Our
longtime friends had a baby! We got to visit when he was just a week old. It was crazy holding him and thinking my baby was this small seven months ago. Where does the tininess go? Sigh. I really, REALLY miss it. Anyway, we're all hoping these two little boys will be the best of friends someday.
Since the mom was recovering from a Cesarean and they now have two kids under two (
Remember when we met big sister?) we brought food, lots of food. For families with a new baby, I think it's more helpful to bring a whole day's worth of food rather than just dinner, if you can possibly manage it. The family's routine is off, they're sleep deprived, and I think it's sometimes harder to figure out what to eat for breakfast or lunch than what to eat for dinner. After all, you can always order a pizza for dinner, but you can't get breakfast delivered.
This particular family is kind of hard to make food for because the mom doesn't eat red meat, pork, or shellfish and toddlers are notoriously picky too. Plus, I think you have to be thoughtful about foods that might upset the baby's tummy if the mom is nursing. Broccoli, cabbage, onions, and excessive garlic can cause gas pain in newborns. Personally, I like to go easy on the dairy too, since many babies are lactose sensitive.
I did a lot of brainstorming to come up with a menu for them.
Breakfast: Cranberry scones (
Joy of Cooking recipe, but I use craisins instead of currants)
Lunch: Veggie wraps (hummus, lettuce, cucumber, bell pepper, tomato, carrot)
Dinner:
BBQ pulled chicken sandwiches,
carrot slaw
Dessert/Snack:
Chocolate chocolate chip muffins
I wish I had done a spinach and mushroom quiche instead of the scones for added protein and nutrition and I also wish I had time to add another side dish for dinner (I would have made green beans sauteed with almonds) but I have a baby too and can't do everything. I have to keep telling myself, something is better than nothing.
If you're looking for meal ideas for your own meal deliveries, some other meal ideas I came up with but didn't use are:
Breakfast: pumpkin bread, banana bread, bagels and cream cheese, waffles, fritata, egg sandwiches
Lunch: chicken salad, tuna salad, chicken Cesar salad, quiche
Dinner: vegetarian taco bar with beans and Spanish rice, salmon pasta alfredo with garlic bread and veggies, pesto pasta, chili and cornbread, lasagne
Snacks: celery with peanut butter, veggies with onion dip, chips and salsa, oatmeal cookies, fruit salad
For more inspiration about delivering meals, you should check out the hospitality archives of the defunct blog
Like Merchant Ships. Meredith has delivering beautiful, nutritious, affordable meals down to a science. Start
here,
here,
here, or
here.
Linking to
Works for Me Wednesday.
I think having that much food is awesome and if I were on the recieving end I most definitely would NOT say "well, she didn't give me another side dish!"
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of salads (egg, tuna, chicken, etc.) because you can make a BIG batch easily and that can be used for lunch for several days as sandwiches or with crackers.
They were incredibly appreciative, it's just my own sabotaging inner monologue that makes me think it's not enough. And fortunately, they said they had enough food to last them two whole days, so that made me feel good.
DeleteThis is a lovely, thoughtful gift! I'm impressed with the time you put into it because YES you have a little, too.
ReplyDeleteI usually try to include a breakfast item when I take supper to new parents (often baked oatmeal). I almost always include a loaf of homemade bread, too, since that's so versatile and comforting.