Postpartum Depression

I previously mentioned that I had postpartum depression. However for some reason I felt the need to write a bit more about what it is like to have postpartum depression. It is different for every person who gets it, so this is only what it is like for me... 

Black Bean Tortilla Casserole - Freezer Meal Style

This is part of my freezer meals series... or how we survive the first few weeks after we have a baby!

I know I've shared this recipe before, but I made a couple of minor changes for the freezer version... The linked recipe on the bottom however is not updated.

When I made this to freeze, I actually did 2.5 times the recipe and made 2 to freeze and 1 to eat the night I made it (after all I was pregnant and didn't want to cook anything else that day!) The only thing different would be that the corn tortillas were a little bit soggier in the freezer meal (but I would prefer soggier tortillas in this casserole to most frozen dinners you can buy in the store! Well there are more expensive frozen meals I actually enjoy, but they're more expensive...)

Black Bean Tortilla Casserole

Gluten Free Black Bean Brownies

I found this recipe on Eat Good 4 Life and had to try it. However I don't know where their nutrition information came from as I could not get the same numbers in any recipe calculator I used (however if I used Raw Sugar instead of normal sugar it did not calculate ANY additional sugar so something was a little off and maybe that's what happened to that nutritional information). 

The other thing I loved about these brownies is that they use black beans - which help regulate blood sugar because of their high protein and fiber content. So these shouldn't cause as much of a spike in blood sugar! Something we all can live with ;). Black beans have more benefits you can read about here.

I have made a few changes and included some ingredients you can add in as well... and thanks to my son who saw me writing this post, I now have a batch of brownies in the oven that I can smell and they are almost done baking... I hope you enjoy these as much as we do!

 Black Bean Brownies

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole - Freezer Meal Style

This is part of my freezer meals series... or how we survive the first few weeks after we have a baby!

I know I've shared this recipe before, but I made a couple of minor changes for the freezer version... The linked recipe on the bottom however is not updated.

When I made this to freeze, I actually did 3 times the recipe and made 3 to freeze and 1 to eat the night I made it - after all who wants to make 4 dinners and then make another one ;). This pretty much turns out exactly the same whether it is fresh or frozen - gotta love that! As far as veggies served with this - I stocked up on frozen veggies when they were on sale and used them, or I bought a packaged salad to eat with it. It is really nice to not have to really prepare dinner when you're exhausted from taking care of a newborn ;).

Cordon Bleu Casserole 

Teriyaki Bowl - Freezer Meal Style

This is part of my freezer meals series... or how we survive the first few weeks after we have a baby!

This is one of those recipes that was adapted in the process... I made two of these freezer bags to start and after the first it was clear that it needed to be changed! So you'll see some pictures that illustrate what not to do! ;) Also I have to admit I did not take a finished product photo (that whole survival for the first few weeks after a baby comes - I forgot to take the pictures...) So this photo comes from the original Teriyaki Bowl post that I made. But it looks similar ;).

 

Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken 

Cranberry Onion Chicken

This is part of my freezer meals series... or what keeps us eating in the few weeks after we have a baby!

I can't remember where I found this chicken recipe (nor did I keep the link with it - I hate it when I do that!), but after searching for the recipe... it looks like the origin is actually from kraft foods... I loved how simple and easy this recipe is. It only has 4 ingredients! How much more simple can a recipe get?!? I also love that it is a slow cooker recipe - not hassle (at least not if you get a slow cooker liner... yep tried them for the first time after having our baby and it makes clean up so much easier. They may not be as environmentally friendly, but they did help keep my sanity for the first few weeks!)

I have to admit that I had some reservation when I made this - I didn't expect it to taste very good... but I was surprised! It actually is really good despite the interesting combination of ingredients.

Another interesting tidbit - this is the first time I've used onion soup mix in cooking. I had a bugger of a time trying to find it in the store (silly me - it was on the soup isle ;).

Cranberry Onion Chicken

Apricot Swirl Cheesecake

About a year ago (actually a year and a month, but who's counting?) I decided to try making an apricot cheesecake. Partly because of some canned apricots that needed to be used up, and what better way to use the apricots than to make a cheesecake? So I searched for a cheesecake recipe that had apricots, and you know what I found? A lot of cheesecake recipes, but either it was a plain cheesecake with an apricot sauce or a cheesecake with chunks of apricots in it. I'm not such a fan of chunks of fruit in my cheesecake... But that's my own preference... 

So what's a girl to do? I made my own version. Tell you what, it was perfection the first time through. However, I only took pictures of the final version not the process. (Sad day.) And I waited to make it again... guess what, I still haven't made it, but I can not keep this from you for another day, it is delicious and while I haven't made it since - it is on my list. I probably won't make it for a while though since my time is consumed keeping a baby fed, diapered, clothed and also keeping up with my 3 year old son! So this is just going to be a recipe post... no step by step tutorial - yet.