celebration

Welcome to the World, Thomas!

Stacey Shubitz
Created with the Wynken, Blynken and Nod Kit available at Designer Digitals; Little Miss Priss Font from DaFont.
Created with the Wynken, Blynken and Nod Kit available at Designer Digitals; Little Miss Priss Font from DaFont.

You may remember Anna was expecting a baby in early November.  Well, her little boy wanted to meet his mom and dad a little early.  Thomas Hudson Cockerille arrived a few days ago weighing in at 7.1 pounds.  This new family of three is doing well and home from the hospital!

As you know, life with a new baby is HECTIC. I scoffed whenever people told me life was going to change once I had a child… ’til I saw how much it changed!  I LOVE to cook, but suddenly didn’t have time to make the complex, time-consuming meals I had made before my daughter was born. I was fortunate to have a next-door neighbor who brought over hot meals for us for an entire week. I had another two weeks of people from my synagogue bringing over dinner.  And then I was on my own.  I needed fast and healthy recipes, which can be hard to find.

Ruth threw me a virtual baby shower when I had Isabelle. I would like to do something similar for Anna in this space.  Since I live three hours away from Anna, I cannot take her a meal.  I’m sharing some of my favorite recipes I make when I’m short on time:

When I’m really exhausted, we have tuna fish and cut-up veggies for dinner. However, if basic tuna doesn’t sound good to you, then try Tuna Melts with Avocado from Cooking Light.

Would you please share a few of your favorite easy recipes so Anna and her family can eat nutritious meals that don’t take a lot of time to prepare or clean-up?  You can either cut and paste the recipe when you leave a comment OR leave the URL where Anna can find the recipe.

Published by Stacey Shubitz

I am a literacy consultant who focuses on writing workshop. I've been working with K-6 teachers and students since 2009. Prior to that, I was a fourth and fifth-grade teacher in New York City and Rhode Island. I'm the author of Craft Moves (Stenhouse Publishers, 2016) and the co-author of Jump Into Writing (Zaner-Bloser, 2021), Welcome to Writing Workshop (Stenhouse Publishers, 2019), and Day By Day (Stenhouse, 2010). I live in Central Pennsylvania with my husband and children. In my free time, I enjoy swimming, doing Pilates, cooking, baking, making ice cream, and reading novels.

13 thoughts on “Welcome to the World, Thomas!”

  2. Wow!
    Thank you so much Stacey for throwing me this virtual baby shower, and thank you, TWT community for all of the lovely recipes and warm thoughts. We will certainly appreciate both in the days ahead. So far, so good. All of us are doing well; mom and are learning to appreciate sleepless nights and days filled with confusion and wonder. Thomas is learning to do all that babies do. Best wishes from our family to yours.

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  3. Congratulations Anna and family! That is so exciting. Others have mentioned it, but I also like using a crock pot. I often don’t make full meals, but I will put in chicken in order to make the rest of meal prep more efficient.

    I am going to try out freezer meals as well. I am thinking I will try to do some over winter break. We’ll see how that goes!

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  4. Congratulations, Anna and the whole family. I love my crockpot for easy to fix meals and snacks! In a pinch, any meat with a bottle of your favorite barbeque sauce will do, but here is one of my favorite soup recipes.

    Put 4 cups cooked chicken breasts, jar of salsa, can of black beans, a pint of frozen thawed corn, and four cups chicken broth in crock pot and cook on low.

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  6. Stacey, what a great idea to help Anna plan once things get hectic.
    Anna, I have been thinking about you so much. My sister recently had a new baby and I had somewhat forgotten how tiring it can be for a new or even seasoned mommy. I wish you so much happiness and SLEEP in the future!
    This is a quick and easy recipe that is both vegan and delicious. I love to use the garden veggie pasta for more veggie packed goodness.

    http://www.cookscountry.com/recipes/Pasta-with-Spinach-and-Tomatoes-Recipe-Cook-s-Country/40153/

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  7. Congratulations to Anna and her husband, and welcome to the world, little Thomas. It’s so special to have a new baby, but a bit of a shock too. My recipe is simple, but can be enhanced if you have time.
    Chili
    brown one pound ground round with a half onion chopped (I also add chopped green pepper if you like it)
    add two cans – favorite kinds of beans
    and 2 cans chopped tomatoes
    2 T chili powder

    Done! Serve with shredded sharp cheddar & dollops of sour cream

    Sometimes I separated the meat mixture out to accommodate vegetarians, and added rice as an extra choice

    Cooking ‘real’ beans takes more time, but they’re more flavorful than canned.

    Cheers for a little bit of cooking!

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  8. Congratulations!
    If I had it to do over again, I would take the advice of a picture I embroidered before I had children:
    Cleaning and cooking can wait till tomorrow,
    So quiet down cobwebs,
    Dust go to sleep,
    I’m rocking my baby,
    Babies don’t keep!

    I rely (even now) on a version of Chicken In a Pot from my hard working outside the house mother in law

    Put a couple of onions and garlic if you like in a pot with some olive oil – not too much oil
    Add boneless chicken (thighs or breast) and cook until brownish
    Add peppers, carrots, zucchini, or any other fresh or other veggies you have around
    Add LOTS of basil
    Add a can (or two if you have a big pot) of diced tomatoes (the Italian family staple)

    Cook for an hour or two – or however long you have!

    Serve over rice or pasta.

    The beauty is that it is best the next day or the day after or the day after that!

    My family still considers it a staple!

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  9. This is a great idea. Congrats to Anna. New babies are such a precious gift, but definitely time consumers. I’m not sure if you have a rice cooker, Anna, but around here South Louisiana) they are a God-send. A local author has put together a recipe book for the rice cooker. This is my favorite.

    Shrimp Opelousas
    submitted by Belinda Savoie from Crowley, LA ( near Opelousas)

    1 lb. raw shrimp
    1tsp. Cajun or Creole seasoning, to taste.
    1 10 oz. can diced tomatoes with green chilies
    1 4 oz. can sliced mushrooms, optional (I use fresh)
    1 1/2 cups uncooked medium-grain white rice
    1/2 stick butter
    1 medium onion
    1 bell pepper
    1/2 cup chopped green onion
    (I use a pre-chopped mix of onion and bell pepper)
    parsley to taste
    9 oz. water

    Sprinkle seasoning over shrimp and massage it in. Add remaining ingredients, stir well, cover, and press COOK. Once cooked, and the COOK switch turns to WARM, let stand for 10 minutes.
    Cooks for 32 minutes and makes about 6 cups.

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  10. Congratulations, Anna!

    Some of my favorite recipes:

    Ina Garten’s Weeknight Bolognese: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/weeknight-bolognese-recipe/index.html

    Giada de Laurentiis Orechiette w/ Sausage, Beans, and Mascarpone http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/orechiette-with-sausage-beans-and-mascarpone-recipe2/index.html

    I make chicken in a crock-pot a lot. Use three large (or 5 small) chicken breasts, a can of salsa, a seasoning packet of taco seasoning, and cook on low for 8 hours. Although the original recipe didn’t call for it, I usually put a little water – less than 1/2 cup – in first and mix the seasoning with it. Then I put the chicken in, coat it in the seasoning, then salsa on top. You can shred the chicken for tacos, or I also put it in a bowl with brown rice, black beans, and whatever toppings I like for burrito bowls.

    This website rocks as well, as does their cookbook. http://www.dinneralovestory.com/

    Good luck!

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