MEALS on HEELS :: Bake & Take ~ chicken dinner x’s 2

It was our turn again to Bake & Take a meal to our friends. As always, we make double of everything so that when were are finished cooking we have a meal for delivery and one for us. It works out great. Once all the food is ready to go we box it up and take it over however this week  I delivered it myself which the hubs dubbed Meals on Heels. Since they live right next door we just walk it over however this week he happened to have another commitment at delivery time so I was on my own, thus the new name Meals on Heels. 

The hubs had plenty of time before he had to leave to smoke some chickens which is one of our favorite ways to cook them. 

While he was at it he made three so we would have plenty of extra for other meals during the week.

In the meantime, I made a double batch of moms baked beans which are always a winner.

Company potatoes sounded good so a double batch of those were on the menu as well. 

Some warm from the oven homemade rolls were baked just before delivery.

And, little containers of homemade strawberry jam and homemade honey butter were tucked in as well. There is nothing better than either one of those slathered in the middle of one of the warm rolls. YUM.

A colorful marinated Corn Salad rounded out the meal.

It is always hard to decide on what to make for dessert but Poppyseed Layer Cake seemed to stand out. It had been awhile since I had made it and since all the ingredients were on hand it seemed like a good choice. 

It is usually a three layer cake however this time I switched it up and made a two layer cake to give away and single layer cake for us. It worked out perfect. 

There were a lot of delicious dinner leftovers which made the weeks meal planning easy. So, preparing double is actually less work for a lot of gain which is always a good thing! 

Happy Saturday!

Bake & Take :: Chicken dinner x's 2

Just popping in with a quick post about our latest Bake & Take meal that we delivered this week. Miss E was here and helped prepare and deliver this dinner which was lots of fun.

As is usually the case during the holidays, there was a lot going on in our kitchen including some serious baking. Cookies, candy and desserts were in progress while at the same time we worked on our special dinner to deliver. It was loads of fun and it all worked out. We walked the dinner over right on schedule and were back in no time to enjoy our duplicate dinner which was still hot. A fun day!

Happy Thursday!

Bake & Take Dinner

This weeks meal train dinner menu seemed like the right choice for a rainy fall day. It was also easy to double which is always a bonus.

The Cornbread Pumpkin Muffins are filled with honey butter and topped with a cinnamon stick stem and celery leaf.  Before I delivered them though I changed out the cinnamon stick stems for celery stems instead so that they would be entirely edible. An easy way to add a bit of fun to the dinner. 

Spinach Salad is always tasty and once it was assembled and tossed I put it in a Ziplock bag.  Next I mixed the dressing in a plastic Ball jar and delivered it in the jar so they could toss it in when they were ready to eat.

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The Pumpkin Cake looked a bit like a pie since the only disposable tin I had left, that was somewhat close to the correct size, was the pie tin. No worries though, as this Pumpkin Cake  tastes great no matter what shape the pan is. 

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To hold the Cornbread Pumpkin Muffins steady during delivery I just put them in a muffin tin which was perfect.

The Curry Apple chicken and Wild Rice were delivered warm. The Pyrex glass pie plate made a wonderful bowl for rice and needed to be returned anyway so that was convenient.

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Disposable pans make meals easy to deliver and less work for the family to keep track of who everything belongs to. 

Another Bake & Take Dinner is on our schedule so I will be back soon to share another menu idea. 

Happy Friday!

Meals on Heels ~ Lemon Layer Cake & more

A few days after Easter it was our turn to deliver another Bake & Take meal. This time my meal planning started with dessert which is fun. Since we had recently stocked up on lemons for baking this month we had plenty on hand so I decided to use some to make this yummy Lemon Mascarpone Layer Cake as the finale to their meal.  

An eight inch two layer cake seemed about the right size and would leave just enough leftover batter for another small two layer cake for us, which is always a bonus. 

Lemon inside and outside the cakes. It doesn't get better than that. 

Topped off with vanilla frosting. 

I try and bake everything the afternoon of delivery so that it is fresh, hot and ready to eat when we drop it off. Since the cake would need time to cool I mixed that up right after I got the carrots marinating for the carrot salad.

Next were the bread sticks. Once the dough was rising I moved onto the lasagna. 

The two lasagnas were made and ready to bake just about the time the cakes came out of the oven so everything was on schedule. As I usually do, I doubled the meal so our dinner was covered too.

By that time the cake layers were cool enough to start assembling and then I realized I was out of cake boards. Unfortunately, there was not enough time to run out for one so I needed a plan B. Since I was in a pinch I considered using a paper plate and then I had another idea. I asked Mr. Wonderful if he could quickly cut me one from a board in his shop. "Piece of Cake", he said. 

Sure enough, he had a perfect wood scrap and made not only one for this cake but 5 others in varied sizes as well. "Go big or go home" is his motto. After washing and drying the new cake board and covering it with foil I frosted the cake and finished with little time to spare. 

We packed up everything in our cooler on wheels, except for the cake of course, which I carried, and we made our delivery...and on time too.

I love when a plan comes together! 

Happy Saturday!

Bake & Take :: Pork Loin Dinner x's 2

What better way to start off the New Year than making two meals at once, then, package one up to deliver to friends and have your own dinner ready at the same time. It really works well and we have been doing it for several months now.

This time it was marinated pork loin so that was started the day before delivery. 

Apples, dried cranberries, and some assorted nuts and seeds were tossed with shredded brussels sprouts and cabbage along with a honey mustard vinaigrette dressing to take as a side. 

Once the salad was marinating it was time to make some bread. It didn't take long to stir it up and set aside to rise which left just enough time to assemble one more salad.

This bow tie pasta salad is easy peasy and oh so good. 

It is best to make it ahead as well to be sure the flavors have a chance to meld. 

Then for dessert it was Chocolate Lush which is so simple to make and has been one of our family favorites for years. In fact, our grown kids still ask for it.

So TWO pans of dessert it was!

Hopefully they liked it as much as we do.

Everything was finished, packaged up and ready to go on time.

I love when a plan comes together. 

Happy Thursday!

Meals on Heels ~ Ribs, Baked Beans & more

This Bake & Take meal for four turned into a meal for only one on the day of delivery this week due to some unforeseen circumstances. 

As soon as we received the news we offered to deliver the meal in spite of the change in plans and just reduce the portion size. We got the go ahead and then packed up large single servings of each dish to assure some leftovers for another meal or at least some hardy snacks. 

We had more than enough for two families so there was plenty leftover for our dinner plus some extra which we boxed up for another care package.

Thankfully it all worked out in the end and a smaller version of the meal was delivered after all.

Happy Friday!

Santa was here!

It is hard to believe Christmas 2021 has come and gone….actually twice at our house. Due to busy schedules our family gathered and celebrated Christmas on two different December weekends this year which was lots of fun. To help things run smoothly some advanced preparation was required so to keep things organized the family planner was full of lists, schedules, lots of notes and of course a few Doodles. 

All types and colors of pens and pencils are fun to draw with and so is chalk.

Our chalkboard needed updating after Thanksgiving so a Santa with a list in hand really summed things up. This Jolly Old St. Nick seemed to capture the planning and organization that was ahead for this Christmas and a good reminder to stay on task.

Of course there was a lot of baking and Santa Bread was back on the food list this year. In fact, there were two batches of cardamom Santa Bread. The first was for another Bake & Take dinner which we delivered just a few days before Christmas and the second one was made for the family Christmas Morning Brunch.

Depending on the size of the Santa there is usually enough cardamom bread dough to make a braid as well.

Lots of fun with Santas this year!

Happy Thursday!

Once in a Lifetime TWOSDAY!

This week we celebrated the once in a lifetime calendar date 2.22.22 which fell on Tuesday aka: TWOSDAY! Earlier in the month I noticed that particular day was open on the meal train schedule so I signed right up and started planning how to incorporate TWOSDAY into the Bake & Take meal we would deliver. Tacos came to mind first since Taco Tuesday is already a thing and the date we chose was going to land on a Tuesday. It seemed perfect. Then the idea of creating a theme decorated  box to deliver the meal popped in my head. A party in a box sounded like fun so the first thing on the to~do list was creating some DIY graphics for small banners and signs to use to decorate the box.

While the signs and banner were in the works a couple other theme ideas were floating around such as TUTU’S and neck TIES. The list of ideas was long however time narrowed down what could actually be accomplished. First I thought it would be cute to make a shirt using a small paper bag and then put a tie on the shirt.

Templates were needed so to start I made a practice shirt out of a lunch sack. It seemed to work so I moved on and sketched out a few things such as a pocket for the shirt, the taco shell and fillings and the top part of the tutu. Once those were ready I looked for supplies.

There was plenty of pink tulle in my stash to make a little TUTU so that was finished in no time. It fit several bottles and jars but in the end I went with a water bottle.

For the shirt I found a gift bag in my supply that turned out to be the perfect size. I folded the top to make the collar as before and then made a tie using a wider more colorful piece of ribbon this time. Two shirt buttons glued to the collar, a pocket with a tag inside and the cute little shirt was complete.

Now let’s TACO ‘bout the menu.

Of course there were tacos however not quite the traditional style. They were fun Walking Tacos along with a batch of sour cream chicken enchiladas. 

The Walking Tacos came with Frito’s, seasoned taco meat and all the toppings including Mr. Wonderful’s homemade guacamole.

The Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas included Mexican corn and black bean salad, cornbread, of course more homemade guacamole and apple pie bars for dessert. 

This extra special Meal on Heels was a lot of fun to put together and deliver. And, because I had doubled the meal, we had a festive dinner too. 

It was a fun, crafty and yummy way to celebrate this special day with our friends.

Happy Friday!