Every Mom needs to know she's needed

Well, I once again expected everyone to be bummed out by my negativity, and then everyone instead told me I'm purty. Gee whiz.

It's one of the great discoveries of my life. In true friendship, there is room for sharing, even with the hard things. I'm always so concerned about not being a burden. But there is definitely a difference between throwing bricks at someone and leaning your head on your friend's shoulder.

My friend Sara called today, so that we can work out a way to get my computer to her husband, so that he can fix it for me. And she called our friend Christy, who called me and conversed with me about high interest accounts- saying pretty much the same things that Heather said in her comment. Did you know that there are blogs that show you which accounts have the highest interest? I didn't. I think that maybe there are blogs for everything. And then there are blogs like mine, the ones that don't seem to know what category they fit into. Parenting? Personal? Art? Humor? Inspirational? Melodramatic? But anyways, it was sweet for my friends to leap to my rescue. It made me feel very much not as alone. (How's that for a sentence?)

*
One thing that was hanging over me since we got home is the fact that we had no FOOD in the house. And that we've been eating nothing but eggs because we have no food in the house. I babysat for a friend yesterday and when she came over I asked if it was okay if her daughter had eggs for lunch.

"Well... she's actually already had eggs today, but that's fine, I guess," she said, kindly.

And I was like, "IT'LL HAVE TO BE OKAY, BECAUSE THAT'S THE ONLY CHOICE." But I didn't actually say that. But it was true.

So, today I went shopping, blissfully alone except for the little butterfly in my womb, and first of all I had to plan my meals.

Some of you know that ever since I was eighteen I have lived in community, and in most of our communities there has been meal sharing. In the last one, at the Land, Renee practically begged to be the cook, the whole cook, and only the cook, so help her God, so we let her. And I scrambled my brain on taxes. But anyways, SEVEN MEALS A WEEK! I'm so new at this. I love to cook, let me just say. LOVE IT.

But what do y'all cook? I mean, good gracious, how do you feed yourselves? I don't know how people do it, night after night. Maybe it's partly because I'm using up so much energy right now, incubating this baby, that about half an hour after I eat, I'm STARVING, but it just seems like overkill, eating everyday.

So, today, wracking my brain, I called my mom to ask her for her lasagna recipe. She gave it to me over the phone, in a kind of sketchy memorized fashion, since she's been cooking for decades.

Then, later, at the store, I called her again. "You said ground beef. But how many pounds of ground beef?" (What did I think she was going to say? Four?) She told me one, and then we hung up. Because it costs me about a million dollars an hour to call Canada on my cell phone.

Then, later, when they found my phone in the freezer, next to the frozen juices, the grocery store people called the last number that I had called, which happened to be my Mom and Dad. (It says, Mom and Dad. We're not on a first name basis.) And they explained to my Mom that they had located my phone in the freezer and that when I came looking for it to please let me know that it was at the grocery store. But not in the freezer anymore.

What a day of phone calls for my Mom. There's nothing to let you know that you're still connected to your daughter like ground beef and lost cell phone notifications.

I'm sure she laughed.

And really- what do you eat? I'm checking out food blogs and stuff, but I'm curious, what do you eat a lot of, and how do you plan your weekly meals?

Comments

[Rebeca]

This post inspires me! Seriously, I have a list of meals that I make. I made the list about a year ago, and ever since have been playing, on and off, with trying to actually plan out menus, for the week, maybe even for the month. Eeek, I do prefer to be spontaneous, and walk daily to the market along a dusty path, pick out my few vegetables, and maybe take a rickshaw home if my bags are too heavy. But that just doesn't fit with my life at present. Somehow, planning and preparing and being organized don't come too naturally but I'm working on it. All that to say, I'm feeling inspired to actually make my menu plan, and when I do, I'll send it to you. Oh, and I use iCal to do my menus, when I do them that is.

[Sam]

Oh gosh. You make me laugh - not AT you, of course, but just WITH you. Oh, the fact that the grocery store people nicely called your Mom and Dad - I love that.

Okay, so I do not have the whole 7 meals a week thing down, and generally speaking, my husband cooks more than I do (he likes it! it makes him happy! who am I to stand in the way of his happiness?) I don't know if this will work in your house where you have a few more people than I do, but we are all about the leftovers. Cook one big thing, and then eat leftovers the next night. If you don't like leftovers, you have to fend for yourself. :)

[bubandpie]

If I could figure out the answer to this one, I would save so much money. At least once a week I just give up and order pizza or Swiss Chalet. Sigh. I rely heavily on the Indian sauces you can buy at the store (Korma, Butter Chicken, etc.). You just throw the rice in the rice cooker, saute some chicken pieces, and throw the sauce on top. Yay us.

[chris]

Meal planning KILLS me. I couldn't agree more that eating everyday seems like overkill.

I like to make things that I can use more than once. So, for example I make a big, and I mean BIG, batch of rice to go along with dinner of maybe chicken breast and a veggie.

Then I take some of the leftovers and make it into a rice pudding with coconut milk and raisins and serve it for breakfast (or eat it all myself ;-)), then I'll take the last remainder of the rice and add diced tomatoes, black beans, spices and serve it for lunch with some Tostitos or something.

For dinner I'll take the leftover chicken breast dice it up and serve it on top of a big salad, with some nice crusty bread for the kids.

[TwoSquareMeals]

Two words--slow cooker (or crock pot where I come from). Believe it or not, you can actually cook more than just a hunk of meat in those things. I don't think it's any easier than cooking on the spot, but it does allow me to cook earlier in the day when the kids are happy and I have more energy. You can do a big pot of beans in there to use in recipes all week. I have a chicken curry recipe I love, and I also do the standard soups, stews, and meat.

Here's my easiest recipe for the crock. Take one cheap pork roast (Boston butt or the like). Put it in the crock with 1/4 c. vinegar for every 3/4 c. water to cover the roast. (You can also just dump in a bottle of apple juice to cover it.) Cook on high 4-5 hours and on low 4-5 hours. Remove bones and shred with two forks. This makes great barbeque, shredded pork for tacos, meat to add to soups, beans, pizza...you name it.

I'll be glad to send you other recipes. I also roast one chicken a week that I get from a local farmer. We eat it the first night with roasted veggies. I pick the rest of the meat off and boil the carcass for an hour or so. Whatever meat is left on the bone falls off in the broth. Then I have broth for soup and meat for a chicken broccoli casserole, chicken and black bean tacos, chicken stir fry, etc.

We often make homemade pizza with leftover veggies and meat as toppings. And I am a huge fan of my rice cooker. I cook extra rice and use it for fried rice (a great way to use up little bits of meat, veggies, and those eggs).

Wow! That was a long comment. I have just been working on this cooking thing a lot lately. Been away from the blogosphere for a while, so congratulations on the new little one!

[Lulu]

Rae,

It's just five cats and me now so I don't do planning much but I love to cook. One of my favs is to get some sweet or spicy Italian sausage. Great if you can get it not stuffed in links,if you can't you just unskin the links. Usually use about a pound. Fry it up with a large chopped onion, prefer sweet as possible. Throw in some garlic too, the more the merrier. Pepper as you like. (don't add any oil) Get it as crumbly as possible until nice and browned meat.

When meat is well done add one can of diced stewed tomatoes with Italian spices and a small can of tomato paste with or without Italian spices. Some wine or frozen orange juice (just scoop out frozen concentrate) to taste, ¼ cup or so. (Always have OJ but not always wine. OJ is much sweeter than the wine so not too much.) You can even put the OJ in while you fry up the meat and onions. About 1/2 vegetable bullion cube (knorr), crumble it as you add.

Let simmer as much time as you can. I like it when the color turns darker.

Cook up noodles. I usually use the curly kind. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, top with sauce then more cheese. :) In my opinion if you don’t have the cheese don’t make this one. Great left over. I'll also add broccoli or other veggie just before I serve it up.

Ditto Bubandpie, I love those little packages and jars. Uncle Ben has some great whole grain rice that I really like with that stuff.

I’ll try your old email address to send you some other recipes. I’m happy you had your days of wonder before reality resurfaced. :)

[Charlotte]

Love the cell phone story. It's so something I would do, pregnant or otherwise.

As for cooking daily for a family, let me tell you that ground beef is your friend: it can be lasagna, bolognaise for pasta and the basis of chilli con carne. I also cook chicken a lot for my family: chicken stir-fries, chicken wings, chicken breasts. And I have found the rice can be easily reheated so I aways cook LOTS. Baked potatoes are a good thing too.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[Confused Foreigner]

Hi there,
Yeah, the cooking thing, I do a lot of the thinking I'm well planned and then I get two days of good meals done and eaten and then think.... what? More meals? Are we still eating more meals? I just planned, bought and made meals! It never ends! ha ha . ..
I'm a work in progress in the area of making delicious healthy meals without putting way excess time into it.
I'm a big fan of making a big pot of something then stretching it out for a while.
I often go on allrecipes.com - you can find anything on there.
If I want something fast, I also like making easy stuff like side kicks or soup from a can and then throw in veggies and/or meat...
(Campbell's Cheese and broccoli soup is fantastic with fresh broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, button mushooms and imitation crab thrown in.)

Ok, that's my two cents. I appreciated the question because I think about this a lot too!

[blackbird]

We cook every night. Truly. No take out, no restaurants.

We do things like -
loin of pork
pasta with olive oil and fresh vegetables
mac and cheese and burgers
fish and rice
roasted chicken and potatoes
meatloaf
pasta with seafood
soup

Organic meat and dairy...

it's a full time job.

[josy]

i'm making a meal plan for the whole month, soon. it will be vegetarian and mostly gluten free, but you can plagarize at will. oh, and all the meals will be cheaper than dirt to prepare. i'll comment again when i'm done it.

[shauna]

i do get a bit annoyed, with all the eating. but i try to make the best of it. we really like sitting down all together at the table. it is special.
as for what is on the table
breakfast foods....all day long.
soup and bread
noodles and sauce
big salads with hard boiled eggs and cheese
fish
sushi
I like to make alot and then freeze it (like the soups)
then it makes for easy options later.
my biggest issue is cleaning up after so much eating all the time. i need a kitchen cleaning robot.
Winter does do dishes, actually. i am thankful.

[#1mama]

yes every mom lovrs to be needed - and the only thing that i did do was worry about your cell phone!

[Sabbath]

Two words - Freezer Meals. I wouldn't make it through the week without them. The best part is, you can make them as you go. Take a decent recipe and double it and freeze it. Then when you have a no-energy-because-children-and-fetus-has-sucked-my-will-to-live days you can just pull a healthy and nutritious option out of the freezer. Please forgive me, I don't know if you are vegetarian or not. I am basically a pesco-vegetarian which is a really snotty way of saying I eat fish and veggies. My FAVORITE recipe of all times is this one -

Sweet Potato Burritos-Vegetarian

(This recipe doubles and freezes nicely. It sounds kind of complex but is absolutely worth it. Make it on a Sat. and then just pull it out for dinner some other night.)

1/2 cup red lentils-sorted, rinsed well and drained
1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, 2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper ---- (increase these spices according to preference. This is pretty mild)
3/4 cup ground walnuts (or almonds)
3/4 cup canned crushed tomatoes (this is the same as half a can, I use a whole can. I like it with more tomatoes better)
1/2 cup grated Monterrey Jack cheese or other substitute
6- 8 inch tortillas
Toppings: lettuce, onion, tomato, fresh cilantro, sour cream, salsa, etc....
Directions:

1.) Place lentils and 1 1/3 cup water in medium saucepan-bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered until tender about 20-30 minutes. Drain and set aside.

2.) Boil sweet potato in small amount of water until tender, drain and mash, set aside.

3.) Heat oil in very large skillet-saute onion, garlic, and all spices for about 5 minutes.

4.) Add all other ingredients-lentils, sweet potatoes, nuts, cheese, tomatoes, and mix well and heat through.

5.) Place filling in tortillas folded enchilada style, place in 9x13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

6.) Put desired toppings on and enjoy.

Followed by this one (which will help you get some fish into your diet for baby)(oh and these next two aren't really freezer friendly):

Lime and Honey Glazed Salmon with Warm Black Bean and Corn Salad

1 med onion
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 to 1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp cumin
salt and ground pepper
juice of 2 limes
3 tblsp honey
1 tsp chili powder
4 6 ounce salmon fillets (got mine at trader joe's)
1 red bell pepper, cored seeded and chopped
1 10 ounce box of corn kernels, defrosted
1/2 cup chicken stock (we use organic gluten free low sodium from trader joe's)
1 15 ounce can of beans, rinsed and drained
2 handfuls of cilantro (I used a lot more than this, personal preference)
6 cups baby spinach (the bags in the store are usually 6 cups)

preheat medium skillets (2 of them I actually used a stock pot for the warm bean and corn salad, it makes a lot, and you wilt the spinach in there too so it needs a lot of room)

add onions, garlic, red pepper flakes, cumin, salt and pepper to stock pot. cook stirring occasionaly for 3 min.

while onions are cooking, in a shallow dish combine juice of 1 lime, honey chili powder salt and pepper. add salmon fillets and coat thoroughly. add salmon to hot skillet and cook until just cooked through 3 minutes per side. I actually dumped the contents of the shallow dish in too, it doesn't make a ton, and it cooks in the marinade. super tasty.

to the cooked onions, add the bell peppers and corn kernels and cook for 1 minute. add the chicken stock and cook for 2 minutes. add the black beans and cook till beans are warm through another 2 min or so. remove skillet from heat and immediately add the spinach, juice from second lime, cilantro. toss it to wilt the spinach. this will take a bit of work, and time. serve the salmon on top of the warm bean salad. voila!

And this one cooks up REALLY fast if you just need to throw something together:

Silken Macaroni and Cheese

1 16 oz package of elbow macaroni
1 package of silken tofu
2 cups of firmly packed cheese of your choice
2 tblsps of unsalted butter
salt and pepper to taste

1) Cook the elbow macaroni to al dente, drain and set aside.
2) While pasta is cooking, puree the silken tofu in blender or food processor until smooth.
3) Add pureed tofu, butter and cheese in a small sauce pot. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. After you reach simmer, lower temp and stir constantly until cheese is melted.
4) Pour over macaroni noodles and combine.
5) Salt and pepper to taste.

I have a TON more. The best cookbook ever is the Vegetarian Family Cookbook by Nava Atlas. You can also google 30 day gourmet for freezer recipes. Some of them are quite.....not good for you, but it will give you some ideas, and starting point.

Hope that helps!

[Jennifer]

I cook every night too. Take-out is a treat for my kids! We come from Louisiana roots that later moved to CO, so if you're in the mood for anything southern (by that I mean farm-food, deep-fried, spicy, yummy and usually involving a lot of butter or cream and awesome gravy too)- I've got plenty of recipes. I was raised to value fresh fruit & veggies too, (several varieties at each meal), so the southern thing isn't all bad. I was taught great skills like cutting up a whole chicken which saves a lot of money and gives you wonderful pieces you just won't find in the big pre-cut bags. Then there's the leftover carcass which makes awesome stock. I also have some great New Mexican recipes which keep things rather spicy around here as well.

Tonight is breakfast which you've seem to had plenty of lately, but it's cream biscuits and sausage gravy for us with scrambled eggs and fresh fruit on the side. Not healthy, but oh so yummy! Tomorrow will be dinner salads for us all to make up for tonight... and maybe the next night too. :-)

[musingma]

Greetings journeymama...
I've been enjoying your blog for about a month now and enjoy the break it gives me at work. Thanks for taking the time to write.

I've recently begun planning meals... first question is, are you vegetarian? I was for a while, but have recently incorporated free-range, organic chicken into our diets.

We eat a lot of beans. I like to soak them overnight and cook them in the morning. Red beans, pinto beans, garbanzo beans, black beans... You can do a lot with them afterward.

I like to cook an entire chicken for about 12 hours. This creates a rich chicken stock that can serve as the basis for many soups. The chicken lasts us several days for several different meals.

I found the book "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon very, very helpful and insightful. You might like it too.

[Elena]

I knew I should have brought that chicken pie!

[Melissa D/ Menaka]

wow, a blog about food and everyone chimes in!
I have to say your story was so funny, and so totally raw... food is my favorite subject next to god and kiddies...

speaking of raw, have you tried raw food? takes less time, most recipies are easily made with a food processor or blender, or teeth, and are nutirtious and delicious.

Well, as far meal plannin and eating goes at my house, i'm in charge, my husband can't cook very well and sometimes i'll even stop him if he tries because it can turn out disasterous...(he grows the food i cook it)

my family are strict vegetarians, none of us have ever had eggs, or any meat in the house, and i have to say i'm packing on a few too many pounds with all this cheese and yogourt around.

Anyways We eat a crap load of salad, sprouted bread, any kind of nuts soaked are super filling and very nourishing, pistachios are my family's favorite, and can be a meal in themselves.

Grains:
rice rocks, brown, wild, basmati, short long,
quinoa is a must for kids, they love it and it's high in protien, millet is rather bland but with a little flax oil anthing can happen.

veggies/Legumes/protein:
Garbanzo's, chickpeas, chapatis, samosa's soup, kitri, red lentil dahl, coconut split pea sesame soup, any kind of subji--potato, yam, fill in the missing veggie and add curry...., indian food is mostly what i cook, having never gone to india and lived comunally with indian chefs and well being a practicing hindu, it kinda fits the bill.

I think my favorite food to look at is borscht, we call it christmas soup because it's seasonally colored.(sometimes the best meals are just nice to look at)
I encourage you to check out recipe exchanges, and my friend of four kids raves about lunchbox websites, but i can't be bothered to look up recipes so much because well i guess i'm lazy--

i say load on the veggies, asparagus, cauli, broccoli, beets, all that good stuff, raw, steamed, or souped they just rock the place out.

Muffins rock too, and kids luv to put in things like flax seeds and craisins..., and i must say the biggest kid pleaser in my house is brown rice noodles with nutritional yeast and olive oil, rocks the place out everytime.

if you ever want a recipe for egplant parmesean lasagna i have a very good one... in my mind.
When in doubt CALL A POTLUCK!!!
tribe.net would be very resourcefull for you on the cooking front--- we have some very active food tribes and one of my favorites is healthy food for lazy people....others include recipe exchanges and momma related cooking sites, to share blogs and posts of similar predicaments :
Happy eating, and I allways try to remember when food is offered with love and devotion nothing else seems to matter :)
us hairy krishna's are also know as the 'kitchen religion' we love making food for people.

[Melissa D/ Menaka]

okay i don't want to be a blog hog but i forgot to mention sushi,
pretty much any vegtable can be made with sushi, (i've tried it all) we enjoy making wraps with the nori,
any kind of filling, kale, sourcrout, pickles, avocado, sprouts, carrot cucumber, its all good, and you only need some nori and rice vinigar is an added bonus to make the rice stick better, but not totally necisary. Kids love sushi!!!!!

[Marian]

Your poor, frozen cell phone! That made me laugh.

Someone shared this poem with me years back, and your post reminded me of it. Maybe you'll like it, too.It's called, "Friendship," by Dina Mulock Craik.

Oh the comfort
The inexpressible comfort of feeling
safe with a person
Having neither to weigh thoughts,
nor measure words -- but pouring them
all right out
Just as they are--
Chaff and grain together--
Certain that a faithful hand will take
and sift them--
Keep what is worth keeping--
And with a breath of kindness
Blow the rest away.

And meals? Yeah. Dinner has this annoying way of popping up on the to-do list Every Single Day. And with four kids(one of whom is casein-free and has other allergies)and one husband, my efforts are rarely rewarded with 100% approval, such picky individuals are they.

There are so many quick, easy, and kid-friendly things to do with a pound of ground beef or turkey. I get big packages when on sale, cut them into 1 - 1.5 pound sections and freeze for convenience. Slow cookers? Yes, they're a great invention, particularly when your late afternoon's swamped. Some slow cooker recipes truly are dump and leave it! I also like being able to morph one meal into another. (i.e. Roast/slowcook a big chicken one day, then cut up leftover pieces for stir-fry the next, or, especially if there's less meat left, boil the carcass for broth and use the leftover chicken bits for a chicken noodle soup. Or make mashed potatoes one day, then have potato pancakes as part of a breakfast-y meal the next.) It feels like the meal is half prepared and you're sure not to waste leftovers.
I also just do pumpkin pancakes with half whole wheat flour for dinner sometimes-- there's a vegetable and some grain in there, so I don't have to feel too guilty about all the syrup, right??

[Taegen Jones-Burritt]

Well, dearie, tomorrow I am just making pancakes for breakfast with banannas on the side, and then kraft dinner with tuna and veggies mixed in it for lunch. Then a snack of veggies and dip. Kids like the plain stuff, but I like to dress up it up a bit, and it is healthy. Dinner is up in the air for now because we need to go shopping. We might just go out for dinner instead as a treat:o) The kids love Boston Pizza, although it can get a little crazy keeping a two year old sitting still while we wait for the food!

I like those "What's Cooking? Kraft Kitchens" catalogues that I get every couple of months and on-line, they have some awesome meal ideas, I should send you their mailing address if you are interested. They sometimes have these great once-a-week shopping lists and recipes, if you like to plan your eating weekly, and then you don't have to worry too much! We pregnant types need all the help we can get soemtimes:o) Hope that was helpful!

[carrien]

Well, I already write about making dinner a lot.

foodthatnourishes.blogspot.com

But here's something that might help at first.

Check out www.savingdinner.com and sign up for their free sample menu mailer. They have lots of menu choices and send you the menu, recipes, and shopping lists all together. Their all healthy and she has great little tips on making soup into 5 different meals and that kind of thing.

I used to know where a few other free menu services are but I don't remember now.

[TwoSquareMeals]

I forgot to mention allrecipes.com. I couldn't live without it. When I get to 5pm with no dinner plan, I look in the fridge and pantry, type in the ingredients that I have that might be good together (in the advanced ingredient search), and see what fun things I can pull up. We have found a lot of things that we love this way, like morroccan salmon cakes, which wouldn't work with the fish allergy.

[Sarah]

Oh my gosh. Great post. I'm always wondering how I'm going to come up with stuff for my peeps to eat for the next 20 years or so that I'm responsible for feeding them.

I second the sushi and the cans of Indian stuff that you can add anythign to.

I also find that most of my meals start with one can of chicken broth mixed with one can of coconut milk (not sure how that works with allergy...is coconut really a nut?) and a bag of frozen vegetables and I work from there with spices or meat or whatever. The broth/coconut/frozen veggie combo costs $2.49, so no matter what I add after that, it's a pretty cheapie meal.

[InecyGoveDymnneer]

wow :)
its very point of view.
Nice post.
realy gj

thx :-)