Hello there,

A friend has just had her fourth baby, last week, and is buckling a bit
under the strain. I want to help out by bringing around food every now and
then, something tasty that can be portioned and frozen for easy use when
needed. She's a bit of a foodie, so nothing too bland, but something kids
under the age of five will consider eating.
Any ideas? Favourite recipes?
Thanx,
Richard.

richard green > wrote:

> Any ideas? Favourite recipes?

I made two of these for my friends when they had their kid...they *said*
it was great after being frozen :-).

Shortcut Mexican Lasagne:

First, get a lasagne/roasting/tin foil pan...one that will hold lasagne
noodles.

From 365 Easy One Dish Meals (Natalie Haughton, Harper Collins)

Shortcut Lasagne, Mexican Style
Prep 15 min., Cook 45-50 min. Serves 6

1 10-ounce can enchilada sauce
1 14 1/2 ounce can cup-up peeled tomatoes, *undrained*
1 6 ounce can tomato paste
1 16 ounce can black beans, rinsed and well drained
9 ounces lasagne noodles (uncooked)
1 pint (2 cups) low-fat cottage cheese
3 cups (3/4 pound) shredded cheddar cheese
(we add a 4.5 oz can of mild diced green chiles as well, but it's not in
the recipe)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, combine enchilada sauce,
tomatoes with their juice, and tomato paste (and green chiles, if
using). Mix to blend well. Stir in black beans.

2. Spoon a third of tomato sauce mixture over bottom of a 12x8 inch
rectangular baking dish. Top with 3 uncooked lasagne noodles. Spread
evenly with 1 cup cottage cheese and sprinkle with 1 cup cheddar cheese.
Spoon on half the remaining tomato sauce mixture.

3. Add another layer of 3 noodles, remaining 1 cup cottage cheese, then
sprinkle with 1 cup cheddar cheese.

4. Add remaining 3 noodles in a single layer, remaining tomato sauce,
and remaining 1 cup cheddar cheese. Cover tightly with foil.

5. Bake 45 to 50 minutes, or until noodles are tender. Let stand at
least 5 minutes before serving.


--
"In Finnegans Wake, he just made up words.
Now that's just not sporting!"
...A friend on James Joyce

richard green wrote:
> Hello there,
>
> A friend has just had her fourth baby, last week, and is buckling a
> bit under the strain. I want to help out by bringing around food
> every now and then, something tasty that can be portioned and frozen
> for easy use when needed. She's a bit of a foodie, so nothing too
> bland, but something kids under the age of five will consider eating.
> Any ideas? Favourite recipes?
> Thanx,
> Richard.

After 4 kids I'd be considering suicide LOL Freezable meals include lots of
things. Lasagna, pot roast, stews, chicken croquettes, salmon patties,
salisbury steak, mach & cheese. Many soups. Rice and pasta freeze well and
lots of veggies. Take a look around the freezer section of the grocery
store to get ideas.

I don't know about [her] kids under 5, but I always ate what my parents ate,
once I had teeth.

Jill

In article >, "jmcquown"
> wrote:

> After 4 kids I'd be considering suicide LOL

Ha ha. One wonders if you would appreciate comments about desiring
suicide based on the details of your life.

Regards,
Ranee (who got really tired of all the people who asked us if we knew
how babies were made, told us to get hobbies, watch more tv, get
separate bedrooms, etc. We know how babies are made, we're really good
at it.)

--
Remove do not and spam to e-mail me.

"The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of
heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man." Acts 17:24

"Ranee Mueller" > wrote in message
...
>
> Ha ha. One wonders if you would appreciate comments about desiring
> suicide based on the details of your life.
>

Interesting comment. I always thought you valued your Christian faith and
tried to live up to its tenets. Your comment was very un-Christian-like in
its tone as well as the very obvious intent behind it. What's up with the
mean-spiritedness that has shown up in a number of your posts over the last
few months?

rona
--
***For e-mail, replace .com with .ca Sorry for the inconvenience!***

Rona Yuthasastrakosol wrote:
> "Ranee Mueller" > wrote in message
> ...
>>
>> Ha ha. One wonders if you would appreciate comments about
>> desiring suicide based on the details of your life.
>>
>
> Interesting comment. I always thought you valued your Christian
> faith and tried to live up to its tenets. Your comment was very
> un-Christian-like in its tone as well as the very obvious intent
> behind it. What's up with the mean-spiritedness that has shown up in
> a number of your posts over the last few months?
>
> rona

Thanks, Rona. And obviously what I posted was tongue-in-cheek, not a
serious suggestion that someone kill themself. Sheesh!

Jill

In article >, "Rona
Yuthasastrakosol" > wrote:

> "Ranee Mueller" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > Ha ha. One wonders if you would appreciate comments about
> > desiring suicide based on the details of your life.
> >
>
> Interesting comment. I always thought you valued your Christian
> faith and tried to live up to its tenets. Your comment was very
> un-Christian-like in its tone as well as the very obvious intent
> behind it.

I'm curious what was so unChristman about it or what was obvious
about the intent (other than pointing out that her comment about
considering suicide after 4 kids was rude).

> What's up with the mean-spiritedness that has shown up in
> a number of your posts over the last few months?

Wow. Mean spirited to call someone on rudeness.

Regards,
Ranee

--
Remove do not and spam to e-mail me.

"The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of
heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man." Acts 17:24

"Ranee Mueller" > wrote in message
...
>
> I'm curious what was so unChristman about it or what was obvious
> about the intent (other than pointing out that her comment about
> considering suicide after 4 kids was rude).
>

Actually, what you said was, "One wonders if you would appreciate comments
about desiring suicide based on the details of your life." It seemed to me
(and I apologize if I was wrong) that it was a sarcastic remark. Sarcastic
remarks are intended to wound and it is un-Christian to intentionally hurt
someone. There was no mention of rudeness at all in your post.

>
> Wow. Mean spirited to call someone on rudeness.
>

Regarding other incidences which I referred to as mean-spirited, I
distinctly remember an exchange with another poster in which you brought up
topics of the past which, I am sure, you knew would cause embarrassment or
discomfort to her. IMO, any comments intended to embarrass someone *are*
mean-spirited. It may have been more than a few months ago, but I remember
it very clearly (hence my thought that it was within the last few months)
because I was very surprised that it came from you. I had never known you
to try to put someone else down in such a way.

Again, regarding the post that started this exchange, if I read it
incorrectly I apologize for jumping to conclusions.

rona
--
***For e-mail, replace .com with .ca Sorry for the inconvenience!***

In article >, "Rona
Yuthasastrakosol" > wrote:

> What's up with the mean-spiritedness that has shown up in a number of
> your posts over the last few months?

Also, how many posts have I even made in the last few months? I've
mostly been lurking if reading at all. Just did a quick author check on
google to see how many posts I've made since the middle of October, 50,
out of those 7 were off topic, (51 and 8 including this one), and most
of those were still just tangenital, not mean.

Regards,
Ranee

--
Remove do not and spam to e-mail me.

"The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of
heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man." Acts 17:24

> Also, how many posts have I even made in the last few months? I've
> mostly been lurking if reading at all. Just did a quick author check on
> google to see how many posts I've made since the middle of October, 50,
> out of those 7 were off topic, (51 and 8 including this one), and most
> of those were still just tangenital, not mean.
>
> Regards,
> Ranee

*cough*splutter*choke*.............."tangenital"??

Sounds like someone is taking this a little too personally. I'm
wondering if the person who posted the original comment may have meant
it more as a kind of admiration rather than a "judgement" on the life
of a person with four kids. As in: "I don't have the same temperment
as you do and there for I wouldn't be able to deal with 4 kids like
you can." It is always helpful to assume that the person making the
comment means well even if he/she can't express themselves well.

Heidi

"Rona Yuthasastrakosol" > wrote in message >...
> "Ranee Mueller" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > Ha ha. One wonders if you would appreciate comments about desiring
> > suicide based on the details of your life.
> >
>
> Interesting comment. I always thought you valued your Christian faith and
> tried to live up to its tenets. Your comment was very un-Christian-like in
> its tone as well as the very obvious intent behind it. What's up with the
> mean-spiritedness that has shown up in a number of your posts over the last
> few months?
>
> rona

Ranee Mueller wrote:
> In article >, "jmcquown"
> > wrote:
>
>> After 4 kids I'd be considering suicide LOL
>
> Ha ha. One wonders if you would appreciate comments about desiring
> suicide based on the details of your life.
>
> Regards,
> Ranee (who got really tired of all the people who asked us if we
> knew how babies were made, told us to get hobbies, watch more tv, get
> separate bedrooms, etc. We know how babies are made, we're really
> good at it.)

You apparently didn't notice my comment was tongue-in-cheek. My life is
just fine, thank you. Just because I made the choice not to have children
doesn't mean I am not fulfilled. In fact, life is better than ever and I
absolutely love being in my 40's

Jill

In article >, "jmcquown"
> wrote:

> Ranee Mueller wrote:
> > In article >, "jmcquown"
> > > wrote:
> >
> >> After 4 kids I'd be considering suicide LOL
> >
> > Ha ha. One wonders if you would appreciate comments about desiring
> > suicide based on the details of your life.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Ranee (who got really tired of all the people who asked us if we
> > knew how babies were made, told us to get hobbies, watch more tv, get
> > separate bedrooms, etc. We know how babies are made, we're really
> > good at it.)
>
> You apparently didn't notice my comment was tongue-in-cheek. My life is
> just fine, thank you. Just because I made the choice not to have children
> doesn't mean I am not fulfilled. In fact, life is better than ever and I
> absolutely love being in my 40's

I'm sure your life is great for you. It would still be rude for me
(or anyone else) to say in response to some details about your life that
if we had to deal with that we'd be considering suicide. However, it is
apparently safe to do so about a family's choice of number or spacing of
children. It doesn't matter how tongue in cheek your comment was, it
was still rude. Just like it would be rude of someone to ask a couple
when they were going to have kids, why they don't have kids, etc, even
laughingly.

Regards,
Ranee

--
Remove do not and spam to e-mail me.

"The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of
heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man." Acts 17:24

In article >, Ranee
Mueller > wrote:


> Ranee (who got really tired of all the people who asked us if we knew
> how babies were made, told us to get hobbies, watch more tv, get
> separate bedrooms, etc. We know how babies are made, we're really good
> at it.)


Do you give lessons?

:-)

(We're over and done with that, actually. We have no more children, as
our youngest turned 18 not long ago. It still feels the same, though,
since all three live at home and eat our food.)

--
Dan Abel
Sonoma State University
AIS

In article >,
(Dan Abel) wrote:

> In article >, Ranee
> Mueller > wrote:
>
>
> > Ranee (who got really tired of all the people who asked us if we
> > knew how babies were made, told us to get hobbies, watch more tv, get
> > separate bedrooms, etc. We know how babies are made, we're really
> > good at it.)

>
>
> Do you give lessons?
>
> :-)

This would not fit with our trying to live according to Christian
morality. However we have thought of writing a marriage book on how
to improve your communication.

> (We're over and done with that, actually. We have no more children, as
> our youngest turned 18 not long ago. It still feels the same, though,
> since all three live at home and eat our food.)

The boys were great about knowing that when they grew up they would
move away and (we hope) have their own homes. Lately, they've started
talking about how when they are married they are still going to live
here. We told them thank you for wanting to spend so much time with us,
but no way. Their wives probably wouldn't appreciate having to
share a home with the matriarch and patriarch anyway. We figure we can
enjoy the fact that they want to stay so close to us while they are
young and keep teaching them so that they will want to be our friends
when they are adults, but we will be ready to relinquish the parenting
role of our relationship. When we talk to the boys about growing up we
tell them that after they finish school for whatever they want to work
as, they can get a job and get married and have children, in that order,
and on their own. We also tell them that we are praying for them to
find women that they will love more than they love us, since they will
need to be "on her side."

Regards,
Ranee

--
Remove do not and spam to e-mail me.

"The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of
heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man." Acts 17:24

On Sat, 24 Jan 2004 07:44:48 GMT, "richard green"
> wrote:

>A friend has just had her fourth baby, last week, and is buckling a bit
>under the strain. I want to help out by bringing around food every now and
>then, something tasty that can be portioned and frozen for easy use when
>needed. She's a bit of a foodie, so nothing too bland, but something kids
>under the age of five will consider eating.
>Any ideas? Favourite recipes?

Search on "freezer meals" for a whole raft of recipes and suggestions.

In article >, "richard
green" > wrote:

> Hello there,
>
> A friend has just had her fourth baby, last week, and is buckling a bit
> under the strain.

Good description, buckling. I hope she's got a husband to help with the
load. My mom had her first 10 kids within 2-1/2 years of each other
and said "it's hard when they're young, but nicer when they're older."
Whatever.

>I want to help out by bringing around food every now and
> then, something tasty that can be portioned and frozen for easy use when
> needed. She's a bit of a foodie, so nothing too bland, but something kids
> under the age of five will consider eating.
> Any ideas? Favourite recipes?

Don't discount PB&J sandwiches -- they'll keep in the fridge for a few
days. Bring her a 3-days lunches supply. Macaroni hotdish?
Hamburger patties that she can nuke and stick in a bun? Roast beef hash
that just needs browning in a skillet? For now, I'd think about what
the kids would eat -- bring her some flowers to demonstrate your
admiration. :-)

> Thanx,
> Richard.
--
-Barb
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail;
a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Damn,that was fun!"

I'm here with 3 kids, one a newborn. I've tried to make lotsof freezer
meals. An easy favorite is baked chicken.
Take a lot of drumsticks,and a lot of chicken thighs. Put ina large baking
dish. Chop a few onions and toss in there , throw in some spices and herbs.
Add a few cups of water, cover with foil. Cook about 40 minutes. Let cool,
put enough for one meal into a gallon ziploc, cover with the pan juices.
Serve over rice.
To make a complete meal. toss some carrots,potatoes and maybe peas in there
with the chicken, or cook separately in broth (so you can vary the
ingredients in the frozen portions).

"richard green" > wrote in message
...
> Hello there,
>
> A friend has just had her fourth baby, last week, and is buckling a bit
> under the strain. I want to help out by bringing around food every now and
> then, something tasty that can be portioned and frozen for easy use when
> needed. She's a bit of a foodie, so nothing too bland, but something kids
> under the age of five will consider eating.
> Any ideas? Favourite recipes?
> Thanx,
> Richard.
>
>

When my daughter was in the hospital, we had a lot of food given to us.
Lasagnes were nice, but by our 10th Lasagne.. The best two things we got were
a freezer bag full of about 12 grilled chicken breasts (these were homemade-but
I think you can get them in the stores also). You could defrost them for
lunches with fruit, for dinners with a pasta or mac and cheese, -they were very
versatile. The other great thing we got were gift certificates to our local
delivery Chinese food and delivery pizza/Italian place-for days when you can't
even defrost anything.

GLAD now has cassarole size plastic containers that can be baked or microwaved,
and are re-usable. These are fantastic for giving away cassaroles because you
don't have to worry about loosing your baking dishes. They also include lids,
and are stackable in the freezer.
One of my favorite cassaroles to make is a chicken and stuffing cassarole.
I dice 4 chicken breasts into 1 inch pieces and stirfry on the stove with an
onion, and whatever herbs I have on hand. I add 2 cans of chicken broth, and
1/2 cup of quick cooking rice. Then mix that with 1 bag of herb flavored
stuffing croutons. Pour the whole mess into a cassarole pan and then top it
with a can of cream of celery and a can of cream of chicken soup-duluted with
3/4 of a can of milk. Cover with foil and bake for about 45 min. I've given
this cassarole away a few times and everyone loves it, and it freezes and
reheats very well.

Sandra

---snip previous posts--- Uh, sloppy joe mixture freezes well, and is
one of those traditionally "kid friendly" dishes. It nukes well, too.
And, don't forget to include the buns.

~~~Gina~~~

richard green wrote:


> Any ideas? Favourite recipes?


Taco filling. Take your favorite mexican seasoning and stir into browned
ground beef, Freeze in a thin layer in a large zipper bag, then pound it
on the counter to crumble it up so she can remove only as much loose
meat as she needs to reheat and serve.

Or try this lower-fat 'fast food taco' lookalike:

Start with two tubes (1 lb?) of frozen Louis Rich ground turkey. It's
mixed dark and white meat, and if you get the good all-white meat at the
butcher it won't work right. Thaw those out and brown them in the bottom
of a large saucepot. Don't add any oil or anything. This stuff is pretty
lean, so it will cook up fairly dry, and you have to keep stirring it
and breaking it up as it browns. When that is cooked, add one to three
finely chopped jalapeno or other chili peppers, to taste. Add 1/2 to one
cup of finely chopped onion, to taste. Stir in two cans of refried
beans. (I use one low-fat, and one vegetarian to balance flavor with
calories) You may want to add a very little bit of water at this point.
Don't add too much, not more than 3/4 of a cup, because once the beans
soften it will get very thin.
Seasonings are mostly cumin (3-4 tablespoons) and chili powder (1
tablespoon). I also throw in a TB each of oregano and garlic, and about
half a teaspoon of black pepper. You can certainly add more pepper or
chili powder to taste.
Cook it until it's done, or you are too hungry to wait any more. This
is one of those dishes, like spaghetti sauce, that can sit on the back
of the stove for hours at low heat. Stir it occasionally, because it
likes to settle and burn.



Dawn

You are a friend indeed! I recently had my third child, and was thrilled to
pieces whenever anyone brought us dinner. Nobody brought us anything
freezer-worthy, it was usually stuff that we ate that night (often they
would call a few days ahead to set up a date to bring the food, so I
wouldn't have already made something). I already had a lot of stuff in the
freezer -- meatballs and meatloaf, taco meat, chili, etc. (Of course, I had
my baby the week before hurricane Isabel, so I lost a lot of that frozen
stuff anyhow!).

I liked getting things the day-of, because that meant I didn't have to think
about it the night before or even a few hours before -- just open the
fridge, pop something into the oven, and voila! Dinner. Some folks even
delivered the meal hot to the door at 6 p.m.

The nicest meals were the ones that came with a side dish -- something plain
like green beans or roasted potatoes that the kids would eat even if they
didn't like the entree -- and a dessert. Dessert is key. Something simple
like brownies or cookies, or a banana bread -- you *know* the kids will like
that.

Another nice thing to bring would be cut up fruit or raw veggies that she
can use as a side or snack -- healthy for the kids, but often
time-consuming. I can get a basic meal on the table, but sometimes, adding
a side just takes those extra few minutes that I don't have if the baby
needs attention in the last minutes before dinner (many babies are
programmed to be fussy around dinnertime, shortly before the other adult of
the house gets home).

In article >, "richard
green" > wrote:

> Any ideas? Favourite recipes?

What do they normally eat? I'm thinking things like pot roast with
veggies and mashed potatoes, stew & noodles plus a salad (dressing on
the side so it doesn't sog), macaroni & cheese with some veggies and a
fruit plate, any baked pasta really, a ziplock bag of spagetti sauce and
some bread & salad, meatloaf and scalloped potatoes, chicken pot pie -
we got one that had lots of veggies in it like spinach and such which
had tons of iron, chicken rice casseroles, curries & rice, stir fry &
rice. We loved it when people brought the veggies and/or salad with the
meal. We loved it when they came in those disposable aluminum pans so
we wouldn't have to keep track of who brought which dish and return them.

Regards,
Ranee

--
Remove do not and spam to e-mail me.

"The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of
heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man." Acts 17:24

Tks for the inspiration everyone. I'm going to get started with meatloaf
with a side of potatoes and leeks, a la Martha Stewart and will move on to
lasagna, baked pastas and casseroles from week to week and see how we go.
As for the kids, the first three were planned that way, cause mother and
father wanted a biggish family. Mother is 40 and wanted to get back to her
career as an emergency physician (......so she knows where babies come from
too, but hey....everybody makes mistakes) but then this last one came along.
Now father is going to have a little operation of his own!

Richard.
"Ranee Mueller" > wrote in message
...
> In article >, "richard
> green" > wrote:
>
> > Any ideas? Favourite recipes?
>
> What do they normally eat? I'm thinking things like pot roast with
> veggies and mashed potatoes, stew & noodles plus a salad (dressing on
> the side so it doesn't sog), macaroni & cheese with some veggies and a
> fruit plate, any baked pasta really, a ziplock bag of spagetti sauce and
> some bread & salad, meatloaf and scalloped potatoes, chicken pot pie -
> we got one that had lots of veggies in it like spinach and such which
> had tons of iron, chicken rice casseroles, curries & rice, stir fry &
> rice. We loved it when people brought the veggies and/or salad with the
> meal. We loved it when they came in those disposable aluminum pans so
> we wouldn't have to keep track of who brought which dish and return them.
>
> Regards,
> Ranee
>
> --
> Remove do not and spam to e-mail me.
>
> "The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of
> heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man." Acts 17:24

"richard green" > wrote in message >...
> Hello there,
>
> A friend has just had her fourth baby, last week, and is buckling a bit
> under the strain. I want to help out by bringing around food every now and
> then, something tasty that can be portioned and frozen for easy use when
> needed. She's a bit of a foodie, so nothing too bland, but something kids
> under the age of five will consider eating.
> Any ideas? Favourite recipes?
> Thanx,
> Richard.

Richard,

I'm not big on freezer stuff but make things that she can eat with one
hand. With an infant, you've always got something in the other hand.

In addition to freezer foods, why don't you plan on dropping by every
week or so with some fresh fruit (kinds that the kids like) and take
the non-infant kids out to the park for a half hour. I know that I go
batty if I don't get some alone time and hers must be almost nil.

Susan B.

richard green > wrote:
> Hello there,

> A friend has just had her fourth baby, last week, and is buckling a bit
> under the strain. I want to help out by bringing around food every now and
> then, something tasty that can be portioned and frozen for easy use when
> needed. She's a bit of a foodie, so nothing too bland, but something kids
> under the age of five will consider eating.
> Any ideas? Favourite recipes?

That's very kind of you. There are a lot of dishes that freeze nicely.
A few that come to mind a sliced baked chicken, meatloaf, meatballs in
tomato sauce, sliced london broil, lasagna, sliced roasted turkey,
hamburgers. Lots of soups can be frozen too, but they take a heck of
a long time to thaw out.