Any working mom is super familiar with the weekly challenges: What will we feed our kids when we get home in the evenings? When will I see my friends? If the kids are with me, will we actually have meaningful conversations?
This struggle—the search for balance between maintaining you in and outside of work and home—is ongoing. For me, any social life I’ve had since becoming a mom has come in waves that are more tidal than gentle and lapping at the shore…much like the hormones that come with having a baby! I was fortunate to have both of my babies in May, bridging parental leave with my summer break as a teacher, which allowed me more time with them at home.
In this time “off,” which all of us parents know is not “off,” but on for 24-hours-of-every-single-day with a newborn, I relished in the flexibility I had outside of a dictated work schedule to see my friends as much as possible, and to cook as much as I was able with a newborn. Until I had kids, cooking was cathartic for me. And then…feeding my kids nutrient dense, convenient meals became a stressor. We arrive home at 5:30pm and they go to bed just after 7pm. Dinner falls in this 90-minute mad dash to prep food, eat it, bathe, read, have some giggles along the way, and go to sleep.
After my first was born in 2016, a more m friend had purchased an InstantPot and seemed obsessed with it. She wasn’t working full time, but it made her days at home with her littles easier as her husband was traveling a lot at the time. So on Amazon Prime Day, I decided to snag an 8-quart IP and quickly put it to use. Over the course of 6 months, more and more of my friends starting buying this essential kitchen device and we began to share recipes and even meals with each other.
I quickly found my go-tos that all of us at home would eat and not tire of, and when our second baby was born, I got into a rhythm of meal planning and prepping for the work week that made my life so. much. easier and has been good for my waistline to boot.
Enter my birthday this year. A bunch of us have 40 on the horizon and have been trying to make some serious changes in habits and health. What do you do when you barely have time to socialize? You ask your friends over and host a a meal swap + succulent pumpkin party. They were incredulous at first. “Don’t you want to go have a picnic at a local winery?” That would have been lovely, but I’ve stopped drinking a lot these days to increase my productivity, and the air quality was forecasted to be poor.
My husband took the kids out for dad time, and my friends came over. In three glorious hours of alone time, we made Gnocchi Bolognese, Mini Chicken Burritos, Spiced Pear Oats, and Three Bean Turkey Chili. And then we made succulent pumpkins. Y’all. In three hours…six full meals for three whole families. What a perfect birthday treat!
For this activity to be successful, you need to prep to prep. I’m a huge fan of Skinnytaste, but I typically modify everything to double in volume or include a lot more vegetables. I chose our meals strategically: I needed to be able to produce them quickly and be pretty confident that my friends and their families would enjoy them. To Costco I went! I purchased giant bags of organic dried beans for two batches (yep, that’s 16 quarts), which came out a dream in the InstantPot. These beans were for both the burritos and the chili. I made a giant pot of chicken thighs, and the day of, we set up an assembly line to fill and roll our burritos.
I had made the steel cut oats with diced pears the morning of our meal prep party, spreading it out to cool for transport in aluminum trays also purchased at Costco.
The Gnocchi Bolognese was cooking while we assembled, so we were able to sit and eat it fresh out of the pot. Three moms. Kid-free. Eating a piping hot meal. #birthdaygoals
With our meals ready to be frozen or taken home, we moved on to decorating our pumpkins. If you’ve never done this or think that it might be too late, you’re wrong. A post Halloween pumpkin can easily last til Thanksgiving for your tablescape.
This is the third year I’ve made succulent pumpkins. My tips:
- Buy pumpkins of varying colors
- Buy them on or after Halloween for steep discounts (Um. Mine were all FREE this year.)
- Shop at JoAnn’s. Their fall decor will be on clearance and not so autumnal.
- Go out and gather acorns, leaves, etc…that you can use to decorate.
- When you’ve loved it long enough, clip the succulents off your pumpkin before you compost it. I haven’t bought succulents in 3 years because they grown back with super minimal effort.
I also decorate a green or white pumpkin that can easily last until Christmas. Longer if we want!
For the craft part…get a can of spray adhesive and a mini hot glue gun. Adhere moss with the spray to make a “bed” and use hot glue to add the decorations. Spritz the succulents occasionally with water, and they’ll replant easily.
My husband was out of town the week after my birthday. The kids and I came home, heated dinner, sat at the table together with our festive pumpkins, and had ample playtime afterwards before bedtime. A working parent’s dream.
Friends, meals for a week, more quality time with my family. Happy 39th to me!
🥰✌️
The Life So Valley 