Posted on 7 Comments

Fruits of my labor

Big Grin

After yesterday’s issues, it was nice to have a day of productivity. I got a big pile of orders packed up last night, charged cards, printed postage, and got them out the door this morning. I did a little shopping for things like a new stapler, packing tape, printer ink, and snaps (so I could make one more bib for my friend). And I went to see the end-of-week presentation that the boys were doing at their third (and thankfully final) VBS week in a row. I’m really ready not to be schlepping them back and forth to one church or another every morning so we can have some spontaneous summer activities (or laziness, depending on what we need at the time!).

I belong to my local MOMS Club, and one of the things we do is take turns bringing meals to members who need them. Usually we do this in response to a new baby, but there are other reasons a family might appreciate not having to think about what’s for supper. Anyway, one of my friends has a new baby girl and tonight is my turn to bring dinner. In the past, I’ve whipped up a batch of crock pot meatballs and bought some rice at the local Chinese restaurant, but having been the recipient of some MOMS Club meals that completely put me to shame earlier this year, I decided I really could stand to put in a little more effort icon_wink-flickr-2-2 So I spent this afternoon in the kitchen. I made a skillet dish a lot like this one, except I also added chicken to it. I also made a Summer Fruit Crisp. I got the recipe from abbytrysagain. The only real difference between mine and hers is that she used blackberries from her alley, and I used wineberries from my yard. I also think I used more fruit in mine. I made a little extra (about half the recipe extra) and baked it in a small loaf pan for us to keep, and the main recipe is going to my friend. So, that makes a potato/onion/pepper/chicken main dish, a fruity dessert, and three bibs. That beats a bucket o’meatballs, I think…

As soon as I finish here, I have to go deliver my meal and then do a quick bit of food shopping. As it turns out, I didn’t make enough of the potato chicken stuff to keep any for ourselves and now we have nothing to eat icon_rolleyes-flickr-1 There are many things I’d rather be doing at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon, but we really do need to restock some things around here. Friday night shopping beats Saturday morning shopping in my book, so I think I’d better suck it up and get going. Busy day!

Happy Friday everybody! I’m going to do some claying this weekend – wheee!

Lisa

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Posted on 7 Comments

7 thoughts on “Fruits of my labor

  1. Wow – good work!

  2. Yeah, see, occasionally I actually get my butt off of the computer and *do* something 😉 It’s rare, but it happens.

  3. I’ve been the Support Coordinator in my local MOMS Club since–whoa–since 2002. That’s a lot of meals for new babies! I mostly don’t cook, I just get the schedule of cooks together; but sometimes I fill a gap in the schedule. My standard meal is a Pakistani sauteed salmon-and-veggies thing, fruit salad, and a baguette. If they’re veggie, I’ll substitute an African peanut stew instead of the salmon. But I’ve also done a basket of goodies from the Farmers Market, bread and cheese and fruit and pastries and corn and tomatoes and whatnot, especially in the middle of summer when it’s too hot to cook. (And if I have a backlog of finished crocheted baby blankets in my closet, I’ll bring one of those too.)

  4. Oh, that sounds nice – the basket of goodies thing. Last March, the MOMS Club wanted to do something for us and we ended up with a week’s worth of meals – something I didn’t initially think we needed, but was grateful for once they started coming. I realized from that experience, though, that most people really put a lot into what they brought over. Main course, salad, bread, dessert… way more than I ever brought anyone (and truthfully, way more than I usually make for my *own* family 😉 ). Kind of put me to shame. So, now when I volunteer for this kind of thing, I’m going to make sure I have the time to do something a little special. Maybe I should make a stash of bibs to keep in the closet… good idea! They’re so much fun to make.

  5. Yeah, we got meals after both kids were born, from church (after Jake, the meals came for three solid weeks, till I begged them to stop because we were moving). Such a warm feeling of support and care. And some people really do go all out with some beautiful meals. In our MOMS Club, we’ve also done meals for families where a parent or kid is having major surgery, or mom is on strict bedrest, or for a family whose downstairs was flooded by a plumbing disaster, that kind of thing. What I find is that once someone has been the recipient of meals, they’re frequent volunteers for the cook team ever afterwards!

  6. Yeah, I can see how that would happen. I’ve been volunteering since I joined the club in 2004, and Neil always gave me a hard time about it, wondering why I’d go to trouble for other people’s families when I wasn’t exactly Super Chef for my own. Once we became a recipient, Neil said to me “NOW I understand why you do this.” Our club usually has happy occasions, but once in a while there’s something else, like our situation or the member who had hip surgery. It’s this supportive kind of thing and MOMS Night Out that are keeping me a part of this club, even after it seems more and more of the membership has kids younger than mine – my friends and I are on the verge of “aging out” it seems.

  7. […] when I first discovered how wonderful it is to pick fruit from your own back yard and bake up something delicious with it. This is the first crisp I’ve made this season so far, but I doubt it’s the […]

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