Marks of Motherhood

Hey fellow foodies,

This was a HUGE project but oh so worth it! I now have 15 meals in my freezer/pantry for after the baby comes. I also have 4 I can use before she comes.

I started with the most time consuming recipes first.

Tips:

• I started by throwing all the chicken I needed into my instant pot. 7 frozen chicken breasts with 2 cups of pineapple juice and garlic salt. Manual high pressure 12min with quick release. Used a hand mixer for shredding the chicken once done.
• Shredded 3 chicken breasts for honey lime enchiladas. 3 for chicken Taquitos, and 1 cubed for Tuscan pasta.
• The honey lime chicken I marinated right away since it takes a minimum of 30min, 4hrs preferred.
• Browned 1lb ground turkey for southwest chili, 2lbs hamburger for Mexican pile up, 1lb of sausage for Lasgana, and1lb of hamburger (which I also sautéed 1 onion and 1/2 tbs of parsley, cilantro, oregano, and Italian seasoning).

• Then I boiled lasagna noodles and bow tie pasta.
• Finally I chopped 2 bell peppers and 2 onions for the vegan casserole, 1 green pepper and onion for the southwest chili and finally 4tbs of green onions.

• Everything else was dump, mix and go.

Here are the recipes:

(some images are not mine and linked from original recipe source)

Tuscan Pasta. It makes 2 batches in 9×9 pans. So one for now and one for later! It’s so good!

Lasagna:

This is a family favorite on my moms side.

You can use 2 8×8 pans or one 9×13.

Mouthwatering chicken Taquitos:

This is my all time favorite Taquito recipe! It’s also my son’s favorite and he will pop these in the microwave whenever I make extras. I usually double the recipe when I make these.

I wrap each one in seran(cling) wrap and put 10 in each gallon freezer bag.

Southwest Chili:

Once you have the turkey browned and green pepper/onion chopped the rest is dumped in a gallon freezer bag. I double my gallon freezer bags just to be cautious.

Mexican pile up:

All I do for this is brown and freeze the 2lbs of hamburger. Then in a basket in the pantry I add a can of tomato sauce, black beans, and taco seasoning to cook day of. I’ve also done corn and pinto beans.

Instant pot Spaghetti:

All I freeze is 1lb of hamburger (as well as a sautéed onion and 1/2 tbs of parsley, cilantro, oregano, and Italian seasoning). That way I can just add the pasta sauce and noodles day of and don’t have to cook the meat.

Honey Lime Enchiladas:

I made two batches of this but did 4 chicken breasts, 16 tortillas (8 each) and split the heavy cream/enchilada sauce mixture. I used two disposable roaster/baker pans barely smaller than 9×13. Feel free to follow the original recipe that was just the adjustment I made.

Vegetarian Casserole:

You’ll have to scroll down a bit for the recipe but it’s one I used for my 3rd baby.

-Now for the Dump and Go recipes-

Sweet and Tangy meatballs:

Just 3 ingredients!

12oz chili sauce

16oz jar of grape jelly

2lbs of meatballs ( I got mine from Costco).

Again I doubled up the gallon freezer bags to be safe.

Swedish Meatballs:

I put some instant mashed potatoes in a basket in the pantry for day of. Also put a bag of frozen green beans next to it in the freezer to roast day of as well.

Creamy Parmesan Chicken:

I took her suggestion and did chicken instead of pasta. But I did put a box of Penne in the pantry to serve it with day of.

My one Pantry Meal:

8 can taco soup

I omit the cream of chicken so it’s technically 7 cans for us.

The last 3 meals are premade meals from Costco.

I got 3 of our family favorites from Costco. Put a jar of prego sauce in the pantry for day of to go on Ravioli. Rhodes rolls for the soup are also in the freezer and we always have rice on hand.

I’m hoping to eventually update this post with a pdf recipe and grocery list. But for now hopefully this gives you some ideas!

I do have a previous freezer meal post with 10 recipes and a printable. The Family Freezer also has 10 Costco freezer meals which is where I got the Parmesan chicken and Swedish meatballs from.

Good luck and happy meal prepping!