Burst of Energy (By: Lindsey)

I think I've said it before, but I love a plan and when your 9 1/2 months pregnant having a plan, organizing, and getting prepared is called nesting.   I've been nesting it up in the kitchen and I'm super proud of what I've accomplished in the last few days.  I've had an eye on several recipe items that I pinned on Pinterest, which I believe is brilliant, genius.  Seriously, who ever thought Pinterest? I'd like to shake your hand, give a high five, maybe a hug.  I just want to know how you came up with this idea. 

Since we are all home in the summer and wake up with appetites, having some quick breakfast items on hand besides cereal is a need or maybe its a want.  Either way, the Oatmeal Smoothies, I whipped up are great for you and very fulfilling.  After pinning this Yummy Oatmeal Smoothies, I decided to make the cherry vanilla, apple peanut butter, blueberry pomegranate, and my very own creation of orange banana.  I have approximately 20 different smoothies ready to go for the next few months.  This was especially appealing to me as I had mason jars from my daughters party in which I made Cake in Jars, another inspiration from Pinterest.  God love you.   Utilizing these jars, with smoothies seemed like a fabulous idea.  Super easy, if you go to the link you will notice the recipes calls for Chai seeds, I opted for wheat germ instead.   I used dried cherries, frozen blueberries, fresh bananas as the recipe varies depending on the condition of the fruit.   I did happen to taste test all of them, the apple peanut butter is pretty spectacular and cherry vanilla ranks a close second.  

While whipping up these flavored smoothies, I preheated my oven, gathered my muffin pan, and cracked twelve eggs for my next frozen breakfast meal.   Egg and Cheese Breakfast Sandwiches are super easy and freeze great.  The hardest part about this recipe is cracking and dumping without getting those egg shells in:), but no worries thanks to my real simple magazine, I learned that you should crack the eggs on a flat surface, like my butcher block or countertop, instead of on the edge of a dish and doing so allows the crack to break throughout the membrane of the egg which decreases the chance of the shell breaking off.  And by golly, it really works.   I cracked twelve eggs into my muffin pan, popped them in the oven for 10-15 minutes.  Sliced up 8 english muffins (which I was pretty sure the whole package had 12, but quickly learned I was going to be short 4), rummaged through my deli/cheese drawer in the refrigerator came up with colby jack, muenster, and provolone cheese - popped my english muffins in the oven (while the eggs were still cooking) for about 5 minutes, just to give them a little toast.  Once everything came out of the oven I assembled them.  Bread, cheese slice, egg, bread and BAMM. Done.  Put them in the freezer for an hour on a cookie sheet, them got them out and wrapped them individually in foil, labeled my freezer bags and put into the freezer.  Oh yea, for the four that did not have bread, I just put the cheese and eggs together to freeze and figure we can add the bread the morning of:).  According to the blog, (see link above), this is suppose to be comparable to McDonalds Egg McMuffins, if so, I know I just scored big with the hubby:)

Can I just tell you how distracted I am right now, on the food network, Giada, is making chocolate covered fried bananas.  I'm actually pondering if I have the ingredients. HA!

Back to my day in the kitchen, next, I made the "bomb burritos." After all, we do need something to eat for dinner.  I made four and froze the remaining 14 for future meals.  This meal idea/recipe comes from my sister in law's blog, she's a fantastic cook.  This is super easy and one of McKinley's favorites.  I purchase the "mini" flour burrito wraps for her and this makes for a great lunch or dinner, if Mommy and Daddy are away from home.  Just pop in the oven on cookie sheet for 40-50 minutes.  These lay frozen very well in the freezer as well.

Should be tired by now, but one of the signs of soon to be labor, is a sudden burst of energy. So I'm like the bunny, I keep going and going.  Next up, is the Terriyaki Chicken Freezer Meal.  Gather the ingredients, label the bags and assemble as suggested on this blog.  EASY, PEASY and now I have two bags/meals ready to put in the crockpot.

Lastly, the Spinach Lasagna Rolls.  I love me some spinach and McKinley loves anything with red sauce, so this a win - win, except I'm not sure what my husband thinks.  He's to nice and probably wouldn't really tell me.  Although, I suspect he will say something like, I just need a little more "meat, protein" this just isn't filling me up.  So for me I make a mental note to serve with garlic cheese texas toast- then he's a happy camper.  Or I just make this when it's just McKinley and I.   As the recipe says, cook the noodles, whip up the cheeses and spinach, ladle onto the dried but cooked noodles, roll, freeze for 30 minutes, then wrap individually.  Serve with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese after baking at 350 for an hour or so.  These rolls are frozen and ready to go in the freezer waiting for a baby Coy.  C'mon Coy- let's get the ball rollin'!