Freezer Meals

With a new baby coming and whizzing through all of my freezer meals during my super sick first trimester, it's time to start thinking about replenishing my stash. So I decided I should give myself some accountability and start documenting some of the meals that I make.

Since I am supposed to be resting for the next few days I used one of the very last meals in my stash before I start replenishing. It is Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole. This is a great meal to make after Christmas or Easter to use up some of that leftover ham. I got the recipe from Pinterest (of course). Here's the link http://www.madefrompinterest.net/chicken-cordon-bleu-casserole/ . I am copy and pasting the actual recipe just in case for some crazy reason the link is taken down and I lose the lovely recipe.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

recipe adapted from tastykitchen.com

Base:

1 large rotisserie chicken, meat removed and pulled (about 5-6 C) or 5-6 C of chicken breast meat cooked and shredded into large chunks

1/2 pound sliced deli-style black forest ham, chopped or some yummy leftover ham from Christmas/Easter cut into chunks.

1/2 pound sliced swiss cheese

Sauce:

4 Tb butter

4 Tb flour

3 C milk

2 Tb lemon juice

1 Tb dijion mustard

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp pepper

Topping:

4 Tb melted butter

1 1/4 C seasoned bread crumbs

1/4 C parmesan cheese

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9×13 casserole dish with nonstick spray.  Layer the chicken in the bottom of the dish followed by the ham and finally the swiss cheese.

2.  In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Slowly add the milk, whisking to keep clumps from forming.  Turn the heat to high and cook until the sauce thickens and boils completely, whisking often.  Remove from the heat and add the remaining sauce ingredients.  Pour the finished sauce over the base layer already in the dish.

3.  In a small bowl, mix together the topping ingredients until the butter is evenly distributed over the crumbs.  Sprinkle over the top of the dish and bake for 45 minutes.  Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving so the sauce will thicken just a bit. You may want to cover the casserole for the first 20 minutes or so just so the crumb topping doesn't become too brown. This is just my personal preference.

Now, whenever I make this I try to make two. One to serve and one to freeze. The one to freeze I do not bake and I do not put the bread crumb topping on. In order to serve, I defrost completely and then add the crumb topping and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. I also serve this with potatoes. You can make some freezer twice baked potatoes or use some potatoes that you have on hand (today I had red potatoes) and then just throw them in the microwave and smash them with some butter and salt and pepper. Yummy. I also added some frozen veggies...but that's just me. This recipe is super delicious and well worth it to double and freeze for a lazy day meal...or when you are supposed to be "resting" (have I mentioned that I don't do "resting" very well? But then again, what mom does?

Well this isn't fun

I hate being a complainer. I feel like I complain a lot. I am really trying to be one of those glass is half full, rose colored glasses kind of gals...but unfortunately, I am just not very successful at that. What is my problem now? Well, I was hoping to avoid the dreaded "ANGRY UTERUS" or uterine irritability that I had when I was pregnant with the twins. Let me tell you. My uterus must keep a grudge. I started noticing things may not be quite right on Saturday because I noticed a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions. But by the end of my shift at work I decided, gah, it's the dreaded angry uterus striking again, when for the millionth time I had to take a sharp breath in from the back pain that now accompanied my tightened midsection. I went home after work, drank a bunch of water...peed a lot...and then got put on call for the millionth time on Sunday night. I took the night to relax. We watched Romeo and Juliet (the modern Leo DiCaprio one) and I had my feet up drinking my loathed water (have I mentioned that I hate water on my blog before?) yet I still had my lovely uterus and back yelling at me. So on Monday I called my OB and the triage nurse told me to drink more water...somewhere between 3-4 LITERS. I wanted to scream in the phone "I HAVE  BEEN DRINKING WATER ALL MORNING AND MY BODY STILL HATES ME!" but I refrained and instead told her that it was now 1pm and I had already drank 4 20oz bottles of water. To which I was told that "A lot of people carry bottles of water around but that doesn't mean that they drink them". I can't argue this. It is true. I am one of those people. But not today. I just took a deep breath and asked what else she wanted me to do. So I got an appointment with my doctor today. My orders; 3 days worth of Motrin and rest. Then reevaluate. And I got a fetal fibrinectin test done. Which I am sure will be negative like it was all last pregnancy. So I guess that means that this girl will be stuck slowing down (GASP) until the end of September. The thing that really stinks is how early I am compared to LAST time this happened. I am only 23.6 weeks. Last time I was 29 weeks. Oh the joys of pregnancy. I sure hope this little boy knows how much I love him!

Sew Happy

I enjoy sewing. Especially when I don't have an extremely pressed deadline and I can actually enjoy doing it. Let me tell you. Pinterest is a very dangerous thing. Now it seems like there are so many people that are super creative and crafty and it's very easy to feel like a mama loser. I decided I needed to get some sewing in to help me personally, as a stress reliever and to let some of the creativity that I KNOW is in there somewhere, out. I went to Joann's during their Memorial Weekend sale and got some amazing deals. I will give you a breakdown at the end of the post to brag about savings.

First of all I did a lot of prep work. I got out my (Jake's actually) cutting board and got to measuring, cutting, and pinning. Molly wanted to help.

First on my list was burp cloths. I love the look of the homemade burp cloths. They are soft and cute. And lets face it, they can be pricy unless you get the plain Jane cloth diapers. I used terry cloth and two layers of soft flannel. The terry cloth and inner flannel I was able to get on clearance, plus 50% off...and 20% off the total bill at the end. The cute baby flannel was $2.50 yd. I used 1 yd total of each for 10 burp cloths plus 6 bonus baby washcloths.

Idea taken from here

http://www.danamadeit.com/2012/04/celebrate-baby-tutorial-burp-cloth-gift-sets.html

After I cut them out and layered and pinned, I serged and sewed around the edges (right sides together) leaving an area to turn the cloths right side out. I then topstitched them all and also topstitched the finished product in thirds so that they are easily foldable and they will stay together well.

Here's the finished burp cloths.

Here's the washcloths while in progress. I just did one layer of flannel and one layer of terry cloth and like the burp cloths, sewed and serged around the edge leaving a small area to turn it right side out and topstitch.

The other thing that I wanted to do was a Moby wrap. I had a Moby wrap with Elijah (and the twins) and I loved it while they were small. It can be a bit of a pain to work with at times, just because it is long, but to be honest, I think it's the most secure and comforting when they are little. Once they get bigger, I had made a beautiful MeiTae carrier that I really liked. I will have to make one another time. It will be awhile before I need it anyway.

I have been searching on Pinterest and found a few ideas so I did the best I could with the advantage that I've at least owned a wrap before so I know what it's supposed to look like. I'm also cheap. Lets face it, this whole thing was unplanned and with having to buy a new minivan to fit the whole family, and all the necessary baby items, if I can cut corners I most DEFINITELY will be doing that. That being said I found a knit sheet at Goodwill (thrift stores are my absolute favorite lately...when I actually find what I need). I then laid it out as best as I could...because lets face it, knit (especially washed several times knit) can be hard to work with. I cut it in half...then placed each piece on top of each other. I knew I wanted the spot where the baby is to not have quite as much give, so I used a piece of cotton fabric to put in between the two long pieces of knit. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of this. I then tapered one side of each of the knit pieces so it wasn't just a rectangle, but had an angle to it, to help with too much fabric when the wrap is tied. 

Here's the link to my inspiration..

http://www.aloadofcraft.com/2010/06/tutorial-how-to-make-baby-wrap-part-3.html?m=1

(this is the way that I tapered the edges)

I then serged and sewed the cotton fabric to each of the sides of the two knit panels and then serged around the entire wrap. It's not absolutely perfect, but in the end it cost me about $6.  

Here's the finished product. Don't mind that I'm not smiling...I am happy with the way it turned out. Do you like my Spiderman guinea pig?

When I had Elijah I was given this awesome diapee and wipee case from a friend from work. Of course I JUST got rid of it in November. I didn't even realize I still had it and we totally rid ourselves of all things baby...this was no exception. Thanks to Pinterest, I found a pattern I wanted to try to make my own. 

http://crazylittleprojects.com/2012/04/diapers-and-wipes-holder.html

Here's the inner and outer layers being prepped.

And here's the finished product.

I think it turned out cute. It's a little larger than my original case but it will work. The fabric was inexpensive (another clearance plus 50% and 20% deal). I think it ended up being something like $5 for the fabric but I had enough to make a couple nursing necklaces (that's next) and I have a little leftover to figure out some new creation to make as well. 

On to the nursing necklaces.  This is new to me. I never had one with the other boys and honestly, until I saw it on Pinterest, was clueless as to what it was. Basically, it's a baby safe necklace that you can wear and when you breastfeed, your baby can fiddle with it instead of looking around in all areas and dragging pulling..eh...parts of the mom...places where they should not be pulled. The ones that I made were made out of scraps and some wooden beads that I purchased. I really would like to find a wooden ring because they have some really cute ones on Pinterest (go figure) but I've looked at Joann's, Michaels, and Hobby Lobby and have not found them.

I cut, pinned, serged, and sewed and then turned right side out. I then placed a bead in the center and tied a knot on each end. I then added a couple more beads on each side, knotting in between. For one of the necklaces I sewed the end. For the other, I ripped the remaining fabric on each side into three parts and braided it. 

http://rebekahgough.blogspot.com/2011/05/make-something-monday-teething-necklace.html

If I knew how to make this one, I would. I think it's super cute. Some sellers on Etsy even add crochet flowers to theirs somehow. 

http://www.repeatcrafterme.com/2014/02/crochet-nursing-necklace.html?m=1

While going through my fabric I found some leftover from ages ago as well as a pattern for some baby things...including a swaddle blanket. It was supposed to be two layers of fabric, but since what I found was knit and it is so warm here, I figured one layer would be good. So I altered the pattern and instead edged the blanket in bias tape. Again, I'm happy with the results, although I hope it fits the baby. It's hard when you don't have a model.

Another new thing that I found since the boys have grown, is nursing covers other than the old school Udder cover style. Things that are very user friendly and multipurpose.

Like this nifty scarf stolen from here

https://diaryofamadcrafter.wordpress.com/2013/07/14/diy-breastfeeding-infinity-scarf/

 Or...is it a scarf? It's multipurpose! Yay! It is also a nursing cover. And it was super easy to make. Just a yard and a half (I think...I have placenta brain and cannot remember if I got a yard or a yard and a half) of knit fabric that was on sale for $5/yd and matched the edges together and serged and sewed (can you tell that I like my serger?) I think that it came out awesome. It's light (thank goodness since it's so hot here) and it is very easily folded to go into the diaper bag if I don't want to wear it as a scarf. Thumbs up from me. Lets hope the baby boy doesn't mind being covered!

And last on my list for today. Aiden and Anais blankets. From what I hear, they are awesome. Especially in hot climates. Never heard of them? Well, they are basically a HUGE blanket made from a cute, soft, gauze like material. And because they are so huge they can be used on all sizes of babies...the smaller the baby, the more folding that you do...but lets face it..my babies were not tiny. Especially considering this baby is not a twin....I'm counting on at least an 8 1/2 lb baby...if not bigger. Well, while in the clearance section of Joann's (are you seeing a pattern?) I found this cute little owl gauze. It didn't seem as soft as the Aiden and Anais blankets, but I figured I would try it because often the fabric isn't as soft before it's washed. It was $5 a yard. I couldn't pass it up.  So 1 1/3 yds was bought and trimmed to a perfect square. I then edged the two raw edges first with my serger, and then I folded it over to make a nice, neat edge. I didn't wash it before I sewed it because I didn't want anything to unravel or any of that mischief. I think it turned out great. And for the price...can't beat it. I saw some other gauze that was a cute train print that I will be purchasing with my next 50% off one item coupon. Do you know how much the "real thing" costs? Amazon it, lol. Oh, and after I washed it when it was sewn, it softened up dramatically.

Here's the print close up. Not to shabby. 

So overall I am pleased with myself. I was able to actually do the majority of the sewing yesterday, thanks to Jake's mom offering to watch the kids so that they could play with their cousins and I could get whatever I needed to done. Well, it was EXTREMELY helpful, and very much appreciated. 

A look at costs...these are estimations...but still..I feel I saved...and enjoyed myself in the process,

10 burp cloths and   $10.50                       

6 washcloths                                              

Wrap                         $6                             

Diaper/wipe case      $5                             

2 Nursing necklaces $6 (plus leftovers)    

Swaddle blanket       $4                             

Nursing cover           $5-$7                        

Gauze Blanket          $5                              

Totals                        $43.50   

Based on Amazon and Etsy                    

Gerber 4 pk printed  $8 ($20)

Gerber 6 pk white     $5

Moby Wrap             $40

Diapee/Wipee case  $18

2 nursing necklaces $22

Swaddle blanket      $10

Nursing scarf           $24

Aiden and Anais     $13 (approx $40 for 3)

totals                       $152

Now, I have to say that the items I made were in no way superior to the name brand products. Baby items are just so briefly used, that I find no need in spending such a drastic amount for such a short time frame. I am not a person who has ever gone gaga over name brand products. Now, sometimes name brand things are better in the long run because they outlast or outperform. But I pride myself in researching things the best way that I can and trying to purchase items that best benefit our family needs. And many of these items are purely wants and not needs. But it sure does help to get things that you will use for a lot less money!

I still have things that I would love to make. It's so hard to find super, super cute boy things (in comparison to cute, homemade dresses for girls) but I just love these little cardigan onesies.

http://www.babymakingmachine.com/2013/05/cardigan-onesie-tutorial.html/

or this

http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2014/03/interchangeable-bowtie-onesie-with-attached-suspenders-2-variations.html

If I could knit or crochet, you can bet I would do something like this

https://www.etsy.com/listing/183491331/crochet-pattern-newborn-puppy-hat-and?ref=listing-shop-header-0

And I would totally make these to look like a little Red Wings player

https://www.etsy.com/listing/113516536/pdf-crochet-pattern-the-hockey-helmet

I guess I just have to stick with what I know how to do, lol! At least I can make some things!

Sorry about all the links. I went a little link crazy.  But I think it's important to give credit where credit is due.

ComiCon!

ComiCon fell on Elijah's birthday this year so he had a very special birthday.

Noah dressed as a storm trooper and Jonah was Beaker. Here they are posing with Lauren dressed as Hawk Girl.

Elijah was Luke Skywalker.

Jonah found a little Ewok character.

Noah, Jonah and I spent some time at the pool. They had a blast!

And Jake was able to meet Christopher Lloyd. Great Scott!!!

They had a lego exhibit. Jonah loved making this creation.

We ate a special dinner at My Big Fat Greek Restaurant. Super yummy.

Elijah's 7th Birthday

Happy 7th Birthday to Elijah! We celebrated with his cousins on the day before because we would be gone to ComiCon. I think he had fun.