cooking with a baby {ideas?}

When I was pregnant, I prepared some freezer meals to make life easier (and to be sure we weren't eating out every single meal) once Mia was born. I can't tell you how glad I was to have those meals prepared, because it took me a good month to figure out how to cook with a baby to take care of at the same time :) Those babies really are quite the adjustment! Anyway, I wanted to share some of the recipes I used, and I'd love to get some ideas from you because freezer meals are amazing to have on hand!!

Brown Bag Burritos (original recipe from Amy's blog)

• 2 lb chicken (I'll be honest, I just cooked/shredded a whole bag of chicken from Costco, so I just threw in what looked right instead of measuring the amount.
• 2 cans black beans
• 1 1/3 c. enchilada sauce (I used green enchilada sauce)
• 1/2 c. water
• 1/3 c. minced onion
• 1 Tbsp. chili powder
• 1 Tbsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 3 c. shredded cheese (I used Mexican blend)
• 20 flour tortillas (I used taco and enchilada size)

* Next time I make these (and there will definitely be a next time, these were the BEST to have on hand!) I'll be adding brown rice just to make them a little bit more filling.

Cook chicken. Add remaining ingredients (except tortillas). Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Heat 3-4 tortillas at a time. Spoon 1/4 c. chicken mixture down the side of each tortilla.

Roll up. Wrap each burrito in a paper towel, then wrap in foil. 

Refrigerate or freeze.

When ready to eat, remove foil and microwave for a minute on each side. If you don’t use a microwave, skip the paper towel and just wrap in foil. Then heat burritos in the oven with foil. For a sit down meal they are nice topped with lettuce, cheese, salsa, and sour cream. If you’re eating on the run, just grab and go!

Sweet and Tangy Meatballs

* I'm probably the last person in the world to find out about this recipe... but my sister in law shared the recipe and I'm so glad she did! They are so easy and so yummy!

• Approximately 36 meatballs
• 16oz Grape Jelly
• 20oz BBQ sauce

Cook in crock pot 2-4 hours on low. Serve over brown rice.

* I just bought a big bag of meatballs from Costco (I usually make my own, but that wasn't happening with the baby, ha ha) and put meatballs in gallon sized zip lock bags to freeze (I made up 2 bags). We had left over meatballs that we'd bake in the oven and serve over spaghetti. So I got multiple easy meals out of 1 bag from Costco!

* I highly recommend buying the biggest bag of chicken you can find and cooking/shredding the whole bag! I divided mine into zip lock bags, each holding 1-2 cups of chicken. It was so nice to grab a bag out of the freezer, throw together some simple ingredients and have dinner ready in no time! One simple recipe I always fall back on is:

Chicken Roll Ups

• 1c. shredded chicken
• 1/3pkg cream cheese
• 1 can croissants
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup

Mix chicken and cream cheese in bowl until smooth. Spoon onto croissant dough, roll into a ball. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. While the chicken roll ups bake, I bring the cream of mushroom soup mixed with 1/2 can of milk to a boil. Spoon over roll ups and enjoy!

* You can also dip the roll up in melted butter, then bread crumbs before baking to add a little crisp.

What are your favorite freezer meals? Or what meals do you always fall back on because they are super simple to throw together? Even though I kind of have things figured out with Mia, I'd still like to have new ideas for those days when nothing goes my way ;)