Calling All Casseroles and Comfort Foods
The major function of a postpartum doula is to care for the family. Many times, this will include preparing meals for the family. Cooking is definitely a challenge in the best of times, and with a new baby, it's just plain overwhelming.
What I would love for you to do is to share with me some of your favorite, nutritious recipes that are not gourmet, but very nourishing. When I think of care-taking, I think of comfort foods. For instance, I made Jen chicken and dumplings while I was with her. Not glamorous, but definitely nourishing and filling. If you have any especially good recipes that fall into this category of comfort food, breakfast, lunch, or dinner....please share.
If you have an especially good cookbook resource that fills the bill, please let me know. And if any of you are vegetarian, hello Emily, please respond as my repertoire is low on this type of cooking and many people around here choose to eat a vegetarian diet.
If the comments section is too confining, just go to my profile and my email address is there. Thanks a bunch.
posted by pat @ 8:38 PM
6 Comments:
One that I make for new parents is a spinach pie that a friend brought me when I was a new mom. It's great because it's tasty warm or cold and feels "right" for any meal.
1 pie crust (for 1-crust pie)
6 eggs
1 lb spinach (thawed and squeezed dry if frozen; cooked if fresh)
8-12 oz. shredded mozzerella
2/3 c. ricotta cheese
1/2 Tbsp. dried basil
1/2 Tbsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. dried garlic
1/8 tsp salt
Mix all together, put in a pie crust and bake at 375 degrees for about an hour. I cover the crust edges with tin foil until the last 10-15 minutes of baking.
By the way, I have this in my head because the Center for the Childbearing Year, here in Ann Arbor, is in the process of assembling a cookbook for the childbearing year! Once we get it out, I can send you the link to purchase it if you're interested. It will probably take 6-8 months, though. We're just soliciting recipes now!
I am also a fan of homemade chicken pot pie. And it occurs to me that chicken and dumplings is really a sort of deconstructed chicken pot pie--throw in a bag of frozen mixed veggies and it's the same dish only with the pastry inside out.
Baked potato Soup, Cooking Light 2003 page 311 (can be veggie friendly)
Black Bean Burrito Bake, Cooking Light 2004 page 73 (veggie)
And this one (not veggie): http://food.cookinglight.com/cooking/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1141964 (if link doesn't work I will email it to you)
Also any kind of bread.
Ooh, and I'll be making this spinach pie recipe, it sounds awesome.
This is one of the only recipes I can really claim as my own, and it's pretty basic, but a staple in our household... one of those, oh geez I forgot to plan a meal sort of things. If you don't already have cooked rice, it takes an hour, but that's about the time it would take to go out and get something else anyway. My husband named it
Peanut Bitter Spam Switch
Rice:
1 1/2 c. brown basmati rice
2 1/2 c. boiling water
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp-2 Tbsp butter or oil, to taste
Mix everything together in a casserole dish with a lid (or a pyrex dish and cover with foil). Bake for 1 hr. at 375 F.
Meanwhile...
1 large bunch substantial greens (see note below)
1 onion sliced, or 1-3 garlic cloves, sliced, optional
2 Tbsp. peanut oil
1 c. unsalted peanuts
seasoning of your choice
Get out your wok. Heat the oil in it and add the peanuts. Stir constantly and AS SOON AS they start to brown, start removing them. They'll burn quickly, hence the dire capital letters. Set aside. Add the onion and garlic, if you're using it, and saute till starting to brown. Add the greens and toss to coat with oil. Put the lid on and let them cook till they start to wilt; then stir some more. Keep doing this till they have wilted to your satisfaction.
At this point you will want to add your choice of seasoning. Usually I just add soy sauce, which is great; I recently discovered Chinese chili-bean paste, which is great too. Anything salty and flavorful will do. (Well, maybe not ketchup.)
To assemble: Scoop some of your fragrant rice into a bowl, top with some greens, then top with some peanuts.
Note: Substantial greens include chard, collards, kale, turnip greens, mustard greens, bok choy, or any other kind of Chinese green like Chinese broccoli or choy sum. I've tried this once even with kohlrabi greens, but they're pretty chewy, even for me.
And hey, if you want to look at my cooking blog, it's
www.gradstudenthousewife.blogspot.com
Oh my goodness...this subject caused quite a stir on the DONA International Discussion Board awhile back. Some people thought that "comfort food" was the order of the day, and others thought we should take the opportunity to train/teach and make (more) "healthy" foods. I posted this there:
Fiesta Corn Soup (serves six)
(From Simply Classic, the Seattle Junior League Cookbook, which a client gave me as a gift!)
1 tablesoon butter or margarine
1 cup onion, chopped
1 medium clove garlic, minced
2 17-ounce cans creamed corn
1 cup chicken stock
2 cups whole milk
1 4-ounce can green chiles, diced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon grounf white pepper
1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce (client left this out and so will I)
2 cups chicken breast, cooked and cubed
1 1/2 cups Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
In a large heavy pot, melt butter and saute' onion over medium heat until translucent, about 6 minutes. Add garlic and cook 2 minutes longer. Do not allow onion and garlic to brown.
Puree creamed corn, corn kernals and chicken stock in blender or food processor. The mixture should not be completely smooth, but should still have some texture. Add corn mixture to pot, and simmer gently over medium heat for 10 minute.
Add chicken and shredded chees, stir until cheese melts. Ladle into soup bowls. Serve immediatley with your choice of garnishes.
Optional garnishes: black olives, sour cream, sals, avocado diced, tortilla chips (crumbled if you like.)
Individual soup bowls may be lined with a warm tortilla before ladling in the soup. Place color garnishes in bowls to pass at the table, if desired.
YUM!
One doula said she makes this and adds two cans of white beans for protein. Several said they make zucchini bread for families.
Hh
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