The Result of Cravings

Bryce has a test tomorrow which means I have the task of finding ways to entertain myself in quiet ways so that he can study (hence, the two blog posts this weekend). Lately, almost all of the foods we normally eat just don't seem that appetizing to me. Luckily there are only a couple that make me gag, but I still find myself wanting things that I don't usually make.

So, over the past few months Bryce has been subject to many new and experimental recipes thanks to allrecipes.com. I know there are lots of you out there who are bored with your dishes, so I figured I'd post a couple of links to the things that have been good. Most of the ideas I've added come from the comments of others, so don't think I'm that creative with recipe alterations. The low-fat dairy substitutions are me though, as the normal stuff doesn't do nice things to my digestive system.

And to Tiff who sent me a recipe chain email which I neglected to continue on, here's my contribution to helping you try new things.

1) Chicken Chimichangas with Green Chile Sauce. I tend to try to make things less-fattening so I used fat-free cream cheese instead of regular and sprayed them with olive oil spray and baked them instead of frying. We only made half a batch (four), and although they looked small compared to what you get at a Mexican restaurant, one each was plenty.

2) Cinnamon Rolls III. For about the first 18 weeks of my pregnancy, the thought and taste of cereal didn't go over well. So, I started getting creative with breakfast options, especially when I grew tired of Toaster Strudels. Once again, I used lighter cream cheese for the frosting (maybe the 1/3 reduced fat) and omitted the nuts since we're not huge fans. My only mistake was not cooking them long enough so the middle ones were too doughy to eat. I've got to remember I don't live at high-altitude anymore and shouldn't assume the low end of the bake time is always the best move.

3) Easy Enchilada Casserole. I always buy the light sour cream (but not the fat free since it tastes a bit weird), and it worked fine. I didn't put the 4 tortillas on the top and didn't cover it, so it was a little soupy, but not too bad. It was also soupy probably because I used a large can of red enchilada sauce and threw in a little salsa with it instead of the 3 cups of salsa since I had that in the pantry. Next time I will probably add two tortillas to the top to help with the soupiness, but still use the enchilada sauce with a little salsa. It was still good regardless and Bryce, who hasn't been a big fan of enchiladas as of late, ate the leftovers at least 3 times. Oh, which means it makes A LOT, so if you don't like left overs, half of the recipe will feed 4 just fine.

4) Chris' Bay Area Burgers. Okay, these aren't new, but still really good hamburgers. Some of our friends and family have had them at our place and loved them. I use half the olive oil and they are still wonderful.

And in the next few weeks I'm going to try:

5) Three Cheese Manicotti. The recipe makes two pans so I'll cut it in half, and then of course, use my own fresh made Italian sauce instead of the spaghetti sauce in the jar. For the sauce, I won't use meat and I'll add the pint size Fat Free Half and Half (yes, it comes that way at Walmart) to make a creamy pink sauce. It is delicious and actually very healthy since the only fat in it is from the little bit of olive oil. I generally make a batch when I'm making pasta and then freeze the rest in little containers that I can take out and heat up when we have a pasta dish. I'd say it makes 6-8 cups easily.

6) Slower Cooker Carolina BBQ. When we went down to North Carolina for Labor Day we had some of the best pulled pork sandwiches. We bought the meat from a restaurant, and me, being used to thick red BBQ sauce, thought they had forgotten to put the sauce on. Little did I know the magic of a vinegar-based sauce that is very light, yet flavorful. The only downside I've found to the recipe is that it says it stinks your house up (from the vinegar), so I'm thinking I'll make it on a weekend and put the crockpot on the balcony since there's an outlet out there. I figure I'd better be home to watch it though so nothing happens. I'll let you know if it compares to the real thing.

I highly recommend the allrecipes.com site if you want good, home-cooking type recipes. They have some that are more gourmet, but epicurious.com is really the place to look for a fancy meal.

To Appease the Masses

See, although I'm 23 weeks, I really don't look all that pregnant yet, even if I'm arching my back a bit. I think the kid is going for a wider approach than for sticking straight out. We'll try again in another month or so and see if he's made any forward progress.

All Done!

During my breaks from work (I work for a temp agency) and Bryce’s nightly studying, I tend to get bored. Since I have done all the puzzles we own at least twice, my friend Amy kindly offered to let me borrow their Mickey Mouse puzzle. I’ve had it for a few weeks now, but finally finished it this past Wednesday. It’s 1000 pieces and each piece is a mosaic of some Disney movie. Needless to say, it took a bit longer to complete than most puzzles, but I got it done. Now I think I’ll take a break from puzzles for a while.

So, as I mentioned, I work for a temp agency. My most recent assignment is to fill in as the Administrative Coordinator for CEPAR (Critical Event Preparedness and Response). It’s part of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Johns Hopkins, but at their administrative offices up in Mt. Washington so I don’t have to go into the city (i.e. I can drive there and have free parking). They coordinate all other university and medical departments’ disaster response plans. So, if there is an emergency, each department has someone that they go to in order to make sure there isn’t a lapse in communication between the entities. The department also has a grant from Homeland Security for a National Center of Excellence in preparedness and critical event response (PACER) so the physicians and researchers work with other universities across the country to study and coordinate disaster response. My job is basic administrative support, but I’m starting to do some other projects for them as well as they discover I’m able to do more than just answer the phones and schedule conference rooms. The temp position is for six weeks, but they have offered me a permanent position, either in the job I’m doing (if the person I’m filling in for decides not to come back), or they will find something else for me to do until the baby is born. It’s nice to know that I have something set and fairly consistent for the next few months, and I like the people I work with. It may be that I can still do some part time work for them from home after the baby is born, but that’s something I’ll have to discuss with them once things get settled and I see what they are having me do. At any rate, I’m now working 40 hours a week and have much less bored time.

There have been some requests for belly pictures, but those will have to wait a few more weeks as it’s pretty hard to see still, despite not fitting in any of my clothes any more. Have no fear though, I will post some eventually.

Bryce is doing fine. He’s got another test next Monday (6th) so this will be another week of cramming. He passed his first test fine which was a big relief. He’ll still be studying a lot though. He’s had a love/hate relationship with the rainfall for the last few days; he loves rain, but hates it when it prevents them from playing football on Saturday mornings. He’s also been called to be a Teacher’s quorum advisor and Assistant Varsity Scout leader. I teach some lively 6-7 year olds in Primary.

We finally got couches so I’ll post some pictures of our apartment in the next few weeks. We just need to do some organizing and hang some pictures, but we’re getting settled. We have our 20 week ultrasound on Tuesday so I’ll post some pictures of that as well.