November 27, 2010

Make N Take Meal Party with Pedialyte

I was recently invited to have a few friends up to my house, courtesy of Collective Bias. I say courtesy because they supplied us with enough money to buy some ingredients and containers so that we could join forces and make several freezeable meals. For Just In Case Days.

You know those days.

The days when the little ones are sick, and nothing seems to be going right, and the last thing you feel like doing between wiping butts and noses is make something decent to eat. Nor do you want fast food, because fast food isn’t even healthy on the best of days, much less a sick day. Not to mention you are still in your spit up on pajamas, and you don’t envision yourself out of them in the forseeable future.

Yeah, been there.

So, we banded together in true mom fashion and pounded out a plan. Pasta. Lots and Lots of pasta. Because there is really nothing simpler on a sick day. You can make soup, or a plain butter sauce, or open a can of tomato or alfredo sauce. Easy and quick – no more than 10-12 minutes, which is probably less time than it would take you to shrug off the pjs and put on lipstick before even thinking about scaring your neighborhood drive thru window.

We made two kinds – ravioli and tortellini. In half, we put bacon and a cheese blend. In the other half we stuffed ham and mozzarella. If you want, you could add pretty much anything – pepperoni, sausage, chicken, you could even buy truffles if you were so inclined. We used the same basic pasta recipe for both the tortellini and the ravioli, and tossed in a few herbs as we mixed. I use the Kitchenaid to mix the dough, and my Atlas Pasta Roller to crank out the thin sheets of noodles, but you can always do it all by hand. Just be prepared to give those upper arms a workout…the rolling is hard work! (but fun!)

Basic Pasta Dough

4 cups All Purpose or Semolina Flour
2 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
6 large eggs
2/3 tsp Salt

Add flour and salt to mixer, whisk quickly to combine. Add eggs and oil to center of flour and mix with dough hook until well combined. You may need to add a little water or flour to get a nice workable consistancy, so have some readily available as you work.

When all was said and done, we each had 4 meals bagged and ready for a trip to our freezers – not too shabby! If you choose to make a day of it like we did, here are some tips that worked for us:

Assembly line. Assign each person a task, and work in order. One person cut, one person fill, one person fold/seal, one person put on the tray/clean up.

Once all the pasta is made and on trays, place the try as is in the freezer for about an hour. then add to each freezer bag. This keeps the pasta from sticking to itself.

Place about 20-25 ravioli or tortellini to each bag. This should be enough for 1 dinner meal for 2 adults and 2 kids.

While our pasta was on it’s initial freeze, we sampled Cherry flavored Pedialyte. I love that it is clear (spills won’t matter!) and it has a nice juicy flavor. Not yucky!! Seven loves it – and I love that he does. We checked with his pediatrician before we gave it to him while sick, and you should too before giving your child similar products. They know best. Better safe than sorry. Personally, I love how it helps to combat dehydration from vomiting and diarrhea…and is so much better for the little guy than a sports drink or juice. I encourage you to read more about it on the Pedialyte website.

giving your child similar products. They know best.

Pedialyte Singles were in our Wal-Mart near the baby food and diapers. For a pack of four, it was a little over $5, but I used this $1.50 coupon. Feel free to click it and print a copy for yourself!