Fro, Yo.

I will begin with some photos of Reilly Belle and I. For my family. They need daily photos. It's like an illness, really. ;)

Rei and I and her preppy outfit.

Me kissing her perfect perfect little mouth! She sucked on it. She sometimes mistakes my face for boobies. It's fine, she just loves to eat.

Mama loves you, Stinky Face! [ That's a book. It's called "I love you stinky face." It's amazingly adorable. Go buy it. ]

And now for my post! :)
Before I delivered my baby face...and by that I mean, when my baby fell out of me...I read so much about babies. And before the baby. And after the baby comes. And what babies are like. And breastfeeding. I read pamphlets and websites and books and articles. I read and I read and I read. I didn't get scared or anxious...I think it made me prepared and knowledgeable and confident. But in my reading, I kept coming across a common thread.
"Get your take-out menus ready, because you will have no time or energy to cook for weeks!"

Huh. That poses a problem. Because I don't have "take-out menus". Because there is no where to take out from. Because I live in the middle of nowhere. Down a dirt road, as I may have mentioned.

Don't worry, baby! It keeps us healthy.

But there's pizza. We do have pizza.

But one can't live on pizza. I tried once, you can't.

Right away, I knew what I had to do. I had to freeze. Now, I'm a freezer by nature. I love freezing. I freeze basil leaves, garlic cloves, grated cheese, cookie dough, and left over olive oil (to throw in pots of sauce - try it!). I love freezing things. So I went to work!

I know, Rei, it's shocking. I was very ambitious.

I froze GIANT amounts, too. Way too much for just two people. I wanted all this work to pay off, and be there for 2 days, and maybe lunch as well. So here are some of the meals I made, in case you want to freeze as well!

1. My mama's sauce. I'm not going to enclose the recipe, because I think many people have there own family recipe. But freeze a nice batch of sauce - to be thrown with pasta, lasagna, chicken parm, eggplant parm...you name it! Millions of opportunities.

2. Pastor Ryan's Bolognese Sauce. I usually make the homemade pasta that he makes with it. So filling, so hearty, so delicious. It's defrosting right now. I'm so pumped for dinner!

3. My Pasta & Cauliflower. Cauliflower was on sale one day, so I bought a bunch, made the cauliflower, had half for dinner that night, and froze half. Boil some pasta, and once again, done!

[I promise I did more than pasta dishes. And I promise I would never defrost these all in a row]

4. Heavenly Chicken. I threw this together one night, and it's my hubby's favorite thing I make. He names the dish, in fact. I'm not that conceited. Here's how you make it:

- Clean up and trim some boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Cut into small two-bite sized pieces.
- Saute chicken with some EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil), salt, pepper, and garlic until cooked.
- Remove chicken from pan, set aside. Slice up one sweet vidalia onion, nice and thin. Saute with EVOO until cooked and slightly caramelized.
- Once onion is cooked, add chicken back to pan. Add 1 can of cream of mushroom soup. Cover and simmer until the rest of your meal is done! DELISH!

5. Sloppy Joes. The night before I went into labor, I defrosted a pound of ground beef with the intention of making sweet and sour meatballs. However, I woke up, and was in labor. I had to use that meat! So Vanessa and I made Sloppy Joes instead. My mama's recipe is simple and delish.

-Brown ground meat. Add ketchup. I don't know how much- enough until you can see the red, and it adds a nice flavor. Simmer and stir until combined. Throw in some Worcestershire sauce as well. Cover and simmer for 15 - 20 minutes.

I have maybe 5 more. I'll have a Part 2 coming soon! I went and bough some aluminum pans, labeled and dated them, and covered them in foil.

Defrosting. Yum. Easy. Yay.

P.S. Pregnant beauties - you may think you don't have the time to do this. Try and find it. You will thank yourself later!