Freezer meals for after baby's arrival!

Yay for babies! I love babies! But they keep us busy that's for sure. Especially after baby number two arrives (or more), who has time to make gourmet meals? So, here are some simple, delicious recipes to cook ahead of time before that little peanut rocks your world!

Meatloaf

1 lb. ground pork

1 lb. ground beef

1 egg

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1 small onion (chopped)

1/4 cup ketchup

Salt and pepper

Mix all of the above ingredients together with your hands. Yeah that's right, get them in that cool, slimy mixture and blend all of the ingredients together. Make sure you take your wedding ring off! Place in a loaf pan and top with more ketchup or Barbecue Sauce.

Bake at 325 for about 60 minutes.

You can either cook this ahead of time, let it cool, and then freeze it. Or shape it into a meatloaf shape, freeze it, and cook as usual.

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Sweet and Sour Meatballs

1 egg

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 lb. ground beef

salt and pepper

1 1/4 cups water

2 Tbs. cornstarch

1/2 cup Teriyaki sauce

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup ketchup

1 Tbsp. minced garlic

1/4 crushed pineapple

1/2 brown sugar

2 Tbsp. olive oil

In a large bowl combine eggs, bread crumbs, ground beef, and salt and pepper. Form into meatballs.

Whisk together water and cornstarch. Add the Teriyaki sauce, vinegar, ketchup, garlic, pineapple, and brown sugar. Heat on stove top over medium-high heat.

Heat olive oil in pan, add meatballs. Brown on all sides. Then add to sauce, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 30 minutes. Serve with rice or egg noodles.

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Blueberry muffins

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups frozen blueberries, unthawed
• TOPPING:
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 
  

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. I like to sift these ingredients, but for time purposes it's not necessary.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, milk and vanilla.

Stir in dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in frozen blueberries. You may not need to use all of the blueberries. Add as much as you want. Do not overmix.

Fill a muffin tin with the batter. Combine sugar and nutmeg; sprinkle over muffins.

Bake at 375 for about 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes

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Cranberry-Orange Loaf

2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 Tbs. grated orange zest

1 1/2 cups dried cranberries

1/2 cup pecans

1/4 butter

1 cup white sugar

1 egg

3/4 cup orange juice

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease and flour a loaf pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir in orange zest, cranberries nand pecans. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar, and egg. Stir in orange juice. Beat in flour mixture until just moistened. Pour into pan.

Bake for 1 hour, or until the bread springs back when touched.

Let stand for 10 minutes in the pan, and turn onto a wire rack.

Optional: I mix up an orange juice and powdered sugar glaze on the stove top and drizzle it over the loaf before removing it from the pan.