Man v. Food

Brent and I are both big fans of Adam Richman, and his show Man v. Food. In fact, we get a lot of ideas of places we want to travel and recipes we want to adapt based on the show.

Lunch today came from the Niagara Falls episode: steak sandwich.

I do not remember the name of the restaurant, because we saw it a few months ago. In fact, we have made this sandwich three times since then, but today was the first time I did not inhale the sandwich before taking a picture. Yeah, it's that good.

It is a spin on a traditional philly cheesesteak sandwich, but just as delicious!

We buy a small beef tip cut steak (or top sirloin steak) and cut it into bite size pieces. We then fry these in butter. I leave mine plain, but Brent spices his up with black pepper, sea salt, and paprika.

While the beef is cooking, we fry up some hash browns. Plain and simple - buy some frozen hash browns, heat oil, add the tators... cook until brown.

We dress up the bun with a slice of provolone cheese (we have also added lettuce, but we did not have any today) and wait.

Once the meat is cooked we set another piece of provolone on top of it and let it sit in the hot skillet until it is melted, then we transfer the meat to the bun. After the hash browns are golden, we transfer then to a paper towel-covered plate so the excess grease can be soaked up. Top the sandwich with the hash browns and some mustard, and serve!

Nom nom nom!

Note: you can also add onions and/or green peppers, but onions are never found in our house and we didn't have a pepper.

Pumpkin!

Yesterday I decided to bust out another can of pumpkin and try some new recipes!

After making my pumpkin bread, a few people asked if I had ever made a pumpkin loaf [or pumpkin roll]... and since I had no idea what they were talking about I started investigating. Soon after Caitlin posted about making one on her blog. She said she followed a recipe online, so I clicked the link and made the same one.

The recipe is HERE.

It is delicious! Extremely moist, perfect sweetness, and perfect pumpkin-y taste! :)

Next up was pumpkin pancakes!!

1 C all-purpose flour
1 1/2 TBS brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 C milk
1/2 C pumpkin [not pumpkin pie mix]
1 egg
1 TBS vegetable oil
1 TBS vinegar

1. Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. In a separate bowl mix: milk, pumpkin, egg, oil, and vinegar. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture.
2. Heat a lightly oiled skillet [you can use a griddle, I just don't have one] over medium heat.
3. Use approximately 1/4 cup batter per pancake.

The recipe made about 9 pancakes about the size of the one in the picture, which was plenty for Brent and me! :) Brent commented that they were better than any box mix recipe I had ever used. He may be biased, but the recipe is still definitely worth trying!

I love the fall <3

Heated Debate.

The social media is in a firestorm right now because of an article written about food and healthy living bloggers in Marie Claire magazine. Here is the article so you can read it, or at least have reference.

After reading this article I was outraged. Over the past several months I have been following three of the six bloggers viciously attacked in the article. Meghann, Caitlin, and Kath. I do not know any of these women in real life, but I feel like I have really gotten to know them through following their lives in their blogs. They have never met me, and I have only left a couple of comments on their blogs however I know that if I were planning a trip to Charlotte and I e-mailed Caitlin, she would love to meet up for dinner. Or, if I am ever in Orlando I am sure Meghann would love to chat over some fro-yo. And Kath publicly invited everyone to come celebrate her birthday with her later this month. That is because these are REAL women. They have real lives, they are not just internet robots trying to control their readers or tell society how to live. Unfortunately, the article makes them look much worse.

The first issue that really got to me was the fact that HEALTHY LIVING is being considered an eating disorder. I have a degree in Health Fitness with a minor in Nutrition, so I am well aware of the difference between healthy living and an eating disorder and the women who write these blogs most definitely do not have an eating disorder. And I refuse to believe that the way I live my life could be construed as an eating disorder. Just because we eat whole grains, REAL fruit and vegetables, and don't always indulge in "more than one beer the night before a race" does not mean we are disordered. Just because we like to run and exercise EVERYDAY does not make us disordered. That is called living a healthy lifestyle. Exercise is good. REAL FOOD is good. Our bodies need it, exercise increases energy and stimulates hormones that make you feel GOOD. Endurance athletes, like Meghann and Caitlin, LOVE what they do, so YES they will probably gush about their races on their blogs because it is who they are and it is what makes them happy. They will also probably post about the long, grueling training plan they have to follow... it is all part of being an athlete. They choose to put it out on the internet for the public to PROVE that you can eat healthy and be an athlete. Not once in the months that I have been reading their blogs have any of the girls mentioned trying to lose weight. In fact, none of them have ever even posted their weight. THE ONLY mention I have seen of anyone's weight is Meghann commenting on how she has gained weight over the summer. She CLEARLY has an eating disorder. (yeah, right).

So, this is coming off as a giant rant on my part, but I am not sorry. When I stared this blog I intended it to be a healthy living blog, but it was too hard to maintain especially since I am pregnant and my aversions were running the show. Still, it chronicles my baking adventures and my life, not to a large extent but I hope to one day change that. I may not have many followers right now, but I don't care. I want to blog for me. I want to share my recipes and pictures of the things I make. One day, the followers will come. One day my name will be known in the blogging community. And until then, I will just blog for the few who do read and continue to chronicle my adventures.

Before I got pregnant I was living a very healthy lifestyle. I ate fruits and vegetables all the time, I exercised every day.. I was even training for my first sprint triathlon! Yes, I indulged in cookies (probably more than necessary), but that is part of being balanced. Unfortunately, when I got pregnant I lost all taste for any vegetables and cannot even stomach the smell of most of them. This has made "healthy" eating difficult, but I still manage lots of fruit and a few veggies when I can. After I have my baby I plan to start cooking all of our meals again, using only fresh ingredients and I plan to start running again as soon as I can. It's not because I have to lose the baby weight, it is because I love doing it. I love how I feel after a good run. I love how I have more energy for the rest of the day after a good work out in the morning.

The healthy living blog community has helped me so much. It is so comforting to know that there are other people out there who view health and fitness through the same eyes that I do. People who understand that "health" foods are more delicious than processed foods. Girls who understand that an intense run is more than just a way to burn calories. I love these girls and their blogs. The pictures of their meals make me drool and they have inspired me to one day do a marathon myself. No, it is not because I need to compare myself to them or try to do what they do... it is because I now have faith in myself as an athlete. I have faith in myself as a person. I know that I don't have to be fast and that walk breaks are okay.

I see their blogs as a POSITIVE influence on my life. I cannot speak for their thousands of other readers (although comments and tweets have shown that I am not the only one who feels this way), but I would be devastated if any of them decided to quit blogging. I would honestly feel like I was losing a friend.

So, Caitlin, Meghann, and Kath (and the other three bloggers)... you have my support and you always will. It was obvious you were misrepresented and I hope that one day an apology comes your way. If not, don't let it get to you. You are such an inspiration and positive motivation for me, and thousands of others.

Farmer's Market

Today Brent and I ventured to the Mount Pleasant Farmer's Market.

Actually, Mount Pleasant has two Farmer's Markets... a big one on Thursday mornings and a smaller one on Saturday mornings, but since he works almost every Thursday morning we never get a chance to go to that one. Well, we woke up today and decided to go to the Saturday one.

I'm really glad we did! :)

Our goodies included:
-fresh honey crisp apples
-peaches
-4 ears of corn
-3 sweet potatoes
-a zucchini
-a cucumber
-lots of green beans
-an oatmeal cherry cookie :)

As soon as we got home, Brent got ready for work and left. I started thinking of fun ways to use our produce.

First idea: homemade peach tea.
I cut up three of the peaches while brewing regular black tea. Put the peach slices in the jug and filled it with the tea. Extremely simple. Extremely delicious! The peaches gave the tea the perfect sweetness and flavor. Even Brent, who hates sweet tea, loved it! :)

Second idea: green bean mac&cheese.
I have been craving some Velveeta shells and cheese all day, and we just happened to have a box in the pantry. So, I put the noodles in bowling water and chopped up several of our fresh green beans (my attempt at making it healthy) and added them in. The end result was WAY better than I actually expected. The beans stayed crunchy and added the perfect touch to the rich cheese and soft shells. I will definitely be trying this again. :)

Business Venture
I was quite inspired a few weeks ago when it was suggested to me that I try and sell my baked goods at the farmers market. Everytime I go there are at least two or three booths set up with people selling their bread, cookies, cupcakes, etc. AND since I have been so obsessed with baking lately I thought it would be a great idea. Unfortunately, my pessimistic side got the better of me and I decided I would probably never be able to do it. It would probably be super expensive to reserve a spot, I would probably need some sort of business license, or something that would be unattainable for me.

Well, when I saw the baked goods stand today I wondered over and checked out their goods and asked about what they had to do to set up there. She said I just had to go speak with the Parks & Rec department, and that for a Thursday spot it was $20 and a Saturday spot was only $10, obviously this is per week that I set up there. OR I could pay for the whole season in advance and get a discounted price. WHAT? That is seriously ALL I have to do? I am definitely considering doing this next summer... what a great way to make money!

Bake at home. Take Beannette to the park twice a week to sell my baked goods. Make money.

Yes, please.

Brent is all about me getting on this band wagon, and it is definitely under consideration at the moment. :)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Second try at making homemade bread.

Second success! :)

I follow a TON of food/healthy living blogs and recently they have all been posting about PUMPKIN. And it is obviously very fitting with the fall weather we have been experiencing and even the leaves are beginning to change. This inspired me to try some new recipes... involving pumpkin!

I'm not familiar with pumpkin, I have never baked with it before and to be completely honest I didn't used to be a giant fan of pumpkin pie, I think that might be changing this year... so I was a bit skeptical.

I went out and bought some canned pumpkin - finally! There was apparently a huge shortage which caused a bit of delay and found a fun magazine with lots of fall themed recipes.

I picked this recipe because I thought it was an interesting way to integrate pumpkin and chocolate! It was instantly a success. Extremely moist (I hate that word...), with the perfect sweetness. Brent seriously LOVES it, and so do all of his co-workers. :)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Bread
1/2 C butter, softened
1 C granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 C canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
2 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 C miniature chocolate chips
1/4 C chopped walnuts (optional - I did not use these)

Glaze
1/2 C powdered sugar
3 tsp milk

1. Heat oven to 350*. Grease bottom only of 9x5 inch loaf pan with shortening or cooking spray.
2. In large bowl, mix: butter, granulated sugar, eggs, and pumpkin with wire whisk. Stir in flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts. Spread in pan.
3. Bake 55-65 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours.
4. In small bowl, stir powdered sugar and milk until smooth and thin enough to drizzle. Drizzle over loaf. Let glaze set up before slicing, about 30 minutes.

Baking notes: My loaf pan was only 8.5x4.75, so it was a bit thicker and took around 80 minutes to fully cook.

I am loved!

Brent does a wonderful job of cheering me up, even if it something small he knows exactly how to make me smile!

Let me first go back a few weeks, when I was in the heat of my baking streak. I constantly complained that finding what I needed was impossible because I had acquired too many spices and baking materials. Seriously. This was my cabinet:


Whether he was tired of hearing me complain constantly, or because he loves me that much he went out and got me this:


I was ecstatic! :)

Fast forward to yesterday.
Wednesday was a terrible, terrible day. Lots of drama and stress, on top of the 3 hours I spent in the ER early that morning... and it only got worse from there. Let's not even talk about the pregnancy hormones and emotions thrown into it.. it was just a bad day.

Thursday, he had to work and knew I was still pretty upset about Wednesday. As I was sitting at my computer checking my daily sites (mostly blogs) he was being awfully secretive in the bedroom. I assumed he was just playing his video games and didn't think much of it. After awhile he came out and got on his computer and I went to take a shower.

I got in the bathroom and found a post-it stuck to the bathroom mirror. It said "you will ALWAYS be beautiful to me <3". I lost it, I started crying my eyes out and I went and gave him a huge hug! It meant so much to me to find that note, and he knew it would make me smile... I don't think he was expecting the tears though. :)

It also really made my heart melt that he does pay attention to what I do. I sit on my computer everyday and browse multiple healthy living blogs, following the lives and healthy stories of people who I have never even met. It is a great inspiration to me, not only because I love seeing that other people live happy, healthy lives but because they also make healthy living and healthy eating fun. Health food does not equate to bad food, and exercise does not equate to torture. It's nice to see others who feel the same way.

I've been reading these blogs for a few months now and I must admit that while I love reading all of them, there are a few that have really stuck out to me for various reasons and I love them. I love the girls that write them, their stories, and I love reading their daily posts. Two of these, in particular, really stood out to me.

One was Caitlin. She is always upbeat and positive, and she shares stories about her personal goals and life outside of what she eats and how she exercises. Plus, it's always fun to see pictures and read stories of other furbabies :). But really, it was her side project that drew me to read HTP everyday.. Operation Beautiful. I first noticed the link on the side of her blog, and then I started following the OB blog as well. It really hit home to me because I have never had a good body image of myself and I used to partake in lots of negative and fat talk. I had never left any notes on my own, but I talked about them all the time. I thought most of my talk was just random babbling to Brent, until yesterday.

He actually listened and knew that if he wanted to make me smile he knew just what he had to do. Throughout the day I found 9 post-it's, all with different happy positive thoughts scattered throughout the house, and apparently there are still a few hidden somewhere. With each new-found note came new tears of happiness. Brent means so much to me, and for him to do that.. just to make me smile.. shows me how much he really cares about me. It may have been small, he didn't go out and spend a lot of money on lavish gifts, but his heart poured out to me on those little green pieces of paper and that means more to me than any material possession ever could. <3

New Discoveries

I was quite disheartened last night when I was craving a good ol' fashioned PB&J and then it tasted absolutely disgusting to me. The jelly was just too sweet and I couldn't stomach it.

Well, today I was making lunch and decided to try and get creative. Yesterday, Brent and I ventured to the Mount Pleasant Farmer's Market and picked up some fresh apples, it was seriously the only thing that looked appetizing to me (the one part of pregnancy I am quite sick of is my aversion to veggies...). I stared at them for a few minutes and knew exactly what I wanted to make.

I pulled out the bread and smeared one slice with peanut butter. I sliced the apple and put it in the peanut butter and covered it with cinnamon and nutmeg. To finish it off I grilled it on the skillet.

The finished product:



I cannot say enough how delicious this combo was! Brent, who was extremely skeptical when he saw me assembling it thought it was one of my greatest creations yet! I do believe this will definitely be making a reappearance. :)

It's a feast!

I've slowly been experimenting more and more in the kitchen, but mostly I have resorted to old favorites and lots of processed foods. My aversions have come back, hard, and I cannot seem to stomach fresh veggies. I have also been extremely exhausted and my feet swell if I am on them too long... hence why I have been pretty absent from the blogging world.

However, the other day Brent and I were at the grocery store and we decided we wanted ribs for dinner. Now, I LOVE ribs, and he loves ribs but neither of us had ever made them before. I tried looking up several recipes, but I didn't like any of what I found (mostly because they called for a 1 1/2 hour to 3 hour cook time and I was starving :P), so I decided to try it my own way.

We spiced them up with BBQ sauce and an assortment of other spices and put them under the broiler for about 15 minutes, checking on them somewhere around the 7 minute mark. This somewhat worked, the meat cooked but the BBQ sauce burned into a hard crisp shell. Don't get me wrong, it was still extremely delicious.. I just think next time I will try something a little different in the preparation.

On the side I made some homemade mashed potatoes.

Fun fact: Before he started dating me Brent hated potatoes with a strong passion, claiming they were disgusting and swore he had tried all kinds before. Now he loves them. He begs me to make potatoes (he especially loves them baked) with dinner! Success, if I do say so myself :)


Fun fact #2: Kenji loves mashed potatoes. It is a well known fact that Kenji is spoiled worse than most children, so of course when he smelled the delicious aroma of a new meat being cooked he all but dived into the oven to investigate. When we sat down to eat he jumped up on my chair (this is typical, he sits next to me in my chair while we eat waiting for me to give him bites), so I tore off some rib meat and scooted it over to him. He ignored it and instead stuck his entire paw into my potatoes and proceeded to lick it all off, then stuck his paw back in for more. I almost died laughing. :)

Overall, I would say the dinner was a success...

Pork and Beans

It has been forever since we've had a decent burger and Brent was really craving one so we went to the store and bought some natural, grass-fed beef and came home and put it on the Foreman.

He spiced the meat with crushed red pepper, seasoning salt, black pepper, and paprika. Instead of sprinkling it on while cooking, he mixed it all in with the raw beef before forming the patties.

His was served on a whole wheat bun with provolone, spinach, mustard, and ketchup; with a side of natural vegetable chips made from potatoes, tomatoes, and spinach. He also had his first taste EVER of pork and beans. Unfortunately, he was not a fan.












I was unfortunately not feeling a burger, so I crushed up my patty and added it to some mac&cheese, which turned out to be pretty good. :)

And since Brent is now at work until 9:15, I have to decide what I want to make today. All of this blogging about food has made me huuuuungry!

Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo

While none of us in this house are Italian, pasta is definitely a favorite. In fact, I think Brent lived on pasta before we met. Unfortunately, his version was a box of noodles mixed with plain tomato sauce. ew.

Since then, we have spiced it up creating our own fun pasta dishes and recreating some of his favorites from childhood. It wasn't until last night that I decided to get real creative.

I was going through my cookbook, a main hobby of mine these days, and found a recipe for homemade pasta. Interesting. A quick glance at the ingredient list showed that I had everything I needed so I set out to make him a delicious dinner.

The noodles were actually a LOT easier than I had anticipated, I just wish I had a better set of kitchen knives or a pastry cutter because cutting the dough into noodles was the hardest part. However, after two hours they were done and ready to be eaten.




For the alfredo sauce I simply mixed butter, heavy whipping cream, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. I cooked a few chicken breasts on the skillet in EVOO and mixed it all together.


Brent claims that it was better than The Olive Garden, I'm not sure how much I believed this but I do have to agree that it was very good for my first attempt at a homemade pasta dish.

He also proved once more that he is the greatest boyfriend ever by buying me this the other day:

I had been complaining (probably more than necessary) that it was hard to use homemade dough with no rolling pin.. I had used various other items such as an applesauce jar, an old tea bottle, etc. in my baking prior to this, so while we were at the store one day he ventured into the kitchen gadgets and came back with this! I was so happy! It's the little things in life... :)

Note: I got the recipe for the pasta and the sauce in a general cookbook, but if you would like me to post them just leave a comment and let me know :)

Chai Tea Cupcakes

This has, by far, been my greatest "new recipe" success since I started experimenting in the kitchen. These cupcakes turned out sooooo delicious, and moist, and perfect that the entire batch was devoured in less than 12 hours (seriously!) :)


Brent and I are both chai tea fanatics. Anytime we go to a coffee shop, this is exactly what we order. Obviously this can get expensive so it is a rare treat, until recently. I started experimenting with spices and combinations and have found a way to make it at home! I daresay it is even better than the $4 version we normally buy. However, this also left a few chai tea bags laying around begging to be used, so I decided to experiment again.

1/2 cup sugar
2 oz. butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
pinch of salt
1-2 chai tea bags, depending on how strong you want the chai flavor.

1. Heat oven to 350*. Place liners in cupcake pan or spray with oil.
2. Heat up milk on stove, remove. Place tea bags into milk at steep for 5-10 minutes.
3. Cream butter and sugar together. Mix in egg and vanilla. Mix in tea mixture.
4. Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, gloves, ginger, cardamom, and salt together. Mix dry and wet ingredients.
5. Divide batter into cupcake tray.
6. Bake 15-18 minutes.
6. Allow to cool. Frost with buttercream frosting and sprinkle with cinnamon.

They were seriously A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. If you love chai tea, they are definitely worth your time to make.


Kenji says hello from his favorite perch in the kitchen. He loves watching me cook and bake, secretly hoping I drop some delicious noms on the floor for him :)

Banana Bread

I did it! My first venture into making my own bread was a HUGE success!













I have always wanted to make my own bread, so when I saw this recipe on Megan's Blog, I decided to give it a shot.

The recipe was very simple, easy to follow, and the result was absolutely delicious!

-1/2 cup oatmeal
-1 cup whole wheat flour
-1 tsp cinnamon
-1/2 cup white sugar
-1 1/4 tsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp baking soda
-1 egg
-3 really ripe bananas
-1/3 cup apple sauce

Mix all these ingredients in a large bowl, pour into a greased 8 X 4 inch loaf pan, then pop into a 350 oven for about 50 minutes! I like to toast slices and top them with butter.

I had a few plain slices, a few with butter, and my personal favorite: heated with honey and chocolate chips. mouth watering! :)

My next quest is to find a good recipe for cinnamon bread... yum!

Betty Crocker

Being pregnant means that everything is not always about yourself. Well, this has certainly proven true throughout my pregnancy this far. Beannette has intensified my sweet tooth by a ton, but has made it almost impossible for me to drink any beverage that has been sweetened (chocolate milk, juice, etc.)... which I find strange, but I roll with it.

I've also been hit hard with the nesting symptom. While most of this has been directed toward the kitchen as I spend countless hours baking, digging through cookbooks and online recipes, and cooking new and delicious meals; I have noticed that all I want to do is organize and get things ready for when she gets here. This is difficult since we plan on moving so soon after her birth, but I think in my haste to get everything perfect I have found our perfect apartment for when we do move in March!

However, this blog is not for that and I will focus on my ridiculous baking splurges.

I have decided, through my college education, common knowledge, and food movies/books/blogs, that I will never again buy boxed mixes for baked goods. Homemade tastes better and has better nutritional value.

That being said I have been experimenting hard core in the baking department. My adventures have included:
Cinnamon Rolls

Brownies

Vast amounts of cookies













Everything was so good and went over extremely well with Brent and his co-workers... obviously I didn't want the baked goods to pile up too much around the house so I sent some to work with him.

I have also discovered how much I really love to bake! I used to think it was fun, opening the packages and stirring in an egg... but actually making everything yourself is much, much more satisfying.

Note: all of these recipes are from a general cookbook, but if you would like me to post it just leave a comment and let me know :)

Pork Tenderloin with a Blueberry Rub

I know what you're thinking... blueberries on pork?! But I promise you, it was delicious!


I started with about a 1 1/2 lb. pork tenderloin. I coated it with whole grain country dijon mustard, salt, and pepper. I put it on a broiler pan and placed it under the broiler for about 18 minutes, flipping the meat every 3-4 minutes.

For the sauce I used 1 cup blueberry preserves, chipotle powder, orange juice, country dijon mustard, salt and pepper. I don't have an exact recipe for this because I just kind of added as I needed to make it thicker and seasoned to my taste.

For a side I made some long grain wild rice.

I cannot say that I am entirely new to cooking, but I am new to experimenting. I grew up in a household that didn't even use salt to season (because of health issues), so spices and herbs are completely foreign to me so I am having a great time testing them and exploring new recipes!

It's grey outside

It went from being a hot, humid, sunny 92* yesterday to a completely dark grey, rainy 69* today. While it doesn't make for good weather, the cooler temps and the sounds of the rain seem to be more motivating to me than the extreme heat.

As promised, yesterday's lunch consisted of 1/2 a chicken spinach pita (picture in the previous post). Unfortunately, this time it tasted terrible and I only managed a few bites. Pregnancy can be lame at times.

Dinner, as mentioned, was steak! It was SO good. Definitely exactly what my body needed because my headache went away and I have had more energy today than I've had in about a week. Guess red meat is good for the body.









Served with mashed potatoes and a side salad (spinach, romaine, cuc, catalina). We will definitely be getting more steaks on our next trip to the store.

Late night snacks included ice cream, chicken nuggets, and some grapes. :)

Today is shaping up to be wonderful, aside from the weather and the fact that Brent works all day (9-5)... but I am getting a LOT accomplished. I have the house almost completely cleaned back up (and it was looking like quite the disaster area), dinner in the crock pot (CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS!!!! omg, yay!), and I am about to embark on some cookies. I do plan on making the bread I mentioned earlier, but I realized that I need a loaf pan before starting such a wonderful adventure.

Recap!

Lucky for me, there were leftovers of the delicious foods I mentioned in the previous post!

The fruit plate:

The salad:

aaaand a grilled chicken pita with some of the chicken (chicken + spinach + provolone + ranch = YUM!) I will definitely be making another one of these today.


I am now 21 weeks pregnant! Over halfway there!! Unfortunately, I think that my transition to a more healthy lifestyle and my extreme aversion to beef recently (part pregnancy, part food documentaries that scare me away from food) I have been experiencing extreme headaches which I can only assume are caused by low iron. I cannot really diagnose this myself, but it explains the sluggishness and the headaches that I've been having recently, add in that I haven't eaten red meat in almost a month AND I have not been eating a ton of fortified cereals or leafy greens, I would say that's probably what it is. It was so bad last night Brent ran out and got me a cheeseburger from Burger King (gross, but it lessened the headache) and I decided that tonight we are having STEAK for dinner! SO excited. Normally I am a medium rare kind of girl, so I will have to survive with it being a little more brown, but I'm sure it will be delicious. :)

I also plan on experimenting with some recipes today... including a delicious looking banana bread!

Hello Blog

I may not have many followers on here, but I feel as if I have abandoned you.

Things have been very stressful on the home front, on top of being 5 months pregnant you can get a very lazy girl. Unfortunately I have not been lazy at all. The pregnancy nesting has kicked in almost full force and I have been on an organizing, cleaning, cooking, baking frenzy!

Sadly, we have not been adventurous in our foods and they have been frozen or boxed or premade, OR we just repeat the same three or four meals every week which gets quite boring to photograph, write about, and I am sure quite boring to read about as well.

Yesterday I did break out of the norm... I made a delicious three egg omelet for lunch with shredded turkey and provolone cheese! It really hit the spot, too bad my camera battery was dead and celly pictures just don't do as well. For dinner we made quite the spread with grilled chicken salads - romaine, whole grain rotini noodles, grilled chicken breast strips, shredded colby jack cheese, cucs, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, and craisins! YUM. Meal complete with a giant fruit tray. It really did the job of making my tummy feel better after a week or so of nasty, fried, high fat foods.

Starting this week Brent and I decided we were going to venture out and try new recipes and work out everyday, so look forward to new and exciting recipes and workout posts to chronicle our fantabulous adventure together. :)

I hope everyone else enjoyed America's birthday yesterday!

Strange Creations

My eating habits have been less than stellar recently, but I'm managing to fit my weird cravings into somewhat healthy creations.

I threw this together, getting the idea from Megan who eats peanut butter/honey sandwiches. Only, I added the combo to a banana. It ended up being really good, so I am excited to buy more bananas and have it again!


I've also been going crazy over hard boiled eggs, and I've really been craving a big, juicy turkey sandwich (since I make Brent one almost everyday), but cannot stand the thought of a hot sandwich... I decided to steam some meat and make a chef salad combining all my favorites: romaine, spinach, egg, turkey, roast beef, cherry tomatoes, and cucumber all topped with catalina dressing! It was delicious, but the heated meat still kind of threw me off.


And I have also been feeling a lot like Betty Crocker recently. In the past few days I have made: broccoli cheese soup, cheeseburger macaroni, tacos with beans and rice, spaghetti, chocolate chip cookies, countless salads, fruit plates, and chocolate chip muffins!

I was quite pleased with how the muffins came out. I am also glad that I am channeling my chocolate cravings into delicious creations!









Brent and I also went to the doctor yesterday and we are officially having a little girl!!!! She is quite the wiggle worm, already being silly just like her daddy and just as stubborn as her mommy - it took over an hour to get all the necessary pictures and measurements because she kept rolling around. We are SO excited! :)

Broccoli Cheese Soup!

Broccoli cheese soup is a new found love of mine. I discovered it's greatness while working at Subway, and have been obsessed ever since. The only downfall is I cannot find a good brand that I actually care for. Most canned soups are too salty for my taste, or the cheese tastes fake, or they are just too runny. I would try various restaurant versions, but I usually ran into the same problems... or the soup was overpowered by ginormous chunks of vegetables with hardly any cheesy broth.

The solution: make my own!

However, I cannot take complete credit for this, the recipe is from my soon to be mom-in-law (which was passed down from her mom). Family recipe = delicious!

Also, I fully believe that soup is a perfectly acceptable summertime food. :)

The ingredients:

1 bunch broccoli
1 head cauliflower
4 large carrots
5 medium potatoes (diced)
1 medium onion (optional) - (I left this out since I am allergic to onions)
4 chicken bouillon cubes
2 cups milk
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 lb. velveeta cheese

1. Cut veggies and put them all in a pot, barely covered with water. Add the chicken bouillon cubes and let boil.
2. Once boiling, add the milk and cornstarch. Continue to stir until thickened.
3. Once thickened, turn down the heat and add the cheese - cut up into small cubes for faster melting.
4. Let cheese melt.
5. Serve hot!

The final product:

I halved the recipe and still ended up with this enormous pot! So, definitely good if you are making for a lot of people. :) It is extremely creamy and loaded with vegetables and flavor! I could seriously eat it all day if it wasn't so filling.

I served some to myself for lunch with a half pita filled with shredded, steamed turkey and roast beef, spinach, cucumbers, 1/2 slice provolone, and mustard. yum!

Everything tastes better in a mug! :) and the whole meal totally hit the spot!

Next on my list of things to do today: oatmeal m&m cookies!

Oats and Pizza

Yesterday was a marvelous day! Brent and I did our weekly grocery shopping and came home with lots of new goodies! The weather was beautiful and everything was just... perfect :)

First of all, the BEST part of waking up is definitely a clean kitchen!!








Well worth it for me to clean it the night before, it made going in and making breakfast so much better! :) And then I had a great helper assisting me in putting my groceries away!


Since his lovely face appears in here often, this is Kenji. Brent and I rescued him from our local shelter a year and a half ago. He is very loving, playful, and enjoys turkey! He spends most of his days taking naps unless I'm in the kitchen, then he is right there at my feet (or on the counter, or in the fridge...). Perfect cat, in my opinion :)


I feel like I can finally be initiated as an official food blogger - I tried overnight oats! I have read about overnight oats on almost every food blog I follow (and that's a lot of blogs!) so I finally decided to try it for myself. For my mix I used a nearly empty jar of peanut butter (not nearly as exciting as a flavorful nut butter, but it's all I had).

1/3 cup old fashioned oats
1/3 cup vanilla soy milk
blob of almond butter
cinnamon

Honestly, I did not care for it. I just couldn't get over eating cold oatmeal, and it tasted extremely mushy. Oh well, I'll stick with my hot oats. :) Or cereal!


We really like cereal in this house. :D

Since we were out all morning running errands we had Mancino's for lunch. I had an 8" club and only about 3/4 of it, but it was delicious! Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it.

For dinner I decided to be boring (and very unhealthy) and do pizzas. Kind of a make your own style - I used a pita for the crust, added pizza sauce, mozzarella, and pepperoni. I am just not adventurous when it comes to pizza, I have tried veggies and I just don't like them. These were delicious! :)



For dessert I decided to get crafty and try a recipe for a fruit/veggie dip I had found.



1 package (8 oz.) fat free cream cheese
1 tbsp milk (I used vanilla Silk soy milk)
3 tbsp dark brown sugar (I used light brown sugar)
1/4 tbsp pumpkin pie spice

1. Bled the cream cheese and the milk in a food processor (or blender) until creamy, do not overmix.
2. Add in the brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice and blend until it is all mixed.
3. Serve with your favorite fruits and veggies!

The dip itself was delicious! and it paired really well with the apple. I plan on trying it with some broccoli today, I will be sure to post the results. :) For a treat to myself I bought one of these to try:


I tried the orange mango motion flavor. It's mix was: 1 3/4 oranges, 1/2 mango, 1 3/4 apple, and a hint of banana. Overall, it is pretty good. Really thick like a smoothie, but it was still really sweet to me (again, I think my aversion to sweet beverages is brought on by my pregnancy).. and other than the price tag (this was ON SALE for $3!!) I would definitely recommend it to others.

Today will be a fun day spent in the kitchen! I have a lot of recipes I am dying to try, and I am feeling great! :)