Meals for Mamas

There have been a plethora of babies, families moving. and general busyness around here to make a mama weary. If one could just care and nurse a baby without having to stop and make a meal, or unpack and settle a house without the rest of the family fainting away from hunger, or teach a full day's schedule, or potty-train a reluctant toddler all without worrying about what was to eat for supper, life would be much easier. (Or perhaps that's wishful thinking on my part.)
Anyway, I'm sure you know someone who could use a meal, because wouldn't you love for someone to show up with supper ready for you tonight? Uhhmm... I thought so.
Here's my latest meal for mamas.
Make yourself a batch of The Pioneer Woman's meatballs or your own favorite meatball recipe. Make enough to freeze a partial batch for another time- your own meal emergency or for someone else. Then whip up some mashed potatoes. Now PW has a good mashed potatoe recipe, but it calls for recipe ingredients that you might not have on hand, so here's another recipe I found years ago.

Cheese Potato Puff

12 medium potatoes, peeled (about 5 lbs.)
1 tsp. salt, divided
¾ c butter, softened
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 c. milk
2 eggs, beaten

Cover potatoes with water in a large kettle; add ½ tsp. salt; cook until tender. Drain; mash potatoes until smooth. Add butter, cheese, milk and more salt; mix until combined. Fold in eggs. Pour into a greased 3 qt. baking dish. Bake 350 degrees until puffy and brown, about 40 minutes. Yields 8-10 servings

Now the original recipe called to heat the butter, milk and cheese together in a saucpan before adding to the potatoes. But I always forget that step and just dump all of it in together and it works out okay. I use my Kitchen-Aid mixer for the mashing, and all the mixing. You can refrigerate the potatoes and cook them up a day later. I've also frozen it along with the meatballs, and it will work, but the liquid tends to pull out of the potatoes when thawing, so keep that in mind. I split the potato recipe between two smaller square pans since this makes a lot of potatoes.
Now make a batch of your favorite cookies, pack it all up and go find a hungry family to bless!

And for a bit of humor, my sister-in-law passed this video clip on to me. You must watch this before you send dearest hubby to the grocery store for the ingredients!