Logan's Lunches: Eleven Months

I've decided to start a new monthly series about what Logan eats for lunch! He generally has the same thing as us for night time meals, but lunches usually aren't very well planned out. Here are a weeks worth of  his lunches at eleven months old.

Starting at the top left and going left to right:

1. Scrambled egg with mushroom, spinach, and bell pepper. Blueberries. Cheese. Avocado.

2. Peas and carrots. Tuna salad. Strawberries and blueberries.

3. Cheese. Turkey Veggie burger. Orange bites. Avocado.

4. Avocado. Peanut butter sandwich. Cantaloupe. Orange bites.

5. Steamed broccoli with cheese. Strawberries. Avocado toast.

6. Chicken salad sandwich. Sauteed mushrooms. Strawberries. Black eyed peas. 

Bulk Freezer Cooking

I did it!

I found the recipes, made the shopping list, bought the groceries, and made the meals!

I must say, I am proud of myself!

It took me four hours (including nursing and diaper changes), and it was SO worth it!

Want a popsicle? ;-)

 I assembled one meal at a time, and cleaned as I went.  I used the same big bowl to mix each meal. When I was done I basically had a bowl, cutting board and knife to wash! (except I didn't have to wash anything, because my husband cleaned the kitchen for me. :-)  )

My meals are stored in gallon freezer bags, and are all crock pot meals.

Each bag is labelled with basic cooking instructions.

What's for supper?

Cilantro Lime Chicken

Easy Jambalaya

Taco Soup

Sweet Potato Chili

Healthy Mama BBQ Chicken

Teriyaki Chicken

Sausage and Peppers

Calabacitas 

Eight recipes total, but three of them made two meals worth!

12 meals ready to go!

Neither one of us had heard of Calabacita before. It was the first dish we had, and it was delicious! We will definitely be making it again! We even had some leftover pinto beans, and put them on the stove to keep cooking and made our own healthy refried beans (minus the lard!).

As I was prepping these meals I kept saying to Matt, "and the best part is...!"

A few of the "best parts":

only one clean up

none of our produce will go bad

plenty of time for the flavors to combine and marinate

no meal planning for a while

the ease of just dropping one thing in the crock pot

You can bet that we will do this again! I can't wait to find out which meals we like the best. They are all new to us!

Good Morning to Me!

I love iced coffee! But I don't want to pay $4 for it, or really have to leave the house either.

There are so many recipes on Pinterest for iced coffee and frappuccinos. I wasn't 100% satisfied with any of the ones I came across.

I decided it was time to take matters into my own hands! This is what I came up with:

I brewed an extra strong pot of coffee, and added sugar and caramel while it was still hot.

After it cooled a bit I poured the sweetened coffee into two ice trays, and popped those bad boys in the freezer.

Come the next morning I had two trays full of frap starters. 

I put 7 coffee cubes and 3 ice cubes into the blender.

Then poured in a little milk and a splash of water, (these measurements are very scientific, don't mess around!) and blended away!

The end result was icy and delicious! 

However, after having almost zero caffeine while I was pregnant and now that I am breastfeeding, I have quite the caffeine buzz going on today. I think tomorrow I will only use 4 coffee cubes! So far it doesn't seem to be affecting Logan. *fingers crossed*

The best part? I have enough left in my freezer to make five more frappuccinos! 

Pineapple Shrimp Fried Rice

My parents are up seeing us this weekend. 

We are having SO much fun!

The next time they come to see us it will most likely mean a flying trip down the interstate and meeting at the hospital! Whoop! (has anyone taken a peek at the countdown to the right today!?)

When I saw this recipe on Pinterest I knew I just had to make it while they were here!

Hollowing out the pineapple wasn't very difficult at all, and the rest of the recipe is a breeze!

It was absolutely delish!

You can find the full recipe here.

Now back to enjoying our visit time!

Smooth(ie) Operator

We went on a grocery trip today, and I made sure to get plenty of fruits and veggies for these last few weeks of pregnancy!

I had making smoothies on my mind for many of the choices that I made. 

Tonight after putting away all of the groceries, I made our first smoothie from the trip.

It included, plain yogurt, a banana, strawberries, blueberries, kale and ice.

Yum-ee!

I am currently enjoying my glass of deliciousness. 

Poor lighting, bad picture. They are much more purple than this shows.

To be honest, they are pretty thick. They could stand a little water, or maybe more yogurt. I could really eat mine with a spoon.