For the baby mama (& family)

I feel really blessed in life to have such great family and friends. After giving birth to both kids we had so many awesome meals brought over by our friends (both in San Luis Obispo where Logan was born, and here in Tucson where Rachel was born). I remember what a blessing it was to not have to worry about making dinner, getting groceries, or any of those details.

Here is my go-to meal when I take food to families who have recently had baby: Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad, French bread (I cut & butter & wrap in foil so they can just pop it in the oven), and of course dessert (I try to remember fruit too, but recently I forgot about that). What I like about the meal is that it's simple, fresh, and generally not something that someone else is making. Plus there aren't too many spices just in case a nursing mom is worried about that (I was with Logan, but wasn't with Rachel...both seemed equally gassy so not sure if it made a difference or not).

Since I love dessert, I'll start there and share my latest recipe attempt...and success! Here are Bakerella's Snickerdoodle Duo (taken from Martha Stewart recipes). The cupcake and cookie are both made from scratch, but I bought simple white frosting for the middle and put a little food coloring to make it pink. Not gonna lie, they taste amazing. I decided they would transfer better if I didn't have frosting on the top like Bakerella did...and I'm thinking about always doing a cookie on top when I want to send or take cupcakes places now. Seriously. Much easier, and oh so yummy! Here is the RECIPE.

I've also started making onsies or tiny shirts to put with the food. Here are pics of two different kinds I've made. I blurred out some of the details for privacy issues for the families, but you get the point.

Here is a picture of the salad all ready to be tossed together when they are ready to eat. I use a rotisserie chicken because I like the flavor, pasta (with a little of the caesar dressing so it doesn't get sticky, plus the flavor soaks in), parmesan cheese, croutons, Romain lettuce, and I give them a bottle of the dressing. This fit in a 9X13 disposable baking dish, which is also easier for them to cleanup (but you could do separate containers, or whatever).

Cupcake all wrapped up. I had to make them a day in advance and wanted to keep them fresh.

And here is one of the packages all put together (thanks to a leftover basket from Christmas and a little ribbon).

To everyone who gave us meals when we had our kids: THANK YOU! Especially when we had Rachel and our closest family was a 12-hour drive away...we felt loved and blessed and taken care of. I can only hope and pray others will feel just as blessed by our food.