Take Them A Meal: Healthy Transportable Recipes to Bless Those In Need

"My love language is food.  When it's my children's birthday, I always make them a special meal.  When Father's Day rolls around, my husband wakes up to breakfast in bed.  And when a friend is going through a rough time, or a joyous one, like welcoming a new baby, my first instinct is to cook them good food.

Many others speak this language. That's why my friend, Adina Bailey, created TakeThemAMeal.com 6 years ago.  When her best friend, and mother of four small children, collapsed from the sudden onset of a heart condition, Adina was overwhelmed by phone calls and emails from people wanting to help.  She called her friend, Scott Rogers, and together they designed a website that simplifies the process of coordinating meals so you can spend your time and energy caring for your loved ones instead of fielding time-consuming phone calls.

TakeThemAMeal.com is free and very easy to use.  Within a matter of minutes users can create a meal schedule that includes important details like directions, special dietary restrictions, foods they love or hate, and helpful phone numbers.  One of my favorite features of the website is the ability to see what other people are bringing so a family doesn't receive 5 of the same dish in one week. TakeThemAMeal.com even sends you a reminder email the day before you are scheduled to bring your meal!  Enter in the email addresses of other people you think might want to support this person and with a few clicks your schedule is done.  Here is a sample of what a meal schedule looks like-https://takethemameal.com/sample.php  To date, over 2 million meal schedules have been created to serve over 250,000 families.

If you speak the language of food, consider using TakeThemAMeal.com the next time you are bringing a meal to someone.  It's free, easy to use, and a great way to show you care."

"Like" us on Facebook- www.facebook.com/takethemameal

Here are the recipes I selected that fall under the category of healthy, gluten free, easily doubled and kid friendly as well!

• Personal Sized Baked Oatmeal with Individual Toppings (GF)
• Banana Bread Muffins (GF)
• Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins (GF)
• Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Banana Bread (GF)

Dinners

• Healthier Mexican Taco Lasagna (add a nice salad) (GF)
• Low Fat Chicken Piccata GF (serve with gluten free brown rice pasta)
• Creamy Crock Pot Turkey Meatballs GF(bring some nice buns for sandwiches or GF pasta)
• Turkey Enchiladas GF

Desserts

• Fudgey Flourless Chocolate Brownies (GF)
• Fudgey Flourless Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies (DF, GF)
• No Bake Chocolate Coconut Balls (flour, egg, dairy, nut & gluten free)
• Watermelon Cantaloupe Berry Mint Salad (GF)

On a personal note I've used the site for a friend of mine who had twins and 2 other kiddies at home already. The site was easy to use. The friend who started the schedule shared the specifics of the families dietary needs such as gluten free and dairy free. It was wonderful to be able to see what others were making so they wouldn't have the same meal 3 days in a row! By request of my friend they wanted the Chicken Piccata recipe but since they are gluten free I had to switch out the chicken broth used and use a specific kind, a note is provided in that recipe. I topped it with brown rice pasta and they loved it! They also asked for the Fudgey flourless brownies and loved then as well!