Ever since I had a child, I see the importance of taking food to a family with a new baby. Before I thought it was optional. I do not think that anymore - especially, oh so especially, if the new mom (or, new mom, again) had a C-section.
I am always on the lookout for recipes that are easy to take to people. I tend to not be the most graceful meal planner. More like, think up a hair brain plan that sounds good but is hard to execute or requires last minute trips to the store while my husband looks at me like, "really?" And since I work a full work week, this isn't always the easiest thing to pull off. Ideally, I'd like to make a meal for the family with the new baby AND for my family . . . saving time, being cost effective and consolidating ingredients.
My newest idea, that I'm quite proud of, is a dinner we have at our house fairly often. We consider it delicious, healthy and easy, but if you add a few special touches, it kicks it up a notch, making it a special dinner to bring to someone.
Grilled chicken salad with homemade honey mustard dressing & bread
We grill the chicken with a mix of Cavender's and Creole seasoning - it makes it a bit spicy and we like it that way. We do a simple skillet grill of the chicken, cutting it in strips as we go.
Buy a nice pre-packaged box of lettuce . . . also buy salad toppings:
mushrooms
purple onion
bell pepper (red, green, yellow)
cucumbers
carrots
avocado
cheese
. . . the list can go on. Chop all of these veggies up for your friend and bag them separately in ziplocks.
Okay, my sister introduced me to this bread and it is ah-mazing. Seriously. If you have time, by all means, make your own homemade bread. But if you are short on time or short on wits, buy this at Target and call it done. It is delicious, calls for 2 extra ingredients (either beer or sparkling water & butter), and takes 50 minutes. {And a bonus, the mix itself does not have a list of 2 billion ingredients. So, I believe it to be a relatively good thing to eat and make for people}.
Homemade Honey Mustard Dressing
I have my husband to thank for this. I believe he is okay if I share the secret. If you are mayonaise averse, I am sorry to break it to you: honey mustard dressing is made with a large proportion of mayo. Forget I told you, okay?
3 parts mayo
1 part mustard
1 part honey
a few shakes of paprika on top
Pack all of this up nicely for your friend - I got a large foil lasagna pan and packed it full. Bring bread and salad mix & they have the makings of a great, simple dinner.
No comments:
Post a Comment