So my neighbor is having a baby...

My neighbor called me to let me know that she is going to the hospital and most likely will be delivering her baby tonight. I would like to bring something over to her when they come home (most likely on Saturday). What would you recommend to bring over for the parents, who also have an 18 month old.

I am thinking chicken noodle soup, but looking for other ideas...especially those meals that can be frozen for a later time.

I think of casserole type dishes for this sort of thing. How about lasagne or another type of baked pasta?

Hi,

When my sister had her second child, I brought food suitable for the entire family. I recall two dishes were especially welcome: macaroni and cheese and a tray of porcupines. Porcupines are meatballs with uncooked rice mixed in. They are arranged in a baking tray with tomato soup to just cover. Once cooked, the rice sticks out like a porcupine. A real hit with my 16-month-old niece who still enjoys them at 21-years-old.

Whatever you offer, it should freeze and thaw in good condition, if need be.

Regards,

Well, I just wish that you were my neighbor when I had my baby 5 years ago-- how thoughtful you are! This may be too much information, but dishes high in fiber can be helpful for a new mom-- I usually give a nice black bean soup and maybe a pan of cornbread. Avoid anything spicy or extremely garlicky and also avoid brassicas as they can affect the taste of mother's milk and give the little one gas. Another treat that has gone over well with my new-mom pals is biscotti-- good to nibble on during those late-night feedings, but not high in fat. Fine Cooking has a great gingerbread biscotti recipe-- google around for it. A little chocolate is always good too.

Cheers, Jen

Soup is great, but can be problematic to feed an 18-month-old (kind of depends on where they are, but I'd guess the parents can pick out the solids and feed them to the toddler.) However, you're on the right track - bland foods with noodles are good - you never know what baby is going to object to, but usually some kind of meat and some kind of starch without too much else going on (or with veggies big enough to pick out and avoid) is a good combination to start with. Mac and cheese is a good idea, but I'd check and see if baby #1 was tolerant of dairy (assuming Mom is breastfeeding.)

In my own experience, simple pasta casseroles go a long way, especially those that have gravies rather than dairy-based or tomato-based sauces. Comfort food kind of stuff: I bet that Ft. Wayne beef and noodles might be appreciated, or old-fashioned chicken and dumplings. I've posted elsewhere, I'd prepped and frozen a huge number of casseroles only to find that Sparky was intolerant of nearly everything at the beginning (and colicky.)

I'm sure the family will appreciate your cooking!

Mhays wrote:Comfort food kind of stuff: I bet that Ft. Wayne beef and noodles might be appreciated, or old-fashioned chicken and dumplings.

Um, Michele: have you checked your link?

LOL! Clearly my unconscious drove me to post my actual postpartum desires...here's the real link (I hope.)

Along with the food, a bottle or two of sparkling apple or pear cider or some other 'bubbly'

Mhays wrote:
In my own experience, simple pasta casseroles go a long way, especially those that have gravies rather than dairy-based or tomato-based sauces.

Sound advice indeed. Tomato and dairy are high on the list of possible irritators of new baby tummies.

When folks at our church have babies, we always make them the "Morning-After Vegetable Soup" from Anya von Bremzen's New Spanish Table. It apparently gets its name from being popular as a hangover curative at Barcelona's Bar Pinotxo (in the Boqueria market), but it is generally regenerative/restorative even if you have not tied a few on the night before. My wife asked for it after both of our children were born, and it is typically very well received by new mothers (we have about a 50% rate of people asking for the recipe, out of maybe 10 total). It is also great for young kids (our kids have enjoyed it from 18 months or so onwards), as it is a very chunky soup (lots of vegetables, beans, and sausage) without super-aggressive spicing and you can basically drain off most of the broth and let the kids pick at what they want. We typically do this soup plus a baguette plus cookies or pie and ice cream for families with new children. The soup truly is a meal in of itself, though.

I cannot find the recipe online, but if you go to this page on Amazon and opt to search within the book for "Bar Pinotxo," it is the entry starting on page 86.

A nice dinner my neighbor cooked for me was a roast chicken with some sort of grain plus a bag of salad. She brought it over and we had a couple of meals from it. I recall a lot of take-out from those first few weeks after baby #2...

When my friend had a baby a few weeks back we brought over a bagged Ceasar salad from Costo and I made a meat lasagna and a big batch of arroz con pollo.

The lasagna was from Cook's Illustrated and uses no-boil noodles, making it quite easy to put together. The sauce was made with "meatloaf mix" and pureed and diced tomatoes. It looked really good, was kinda sad to let it go since it was the first meat lasagna I have made in maybe 7+ years (darn vegetarian wife!).

I did get to keep some arroz con pollo since I doubled the batch. Pure comfort food, much in the vein of chicken noodle soup but more convenient to eat. This one was brom Bittman's book.

Best part is that both choices were easy/quick to make and provided enough meals to get sick of them

As a mom of three...I appreciated any meal delivered to my front door! It truely is the thought...it will mean a lot to your neighbor whatever you bring

I have made/received a chicken pot pie, baked penne, chili (also good for fiber) with all the sides-cheese, sour cream, noodles....., rosemary chicken(chicken breasts baked in one dish with potatoes and carrots)- you can PM me if you would that recipe, turkey and brocc pot pie (PM me if you would like the recipe) ...just ideas....... I also when delivering a meal like to round out everything out by providing sides, and dessert......I know some frinds that also deliver paper plates, silverware, cups, etc...I usually do not but another idea in case.

I also like to bring something to the big sister/brother- stickers, coloring book (Color Wonder is great so Mom does not have to watch over the older one for messes), a special cookie, etc.....

Hope this helps!

Let me recommend things that can be eaten with one hand, on account of the likelihood of the other holding a baby, and ideally things that can be eaten by hand while touring the house with a colicky infant. Oven fried chicken. Homemade bread sticks. Macaroni & cheese cupcakes.

In the fiber department, let me suggest that a package of good dried figs might be much appreciated.

One of the nicest baby showers I had for my second was a frozen food shower. Everyone brought their meals already frozen, with a recipe card on top indicating who had made what, and when I came home I found that a freezer had been delivered to our basement courtesy of my parents. In the non-noodle category, I remember a very nice breakfast casserole among the offerings.

Ann Fisher wrote:...a frozen food shower...

Brilliant, I am so going to steal (I mean appropriate) this idea. Good point to make sure the recipient has sufficient freezer space.

Jen

I love the frozen food shower idea!!

As I recall we had beef and noodles in our grade school cafeteria in a suburb of Chicago. All the kids seemed to love it. It was basically hamburger meat fried out till crumbly probably with a little onion and seasoning. Then a thickener and some water was added as well as some cooked egg noodles and then all mixed up. There were no other vegetables, cheese or tomato sauce added. It was very popular.

As I recall we had beef and noodles in our grade school cafeteria in a suburb of Chicago. All the kids seemed to love it. It was basically hamburger meat fried out till crumbly probably with a little onion and seasoning. Then a thickener and some water was added as well as some cooked egg noodles and then all mixed up. There were no other vegetables, cheese or tomato sauce added. It was very popular.

Wine, wine and more wine.
My kids are grown now, but at one time, I had three little ones right in a row. Actually, anything would be appreciated. What a thoughtful neighbor you are.
I still remember a meal delivered to our house when the youngest of my four siblings was born. The meal included a chicken and rice dish, but homemade rolls and jam made the dinner memorable.
Because new moms aren't usually running to bakeries, I think great bread would be a nice addition to anything you bring.

Some coffee-laced brownies, a bottle of good wine, rich cheesy pasta dish. All the crap you aren't allowed to eat while pregnant.

When I was pregnant our friends took turns bringing and dropping off various items to eat. I remember appreciating a variety of muffins (for those one handed eating moments)-and also good for fiber. If breastfeeding I just generally went with the theory that anything that might upset my stomach would babies so I kept away from spicy food. Lots of soups, pasta dishes, and casseroles were a life saver.

Interestingly I did have a neighbor that would come over with a huge plastic dish(later to be found to to beef stew) and ask me to present my crock pot, she'd pour it all in, and say "leave it alone for 6 hours". She did that a few more times and that, albeit a bit odd, was very helpful too.

My friend in OP brought me a variety of dishes from Freddy's on Harlem after my second came waaay sooner than we expected. I must say, I didn't think a bit about spice or tomatoes or anything (and I was nursing like a maniac with the little bird-like baby) I just thought about feeding three other people with one arm and my enormous hunger. All of the food from Freddy's was fabulous. Especially the vodka penne and the ariicini/ stuffed rice balls. I can't imagine that women in other parts of the world stop eating spicy foods that are integral to the every day diet just because they have a baby, but that's just my totally dopey, non-researched opinion.

Another thing that was really well received was frozen quiche and a few sides from First Slice. I had some greens on hand and threw the quiche in the oven and we ate that for a couple of days. I find the entrees and sides from First Slice actually require more choreography than cooking an actual meal, but the quiche is amazing.

And if you don't want to over-think it too much, you could always show up with some prepared sides from Whole Foods. (Pricey, I know, but this is one time when you are allowed to splurge.) My girlfriend came by with their Orzo-Spinach-Feta salad and a large container of Lentil Soup and a crusty loaf of bread and that was great too. It hit all the right notes.

One final idea: You could pick up some Swedish Meatballs from Erickson's in Andersonvile and then swing by the Middle Eastern Bakery on Foster and pick up some mini pitas, hummus, tabbhouli etc and some of their fabulous pies in the back (that freeze very well). Someone from work did that for me. And managed to sneak in a very generous bag of dark-chocolate covered almonds. I justified eating each one as they were covered in dark chocolate i.e. super good for me and the almonds were an excellent source of protein.

And yeah, a bit of coffee, tea, fancy sodas or yep, a nice bottle of wine are very much appreciated.

bjt

Good friends just had a baby, so I'm taking some food over tomorrow. I was thinking a turkey meatloaf, with some bread and side dishes. Question is - should I take it fully baked, with reheat instructions, take it raw, with baking instructions, or take it over hot and let them decide what to do with it? What would be easiest for a new 1st time mom, who already seems a little overwhelmed?

jannamae008 wrote:Good friends just had a baby, so I'm taking some food over tomorrow. I was thinking a turkey meatloaf, with some bread and side dishes. Question is - should I take it fully baked, with reheat instructions, take it raw, with baking instructions, or take it over hot and let them decide what to do with it? What would be easiest for a new 1st time mom, who already seems a little overwhelmed?

This is where I would inquire with the recipient.

Regards,

My vote is to have it already baked and leave instructions to pre-heat....who knows when they will be eating and then they will be able to reheat at their convience...if not...ask your friend her preference. Just thinking it would take a something off her plate if it was already done...

Congrats to your friend!

What a new mother will want to eat can vary from culture to culture. Korean belief in the postpartum strengthening qualities of miyuk gook (seaweed soup) is so strong that Swedish Covenant Hospital is now serving it in the maternity wards. In some Chinese cultures, fruit, vegetables and milk are avoided by lactating women.