Meal Idea for New Parents (or anyone else you want to take food to)
On April 29, my brother and his wife welcomed their first son, B. He’s the first grandchild in our family and my first nephew!! Hubby and I were able to go to the hospital and meet baby B when he was about 12 hours old. He’s such a cutie and we instantly fell in love with him.
Last weekend was their first weekend home with the baby, so I went over there to help out. I watched baby B (who was napping) while C and J took a nap. I also cooked them dinner while I was there. I wanted to bring a meal that I could leave with them as well. Most people bring over casseroles or other freezer meals that new parents can heat up very easily. I wanted to do something a bit different. I decided to bring my crockpot French dip sandwiches.

I packaged it all up so they could prepare this any day they wanted to. I seasoned the meat with salt and pepper and wrapped it twice with saran wrap then once with foil. I then mixed all the liquid ingredients in a large jar. I cut a little circle out of decorative paper to put on the top and hand-wrote the instructions for them. I also brought a bag of rolls and some provolone cheese (forgot to include it in the pic).

The nice thing about this option is that they can freeze the meat if they want and have this after the rush of people bringing food passes. I also gave them a bag of frozen chocolate chip cookies. I just mixed up a batch of my favorite chocolate chip cookie dough and portioned them out using my cookie scoop and froze them on a cookie sheet. Once they were frozen, I threw them in to a ziplock bag and wrote baking instructions on the bag (I did this before with some M&M cookies too. That way they could pop a couple in the oven to have freshly baked cookies any time they want them!
One Year Ago: Samoas Bars






I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 






I definitely look forward to corned beef every year. Yours looks awesome. We actually trekked to CT this year for my mom’s corned beef and cabbage. And I got to take some leftovers home to make corned beef hash!
I have never made corned beef myself, but it always looks so tasty!
Hi! I would like to try this for Saint Patrick’s Day this year and wanted to verify that the liquid ingredients added to the dutch oven are not brought to a simmer on the stovetop before being placed in the oven?
beantownbaker — March 9th, 2014 @ 10:17 am
Yep! Just dump it in and throw it in the oven.
I made it today and it turned out SO GOOD! Thank you so much for the recipe. We all loved it! I linked back to you on my website! http://beautifulmess46.blogspot.com/2014/03/corned-beef-and-cabbage-for-saint.html
beantownbaker — March 18th, 2014 @ 8:05 am
So glad you enjoyed it! What a fun day with your little leprechaun!
Made for fathers day! They love them!
Thank you