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).


Saturday, February 16, 2013

February Meals - Chicken & Dumplings

Ingredients:

1lb of Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts (about 2-3)
2 cans (10.5oz) Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can (14oz) Chicken Broth
1 medium White Onion, diced
Refrigerator Biscuits (half a can)

Directions:

Place uncooked chicken in 1 gallon freezer bag.Top with cream of chicken soup, chicken broth and diced onions.

Thaw 24 hours in refrigerator. Cook on High for 4-6 hours or Low for 8 hours. Do not stir while cooking. Cut each uncooked biscuit into small pieces and stir into the chicken mixture. Continue to cook on High for 30 minutes. Remove chicken from slow-cooker and shred with a fork. Return to slow-cooker and stir everything together. Serve hot.

1 comment:

  1. February: Ravioli Lasagna

    The original recipe was for a 9x13 so I halfed everything to make it work for an square pan. This is an easy to put together meal and great for when you don't really want to do the cooking but want a home cooked meal.

    Ingredients:
    1 bag of frozen ravioli (you can do cheese or beef) *I used 3 bags to make for the group
    1 jar of marinara sauce (any flavor you like) *I used the value sized marinara for the group
    1 package of mozzarella cheese

    Now it is all about layering (raviolis, sauce, mozz.). It is similar to making lasagna but a lot less mess.

    First, spray the bottom of the pan with cooking spray
    Spread 1/2 cup of marinara sauce in the bottom
    Lay raviolis out flat to cover the bottom of the pan
    Spread 2/3 cup of marinara sauce across raviolis
    Spread 1/2 cup mozzarella over the top
    and repeat the steps one more time.

    Preheat oven to 400 degrees
    bake covered for 30 minutes
    uncover and bake 10-15 minutes or until bubbly and hot in the center.
    *If frozen cook time should be doubled
    You could possibly do three layers with this instead of two to provide more food for a larger group.

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