We were all such good parents before we became parents. Reflections as my baby turns 1.

A year ago tomorrow I became a mom for the first time. I feel like the time flew by and now my little boy is a toddler.  He is walking around!  He is so happy and such a joy that I cannot even imagine what my life was like without him.  He laughs, babbles, walks, plays, and now we are even taking swimming lessons.  I also have a new respect for my mom.  The level of sacrifice, worry, and joy of parenthood is something that I don't think you can truly comprehend until you hold that little bundle in your arms.  So thanks mom and sorry for all those times I made you worry.  

Being a mom is so wonderful, beautiful, incredible.........and extremely difficult.  I haven't slept in a year.  It was probably more than a year because I know I wasn't sleeping the last month or so of my pregnancy. While I complain about the lack of sleep, I actually have no concrete memory of being well-rested so I'm really not all that upset about it.  I secretly enjoy some of those middle of the night feedings where my baby snuggles up next to me and nurses before drifting back into his baby dreams.  Those crazy love hormones override any other emotion or selfish thought I might have and I just know I would do anything for him.  Which apparently includes getting up every 3-5 hours for the past year. 

So what have I learned since becoming a mother?  That as my parenting class teacher says, "We were all such good parents before we became parents."  And by that I mean it is so easy to judge parents and plan what kind of parent you will be when you don't actually have any kids.  You see the screaming child in the grocery store, the breastfeeding mom, the bottle feeding mom, the mom who doesn't let their kid eat sugar, the one who lets them eat anything, the mom who lets their kids watch TV, the mom who goes to work, and the mom who stays home.  The list could go on and on.  I personally had several preconceived (and ridiculous) notions of how I was going to be as a mom.  Pretty much everything I thought I would and wouldn't do is different.  Here is a small snippet of things I have come to realize.

1.  Feeding (breast, bottle, and regular food):  I am still breastfeeding!  I am shocked, but it is easy now and my little guy is attached so I think I will probably stick with it for the time being.  I never ever thought I would breastfeed this long and I always sort of thought that women who did it past 6 months were a little insane.  In terms of real food he eats pretty much everything, but I admit that I have given him food that I never thought I would or should.  I do try to get him to eat healthy, organic veggies, fruits, yogurt, etc.  But some days all he wants to eat for breakfast is animal crackers with peanut butter or nutella.  And the kid loves hot dogs and boxed macaroni and cheese.  I cringe when I think of how I used to judge moms who gave their kids processed food to stop the whining.

2.  TV/Screen time: I was convinced that we would never let our kid see a TV screen until the age of two.   Do you know how hard it is to not have a TV on during football season?  I mean let's be reasonable people!  I try my best not to have the TV on most of the time he is awake, but it is really more difficult than one would think.  We don't plop him down to watch cartoons, but most days he gets just a little big screen.  And I am okay with that.  Really, I am.  Okay I still have issues with this one, but I am trying not to be too hard on myself.

3.  Working:  I am now a stay at home mom.  I never, ever, in my wildest dreams ever thought I would stay home.  I just had no idea how much I would want to be there for every moment.  I went back to work when he was three months old and I quit when he was seven months old.  And thankfully it worked out for us financially (thus far) so I have been able to be home with my little guy.  It has been a little weird emotionally for me because I always assumed I would be a working mom.  Those stay at home moms always struck me as a little odd.  And now here I am planning my days around story times and naps.  Sometimes I worry about my place in the economy because I am taking a little break, but I have to have faith that it will all work out.  I am thinking of going back to graduate school so that when he is a little older I can go to work and he can go to preschool. 

And sleep...I have no idea about sleep so I will refrain from even commenting on that.  I just know that I will never look at a mom funny when she says she hasn't slept in months, let's her kid cry it out, or that she co-sleeps.  You gotta do what you gotta do.

So on the eve of my baby's birthday I would like to apologize to all those moms and dads whose parenting decisions I questioned or criticized.  I also feel the need to laugh at myself for all the notions that I had about how I was going to raise my little monkey.  I thought I was a good parent before I became a parent, but now I just try to go with the flow.

 It's a good day when there is no poop on the floor.

Are mommy groups the new mean girls?

I left a mommy group on Saturday afternoon in tears.  I managed to make it to the car before I started crying, but the tears started flowing fast and furious as I buckled my 6 month old son into his car seat.  I have never felt so bad about myself and my identity as a mother.  I pride myself on being a good mother.  And yet within an hour this mommy group managed to destroy my self-esteem and image of a good mother.  And the worst part?  It was over my child's nap schedule.  NAP SCHEDULE. Or, to be more accurate, my lack of a nap schedule.  These women have set schedules and routines for their children.  Everyday.  Every single day.  That means on the weekend an activity, such as lunch, visiting a friend, going on a run, going to grandmas, etc. falls during a nap time they just don't go.  They prioritize nap time over every other aspect of their lives.  Does it make me selfish that I don't/won't do that?  I know he needs to nap, but half the time at home he will only get a few 30 minute cat naps a day even if we aren't doing anything.  I just feel like life is too short to run back home for his afternoon nap.  I try to get him to sleep, but I am not going to cancel things on the 50/50 chance he might sleep.  Besides, he sleeps in the car about 70 percent of time anyway.  I want to see the world.  And trust me, my son does to.  My child does not nap very well.  He never has.  He came out of the womb wide-eyed and ready to take on the world.  In all his newborn pictures his big eyes are staring at the camera.  He was never destined to be napper.  Apparently I never napped as a child.  Legend has it my husband never napped as baby either.  Have I made my point?  My baby doesn't nap well.

So the trouble all started on Saturday when my child got a little fussy after being on the baby swing (and I am sure I got some sideways glances for swinging my child higher than the other moms were swing their kids.)  I knew my baby was tired because he only slept for about 45 minutes earlier in the day.  We went to my birthday lunch and he slept in the car afterwards and then it was time for the mommy play group.  I made the mistake of telling these women that my child only slept for 45 minutes that day.  A few of these ladies were aghast.  They weren't all overtly aghast, but the judgement was clearly on a few of their faces.  One lady in particular launched into a monologue about the importance of sleep for their happiness and growing brains.  Strongly implying (at least this is how I interpreted it) that my baby was going to be miserable and stupid because I haven't submitted to a master nap schedule.  Of course this triggered a flood of emotions in me.  Am I a horrible mom?  Is my child going to hate me because he didn't get at least three hours of napping a day?  Is my child going to be stupid?  Is he going to have a developmental delay because of me?  Am I a bad mom for wanting to go to my birthday lunch?  Should I cancel my scheduled run with a friend on the weekends?  At this point I could feel the tears forming so I got up politely, said my goodbyes, and fled to my car.

Now in full disclosure I haven't had a full nights sleep in 6 months so I am a little bit emotional.  But so far my experience of mom groups has been a little unnerving.  I don't even think these ladies meant to bring me to tears.  Individually they all seem like very nice women.  One I have known since we were in high school and I don't think she has a mean bone in her body.  And really it was only the one mom who seemed to be on a parenting rampage against me.  But I still felt a little like that girl in high school being picked on by the mean girls.  I think the problem is that mommy groups are supposed to be a time to meet up, let babies interact, support one another.  But the issue is that most moms are constantly judging each other.  I don't even think that we realize it most of the time.  At another mommy group last week someone started talking about labor, and it instantly became an unsaid competition.  Whose labors was longest, who didn't get an epidural, etc.  I fully admit that I joined in on the competition and proudly toted my all natural birth.  It's the same thing with parenting styles.  All of sudden these groups that are supposed to be fun turn into a little bit of competition for these women.  Seemingly well-intended parenting advice feels like a personal attack.  Because parenting is personal.  This is your child they are talking about.  Your mommy skills.  Criticism feels like you have been branded with a Scarlett, "Bad Mom" across your chest.

I joined a facebook baby group for local moms and I asked a question about how to end co-sleeping.  I feel like my husband and I just don't sleep that well with a baby in the middle of the bed so I want to get my son to sleep in his crib all night.  Oh yeah, we've ended up as a family that co-sleeps about half the time.  Some nights he stays in his crib, some nights he ends up in the middle of our bed.  So depending on what type of mom you are on this issue I am either going to roll over on my kid in my sleep, or somehow injure him, or I am a bad mom for even suggesting that I kick him out of our bed.  This online mommy group has over 15 responses to my question.  But they aren't really helpful responses, a few told me it was too early to kick him out of our bed, a few told me to consider the idea of swaddling him, (as though they had invented the concept of swaddling) and more than one told me to be thankful that I was getting more than 45 minutes of sleep in a row.  Even my question became a competition among the moms, whose baby sleeps through the night because of swaddling and routine and on the other end of the spectrum whose baby could keep the parents up all night.  In other words, we were all playing "Are you mom enough?" as the recent cover of Time magazine illustrated.  Although Time Magazine was talking about breastfeeding, I think these mommy groups find any aspect of parenting to be competitive about.  Let's not even talk about breastfeeding.  I am still doing it and it has gotten easier and more enjoyable, but I still maintain it is one of the hardest things about being a new mom and I am in no place to judge anyone about their feeding choices.

I joined all of these mommy groups because most of my friends don't have babies yet, or the ones that do are very busy or live too far away for play dates.  I want to socialize my baby and meet other women going through the same thing as me.  But I don't want the competition.  I have no idea how to stop the competition, how to not take the advice so personally, or even how to not join in on the competition.  I try really hard not to give parenting advice, the only time I say something is when I see people looking at breast pumps at the store.  I always feel the need to tell them they can rent a better one from the hospital.  I learned this the hard way after buying a piece of crap pump for 150 dollars.  But other than that I try really hard not to give advice.  And now that I think about it, that advice might be kind of annoying to a new mom as well.  I might just be bitter, but I know that all babies are different.  What worked for your baby might not work for mine.  Yes, I know I should probably do better with a baby sleep routine.  I know nursing him to sleep isn't ideal and I know we should put him down when he falls asleep in our arms.  But sometimes we just want to stare at that cute little face so peacefully sleeping in our arms.  One day far too soon he will probably be over 6 feet tall staring down at me.  I want to cherish these moments when he is so little.  I know these moms think that they are just trying to be kind when they start offering up tips and telling me which parenting books I should read.  (Where they find the time to read all these books is beyond me.  Writing this blog post will probably take me at least a few days or it will be completed in the wee hours of the morning when my child is sleeping).

If I could have an honest conversation with these women I would like to say that I would love to hear stories about the funny things your child does.  How your baby reacts to shots, new faces, glasses and beards.  I want to be friends with you.  I want to discuss how tired we all are.  I want to discuss what a trip parenting is.   I would love, love, love to share a glass of wine with you and laugh about poop stories.  But please don't judge what I am doing with my kid.  If I am not beating him, he is clothed, and happy, then let it go.  It's not like I am poking my kid at night to keep him awake.  Most of the time I am not sure what I am doing with my son.  I just do what seems to work for us.  So far he seems to be happy and he is in the 90th percentile across the board.  So I feel like I am doing something right.  But I am not all that organized and thus routines have never been a strong point for me.

So now I am at a loss.  I will probably have to bow out of the online facebook group because every time a new post pops up in my newsfeed I am literally filled with anxiety.  I am not sure what to do about mommy groups.  I think I might need to toughen up my skin.  A lot.  Take their advice with a grain of salt and know that my baby loves me and he is happy and that is all that matters in the end.  I am not quite ready to give up on these mom groups yet, I think my son needs to be exposed to other babies.  Maybe I should start my own mommy meet up.  An appropriate title might be, "My baby doesn't sleep, sometimes I give him formula, he eats jarred baby food and we don't really have a routine.  Come join me with a glass of wine and we can laugh about it." 

Green Beans, Parsley and Walnut Potato Salad

So after getting a hard time from my co-worker I decided it was time to post again.  Thanks for the nudge Emilie!  I thought I would tackle Potato Salad since it is summer.  I hate traditional potato salad.  All that mayo just grosses me out.  And if you are at a picnic and it is sitting in the sun, I don't even want to think about what could
happen to me.  I am all for getting sick from eating something good like raw meat, sushi or fresh cheese, but a mayo potato salad is not worth it.   But I do love potatoes so this summer I took an old walnut oil salad dressing recipe and created this summer potato salad.  No mayo needed.  I got this idea after visiting my favorite Uncle in Idaho and at the end of our visit he gave me a big bag of Yukon potatoes.  (Cliche, I know, but Idaho does have great potatoes).  On the six hour journey home I thought about creative ways to cook these tasty little spuds and upon arriving home my husband noticed that our parsley plant had doubled in size.  And that sealed the deal.  This recipe feeds two, but it could easily be doubled to accommodate more people. 

Parsley from our garden

Green Beans, Parsley, and Walnut Potato Salad
 2 to 4 Yukon gold or red potatoes
1 handful fresh green beans
3 tablespoons fresh parsley
3 to 5 pieces of bacon
1 small Roma tomato
1/4 red onion
1/4 cup cheddar cheese
1/4 cup walnuts
2 tablespoons walnut oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salt
Pepper

Get those potatoes boiling because this is a chilled salad and they need time to cool down.  I cut the potatoes in half, leave the skin on, and boil.  It is important not to over cook the spuds, so check them frequently and when you can stick a knife into these with just a little resistance they are done.  Depending upon the size of the potatoes, it takes around 10-15 minutes for them to cook.  When the potatoes are almost done chop off the ends of the green beans and dunk them into the boiling water for about a minute. To stop the cooking process for the green bean and the potatoes, drain the pot, fill the pot with ice water.  After the potatoes and the green beans have cooled down slightly, cut them into 1 inch chunks, place in a bowl and stick it in the refridgerator (and sometimes, if I am hungry, I put them in the freezer.)  While the potatoes are cooling fry bacon until crispy.  This usually take about 10 minutes, depending on how crispy you like your bacon.  While the bacon is frying, finely dice the tomato, red onion, cheddar cheese, and chop the parsley and walnuts.  In a small bowl whisk the walnut oil, red wine vinegar, mustard and salt and pepper together to make a dressing.  Take your chilled spuds and green beans out and add all the chopped veggies, cheese, and walnuts in the the potatoes.  Chop the bacon up finely and add that to the salad.  Add the walnut oil salad dressing to the mixture and toss.  Eat immediately while all the ingredients are crisp.  I like to eat mine with salmon or steak.


Enjoy and I promise you it will be better than a mayo potato salad. 

Happy July 4th, let's celebrate with Tortas!

Yesterday was July 4th and we had delicious burgers to celebrate.  And they were fatty and yummy.  But today I felt like cooking a festive meal because, why not?  And I had the day off so I had time to plan.   What is a Torta you ask?  It's a Mexican sandwich.  I decided to make Tortas because I am a Mexican-American!  (And it just sounded good.) Just like any other sandwich the ingredients can vary widely, but I love to make mine with slow cooked shredded pork, mashed black beans, and a chili lime mayo.  Also, I love to throw extra veggies in wherever possible so I pretty much put everything in my veggie drawer in this meal. 

Shredded Pork Tortas

Shredded Pork
1 lb pork shoulder or a fatty cut of pork loin
1 Tablespoon olive oil
Salt
Pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 dried oregano
1/2 to 3/4 cup water
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1/4 onion
2 garlic cloves 
1/2 large mushroom
1 Tablespoon butter

Mashed Black Beans
1 15oz can black beans
1/2 large mushroom
1/4 green bell pepper
1 Tablespoon butter
 Salt and Pepper

Chili Lime Mayo
1/4 cup mayo
1 Tablespoon lime juice
7-10 drops of Tapatio sauce

1 large fat crusty baguette (or better yet go to a Mexican store and ask for a loaf of Torta bread)
1 tomato
1/2 cup lettuce
1/2 cup cheddar or pepper jack cheese (Or use both on your Torta!)

 Now I know that it looks like a lot of ingredients, but it really isn't all that complicated and just takes a little bit of time.  I try to give my meat as least three hours to slow cook.  So I would say plan on about 3 and 1/2 hours from the fridge to mouth.

For the pork start by putting some olive oil in a dutch oven on medium heat.  Season the pork liberally with all of the spices listed above.  Put the pork in the pan and sear the meat for about two minutes on each side.  The point of this is just to get a little color on the pork, not to cook the pork quickly.  Chop the onion, mince the garlic cloves, and thinly slice the mushroom.  Next add the water, onion, garlic, and about half the tomato sauce.  I like to braise the meat, so you only want to fill the pot up to 3/4 the height of the meat.  Put the lid on and turn the heat down to low or just barely medium low.  Let it go for at least 3 hours.  At this point I usually watch trashy TV, but I should probably be cleaning the kitchen and prepping everything else.  Once that three hour window is about up, take the lid off the meat.  The pork should be easy to pull apart with your hands.  At this point add the remainder of the tomato sauce and throw the mushroom  in the pot.  Place the lid just slightly off center so the steam can slowly start to escape.  Leave the pork like this for another 15 minutes.

In a small saucepan heat up the black beans on medium heat.  While the beans are heating up thinly slice up half a mushroom and chop up the bell pepper.  Throw those veggies into the bean mixture and season with salt and pepper.  Add 1 tablespoon butter.  Next mash up everything in the saucepan with either a potato masher, a fork, or my personal favorite option....an old school egg beater.  I inherited one from my grandmother and I find it works really well for making mashed beans!  Turn the heat down to low and let the beans sit there until it is time to assemble the Torta.

In a small bowl add mayo, lime juice, and tapato sauce and mix together.  Set aside!  That is really all it takes and the mayo tastes so good!

Grate the cheese(s) and set aside.  When I am not pregnant I love to use Mexican queso-fresco instead of the hard cheeses, but this tasted amazing as well.  Place the bread in a 200 degree oven to warm for about five minutes.

Now back to the meat.  Take the pork out of the braising mixture and place on a cutting board.  Crank up the heat on the braising mixture to medium-high and add a tablespoon of butter so that the sauce starts to tighten up a little bit.  Shred the pork either with your hands or if it is too hot, with two forks.  After the braising mixture has reduced for about 5 minutes return the pork to the pot and turn the heat down to low.  The shredded meat should soak up all those extra juices.  This is really what makes the meat taste so good.

Now we are ready to assemble.  Cut the warm bread down the middle and tear out some to the middle of the bread so you have more room for all the sandwich fillings.  On the bottom half of the bread spread a thick layer of mashed beans and then put a thick layer of the shredded pork onto it.  Next add the grated cheese so it melts into the hot pork.  Add the tomatoes.  On the top half of the bread liberally spread the chili lime mayo and then fill in the hole you dug in the bread with lettuce.  Carefully place the top of bread onto the pork and bean side, give it a good smash and enjoy! 

So next time you want a sandwich think about making a Torta!

Keep Tasting

Sausage Lasagna!

What, two posts in a week?!  Unheard of.  Anyway I just had to tell you about the fatty goodness of Sausage Lasagna. Now normally when you make lasagna at home, people follow the recipe on the back of the box and use ground beef or if they want to be healthier, they use ground turkey.  Both choices are great, but that deep extra fat of sausage adds so much more flavor to the meal.  My husband and I once ate an entire 9x13 pan in one night.  Remind me to check my cholesterol at some point soon.  I think that sometimes homemade lasagna can be intimidating because of all the steps involved, but really if you just follow the recipe on the back of most noodle boxes and you will be fine.  And a bonus, unless you have no self-control like me and my husband, you should have days of leftovers!  So you have been warned, this is in no way a healthy meal, but hey, treat yourself once in a while! 

 

Sausage Lasagna 

1 lb ground sausage (I love Jimmy Dean's Sage or Maple)

1  8oz package no boil lasagna noodles

1 26 oz jar of spaghetti sauce (I love Newman's One or Classico brands)

1 15oz can of tomato sauce

 1/4 onion

4-6 Brussels sprouts

15oz ricotta cheese

1/2 cup sour cream

1 egg

1 teaspoon dried basil leaves

1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

1 teaspoon dried parsley leaves

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder
salt and pepper

1/2 chili powder

3 cups mozzarella cheese

 1/3 cup grated Parmesan

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Cook the sausage until brown.  Chopped onion and Brussels sprouts into small pieces.  Now at this point I would normally drain the pan of any excess fat, but not this time.  

Yummy fatty sausage

In the same seasoned pan (I used my dutch oven) add the jar of spaghetti sauce, the can of tomato sauce, chopped onion and chopped Brussels sprouts.  I like the have a lot of sauce in my lasagna so occasionally I will add a second can of tomato sauce or even just a little bit of water to ensure there is plenty of sauce to go around.  there really is nothing worse  I just add those few veggies to make myself feel better about using a pound of sausage in this recipe!  

Spaghetti, Veggie, and Sausage sauce

In a medium bowl stir together ricotta cheese, sour cream, egg and all the spices.  I like to add the sour cream because I think it makes the ricotta cheese a little bit smoother and its high fat content adds a little extra richness to the dish.  I add a few extra spices because I think that ricotta cheese can be slightly bland, and those spices really pump up the flavors in the cheese layer.  

Finally grate the mozzarella and the Parmesan cheese.  Set aside.  Most recipes call for 4 cups of mozzarella, but that is a lot of cheese!  I find that 3 cups is plenty for this lasagna!

Now is the fun part, layering the lasagna!  Using a 9x13 inch pan (I prefer to use glass pans) line the bottom with a small amount the spaghetti/sausage mixture.  Place 3 pieces of the no-boil noodles in  the pan.  Thoroughly cover each piece of lasagna with the ricotta/sour cream mixture.  Then cover with more of spaghetti sauce and finally top with a handful of mozzarella cheese.  Add another layer of noodles and repeat the whole process two more times.  At this point you should be out of ricotta mixture and only have three noodles left.  Put those noodles onto and add the remaining spaghetti sauce followed by the rest of the mozzarella and top with the Parmesan cheese.  Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Take the foil off and then bake for an additional 15 minutes until the cheese is bubbling and gooey.  Remove from the oven and let stand for at least 5 minutes.  This is often the longest 5 minutes of the process for me, but if the lasagna does not stand it will slide all over the place.

Enjoy the Lasagna

Keep Tasting,

Pickles, Lemonade, and Duck Eggs: My current preggo cravings!

I drank almost a gallon of Newman's own all natural lemonade in a week.  And I am addicted to the never heated Claussen pickles.  I went through a whole jar in week. And I usually don't really have any opinion on pickles.  I don't dislike them, but I have never gone out of my way to eat them plain.  And now I am ordering them on the side at restaurants!  But hey, I want what I want right now!  The lady who does my eyebrows says I am having a girl because of my cravings.  Who knows, I already have a boy name picked out, so now I am starting to think of girl names.

Now to the point of this blog post.  Duck eggs!  Now I didn't intend to start loving duck eggs but they quite strangely popped up in my life.  My husband works as a commercial glazier.  That means he installs glass in commercial buildings (think buildings like airports, all glass entry ways, new high rise construction, etc.)  Anyway, in the course of his work he meets lots of different people from architects to electricians and sheet metal workers.  Last week he comes home with a carton of duck eggs!  I was like, what the.....  But then I fried one up and it was delicious.  Duck eggs are fluffier, fattier, and bigger than chicken eggs.  And they have more nutrients and Omega-3 fatty acids than chicken eggs!  They are supposed to be great for baking, so I will have the try that very soon.  And my husband got them from a sheet metal guy who raises organic farm fresh eggs so they are way better than the caged eggs you can buy at the grocery store.  I am hooked on them.  I have been about 5 eggs a week.  My favorite way to eat duck eggs is in a delicious duck egg sandwich.

Delicious Duck Egg Sandwich
2 pieces thick cut whole wheat bread
1 over hard duck egg
1/2 a roma tomato sliced
1 half classen pickle thinly sliced
1 think slice sharp cheddar cheese
miracle whip

Basically I just make sure the egg is thoroughly cooked through, melt the cheese onto of the egg and construct a sandwich.  And the funny thing is I usually don't even like miracle whip!

Anyway if you get the chance to try some duck eggs please do!

P.S. Pregnant or fat?

Keep Tasting,

What to eat when you are expecting (A hungry pregnant girl's rant)

Hello,

 

So I have taken a long hiatus from food blogging because I am pregnant!  I am a little over 14 weeks pregnant today!  I am excited and terrified.  And I have found the pregnancy and food are strange bedfellows. Sometimes they agree, and sometimes they have angry fights in my head and in my stomach.
 In my head I fight a new fear of food that I have never had before.  I have never ever worried about food borne illnesses, and now I have to worry about them for the sake of the lemon sized fetus inside me!  And I have had my episodes of food fear lately.  Did you know that listeria can possibly be on every vegetable and in soft-serve frozen yogurt, soft cheeses, and humus?  And apparently listeria is bad whilst pregnant.  So everything needs to be washed or avoided.  I can pretty much say that in the last few months I have pretty much unknowingly eaten every food you are not supposed to eat.  Yesterday I accidentally ate some sausage that looked a teeny tiny bit pink.  It was blackened on the grill and my husband has patiently been telling me that I am fine, but I still worry.  The grill literally caught fire so I think I might be okay, but this nagging fear sticks in my head.  And then I go on the internet and Dr. Google convinces me that no matter what I do I am wrong and I have caused irreparable harm to myself and my baby.  My husband and my family have all threatened to cancel my internet and take away my smart phone! But my husband has been so great and supportive listening to my crazy worries about everything involving this pregnancy!  I am secretly praying that I have the immunity to toxoplasmosis.  Toxoplasmosis is really bad to get when you are pregnant unless you already got it from eating undercooked or raw meat.  Let's hope all my years of eating raw meat has paid off with this disease. You can also get it from cats, but I hate cats, so at least I don't really have to worry about those things.  The list of worries goes on and on, so it is hard not to be a little afraid every time I sit down to eat.
But since I am pregnant I am always hungry.  Thankfully I had very minimal nausea, instead my healthy appetite just got better and bigger.  And I have a new fondness for lemonade and olives.  Lots and lots of lemonade.  Coincidentally I have the worse heartburn ever!  And I am so tired all of the time.  The absolute last thing that I want to do is stand in a kitchen and cook.  All I want to do is eat and sleep.  What am I supposed to do?  I have to keep eating, especially since I am eating for two!  So I will be blogging my steps and missteps of eating (and not drinking) while pregnant.  Pray for me that at the end of all this I wont be too fat, my marriage will be intact, and we will have a healthy baby!
I was going to write about my homemade tacos, but let's be real, I haven't made those since March.  Before I knew about the growing bundle inside me.  Lately I have been eating lots of chips, salsa, ritz crackers with nutella, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, candy, ice cream, fried eggs, salmon, and salads.  My husband is good at making salads and cooking salmon!  I make sure everything is thoroughly washed in the salads though! 
Today though I had just enough energy to make a semi-homemade meal.  I browned some chicken legs in my beloved dutch oven.  I added some chopped onions, mushrooms, and brussel sprouts to the pot and let them cook down for a few  and then poured some organic red lentil curry soup (I will have to write another blog about my new fondness for organic box soups).   I let the meat and soup cook together or another 15 minutes.  I removed the bone and skin from the chicken legs and made an enhanced boxed soup!  I cooked some orzo to add a little more texture and carbs to the meal.  I added a dollop of sour cream and it was actually really good.

I make no guarantees, but I will try to update more as my hunger and my stomach continue to grow in the next few months.  And after this baby is born in November, I have already asked my husband to have a plate of blue cheese, a rare steak, and a big old glass of red wine waiting for me in the hospital!

Keep Tasting,