Returning to Work

I have been dreading the day I had to write this post.  I haven’t been shy lately with sharing that, if possible, I would just stay home and be a mom and make lots of babies.  I quite like being Susie homemaker – nursing babies, making baby food and healthy meals for the family, planning meals and grocery shopping, creating recipes, even doing laundry and vacuuming are all tasks I enjoy.  (Cleaning the bathroom and mopping are another story, but I would take it if it meant I could stay home….)

Anyhow, sadly, the time has come for me to head back to the grind.  These four weeks have gone all too fast, but duty calls.  Here are my tips for prepping the “back to work” trek.

1. Take a day where you truly do nothing but cuddle with your newborn.  On Friday, I sent Austin to daycare, and Wes and I spent the day cuddled up on the couch, making silly faces at each other and snuggling.  I didn’t do anything on my ever-growing to do list – no cooking, cleaning, laundry…just snuggles.  It was fantastic.  Then Austin spent the night with granna and papa and Wes, Lyndon, and I went out to a simple dinner.  The day of relaxing helped me mentally prepare for heading back into the “real world.”

2. Prep your meal plan for the week back at work to make it as easy as possible.  I spent Saturday making a meal plan of quick and easy recipes, bought the necessary groceries, boiled beans, etc., so that the upcoming week won’t be a slew of last-minute or stressful meals.  That said, I’ve given myself permission, if necessary, to throw the whole plan out the window and have cereal, sandwiches, or even order in from Pizza Slut.

3.  Accept that it won’t be a very productive week at work.  Any employer with half a clue knows this!

4.  Make it a short week, if possible.  I don’t plan on working Friday – Memorial Day weekend will be a long one for me – so at least it isn’t a full week!

5.  Do as much prep for the next day the night before as you possible can.  Pack lunches and daycare bags, plan out outfits, even mentally prepare breakfast.  Mornings are nutty, and taking as much out of the equation as possible is essential for mental stability.   (side note – I find that if I’m organized and pack lunches while making dinner (and thus while the knives and cutting boards are out and the kitchen is already a mess), it is much less painful and goes quite fast.  And I always make enough dinner that the leftovers become Austin and I’s “main course” for lunch the next day.)

[edited to add...]6. Have a fabulous drink – be it your favorite beer or a glass of wine – waiting for you when you get home.  You deserve it.

7. I am fortunate (amazingly, incredibly fortunate) to be able to take Wes to work with me till he is a bit older.  I think my employers agreed to this because they knew that if I had to put him in daycare, I probably wouldn’t come back for at least three months, and they figured me+baby was better than nobody (I am the director of a small non-profit – and the only employee, the rest of the work is done by incredible volunteers.  Being the only employee makes me sort of indispensable, which gives me a bit of bargaining power…).  So my “taking your baby to daycare” advice doesn’t, for me line up with the “back to work” advice.  But time flies, and I’m sure before I know it I’ll be dropping both Wes and Austin at daycare.  Since most other mommies aren’t this fortunate, I’ll add my advice on this here:

• Leave early so that you can “hang out” for a minute at daycare before you rush off.  some will disagree with me on this, taking the band-aid approach to drop-offs, but I find I feel better if I can take a minute to say hi to the folks watching my little ones, pass on any necessary info, and give the kids a quick cuddle.
• I said it above, but it it worth repeating – prep as much as you can the night before.  Make sure bags have enough nappies, wipes (if necessary), food/milk/formula, changes of clothes, diaper cream (if necessary), etc. ..
• On your way to work, stop and treat yourself to a fancy coffee.  You’ll need the caffeine, and chances are you haven’t been able to just “run in” and do anything since the baby was born – it is liberating

Back-To-Work Mexican Casserole

This not a typical Janelle meal – a fair amount of the ingredients come from a package or a can – but most of these are veggies, so it has it’s “healthy” elements.  And it is oh-so-tasty, and easy…

4 cans chopped green chilies, drained, rinsed, and patted dry

1 cup frozen corn

1 1/2 cup pinto beans (I use dried beans that I’ve boiled ahead of time on the weekend – you can sub a drained and rinsed can)

1 cup cheddar (or monterey jack) cheese, grated

3/4 cups milk

3 eggs

1/4 cup flour

dash salt

1 t cumin

dash hot pepper sauce, if you aren’t serving to toddlers.

Preheat oven to 350.  In a greased 11 x 7 baking dish, combine chili’s, corn, beans, and cheese.

(Austin was a big help – until he discovered the ungrated block of cheese…)

In a small bowl, beat eggs, milk, flour, and seasonings until smooth.  Pour over chili mixture.  Bake, uncovered, for 40-45 minutes or until knife inserted comes out clean.  Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

(the fam dug in before I could take a picture…)

Serve with salsa, cottage cheese (could use sour cream) and blue corn tortilla chips for dipping.

Serves 4 (or mom+dad+toddler, with enough leftover for mom+toddler for lunch the next day )

New Mommy Lentil Mess

Perhaps you’ve noticed that lentils are one of my go-to meals when I’m not in a mood to cook meat and want something easy, healthy, and filling.  I used to be scared of these little guys, but they really are SO easy to cook with, are great at taking on the taste of whatever you surround them with, and they are full of protein and fiber…and are CHEAP!!  We haven’t cooked a thing in quite a while – friends and family have been showering us with comfort meals, from Quiche to tuna-noodle casserole and oatmeal cookies.  But I’m sick of the leftovers and it was time to break out something with a slightly better nutritional profile. And I had a box of frozen spinach that was begging to be used.

New Mommy Curried Lentil Mess

1 cup lentils, rinsed

1 can crushed tomatoes

1 package frozen spinach

1 t turmeric

1 t cumin

2 t curry powder

1/2 t ground ginger

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 t fresh ginger, grated

1 small onion, chopped

1 medium zucchini, chopped

salt, to taste

1/4 t stevia (or other sweetener, to taste)

Rice, for serving

Laughing Cow Wedges, or cream cheese

Throw all ingredients, except zucchini and rice, in a slow cooker. Dump in enough water to fill your empty can of tomatoes, twice.  Come to think of it, you could add the rice in the beginning and it would cook along, but I was out of rice and had to go buy it, so it got cooked separately.

Cook on low for 8 hours, adding the zucchini in the last hour, along with salt and sweetener.  Zucchini is optional – I had one that needed to be used.

Serve with rice, and mix a wedge of laughing cow into each bowl.  Garnish with: Tomatoes, Cilantro, Sour cream, Cottage Cheese (Austin’s gets mixed with a good amount of cottage cheese), plain yogurt…. or anything else that sounds good!  Copious amount of hot sauce optional.  If you aren’t serving this to kids, I would add 1/4 – 1/2 t cayenne to spice it up a bit.

Easy, super tasty, little clean up, and used up that pesky box of spinach. A winner!

Lentil goopiness shown with our “congrats on new baby” flowers

A 30-minute meal

Tonight’s dinner was epic – it hit my “trifecta” of requirements – quick, tasty, healthy.  I’m a happy girl   Salt and vinegar mash is a HUGE favorite of mine – modified from a Rachel Ray recipe a few years back.  It makes my tongue happy, and is a healthier alternative to those wonderful chips…

Bacon-wrapped Cod with Salt and Vinegar Mash and Roasted Broccoli

Here is what you need:

2 cod fillets

4 strips bacon (preferable from your organic Iowa hog)

broccoli

olive oil

salt

4-5 medium taters

1 T apple cider vinegar

1 T butter

1 T sour cream (used lowfat – it is what we had)

Peas, if you wish

Here is the flow:

Preheat oven to 400

Get a saucepan of water boiling on the stove for the taters.

Chop your broccoli, toss with olive oil and a bit of salt, and throw in the oven to get roastin’

Wrap Cod in bacon – nice and tight, it shrinks as it cooks! and throw in the oven.

Wash and chop taters, throw in the boiling water.

(At this stage, I put the husband on “stir the broccoli, boil the peas, and watch the taters and cod duty and took Austin outside to play.  A beautiful day must not be wasted!)

When the taters are tender (after 20-ish minutes), drain, and mash with the vinegar, sour cream, and butter.  Salt to taste. Broccoli are done with florets start to crisp and brown slightly.  Fish is done when no longer translucent in the middle – I have no qualms about cutting it up to check because I have to cut it anyways for the wee one.

Serve it all up and enjoy!  Serves two hungry adults, and a wee one (with enough leftovers for the wee one’s lunch the next day).

P.S. – Austin LOVE broccoli like this – I had a hard time getting him to eat the rest of his dinner because he wanted to keep chowing down on the broccoli.  Such a problem to have!

Actually, he’ll eat any veggies when roasted with olive oil and a dash of salt.