Happy Hump Day! I've got a little pep in my step this morning. Tripp ate at 9:30 and was asleep by 10 last night...and then didn't wake up again until 3! Thank youuuuu little boy. I decided to stay up after feeding him at 6am to get some laundry done and put away our special delivery.
In this week's box: romaine lettuce, carrots, broccolette, 2 avocados, 2 green bell peppers, golden beets, 5 plums, 1 honeydew melon, baby bok choy and garlic. Definitely doing a stir fry with some shrimp this week.
Last night, I decided (after realizing how precious my time is over the last few days) that the slow cooker and I are going to become best friends. If anyone has any good vegetarian - or not, I'm good at subbing - recipes, feel free to send them my way!
First experiment: thai cocunut curry. I use the term experiment because I literally just threw a bunch of stuff in there and said a little prayer as I walked away. Isn't that how some of the best stuff is made? :-)
I used 1 can of organic light coconut milk, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon + a little extra thai green curry paste and 1 tablespoon brown sugar. *Most curry recipes use fish sauce - I'm not so much a fan, so I skipped that part.* I whisked that together and poured it in the crockpot. Then I threw in 1 eggplant (cubed), 1 package of extra firm tofu (pressed dry and cubed), 1 green and 1 red bell pepper cut into big chunks, 1 clove of garlic (finely chopped) and a bunch of baby bok choy. Turn the crockpot on high for 3 1/2 hours and walk away. I'm a fan of that part.
Verdict: my kitchen smelled amazing this morning, but next time I would use twice as much liquid. Its delish, but I like it more coconutty. I'll throw another batch of the coconut milk/soy sauce/curry paste mixture in there, heat it up and serve over brown rice for dinner tonight. Boom...done.
I'm off to get my hair done today! Its been a looooong time and these roots need some serious love. I'll be enjoying my (hopefully) last day of the "you're not allowed to work out" phase. Be ready for some workouts to make their way back into the blog!
xo
Shaina
Happy Wednesday everyone! How is your day going? We've had a pretty good day so far. We got everyone (including Daddy!) dressed, fed and out the door for a walk to REI by 10am...and I even showered. Win!
Its definitely an experience learning how to time everything just right so we make sure we're somewhere I can feed Tripp on time but we still get stuff done. Of course he decided he wanted a little pick-me-up snack 2 minutes before we planned to walk out the door. :-) Adapt and overcome right?
Our produce delivery was dropped off at 2am when I was nursing. I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve when I went downstairs to bring the box in and open it up haha. This week:
1 yellow onion, 1 lb assorted potatoes, 3 apples, 3 oranges, 1 lb red cherries (!! - I freaking LOVE cherries), 1 bunch of carrots, 1 bundle of spinach (smoothies anyone?), 3 heads of assorted lettuce and 2 bunches of broccoli rabe rapini (new to me!).
I've never had rapini before, so I had to do a little research to see exactly what I had on my hands. I've been looking up some yummy ways to prepare it and I'm pretty excited:
-pasta dishes
-steamed
-braised
-sauteed with carmelized onions
My Mom is here this afternoon to have baby snuggle time so that Patrick and I can get stuff done on our ever-growing to do list that has been neglected since last week.
Have a fantastic afternoon! xo Shaina
...still baking and hanging a little lower (and mama's tired).
We actually had somewhat of a false alarm on Monday. My blood pressure has been a little iffy, so when I woke up with fat feet and a headache, the doctor wanted some blood work done. Off to L&D we went....after buzzing around the house cleaning, packing our bags (just in case) and getting some food together for Patrick. We checked in, they hooked me up to the monitor, watched my BP, and drew some blood. Everything ended up being fine so we went home a couple of hours later. At one point, the nurse said "oh yeah, your contractions are about 5 minutes apart." What?! I thought that was gas haha. Since then, they've gotten a little more noticeable, but nothing crazy yet. Just waiting.... I promise you will know when its the real deal. :-)
Last night, we had the fam over for dinner. I threw together a veggie lasagna - easy way to feed a crowd. Dinner guests contributed the salad, garlic bread and dessert so we had a yummy feast. Lasagna can be a looooong process, but if you're good at multi-tasking, its not too bad. First, I prepped all my veggies and doctored up some sauce:
lasagna layers: sauteed chopped spinach, sauteed mushrooms, tomatoes, sauteed zuccini, roasted peppers (bake at 400 for 40 minutes and then throw in a ziploc baggy so the steam helps peel the skin off - a little trick I learned from my Grandma)
and the "ricotta cheese" :-) it was actually tofu. Throw a package of drained firm tofu into the food processor with some garlic, basil, oregano, salt, pepper and the chopped stems from the mushrooms and pulse until it has the consistency of ricotta. A great way to add some protein to a veggie dish!
After all the ingredients were ready, I set up my assembly line:
layered the lasagna and baked at 350 for about 20-25 minutes, until the cheese started to brown. After I threw it in the oven, I realized I forgot something....
sad. No peppers. It was still yummy though, and we have leftovers in the freezer.
(I forgot to take a picture of my plate before the food disappeared.)
While we were all sitting around the table, our produce delivery came - 12 hours early?! Our delivery guy is so cute - he's this 60ish year old man and he's so nice. I think I'm going to start making him some treats. He dropped off our amazing box for the week, and then came back 2 minutes later with goodies that he said were for the baby!
Fresh juice anyone?
In the box this week: 1 lemon, 1 avocado, 4 peaches, 1 package blueberries, 1 bunch broccoli, 1 bunch turnips, 1 bunch carrots, 1lb mixed lettuce, 1 lb assorted potatoes, 1 lb zuccini and a bundle of parsley! I think a big pot of vegetable soup is in our near future.
We're relaxing today. Have a fantastic Wednesday everyone! xo Shaina
Special delivery to the Anderson house this morning!
We're only on week #2 of produce delivery and I'm loving it. Its like Christmas morning every Wednesday; we never know what's going to be in there. This week:
3 apples, 1 grapefruit, 2 oranges, 2 avocados, 1 pint of strawberries, 2 BIG ears of white corn, 1 bunch of broccoli, 1 bunch white baby turnips, 1 bundle of spinach, 1 head of green leaf lettuce and....more rhubarb! Haha oh no....good thing they send recipes with your box. I'll make some rhubarb turnovers and give them away. :-) All of this - local, organic and delivered to my door for $31.50 a week?! Yes please.
Last week's box had 2 lbs of rhubarb in the haul...what does one do with that?!
My first thought was Strawberry Rhubarb pie - something my Mom used to make often when I was a child. I'm actually not a big pie person anymore - more of a pie *filling* person. ;-) I browsed some recipes and decided on a crumble-looking thing from Betty Crocker (read: NOT healthy, but sometimes necessary).
Ingredients:
Crust & Topping
-1 c butter or margargine, softened
-1 c packed brown sugar
-1 t vanilla
-2 c whole wheat flour
-1.5 c quick cook oats
-2/3 c chopped nuts (optional)
-1/2 t baking soda
-1/4 t salt
Filling
-2 cups turbinado sugar
-2/3 c whole wheat flour
-2 t milk of choice
-4 eggs (or egg replacer equivalent)
-4 cups sliced strawberries
-4 cups sliced rhubarb
1. Heat oven to 375.
2. In a medium bowl, mix butter, brown sugar and vanilla. Stir in 2 cups of the flour, oats, nuts, baking soda and salt until crumbly. .
3. Reserve 2 cups of this mixture for the topping. Press the remaining mixture into an ungreased 15x10x1-inch pan. (I didn't have this size so mine was just extra thick.)
4. In a large bowl, mix turbinado sugar, 2/3 c flour, milk and eggs with a spoon until smooth. Fold in the strawberries and rhubarb.
5. Spoon the filling onto the crust. Sprinkle with reserved crumb topping.
6. Bake 40-50 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and the middle is set. Cool slightly - about 30 minutes.
7. Serve with whipped cream, ice cream or plain - it was delish by itself. Store covered in the refrigerator.
I actually had a little bit of an epiphany yesterday, which in turn took away my guilt about said unhealthy dessert. I feel like my relationship with food and looking a certain way was a little unhealthy before I got pregnant. Often times, we ladies have a skewed body image and the reflection we see in the mirror isn't what everyone else sees when they look at us. Case in point: I saw a picture of myself from Feb 2011 yesterday and it kind of shocked me. I never realized I was that small. It wasn't unhealthy small (close), but I love my body so much more right now than I ever have...maybe minus the swollen ankles.
I haven't even gone through the most amazing part of this pregnancy yet, but I am already so amazed at what my body has been capable of - housing, feeding and protecting our sweet baby until s/he is ready to come out and greet the world. I will be forever grateful to my body and am okay with however it looks after this is all said and done - within reason of course. My focus is on being healthy and active so that I can take the best care of our family possible.
37 weeks - full term today!! :-)
(Its so nice to not have to take my own picture every week now. Its the little things haha.)
Have a lovely Wednesday everyone! xo Shaina
Happy Wednesday everyone! Its been a busy start to the week over here - an unexpected shift at work, early meeting, belly photo shoot, tour of the maternity ward (!) and lots of errands. More on the belly photo shoot and tour in tomorrow's baby update. :-)
I wanted to talk about buying organic products at the grocery store today. These days, everyone is on a budget and many people can't afford to buy everything organic or just don't feel its necessary. Every year, Environmental Working Group puts out a list called The Dirty Dozen - foods that rank the highest when tested for pesticide residues. The data is from the previous years harvest, so it also includes information about where that particular food ranked the year before so you can see trends. Obviously, its hard to know what is going on down on the farm this afternoon, but having as much information as possible so that you can make educated decisions is always good right? I found this awesome article with a ton of good info. I like that it gives you yummy alternatives to buy if you can't find that particular item in the organic section.
I personally take all this information with a grain of salt, too. I try to go by the rule that if I'm eating the outside of the produce, organic is probably better (strawberries, apples, etc). I don't feel its absolutely necessary to buy organic bananas. Sometimes, organic isn't available depending on what is in season. Also, I like to support local farms, so if its something that I don't *need* to buy organic, I'll opt for the local pick over the one from Chile. We all know I'm a fan of farmer's markets (which are generally organic)....AND I'm going to start getting a produce delivery every week from a local farm!! More on that to come.
(salad in a mixing bowl, just the way I like it: arugula, chickpeas, sundried tomatoes, pepperoncinis, feta, nutritional yeast and light champagne viniagrette)
So what's on the latest Dirty Dozen you ask?
1. Apples
2. Celery
3. Strawberries (always on the list)
4. Peaches
5. Spinach
6. Nectarines
7. Grapes
8. Sweet Bell Peppers (and this article has it listed as a fruit. I know tomatoes are a fruit, but this was news to me.)
9. Potatoes
10. Blueberries
I think today's sunshine calls for me breaking out the juicer and making some fresh, organic lemonade. Talk about local! :-) (That tree is in a common area, I'm not stealing from the neighbors!)
Have a fantastic day everyone! xo Shaina
