Recipes To Make For New Mothers

Here are the results of my call for recipes. Thanks everybody who sent one in! If now you’re thinking, “Oh, shoot, I meant to send in my awesome recipe and I totally forgot,” don’t despair–go ahead and send it in, and I can always post “More Recipes To Make For New Mothers.”

Black Sheep says: “I’ve got a fun recipe here for white chili, or spicy chicken soup. If you don’t load it up with cheese it’s quite low-cal, and has lots of fiber and chicken soup goodness. This freezes/refrigerates super well. Just don’t freeze it with the cheese in! It gets all weird and…goopy if you do that.”

Black Sheep’s White Chili

1 tbsp. olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 (4 ounce) cans chopped mild green chilies (you can also use fresh, and get the hotness level you like)

2 tsp. ground cumin
1-1/2 tsp dried oregano, crumbled
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (I use a ton more than this, because I like things to burn)

3 cans (16 ounce) white beans (great northern) undrained
6 cups chicken stock or 3 cans canned chicken broth (put in more if you like soupier soup, this amount will make it fairly chunky)

4 cups chopped cooked chicken
Grated monterey jack or mozarella

Heat oil in large pot over medium high heat. Add onions and saute until translucent, about 10 minutes. Stir in garlic, then chilies, cumin, oregano, and cayenne pepper and saute 2 minutes. Add undrained beans and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and add chicken. Simmer as long as you want (within reason).

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with sprinkle of cheese. (Or just fill a bowl with cheese and add a little soup, as my sister does.) (Also good with tortilla chip garnish!)

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Aoife says: “I like tuna casserole. The one I like the most involves one box of Kraft macaroni dinner, one can cream of mushroom, frozen peas (and other frozen veggies – this is an easy recipe to add veggies for kids) one can (or two if you like) of tuna, butter, and some sort of crunchy like french fried onion or potato chips.”

Aoife’s Tuna Casserole

Cook elbows per box directions. In separate pan, heat soup with a HALF can of milk or water and the cheese powder. Drain pasta, set in casserole dish. Add tuna and frozen veggies to sauce mixture and stir to shred it all up. Pour sauce on tuna, mix it up. (Freeze at this point)

Bake at 350-400 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour (i play fast and loose with times and temps since its not actual baking, but heating). Add crispies about 15 minutes before its done. Then its ready to eat.

Another good concoction involves white rice, cream of chicken soup, canned mushrooms, shredded cheese, frozen peas (again), left over chicken (or fresh since its for a friend! )… combine and bake. Add just a half can of milk to soup mixture. You can add one egg to make it stick together better.

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Tessie, a new mom herself and a fellow enthusiast of bringing food to other new mothers, sent in seven recipes, for which I was very grateful because this recipe idea was making a pretty skimpy post until she came along. I was picturing all the other bloggers elbowing each other and whispering about how I couldn’t get more than TWO people to send in recipes.

Tessie’s Tater Tot Hotdish

1 ½ lbs. lean hamburger
1-2 stalks of celery
1 medium chopped onion
1 can each cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soup
½ can milk (soup can)
½ lb. Velveeta
1 32 oz package tator tots

Brown the hamburger with chopped celery and onion. Drain fat. Put this in the bottom of a casserole dish. In the same pan, mix the soup and milk until lumps are gone and pour over hamburger. Cover the top with slices of Velveeta. Cover this with a single layer of tator tots. Bake uncovered in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.

**This is my favorite Minnesota hotdish!

**Some crazies like to add green beans, corn, etc. I don’t but go for it, if you want

Tessie’s Swedish Meatballs

4 eggs
1 cup milk
8 slices white bread, torn
2 lbs. ground beef
¼ cup finely chopped onion
4 tsp. baking powder
1-2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. shortening
2 cans each cream of chicken and cream of mushroom
1 can evaporated milk
Parsley

In a large bowl, beat eggs and milk. Add bread; mix gently and let stand for 5 minutes. Add beef, onion, baking powder, salt, and pepper; mix well (mixture will be soft). Shape into 1 inch balls. In a large skillet, brown meatballs, a few at a time, in shortening. Place in an ungreased 3 quart baking dish. In a bowl, stir soups and milk until smooth; pour over meatballs. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve over noodles or rice.

*If you don’t want to brown the meatballs in oil, put them on a baking sheet and brown them in the oven for 20 minutes or so. If you don’t want to make the meatballs from scratch, you can use this same sauce with frozen store-bought meatballs (not Italian seasoned).

Tessie’s Easy Chili Hotdish

1 can (40 oz) chili with beans
1 can (4 oz) chopped green chilies
1 can (2 ¼ oz) sliced black olives, drained
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups Cool Ranch Doritoes, crushed (I use almost the whole bag)
Sour cream

Combine all ingredients except sour cream. Transfer to a greased baking dish. Bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until bubbly. Top with sour cream.

Tessie’s Easy Hotdish

1 box macaroni and cheese, prepared as usual
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 tsp. poultry seasoning
Salt and pepper
½ cup celery, chopped
¼ cup onion, chopped
2 cups cubed, cooked chicken
½ to 1 pint sour cream with chives

Mix the above ingredients together and cook until heated through.

*I like to use the Shells and Cheese or “Deluxe” kind of mac and cheese

Tessie’s Chicken and Rice

1 box Uncle Ben’s Long Grain and Wild Rice
Butter
3-4 chicken breasts
Flour
1 envelope Lipton Dry Lemon and Garlic or Savory Herb with Garlic soup mix

Cook the Uncle Ben’s rice until about half done. Put rice and remaining liquid in a baking dish. Flour the chicken breasts and brown them in plenty of butter. Put on top of the rice. Add Lipton Soup and about 2/3 cup water to the chicken breast drippings. Heat to a boil, mixing well. Pour soup over chicken breasts. Cover and bake at 325 degrees for at least 30 minutes.

*This freezes and reheats really well. As you know, I am a huge fan of cheese, so I add a layer of cheese slices to the top of mine (Velveeta is always best)

**Sometimes I also add a can of cream of chicken soup to the Onion soup and water if you want it creamier

Tessie’s Deviled Chip Hotdish

1 (7 oz) package small shell macaroni, cooked
16 oz. Sour cream
1 small can deviled ham
1 egg
1 bag potato chips, crushed
½ lb. Bacon, fried and crumbled
3 cups shredded sharp cheddar
1 medium onion, chopped

In a medium bowl, beat the egg. To that add the sour cream and deviled ham. Mix till smooth. Combine the sour cream mixture and the cooked macaroni. In a casserole, layer ½ of the macaroni mix, followed by ½ of the cheese, ½ of the chips, ½ of the bacon, and ½ of the onion. Repeat, starting with the noodles. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes or until bubbly.

**I know what you’re thinking, but I swear, this is one of the tastiest hotdishes…just try it!

Tessie’s Hot Tuna Sandwiches

1 can tuna
3 hard boiled eggs, chopped
¼ lb. Velveeta, cubed
½ cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp. onion, chopped
2 Tbsp. olives, chopped
1 Tbsp. sweet pickle relish
12 buns

Combine all ingredients (except buns). Spread filling in buns. Wrap in aluminum foil and bake 30 minutes at 250 degrees.

*You can freeze these before you bake them; then just pull one or two out when you need them and throw them in the oven.

3 thoughts on “Recipes To Make For New Mothers

  1. Shannon

    What an awesome idea!

    Here is the burning question since I never had any prep time before Darsie was born, how long do these keep in the fridge? I’d like to stock up the freezer before Elise comes so my husband can cook for me and have things to eat while I’m in the hospital.

    Reply
  2. Tessie the recipe overachiever

    Shannon-

    I always use 3 months as the rule for keeping these in the freezer. I think the “official” scare tactic is somewhat shorter, but I have never had a problem. It really makes a difference if you seal the dish well before you freeze also. If you don’t, freezer burn with ruin it long before 3 months. I like to use those Glad throw-away casserole dishes (black with clear lids), as they seal pretty tightly and you don’t use up one of your “real” dishes. After the dish is cooked/thawed, I keep for up to a week in the fridge (again, official scare tactic is 3-4 days I think).

    Reply
  3. aoife

    I would like to apologize for the poor form my recipe is in… i wrote and sent it at 1 a.m. in the morning one day when I couldn’t sleep…

    Reply

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