Pregnancy and Cooking

...are just two things that don't always mix!

I'm sorry for my absence, but I sure do hope that makes your heart fonder.  <3

Here's the skinny on what's been happening...

1.  I have had NO time to blog.  I started a crochet business called Made by Magissa and it boomed during the Fall.  A wonderful thing!  Just didn't leave much time for anything but crocheting and being a momma during what "free time" I have.  (I'm kinda okay with that.)

2.  I'm pregnant with Baby #2, a BOY this time!  He is due on May 16th and is currently the size of an ear of corn, to give you some perspective:

3.  This pregnancy has been tougher sickness-wise and cooking-wise, if you thought the last one was bad!  Though, that was mainly in the first trimester.  I'm happily sailing through the second trimester and have been doing lots of cooking to try to keep some of those inevitable pounds away (one of my New Year's resolutions).  I'm currently determined to add spinach back into my diet in the form of lots of yummy salads.  Stay tuned.

4.  I haven't forgotten about the blogging world!  I've been taking pictures of some things I've been making, just haven't posted.  Feast your eyes on these... can you guess which are pregnant cravings and which are attempts to be healthy?

I'll be honest, I don't remember what this is...

Seriously.  I've been sitting here looking at the picture and thinking about what it could have been.  Maybe a meatball sub?  Perhaps a cheeseburger attempt on a hot dog bun?  Your guess is as good as mine.  Pretty sure that's meat, cheese, and tomato at least... so... yeah.

Crockpot Maple Ham

This was sooooo easy to make.  Good, because I didn't want to be smelling everything!  Basically, you put a layer of carrots and sweet potato in the bottom of your crockpot... put a 1-1 1/2 pound ham on top of it... and pour some maple syrup over the whole thing.  It ends up cooking for about 6-8 hours, depending on whether you put it on low or high.  Yummy!

Yes, I know that wasn't pictured in the crockpot.  At least I remembered to take a picture as I portioned it out for my lovely hubby's lunches!

Mac & Cheese on a Stick

I did not make this.  I bought it at a Renn Faire.  It was A-MAZING.  Jealous?

Egg Salad Wrap

Just like it sounds... there are tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and spinach on there, too.  Maybe avocado?  I love all things avocado.  Guacamole, especially.  Mmmm... guacamole...

Enjoying my favorite!

Blueberry Oat Pancakes

You've seen the Oat Pancakes before.  Still an all-time favorite in our house.  We added blueberries because my daughter had been obsessed with "Curious George makes Pancakes" and wanted to add blueberries to them like he did in the book.  *heart melts*

My lovely helper!

Hot Cocoa Cookies

Mine were topped with peppermint marshmallows... just because it's what was in the pantry!  These were tasty, but got a little moist when covered up for too long.  I will say that I didn't add all the butter, but substituted applesauce for some of it instead.  That tends to make cookies a little more cake-y.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Recipe came DIRECTLY off the bag of Hershey's kisses.  Yum.  Yep, just yum.

Red Velvet White Chocolate Chip Cookies

These were good, but also a little cake-y because of my butter substitution.  Don't worry, they still got eaten.

Soft Pudding Monster Cookies

BEST.  COOKIES.  EVER.  Pregnant me ate most of them.

Eggplant Parmesan

I cannot divulge my recipe, as it is from my wonderful uncle!  Come on over sometime, I'm itching for a reason to make this again.  Mmmm...

My helper, at it again!

Egg Salad on a Waffle

Haha, had to throw it in here... oh so good.  If there's hard-boiled eggs and waffles in my house, this is my go to lunch.  :-)

Okay, so I can explain all of the cookies like this... if you can't eat cookies when you're pregnant, when can you?

Happy Cooking, folks!  Hopefully I'll be back again before baby comes.  No promises.  ;-)

Healthy Schtuff

OMG.  My baby blog has taken over all of my blog time!  :-) 

Here are some yummy things I've made recently and haven't had time to post about...

Grilled Zucchini Rolls with Herbs and Cheese

Now, I will say that my zucchini rolls did not include herbed goat cheese because Jimmy couldn't find it at the store.  Where does one find goat cheese?  On a farm?  Well, we didn't go to a farm.  Maybe next time.  These were really good though!  I used my new grill pan (woot woot!) and cooked up the zucchini and then rolled them, which was not nearly as easy as it sounds. 

Jimmy thought they tasted like cheeseburgers.  Seriously.  I dunno.  You'll have to try them and see!

Crockpot General Tso's Chicken

I love love love that crockpot site.  It's very user-friendly and has about a million recipes that are easy and rated based on how much the chef's family actually liked them.  Plus, most of the recipes (if not all) are gluten-free and pretty darn healthy. 

I will say that this was nothing like the General Tso's you would order from a take-out place, but it was delicious in its own way and waaaaaaay healthier.  Worth it.

Broth Fondue!

Neal, Casee, Jimmy, and I have been having all sorts of fondue fun!  I may have purchased a fondue pot for Neal for his birthday and now we make him bring it over every time he comes to visit.  :-)

Casee trying to cut apart salmon. 
Yes, the vegetarian at the table has the job of cutting meat. 
That seems fair!

Haha, both Neal and Jimmy were watching her trying to cut up the salmon.  After fondue, we watched some Game of Thrones... there it is!  It has a prime spot on the table.  Haha. 

Barley with Spinach and Asparagus

I can't find this last recipe online... but it was pretty darn delicious.  I got it out of a weight watchers cookbook.  YUM! 

What have you been cooking lately?  :-)

Cincinnati Chili

As you may or may not know, I'm a big fan of chili.  It's a staple in our house.  I generally make it using chili packets of seasoning and pretty much always follow the same recipe.  It's not tough. 

However, my favorite kind of chili is not exactly convenient to make.  I used to be able to find Cincinnati chili packets, but they no longer sell them around here.  The packets were convenient because you just add them to some meat and cook away.  Without the packets, the chili has to simmer for a looooooooong time to get all of the spices and flavors going.  If you follow my chili link above, it will take you to where you can actually order the packets.  OR... you can just try this recipe.  I crockpotted it up.  Yep, I made a new word there. 

I think the main difference with Cincinnati chili is that you serve it over spaghetti noodles.  Oh, and you put chocolate and cinnamon in it.  Sounds crazy, but it's amazing!  Mmm... as I was cooking it, the house smelled terrific and it brought back all kinds of good memories.  :-)

All spiced up in the crock.

Simmering meat...

Dump it all in and cook!

Cincinnati Chili

Now, I think if I make it again, I may try it without the kidney beans.  I know that you usually put beans in chili, but the way I remember having Cinicinnati chili is without them.  Kidney beans have never been my favorite anyway... although they apparently have all kinds of health benefits. 

Yummy!

What's your favorite kind of chili?

Meat!

Happy New Year!  :-) 

I hope you're having a good 2012 and working on whatever your resolutions may be.  I made a few resolutions and I'm doing my best...

1. Read at least 20 books this year. 
2. Learn how to cook meat.
3. Paint my kitchen yellow.

So far I've read one book: The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson.  It's the second book in the Milennium series and I thought it was better than the first.  I technically finished the first book in 2012, but I'm not counting it because I started it last year.  :-p  Any book recommendations for me?  I've got a new Kindle that's itching for books! 

Meat, in general, intimidates me when it's in a large chunk.  I'm not afraid of ground beef, ground turkey, or ground chicken because it's all ground up already!  I am now equipped with a nice meat thermometer and so my mission begins. 

Today I made two things... first, Meatball Mushroom Soup, which turned out more like a thick stew.  Meatballs don't scare me because they are little... so I started off kind of small.  Mmm...  

 

Carrots are bleeding!  (They didn't stand a chance.)

Meatball Mushroom Soup

So, I'm pretty sure that this was super thick because I didn't follow the recipe.  I added more rice, barley, and noodles than it called for because I thought, 'How can that be enough?!'  Well, it was enough.  Don't get me wrong... the thickness was delicious.  Just not what I was expecting.  I think this was also the first time I've ever knowingly eaten barley.  What an odd consistency! 

The second thing I made today was Dijon Beef and Mushrooms... which was supposed to be more of a stew-like substance and turned into soup!  For this recipe, I cut up my first hunk of steak meat ever.  *That link is not the exact recipe (which I can't find), but it gives you a general idea. 

Hunk of meat!

Mess of stuff in the crockpot...

Four hours later... it's like soup!

Dijon Beef and Mushrooms

It was so saucy, I decided to serve it over brown rice.  The recipe I used came out of a Skinny Slow Cooker magazine that I got at the grocery store the other day.  I'm excited to start using my crockpots more... I love crockpot cooking!  <3

Oh!  As far as painting my kitchen yellow goes, it will happen.  Just not yet.  Life's been a little busy lately.  In a good way!  :-) 

Mexican Casseroles

Thanks for hanging in there with me, blog readers.  :-)  I decided that I miss cooking!  My preggo body has had some weird cravings, which has led to not so much real cooking.  We've definitely been doing more semi-cooking for convenience rather than using the awesome recipes I've been gathering for the past year.  I was thoroughly exhausted last week with school back in session and with my swollen feet, I can barely stand at night, let alone cook! 

So, I've decided that I'm going to do some serious cooking on the weekends so that I don't have to cook each night during the week.  We'll see how it goes.  Today I went with a Mexican theme and made Taco Soup, plus these two new casserole-y recipes I found:

Mexican Lasagna

Texan Ranch Chicken Casserole

Oh man, can I tell you how delicious these smelled as they were cooking?  It was like a creamy, melty, smorgasbord of Mexian fantastic-ness in my kitchen today. 

We sampled the Mexican Lasagna for lunch and it might truly be the best lasagna I've ever eaten.  Well, the best non-Italian lasagna, anyway.  My Uncle Dennis makes an excellent Italian lasagna that I'm not sure I can compete with yet.  Maybe someday.  ;-) 

The Texan Ranch Chicken Casserole is currently sitting in our freezer for an evening when we run out of other scrumptious food.  It smelled so good that it was hard to put it in there to save for later! 

Here are some other pictures I took as I was cooking.  Remember, we like things that are all thrown together in messy jumbles.  :-)  If that's not your thing, you may want to skip the whole casserole idea!

Enjoy! 

Do you have a good casserole recipe?  I'd love to hear/see/taste it!  :-D

Happy 2011!

I'm baaaack.  I know, it's only been a few minutes!  :-) 

We threw a New Year's Eve party at our place and it was a great excuse to make a lot of food.  Everything seemed to go over pretty well and despite everyone eating lots of food, there were (I should say "are") tons of leftovers.  Here's what I made:

Cold Spinach Dip

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip

Pumpkin Smash!

Pumpkin Pie Dip

Vegetable Pizza (I made my mom's version dubbed "Veggie Bars"
and the recipe is a little different from the one linked... fyi!)

Onion Dip

Jelly Meatballs

Hot Apple Cider with Rum
(Pretty self-explanatory!)

Hot Fiesta Dip
(I add green chiles to mine...)

Hot Creamy Sausage Dip

Rosemary Chicken Pockets
(Dubbed "Chicken Salad Wontons" by our party-goers!)

I'm a huge fan of all things dipped, so we put out lots of cut-up veggies, scoops (baked and regular), pretzels, graham crackers, and apples and everyone went into a dipping frenzy!  It was fabulous! 

We also figured out that if you put little umbrellas in random things at the table, people generally stay away from them until the very end.  I say generally because there's always a rebel in every crowd. 

Happy 2011!!!  :-)