooey stuff with more goodies that you add – otherwise it crumbles too much.  When you have crumblies left in the pan after everyone has eaten on it for days – they make a GREAT granola cereal – just add milk!  Our family loves this – good stuff, good for you, and a great snack on the run.)

Mashed Potatoes (I bought real potatoes for the days I feel better and boxed ones when I’m desperate.)

Homemade Ice Cream (Thanks Amy!)

• 2-3 very ripe, frozen bananas (peeled before freezing)
• dash of honey or maple syrup
• splash of vanilla
• milk filled half-way over fruit

(and we like to add vanilla yogurt just for the added goodness and flavor)

Blend.  Blend.  Blend.  And freeeeeze.  Yum.

Frozen Pizza and Frozen Taquitas (for the kiddos and their daddy, ugh.)

Boiled eggs (for when I need that protein boost)

Sliced strawberries with a little sugar on top.  Ready when we are to snack on, but gone all too quickly.  Fresh grapes or blueberries frozen.  They make a great snack.

I’ve found that lemon juice in my water (no sugar) really has made drinking water more acceptable.  And I’m hoping to make a big batch of ginger snaps that I made at Christmastime to snack on for the nausea, but I haven’t found a time that I felt like making them yet.  When I do I’ll share that recipe with you too.

And Becky G. gave me so many ideas they deserve a post of their own.  Expect it soon!

And Maury please add your 3-3-3 in the comments.  I can’t remember it now and want to try it.  (And leave your blog!  I can’t find it – I have the wrong address on my blogroll!!)

So, guys, if this inspired some more meal thoughts – send ‘em my way.  We could all use new ideas!

Update Pregnancy Number 5, Week 7

March 2nd, 2009

I don’t feel good.  That about sums it up.

I don’t clean the house.  I don’t cook.  I don’t do much of anything fun with the kiddos on my own.  Luckily, their daddy rescues me in this department.  Thanks to him we have gone to Mid-America Museum recently (the kids’ first time), North Little Rock’s High School Musical Production, bought and put together a trampoline, played in the snow on the side of the road, and painted one of the kid’s rooms green apple.

Back to me and the newest Parker…  since the last update the sickness is in full swing.  I had even prayed at the end of week 5 that all was okay with the baby because I was feeling very few pregnancy symptoms.  Within 2 days I was throwing up.  Which is noteworthy, because if you remember I’ve only thrown up, well, like twice in four pregnancies.  I’ve tried ginger snaps, peppermint tea, lemon water.  And the smell of… everything.  Please, putrid smells, just go away.  Does this last the whole pregnancy?  I can’t remember.  Ugh.  So, when my sickness hit this level, my hubby predicted a girl.  He reminded me that the last time I was this consistently sick was when I was pregnant with ThePrincess.  I had forgotten.  But now vaguely remember watching Noggin until I won Mom of the Year Award.

I have realized that salads and chocolate milk are the nutrient source for me right now.  The chocolate milk can be swapped out with chocolate milk shakes if the opportunity presents itself.  Meat is almost non-existent.  Just can’t stomach it.  Coffee has fallen by the wayside.  What is that about?!  Never before.  Just can’t drink it.  I have overcome all my withdrawals from caffeine and tried decaf this morning, but my taste is gone for it.  Oh, my coffee love affair, how I miss thee.

But salads, I can’t seem to get enough of them.  I haven’t made my own, I’ve eaten out for all of them so far.  And I can rank them in order of pregnant palatability.  Vino’s: the best, by far.  But is that really surprising?  Oh, how I could I have one right now.  Wendy’s caesar salad:  pretty good.  The Purple Cow:  c’mon.  So disappointed with them.  I haven’t been in years, and the price for the actual taste of the food was terrible.  Ugh.  Sonic: what are you thinkin’?  No regular fresh salads?!  What pregnant woman wants warm chicken and a stale onion ring on her beautiful $5.00 salad?  Oh.my.

Okay, as riveting as all that talk was, we’ll move on.

The baby is forming amazingly at this week.  The umbilical cord is formed.  The facial features are taking shape.  The digestive tract and lungs are continuing to form.  And the arm bud has a tiny hand on the end of it now.  As far as size, probably about the size of a grain of rice.  Truly amazing.

The first prenatal is a week from today.  And other than all the blood work, pap, and facing the fact that I’m fatter than I have been in 7 years, I’m excited about it.

The other kiddos are doing well.  Still very excited.  ThePrincess is having severe issues with how soon all of this will unfold, that we really won’t be naming a girl Sparkle, and that there is a definite possibility that she won’t be getting a girl at all.  BigMan is generally oblivious, but a whirling, talking, dancing ball of distraction.  But the older boys – such fun!  This is the first pregnancy that they are completely aware of and understanding of.  And they are so excited.  TheOldest keeps pointing out babies in public to me and smiling.

Their school work is stripped down to the basics right now.  Just covering the bare minimum of handwriting, english, and math.  Bare.Minimum.  Even my beloved lapbooks are on hold.  Of course, all of this coincides with a severe “I’m not doing enough to teach them” panic, but I’m sure we’ll survive that too, since I go through it about 4 times a year.  At least.  We have joined a homeschool group and are LOVING it. So far in three weeks we have had a Valentine’s party and 2 playdates.  This week we’ll be tie-dying t-shirts and then ironing on our homeschool logo.  We have a science fair coming up, and I’m hoping to lead an Easter party with them, if I can pull myself together and get over this sickness.  I’m really excited about this group and finally am beginning to feel like a part of something.

So, if you see this same post for the next week, just think to yourself, “It’s okay, Suzanne’s probably just laying on the couch, sick, stressin’ over how much she’s not teaching her kids, and how filthy the house is.”  But, it’s a season, people.  And I’ll weather it.  Gladly.  Knowing I get to meet a new little person at the end of all of this.  Bigger picture, folks, bigger picture, and what a masterpiece He’s painting around me.