My Thanksgiving Holiday

Well as much as I would like to say that my Thanksgiving Holiday was fun and relaxing, I can't.  I have not been feeling well since Wednesday.  Let me give you the recap.

Well I had planned to take off the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off of work so I could do some cooking.  Well I ended up having to go to DC for the day for work. Ugh, I know.

Wednesday - My alarm went off at 4:00am so I could be at the airport in time for my 6:15am flight to DC.  I did go ahead and warn hubby that I would be getting a half caf cappuccino (I haven't had caffeine since I found out I was pregnant).  He joked that I didn't love this baby as much as Hope since I was going to drink caffeine knowingly.  Ha ha ha.  So I made it through security with no problems and luckily there was a Starbucks on the way to my gate.  Score!  I got my coffee and headed to my gate.  Made it to DC with no problems and onto my meeting.  I am not one to ask for special treatment for being pregnant, so I was a little nervous about breaking out snacks during the meeting, but the meeting was from 9am-1pm with no lunch break, and I was hungry at 4am when my alarm went off so I ate breakfast on the way to the airport (Zone Bar, my favorite go to packaged bar breakfast).  Well, I saw someone else break out a snack and she definitely wasn't pregnant (very skinny), so I decided I could too without too much attention.  I had a lot of snacks depending on my cravings and calorie needs.  I decided that since lunch was far off, I was going to eat one of my higher calorie snacks, homemade trail mix (dried cherries, pecans, and walnuts).  I was starving, but the weird thing was that I couldn't finish them, not even close before I became full.  Well about 45 minutes later, I was very light headed (like from being hungry) but didn't feel that hungry.  I thought maybe I needed some sugar so I had a few yogurt covered pretzels.  I felt a little better.  I got to the airport and knew my options for food were limited so I had an egg and cheese sandwich on a bagel at Eintein's with an apple and a sprite. I felt grossy full and then had indigestion the rest of the day and night.  Once home, I only could get down some cereal the rest of the night. 

Thursday (aka Thanksgiving Day) - I woke at 3am with severe upper abdominal pain.  I rolled around in bed for a while.  Hope got up at 7:00am, but Adam told me to stay in bed and rest.  I slept a little, but then got up at 8:30am, still having some pain.  I made my way to the couch downstairs and told Adam that my stomach pains felt like when you have a stomach bug, but I wasn't nauseous.  I tried to rest some more, but my stomach hurt too much.  Adam made his famous french toast, and I was able to eat a little, but not much.  I finally got Hope down for a nap when I then tried to nap again, but my stomach just hurt too bad.  I decided to get up then and start my cooking (apple, squash, and leek soup (from Vegetarian Times Nov/Dec issue), apple walnut salad with cranberry vinaigrette (my recipe is slightly different but very similar) and pumpkin bread pudding with homemade dulce de leche ).  Adam argued with me to rest but I couldn't and I thought needed to get these foods done (little did I know there was going to be so much food there, no one would have noticed if I had made anything or not).  Adam helped with everything and we got it done so I could rest for all of 15 minutes before we needed to get ready.  Oh well.  We got to my dad's house and I realized the only thing I had eaten all day was half a piece of french toast and it was after 4pm.  I was a little hungry, but considering I am 5 1/2 months pregnant you would think I was starving.  I had a few pita chips with jalapeno hummus and some hot apple cidar.  Dinner time - I opted to just eat the sides and not worry about making myself a main course.  I had my soup, salad, green bean casserole, mac and cheese, ambrosa, and sweet potato casserole.  I couldn't finish my dinner and I thought I was going to pop.  I did manage to get a little dessert in me (the one I made).

Friday - I woke up feeling ok, but definitely not hungry.  I got up with Hope at 8am (thank you child for sleeping in) and let Adam sleep in a little.  I talked to my sister and she was nearby doing her Black Friday shopping.  Adam got up and I left to meet her and do some shopping.  I ate a biscuit leftover from Thanksgiving with some butter like spread on it and was off.  I shopped until 1:00pm and came home.  Wasn't very hungry but ate some vegetarian stuffing my dad made just for me for lunch.  Couldn't get a lot down, but I tried.  At 4:30pm, I was on the couch again in pain and now very nauseous.  I didn't know what was happening but I didn't feel well at all.  Couldn't eat dinner at all so Adam made a run to buy my saltines and ginger ale.  I did manage to eat a few crackers and drink most of the ginger ale.

Saturday - I couldn't do much, but I did call the on call OB and ask her what was going on.  I was pretty sure nothing was going on with the baby, but you just never know.  She said it could be acid reflux, so Adam was back at the store talking to the pharmacist.  He recommended a double dose of pepcid twice a day.  I had my first dose with breakfast and then around 3pm, I was on the couch again.  I finally went upstairs and was able to fall asleep for a little while (I didn't want to take my second dose so early).  Adam's last regular season football game wasn't on tv here so we had decided to go out to watch it.  I took my second dose right before we left and felt ok, but not sure if I wouldn't have if I didn't.  I didn't eat too much, snacked on Hope's grilled cheese and fries and Adam's nachos, but came home early to put little Hope to bed (and myself). 

Sunday - Well so far, my stomach has been ok.  But with my lack of an appetite, I have such little energy to play with Hope and get jobs done around the house.  A quick search online looks like the baby is up in my stomach region and squashing it.  Awesome!  I am not even 6 months pregnant and already Junior is giving me pains.  I have been able to get some cereal down this morning and my stomach is ok, not great, but at least I am not on the couch.

So my Thanksgiving has been less than desirable.  I want it all back so I can enjoy it more.  I think I am probably the only pregnant woman who actually lost weight over the holiday.  Has anyone had this happen to them?  What is it?  Does it pass quickly?  Is it acid reflux (sorry I have never had acid reflux so I have no idea what it would feel like).  All I know is that at times, it's severe pain.  HELP!!!

Surprise Synday Breakfast

So it was last Saturday when I made egg sandwiches for breakfast and I mentioned that Hope hadn't eaten eggs just plain in forever.  The only way she will eat eggs is when I make her french toast.  Well that prompted Adam to start having a craving for french toast.  Well Sunday morning he woke up early with Hope and then they took a trip to the grocery store.  When I got up, he said he wanted to make breakfast this morning.  But he couldn't just make any old french toast, he had to make cornflake crusted french toast and the bread couldn't just be any old bread, only sourdough bread would work.  So I grabbed the camera while Adam cooked in the kitchen. 

Here we have the chef dipping the bread into the egg/milk/cinnamon mixture (3 eggs, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2t cinnamon).

After dipping the bread in the egg/milk/cinnamon mixture, he placed them in the crushed cornflakes. (2 cups).

 Then we pulled out our griddle which we hadn't used in like 4 years, and then were able to cook all the french toast together. 

Then a nice polish of powdered sugar.  Yummy!  Doesn't that look delish!  He also bought some good ole orange juice.  Good luck hubs!

We decided to have this again for Thanksgiving (we aren't eating until 4:00pm) but the sourdough bread is so thin, we had to have 2 slices, so I bought some cream cheese and we will have cream cheese stuffed french toast.  YUMMY!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Homemade Apple Chips

Well since I have (had) so many apples, I was looking for some new ways to use and cook with apples.  I came across this post from Oh She Glows and thought I had to try this. 

Ingredients:

3 apples (I used Mutsu, but Angela used Granny Smith, any good tart apple would be fine)

2 teaspoon lemon juice

1.5 tablespoon organic sugar

2 teaspoon cinnamon

Sprinkle of kosher salt

Directions:

Preheat oven as low as it will go.  Mine was 200 degrees. 

Line baking sheet with parchment or aluminum foil. 

Mix sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl.

Slice apples very thinly, 1/4-1/8 inch wide.

Place all apple slices in a large bowl.

Pour lemon juice over apple slices and mix to incorporate the juice with all of the apple slices.

Line apple slices on baking sheet.

Sprinkle with sugar/cinnamon mixutre.

Sprinkle with a kosher salt.

Bake for 3.5-4 hours, turning apple slices every 30 minutes. 

When they curve up, they are ready.  For me, it was 3.5 hours on a 200 degree oven. 

My cinnamon mixture

Slicing apples, you can use a mandelin if you have one, but a sharp knife worked for me.

All my apples with lemon juice

Lined with parchment paper

You can see the salt, it's optional, but it was a nice touch.

The finished product.  Adam said this was one of his favorite fall snacks.  We are going to make these again.

Enjoy this yummy snack!

One of my all time favorite desserts - Apple Crisp

So I just love the idea of baked warm fruit and some sort of crust or crunch to go along with it.  It's unfortuante that most of my family doesn't agree, so I don't get to make as many of these recipes as I like (since I end up eating it all or at least most of it).  But this time, hubs ate a good bit, and he said he even enjoyed it.  I love Apple Crisps and with a fresh peck (or 3) of apples, I was going to make my apple crisp.  I think it was one of the first things I made after we went apple picking.  My recipe is modified from the Barefoot Contessa recipe.

Ingredients

• 6-8 large apples - I used Mutsu apples which are good baking apples found in GA, granny smith or Macintosh will do great
• Grated zest of 1 lemon
• Juice from one lemon
• 1/2 cup sucanut or organic fine sugar 
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

For topping

• 1 cup flour - I used white
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 1/2 pound cold Earth Balance, diced (can use butter as well)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 by 13 baking dish.
Peel, core, and cut the apples into large wedges. Combine the apples with the zests, juices, sugar, and spices. Pour into the dish.
To make the topping, combine the flour, sugars, salt, oatmeal, and cold Earth Balance in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the mixture is crumbly and the butter is the size of peas. Scatter evenly over the apples.
Place the crisp on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour until the top is brown and the apples are bubbly. If the top has not browned (mine didn't), turn to broil and broil for 2-4 minutes.  Serve warm.

The topping going into the mixer

After a few minutes of mixing

My apples mixture in the baking dish

The topping over the apples

After baking, so good with some vanilla ice cream

Now, this does make an awful lot of crumbling topping, so if you won't want a lot of topping, then you might want to reduce your flour and oatmeal measurements.  But if you like the crumbly topping as much as I do, then it's just up your ally.  A must try!



Pumpkin and Apple Picking

So, I am only 3 weeks behind in posts (well at least this one).  A few weeks ago we went up to the north GA and went to the pumpkin patch and then traveled a little farther north and hit the apples.  This is something Adam and I have been doing since before we were even engaged.  It's so much fun.  We love getting to share this with Hope and next year there will be 2 little ones to share it with.  I paired Hope in a nice green top so she would stand out at the pumpkins.  I think the pictures turned out great!



Hope with some big pumpkins

Now, onto the smaller pumpkins, where we eventually found the one to carve. 

Nice family pic

Pointing out the pumpkins she liked.

Hope's way of travel after we paid for all of our pumpkins, gords, butternut squash, etc. 

Now, onto apple picking (should have brought a change of shirt for Hope here).  A nice pink or orange would have been nice since you can barely see her in the leaves. 

So proud that she got the apple all by herself. 

Washing the first batch of apples (I saw something on Dr. Oz about cleaning fruits and veggies that aren't organic).  There are no organic apples farms in GA that I could find.

The other 2 1/2 peps that we bought.

Some strawberry preserves I just couldn't resist.  

 

We had a wonderful time.  I loved the apple farm we found especially.  During our time there, we had a fried apple pie (yep, the pregnant lady picked that one) and an apple cidar slushie (Adam's pick). 

I can't wait to show you all the things I have done with the apples since then. 

Halloween 2010

Ok, so I decided not to do my posts in chronological order, because if I did, I might not get to Halloween until after Thanksgiving.  I wanted to capture the Halloween weekend before there was too much Thanksgiving talk (tell me it's not in 3 weeks already). 

So little Miss Hope was not really into the whole carving the pumpkin, especially when we were cleaning the inside out.  After Adam would scoop out the insides, I immediately separated out the seeds to toast them in the oven.  Yummy!

Here we have the finished product (got dark on us fast).  I know it's blurry, but you can tell our pumpkin is winking.  :)

It's Minnie Mouse.  We actually went to a Halloween party on Saturday night and dressed up then too.  She was not nearly as fond of the costume on Saturday, but by Sunday, she had no problems putting it on.  I need to remember to keep that in mind for next year, it's good to have a trial run.

Hope and friends trick or treating.  We had a couple of my friends come to our neighborhood to trick or treat with us.  It was a lot of fun and Hope was a real trooper.  I still can't believe she made it the whole time (both kids are older than Hope).

The transportation for the kids.  We would pull them in the wagon (can't take credit for this idea) and then let them out and they would run up the driveways.  Considering our age range was barely 2 to 3.5 years, it was a great idea and plan to use it again.

So that was our Halloween.  We had a blast!  Can't for for next year.  We will have 2 little ones!  Yikes!

So far behind, Happy Birthday little one

No excuse, but we have been having problems with our computer and downloading pictures and videos from our camera.  So you haven't had many personal updates from me lately.  But now we have it all figured out so you will be getting a lot coming to you over the next couple of days.  I will try to keep it in chronological order for you though.



My little girl turned 2  years old earlier this month!  Since she was born at 7:30am, by the time she was dressed for her mother's morning out program, she was already 2.  Here she is showing off!

Adam and I got her a bike seat to go on the back of Adam's bike.  We did this on vacation back in August and she still talks about it.  So we thought that would be the perfect gift for her.  She loves it!  Check out her new helmet. 

For her birthday party, I made her a homemade ice cream cake (she loves ice cream just like her mommy).  But her aunt and uncle wanted to make mickey and minnie cakes since we were having a mickey mouse party, and then they had leftover batter, so they made her another one.  So my lovely child had 4 cakes for her 2nd birthday.  Seems about right.

Here is a close up of the cake I made her.  It was a nutter butter crust, chocolate chip ice cream with a reese's peanut butter cup middle layer, and then whipped cream icing. 

Hope is not sure about all this singing for her (already in some dress up clothes from her aunt and uncle).

Eating her ice cream cake (which was her favorite). 

I still can't believe my little baby girl is already 2 years old.  She really has changed so much and acts like a child, not a baby.  I am so proud of her and so happy to be her mother.  I love you Hope!