MOMS Club Meal Exchange



We all spend too much of something (whether it be time, money, or calories) on providing delicious meals for our families. This became all too apparent to me when I went from being full time at the office to being full time as Mommy. It started with the 18 days of meals my freezer was stocked with by family and friends after our little girl arrived. These 18 days made me a believer as I saw our restaurant budget with an excess for the first time in years, experienced several relaxing dinners with the hubby, and even stopped dreading my daily weigh in quite so much.

I started out by stocking my freezer with some of our favorites - homemade pizza dough, gumbo, and meatball sliders. But I was immediately excited when introduced to the concept of a "Supper Club". After a year of this prior to our move to PA, I'm excited to continue this with new friends as part of the MOMS Club of Derry Township.

1) Each member will choose 1 meal to make and will email their recipe to the Chair Mom or post it to the blog prior to our Meetup. This will help other moms to find the directions for preheating, make the meal later if it's one they really enjoyed, and create a database of meals to choose from.

2) Each member will prepare their selected recipe for 6 families (with a generous 4 servings each). One of these you will keep for your own family and you will bring 4 others to exchange.

3) Please freeze for at least 24 hours. Write all cooking instructions on the meal packaging. If there are pantry staples (i.e. rice, noodles, buns) needed to complete the meal, please provide these as well.

4) The meals will be exchanged each month via a brief play date. Kids are welcome! If you'd like to participate and can't attend, feel free to still RSVP and arrange to bring your meals to the Chair Mom before the date of exchange. I can store your meals until you are able to come pick them up from me.

5) Provide feedback on the meals! You can do that via email to the Chair Mom or on the blog. Everyone has different preferences and we want to build a "bank" of recipes that all of our little families enjoy!

You can also post any recipe ideas you want to share with the group to the blog at anytime to help generate ideas.

Only 2 restrictions for our group:
- Use healthy substitutes when possible (i.e. fat free dairy products, half and half instead of whipping cream, lean ground beef).
- No major dietary preferences or restrictions for your family (i.e. No onions is a fair request; Gluten free is not).


Tuesday, January 8, 2013

November Meals - Country Chicken Pot Pie

This makes enough for two pot pies - divide into freezer bags and freeze for a quick meal later - sometimes I double this recipe so that I can have three pot pies for later.

Ingredients:
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
1/3 cup melted butter/margarine
1/2 cup flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup evaporated milk (found in the baking section0
4 cups cooked, chopped chicken
1 cup frozen green beans or green peas, thawed
1-1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
4 Pie crusts (folded Pillsbury or similar off brand type) - 2 crusts per pie

Steps:
Saute onions, celery and carrots in butter in a large skillet over medium heat until tender. Add flour and stir until smooth. Cook one minute, stirring constantly. Add chicken broth and evaporated milk. Cook, stirring constantly until thickened and bubbly. Stir in chicken and peas or green beans, salt and pepper.
Freezing Directions:
cool and divide filling in half. Place in one-gallon freezer bags. Seal, label and freeze. Keep frozen pie crusts on hand in their original packaging.
Serving Directions:
Thaw filling. Bring pie crusts to room temp. (If I am going to make this for dinner, I just put a bag of the filling and two crusts from the freezer into the refrigerator that morning and they are thawed by the time I am ready to make dinner.) Shape bottom pie crust into pie plate. Add filling. Cover with top crust. Pinch the edges of the two crusts together and crimp. Make a few slits on the top of the crust for the the steam to escape. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Then bake covered with foil for 30 more minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

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