Baked Chicken Fingers

In honor of the Great Vegan Experiment of 2009, I thought I'd pass on a now-banned (or at least greatly modified) recipe. Scarlet Lily is looking for things she can freeze in advance for dinners, now that she's preggers. Here's one that recently got the Husband AND the Mr. Ouiser seal-of-approval (or so they said...)

Baked Chicken Fingers

• 1/2 c wheat germ
• 1/2 c unprocessed bran
• 1/4 c plain, dried breadcrumbs
• 2 Tbsp ground flaxseed
• 2 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 lbs chicken tenders (I just used breast halves and cut them to a roughly tender shape)

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In food processer, combine first seven ingredients (through garlic), 1 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper. Pulse to combine. Add oil; pulse to combine. Transfer to large bowl.
2. Set a wire rack on a rimmed baking sheet. In a shallow bowl, lightly beat eggs. Dip chicken in eggs (allowing excess to drip off), then dredge in crumb mixture, patting to adhere. Place on rack and transfer to oven.
3. Bake until chicken is opaque throughout, 12-14 min.

393 cal per serving.
Serves 4.

This recipe can easily be doubled or even tripled for freezing. Serve with condiments of choice. We enjoy a sweet chili ginger sauce from The Ginger People.

Breaking News

I said I was going to update you as I did that Body & Soul Challenge from the Martha Steward people. Obviously, I haven't. The experiment went a little off-track and I didn't want to go public with my plan until I was sure what that would be. I may get a lot of slack for this, because I know many people do, but here it is:

I'm going to try becoming a vegan.

Ish. That is, I'm going to try out a mostly vegan lifestyle, but I'm not going to be super-strict about it. I am doing it for both health and weight-loss reasons. It feels more health-motivated at a gut level, but I also don't think there's much chance I'll stick with it if it doesn't also result in some significant weight loss, so I'm not sure what that says about the impetus.

I don't much like meat. Never have. Sure, I enjoy a good burger once in a while, but not like other people do. I barely like steak at all. I do like turkey at Thanksgiving, but would be fine without it as long as I made an exception for gravy. I'll miss bacon, but I rarely ate that anyway, so maybe I won't miss it much after all. Cheese is a slight issue. If it's in front of me, I'm going to want it. But on a normal, daily basis, no biggie.

What will be a biggie for me has nothing to do with veganism at all. I plan to attempt to severely limit refined carbohydrates.

I've come to the conclusion, after a lifetime of struggling with weight issues and eating problems, that I think I have an honest-to-goodness addiction to sugar. I don't use that word lightly. Addictions are real, nasty things and it's not a term to throw around. Alcohol, drug, gambling...these addictions ruin lives. My life is not in ruin. Nowhere near. But how else do you explain a near pathological (maybe not near, maybe actual) tendency to binge on one kind of food: refined carbs, especially sugars. I can't guess at the number of times I've eaten a whole carton of ice cream, box of cookies, pan of brownies in one sitting. I know, most people have done that at times, and will again. But it's not normal how often I do this. How overwhelming the urge is. I used to think I just had weak will power, but anyone who knew me as an athlete knows that's not it. I crave sugar on a level that seems different from other people's. This was the main reason I did that detox week through the Body & Soul program.

And you know what? I kicked the sugar addiction. And it was easy. I just never knew how to do it before. I just ate a bunch of veggies, oatmeal, fruit, legumes, and brown rice. I was never hungry. Not too bored either.

Now I'm reading Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman, MD. I won't try to review the book here. Head to Amazon if you're interested. The gist of it is nothing new: Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much. Limit your animal proteins. Make salads the main meal. Get educated about nutrition.

So tomorrow I start the six-week plan, which is a much stricter version of what the book ultimately advises you to do long-term. I think the point of the initial rigidity is just to jump start the weight loss, keep you motivated, keep things simple while you get the hang of new food prep habits. I'll be attempting to subsist on a ton of veggies, lots of fruit, some beans, legumes, tofu, and limited amounts of grains, starchy veggies, nuts. No animal proteins. No dairy. No juice or dried fruit. Obviously no refined carbs.

Wish me luck! We'll see how it goes. If I hate it, I'll quit. But it's not so different from what I've been doing, with very little effort, so I think I've got a good shot at sucess. I'll keep you posted...

Feel-Good Stuff

Do you guys know about Network for Good? I didn't until just now, but apparently they've featured it on the Today Show.

One of my dear friends has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. In my pathetic attempt to try to do something useful about it, I went looking for researchers I could throw money at. A pitifully small amount of money, granted, but still. I don't know what else to do. She's too far away to wrap her up in a ball and hug her for hours until she's so thoroughly suffocated with love and support that she couldn't escape if she tried.

Anyway, so Network for Good is a database of not-for-profits that you can search by name or keyword, compare, and donate via credit card or Paypal. They also sell gift cards in case you want to let a giftee give your money to the charity of their choice. You can hit multiple charities at once through one shopping cart, and one transaction. You can send e-cards through the site, alerting giftees of donations you've made in their names. You can see how individual charities break down their spending, or just study the ratings Network for Good has given them. You can choose whether to make your donation anonymously, or to let the charity see your contact info. There's more; it's a pretty great site. You should check it out.

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On a completely unrelated note, except in that way where I've eaten four brownies since getting my friend's email with the definitive diagnosis, I wanted to share the Best Holiday Brownies Ever! recipe with you. These are delicious, and even the Husband likes them. He of the "I don't mix chocolate and cinnamon" and the "If you're baking something, it better be chocolate chip cookies" variety. I highly recommend them. A classic brownie texture, with holiday spices to make it special.

Cappuccino Brownies from Everyday Food:

Be careful not to overcook these brownies; they should be moist, not dry. This recipe is from Lisa Kim of Brooklyn, New York.

Prep: 15 minutes
Total: 1 hour

Ingredients

Makes 16

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pan
• 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees, with rack in center. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan, and line the bottom with parchment or wax paper. Coat paper with butter. Set aside.
2. In a large heatproof bowl, combine the butter and unsweetened chocolate, and place over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until completely melted. Let cool slightly. Whisk in sugar, espresso powder, vanilla, and eggs.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Add to the chocolate mixture, and stir until just combined (do not overmix). Fold in chocolate chips.
4. Pour into pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out slightly wet, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; cool completely. Remove from pan. Using a damp, warm knife, cut into 16 squares, wiping knife blade after each cut. Peel off parchment paper and serve.

Honey Almond Cookies

Made these cookies for my book club meeting tonight. We read The Secret Life of Bees, so I did a quick search last night for something honey-themed.

Not bad. Not great. They're a nice, light cookie that was great with coffee, and would probably be even better with tea, but I wouldn't make them for a special occasion.

Personally, I felt the almond flavor was too weak, though you could taste the honey. If you like a really subtle cookie, these might be just the thing. They were certainly easy and quick to make.

I'm hoping to make time this holiday season to share some more cookie adventures. As long as my waistline can take it...

Four Weeks Down

The Papoosekin is one month old tomorrow. Part of me feels like it went so fast, and part of me feels like thanking God that we're one month closer to getting more sleep. Speaking of which, last night was the first night that the Husband got to sleep through all the feedings. Which is not to say that he didn't get woken up by the wee one; he did. But he didn't have to get up and do anything and was able to go right back to sleep. This made me feel a bit bitter, to be perfectly honest. I was truly happy that he was able to sleep, but there is a bit of a feeling of "But when do I get to sleep?!?" I know, I know, in good time, Grasshopper.

While we wait for that blessed day, in the meantime, there are one-month birthday cupcakes to enjoy. These were chocolate with cream cheese/chocolate chip centers. Not so good without frosting. With the frosting, delicious. Although, the Husband really prefers a fluffy cupcake and these were pretty dense. Almost muffin-dense. Sorry no pics of the inside. We got interrupted mid-celebration by some projectile spit-up.

Apparently, reaching one month of age inspires one to try out new sleeping positions...
And allows one to reach the enjoying-the-sling milestone. Yay! So happy to finally get my butt off the couch and be able to do at least some things around the house. The Husband even managed to vacuum yesterday with her in the sling. It put her to sleep.

Most Recent Sign that the Appocalypse Is upon Us

Ever heard of Friendship Bread? I hadn't. And was duped because of it. So consider this your fair warning. Some other poor soul gives you a cup of a yeast mixture as a "starter" and you make your bread. That part's great. But you also have yeast leftover that you're supposed to pass on to a number of friends. And they have to do the same and pass it on to their friends. And they to theirs. And it grows exponentially like a plague (or a yeast). I don't know that many people! Who bake. Who live near me. Maybe if I were Amish, I'd have more friends. Certainly more who bake regularly. But I can't keep making two loaves of cinnamon bread every ten days for the rest of my life! And giving away yet more of it. What few friends I have will be friends no longer. "Friendship bread" is a misnomer. This is an Amish pyramid scheme!
I accepted my own portion from my sister-in-law, not knowing what I was getting into. To her credit, I don't think she meant to trap me in this circle of hell. I'm pretty sure she knows lots of people who bake and so didn't anticipate the burden. Now I've made the stuff three times! But I finally escaped the perpetuity by giving all my portions away (this is actually the second time I gave them all away. After the first time, one came back to us. It's like the proverbial cat.). I must say, however insidious the system is, the bread is dang good. Sweet and cinnamoned and soft and not too cakey. But I have three loaves in the freezer, so I've had my fair share, tasty though it is.

Some projects that have been in progress:

Baby hats, modeled by Marvin the Monkey, whom I've had since I was a baby. The platypus was a gift from The Husband years ago. Let's hope the baby fits the hats better than these guys. I got this knit fabric on sale at Joann's. Did the baby need more hats? Absolutely not. Did I need practice sewing with knit fabrics? Well, need is debatable, but I wanted to learn to sew them without getting all that stretching and puckering and lettuce-leaf edging. A walking foot and a ball point needle seemed to do the trick. I can't seem to find where I got the pattern from now, but if anyone's interested, let me know and I'll track it down.

Lamp shade cover (McCall's 5346). Note the absence of lamp. It's one of a pair we've had for years that were super cheap and currently unused. I ruined one in my first attempt at taking the shade apart. This is the second. The base of the lamp is black. Certainly functional, but I'm hoping the husband will have time to give it a quick white spray paint job before Baby arrives. I made this with leftover quilt from a quilt I started for a friend's baby years ago and never finished. More on that in a future post...

Pillows, loosely followed from the Semi-Simple Pillows pattern in Amy Karol's Bend-the-Rules Sewing book, though you could find this pattern tons of places. It just has that overlap seamed back so you can remove the covers for washing. This fabric was used by Scarlet Lily as a table covering in the baby shower she threw me a couple months ago. It goes perfectly with the nursery! Once the room is in better shape, I'll start posting pics of the finished product. We're just not there yet.

By the way, all these sewing projects are ridiculously easy. So, if anyone is looking for more info on them, just let me know!

Pumpkin Fever

Yesterday, I dragged the Husband on an hour-long trek to the nearest pumpkin patch. It's a farm south of Tucson, and their fall festival includes a hay maze, petting zoo, farm store (my favorite), contests for the kiddos, and, of course, a pumpkin patch. We did not pick our own pumpkin, alas. We were trying to minimize the walking for the sake of my back. But we bought a we-pick pumpkin, and some local jams. The produce was beautiful. I love fall and I love fall colors and I love gourds and pumpkins of all shapes and varieties. It was fun.
We took a lot of pictures and The Husband loves to take candids, so I was unaware of lots of pics he was taking of me. When I was editing them last night, I found it hysterical how normal I still look from the back, no?Not so much like my usual self from this angle though! This is a typical pose for me lately...the right hand pushing on my ribs where I get frequent pain. I don't know if Baby Girl has got her foot lodged in there or what.

These are fairytale pumpkins, which I had never seen or heard of before, have you? I love them! And I love that they're called fairytale pumpkins. They look just like Cinderella's coach. We bought one of these because we're not actually planning to carve one this year. They just rot too fast in the Tucson heat after carving.

This gourd reminded The Husband and I sooooo much of one of our favorite You Tube cartoons...

Doesn't he look exactly like a gourd? Specifically, like that gourd? We love him.

The Husband with sympathy belly. Or smuggling pumpkins. However you choose to title it.

While we're on the pumpkin topic, I thought I'd share a few recipes I'm loving this month. Let's just say I'm getting plenty of beta-carotene. We'll be lucky if the baby doesn't emerge with orange skin.

This one you'll see in the next Try This!, if you're a subscriber...

Pumpkin Banana Smoothie
Being pregnant, and not working right now, I've become a big fan of smoothies. A pretty basic blueberry-banana smoothie had been my standby until I found a recipe for a pumpkin one and tweaked it to my liking and needs. So here is my version. I think the original came from the Cooking Light website and you could likely find it there through a search. All I changed was the yogurt:pumpkin ratio and the sugar content. My version is not too sweet, so if you prefer it sweeter, just add more sugar and/or orange juice. And I added wheat germ, the crunchy kind. I used canned pumpkin in the recipe, but I'm sure you could use fresh just as easily. You may just need to blend longer.

Blend together the following:
~3/4 cup plain, non-fat yogurt
~3/4 cup canned pumpkin (refrigerate first if you want it cold)
1 banana (I slice and freeze mine the night before for the coldness)
~1/4 cup orange juice (preferably the kind with calcium added)
~1-2 Tbsp crunchy wheat germ
~1 tsp cinnamon
~1/2 tsp nutmeg
dash of ground cloves
~1/2 tsp Splenda (or brown sugar, or honey, or white sugar, whatever)

This makes enough for two servings as a snack or one serving as a full meal, which is how I tend to have it (for breakfast). Soooooo good for you: calcium, protein, huge amounts of Vitamin A (beta-carotene). If you include the wheat germ, you get all kinds of folic acid and iron, too. And if you weren't looking to make it so healthy and wanted more of a dessert-y smoothie, I bet you could swap in some frozen yogurt or ice cream for the yogurt. It's the perfect time of year for this! Enjoy!

Also not to be missed are Amy Karol's chocolate chip pumpkin muffins, here. I got requests for this recipe after The Husband brought some into work. Amy doesn't mention how many it makes, but I made 2 dozen large muffins. You could easily get more if you made them smaller. Mine came out looking just like hers do in her photo.

I also made pumpkin bread last week. An old standby recipe that's been good to me over the years, but pumpkin bread recipes are so easy to come by that I won't bother sharing it unless I get a specific request. I'm feeling ready for a new twist on the old standby...any suggestions?

Off to a Good Start

To the weekend, that is.

Last night, The Husband and I had an appointment with Dream Dinners. Ever hear of them? Or other companies like them? I know there are several national chains. This is the one closest to us. The deal is that you pay them money, they let you put together a bunch of dinners with ingredients they already have prepared and set up for you, you take them home and freeze them all. Then, when you have a two-week old infant and can't stay awake long enough to preheat an oven, never mind prepare a whole meal...well, I guess you still have to preheat the oven to cook the food. But all the shopping, preparation, and 90% of the assembly is done.

I was first told about these miraculous places over a year ago at a coworkers baby shower. Several of the moms there swore by these lifesavers to get you through rough patches: like a new baby, an illness in the family, a parent being out-of-town for a lengthy trip, etc. The interesting part was, although those women told me "it's a little more expensive than doing it yourself, but not as much more as you'd think," the Dream Dinners people made a big point (and understandably so, as it's a good one) of letting us know that they price out all the meals at a local grocery store (and a cheap one, actually) each month and that they've come out below cost for the last six months running. Which means it's actually cheaper (according to them) for me to get our dinners this way than cook them myself...

Two major problems I have with the system are these: (1) You have no control over the ingredients. So I can't make sure the produce is organic. I can't substitute non-fat for low-fat. I can't get Tilamook cheese. I can't make decisions like, generic canned beans, but gourmet parmesan. However, on this point I will say that I noticed they always did use low-fat or non-fat options with dishes calling for sour cream. But you can bet your booties it wasn't organic. (2) The Husband and I wash and reuse our Ziploc bags, but most people do not. For these dinners, you generally dump all the ingredients into 1-3 Ziplocs, then put all parts into another Ziploc to keep them together in your freezer. Logical. But wasteful.

On the upside, it was way fun putting these things together! We made 36 servings of around 8 different meals in about an hour. And it was fun! There was a different station for each recipe that you rotated through. There were probably about 10 other people there. Everything went smoothly with no traffic jams. The recipes are hung at eye level. The ingredients are directly in front of you, each with their own measuring apparatus. It was the kind of teamwork The Husband and I are great at (which does not include all types of teamwork): no decision-making, just follow the steps, get into a rhythm, and trust your partner. It really was great fun. And we were convinced enough of the worth of the thing to sign up to do it again in another month. Now, I'll have to report back once we've actually tasted the food--a rather important element of such a venture. But the recipes looked good to me.

This morning was full of even more fun! I talked The Husband into accompanying me to a "Stork Sale" organized by a local hospital. A parking lot full of used baby gear, baby clothes, maternity clothes, and baby furniture. I have so been bitten by the bargain hunter bug. There is a part of me that feels like I wish I could return all the new baby stuff we have and see how inexpensively I could outfit an entire nursery with nothing but borrowed and used paraphernalia (not a big enough part to actually do it, but it's so much fun to find a great deal!). There's another part of me that is so happy to see people out there taking advantage of such community events. Partly because I'm so glad that people who can't buy this stuff new have an outlet where they can get really good-quality items for good prices. There are always yard sales and thrift stores, but this really was a huge gathering of everything baby that you could possibly need, all in one place, all at one time. It also makes me happy to see these things being reused that still have so much life left in them rather than seeing them end up in a landfill with replacements being endlessly manufactured. Anyway, we got a few good buys there, and a few more at some yard sales on the way home.

The only downside: my back is killing me so now I'm stuck in bed for a while, but a recent trip to the library has supplied me with new books. So, I'll live.

She's Good People

I tried the Lentil Sausage Soup that Ouiser recommended the other day. Unlike Ouiser, I did have leeks on hand, but the two recommended by the recipe was not enough to get 4 cups. I needed more like 4 leeks. But I made up the lacking 2 cups with the abundance of onion I had. The recipe recommends 3 large yellow onions to make 4 cups, but I got 4 cups with 2 onions. The celery and carrot estimates were right on, though. It was especially good with the recommended parmesan sprinkled on top, so make sure you don't skip that, if you try it.

The hooded towels are finished, in all their glorious hoodiness. I kind of wish they made these for adults, they look so comfortable to me. They'd have to be much, much bigger. In fact, these look to me like they will be huge when Baby Girl first arrives, but all the better to swaddle her in. In fact, the hood looked strangely small to me when I first cut it out, but now I think it just looks small in comparison to the size of the towel. Hopefully they'll keep a little of the wet off us. They were ridiculously easy, for anyone who's thinking of making some.

Also silly easy? Burp cloths. I didn't really make these, I guess, so much as embellish them, but either way, they have been fast, easy, and pleasing. I got some flannel on sale at JoAnn's. A quarter-yard made 2 burp cloths and cost about 60 cents each. The cloths themselves are the cheap, bird's-eye cloth diapers. The kind you don't dare use for actual cloth diapering, but that are supposed to make great rags, burp cloths, changing pads, etc. They're prefolds and I just topstictched the flannel onto the center panel of the diaper, so there are lots of absorbent layers in that middle part. I considered folding in the thinner sides and sewing the whole thing up as a more narrow rectangle, but decided that extra width may save some shirt sleeves during the spit-up process in case one's aim is a bit off. Anyway, I got through these before my back was getting to me, so I'll finish up a few more tomorrow for a nice, round dozen. Should be plenty, no?

Last, but so far from least, this sling arrived from Stardust Shoes yesterday!

Back in July I saw this beautiful baby sling that she had made and posted about. I asked her for any tips regarding a good pattern or how to make one size-appropriate for a 5'10" slinger, such as myself. Instead she offered to just make me one! I can't get over how generous she is. It's awesome, Stardust! I love it! And I love blogland so much, where women just do these things for one another, out of pure good-heartedness. She doesn't even know me. I'm blown away with the thoughtfulness and the time she took to make it.

(By the way, in purusing Stardust Shoe's blog tonight, I discovered she just recently created a tutorial for the very same burp cloths I made above! You can find it here. And there's another tutorial by her for appliqueing onesies. Remeber I tried that a little while ago? Looks like I used a similar method, though I still need more practice. She's also updated her cloth baby shoes tutorial, which I plan to reattempt someday soon.)

Bed Rest Blues

You know those days when you're not what you would call "depressed," but your just kind of down and blue? Apparently, too much bed rest can do that to you pretty quickly. Or to me anyway. So haven't been able to bring myself to blog this past week. I've just felt so blah and grumpy and like I had nothing to blog about. Today I decided to start forcing myself out of it by doing a little sewing, a little baking, a little bloggind. I'm not feeling 100% better in this respect, but definitely improved.

After re-hurting my groin or pelvic muscles a week ago, I've been really trying to take it pretty easy, but without much improvement there. On the bright side, all this sitting around has improved the back pain, but pretty much every step is painful with the other affected muscles. I don't know what's going on. I doubt anything, but the Husband wants me to call the OB tomorrow just in case, so I will.

In the meantime, I got a few bibs done in the last week. They actually went together pretty quickly, but I didn't want to post them until I had them all done and the aforementioned blues were keeping me from wanting to set foot in my sewing room. They're a very slightly altered version of this pattern. I'm also in the process of making a couple bigger ones that wrap all the way around the neck and snap, instead of these little guys with the ties.

Ginger-carrot muffins made in an attempt to squash a brownie craving (the craving is officially not squashed, but it is put off at least):

They're pretty good; although, I wish the ginger flavor was a lot stronger. But the carrots and raisins (which I substituted as my grocery store didn't hace currants), are a classic combo.

And the promised picture of the baby clothes from that one yard sale I mentioned from last week.

New Look

Wait, don't leave! It's still me. Maybe harder to recognize, as I've been fooling around with my template. It's been over a year. It seemed like time to shake things up a bit. I made the title banner myself. It's nothing impressive, but the first time I've tried to make one from scratch so I'm pretty satisfied.

I caught the Husband's plague and have been home from work all week so far. Not sure tomorrow's looking much more promising. Between that and all the pregnancy aches and pains life continues to consist of many seated activities, like blog design. Also, giving Chewy a haircut. His mohawk was all matted. The last time he got shaved at Petco they fluffed up his mohawk so much that we think it caused the fur to get matted. Like 'froing out really coarse hair on a person, then rubbing their head in the carpet (as Chewy likes to do for back massages--in fact, as he's doing right now!). Disaster. So I gave him a haircut with scissors. The mohawk is gone. I think I did a pretty good job blending it in, if I do say so myself. The mats on the back of his head were so bad he has total bald spots, but the fur on top of his head is so long that it flops over and mostly covers it. I've often said that the fur on top looks like a bad toupee. Now it's serving as a pretty good toupee!


I cut out about 17,000 cloth wipes for diapering. Really, about 80. Excessive, I have no doubt. I was only making 60 measuring 8" x 8", which already seemed more than plenty, but then the Husband thought they might be too big...and I had all these scraps...and it was so easy to just fold my template in half and cut out some 8" x 4" pieces. Most of them are cut from old t-shirts in a scrap pile. Some old, dingy, used-to-be-white washcloths also got thrown in the mix. The selection was rounded out by some favorite pajama pants of mine that got bleach-stained long ago and since took up residence in my sewing room, just waiting for such a scrap project. So I have a combination of jersey knit, terry cloth, and flannel wipes, which encompasses most of the options I found for sale on-line. Hopefully they'll work out. The only "problem" I've run into is that the edges are rippling on me when I topstitch them. No matter which stitch I used, and believe me, I think I've tried at least a dozen. This happened both with the knit, which I double-layered, and the terry cloth, which is a single layer. I haven't done the flannel yet. But I decided that the rippling really probably won't matter. These are for the purpose of wiping a baby's butt, after all. Perfection is so not necessary.
Speaking of less-than-perfection, here's the latest Cooking Light recipe I've tried. I do recommend trying it, but I also recommend keeping in mind that my black bean "patties" turned out more like black bean blobs. Maybe you'll have better luck. It was actually really good; even the Husband liked it and said he'd eat it again! And it was a vegetarian dish; most recent sign that the apocalypse is upon us. No wait, here's the latest sign: he's happily eaten two dishes with spinach in them that I've cooked recently. And he was aware of the spinach. And he complained that the new lady who makes the wraps at the hospital cafeteria where he sometimes gets lunch doesn't put in enough spinach. It doesn't taste as good without the extra spinach. You know, know that I'm actually typing this, I'm thinking the question I should be asking is: WHO IS THIS STRANGE MAN AND WHAT HAS HE DONE WITH MY HUSBAND?

Perspective

The last 24 hours or so have brought a new level of intensity and duration of back pain, along with it's new friends, upper abdominal pain and groin pain. And the three decided to party all night with the result that I think I got about two hours of sleep, collectively. So I was very grumpy this morning getting ready for work, even though I knew I'd only be there a few hours, as I've been doing half-days for a month or so due to this back pain.

A little background about my work: all the therapy services in the hospital (speech, physical, occupational) are required to bill patients/insurance companies on a per unit basis, rather than per hour. That means, if I evaluate someone's swallowing, I bill them a certain number of unity. If I do swallowing therapy, that's a different number. If I do a modified barium swallow (swallowing x-ray) that's another number of units. Etc.

The hospital keeps tabs on us by tracking our "productive hours." We're supposed to bill a certain number of units per hour that we're clocked in as working, and thus getting paid. Usually it's no problem to hit that goal. Most of us are overly productive on most days. But some days just don't go the way you plan and some patients are more time-consuming and complicated than others. This, incidentally, is the same reason you run into problems with your PCP spending maybe 15 minutes with you, if you're lucky. Because they have to jam-pack in so many patients in order to make a profit, so the healthier ones get a drive-by because more time will be spent on the sicker, more complicated patients. They have to bill by units, rather than hours. Unlike lawyers and accountants, for instance, who, much more sensibly, are billed for their time. But enough criticism of health care. That is so beyond the scope of this blog.

Anyway, today was the first time I've ever worked for several hours and not been able to see one single patient! That's okay, it happens. But one patient whom I tried to see today stuck with me. It was the last one I was attempting before I gave up and went home. I was doing the chart review on her and got as far as reading that she had had an emergent c-section with lots of complications, including death of the fetus. She's 37. I stopped there. I cannot think of anything more inappropriate than me, 7 months pregnant, walking into this poor woman's room to address her swallowing. She apparently has some cognitive issues, too--I don't know if she had some sort of anoxic brain injury or what, but she's been combative. I'm sure there's at least some amount of psychological trauma involved. Either way, it was weird. I felt stunned. You know that horrible things happen; of course, I'm more acutely aware of fetal deaths because I'm pregnant. I think it was the close call of me almost going to treat this patient and how potentially painful just the sight of me would have undoubtedly been to this patient, and how traumatic that would have been for both of us.

My point in this long, rambling story is that it made me appreciate how healthy and lucky I am to have had such a relatively easy, problem-free pregnancy (and life) so far. The pain is a nuisance, for sure. But it's a small amount of suffering to bear compared to some.

On a much lighter note and completely different topic, I tried another cornbread recipe (we're still working our way through that damn chili!). The Husband implored me to try a "normal" cornbread recipe this time, and we both found this one to be pretty good. If anyone feels inspired to try it out though, definitely follow the other readers' suggestions regarding halfing the sugar. I did, and still find it on the sweet side. A little too sweet for me, but I know some people like it that way. I also subbed buttermilk for the water. And it's a tad on the dry side, but I couldn't bring myself to follow the other readers' suggestion to increase the butter from 1 stick to 1.5. Ouiser, you're a big user of the applesauce for oil sub; can you sub applesauce for butter? I'm thinking not... Anyway, the cornbread was pretty good. I would make it again, reducing the sugar to a half cup and trying to find someway to make it just a tad more moist.

Now, excuse me while I return to my regularly scheduled plan of sitting on my butt, reading, playing Nintendo, and watching Dr. Phil. Never mind that I have newly purchased 75% off decor fabric screaming to be made into curtains. Never mind that I have lumber sitting in the garage begging to be installed in the laundry room. Never mind that I have nothing to eat for dinner tonight because I can't stay on my feet long enough to make it through a grocery trip, never mind the actual cooking, without making my back situation worse again. Never mind that the bathroom is in such need of a good scrub down that I've started using the guest bathroom instead. Why do they wait until the third trimester, just when you're good an uncomfortable and needing to rest, to really let that nesting instinct kick in. This is just poor planning and foresight.

On the other hand, the Husband should soon be able to help with at least some of that, as tonight is his last night of class! He will officially graduate with his MBA this weekend and I will have a spouse again. I made him celebratory chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter cookies (but pointedly not chocolate chip peanut butter cookies, which he dislikes) last night to share during their final today.

Maybe I should try to take up knitting again. This would be my third or fourth attempt at learning to like it. I find knitting frustrating in much the same way I remember finding ballet when I was very small: I want to get right to the good stuff. I wanted to be en pointe in my first year. "Enough of this stretching crap, let's twirl!" I remember thinking. Likewise, enough little practice squares to measure the gauge. Enough scarves. I want to make these! And these! (Both courtesy of SuperBuzzy, found here.) By the way, I find it really funny that I'm now coveting (along with hoards of other crafters, I know) patterns for nordic products written in Japanese.

Onesies Coming Out My Earsies

Today's pictures feature some of the worst lighting ever. Sorry.
This was a nice chili and cornbread dinner the Husband and I had last night. The chili is a Cincinnati Chili, according to Cooking Light. I didn't know what that meant before I made it, but apparently it means it's served over pasta. That seems like an overkill of carbs when already served with cornbread, but maybe we'll try it when we're out of cornbread. The cornbread included molasses among the ingredients, which was a nice tough with the spices in the chili.
I speant a few hours today churning out a ton of onesies. Some for my baby girl-on-the-way, some for the Husband's cousin's baby boy-on-the-way. I think I have easily over a dozen onesies at this point. And that's just in the 0-3 month range. This kid will not be wanting for clothes.
I'm off to meet the Husband for dinner at a friend's house. Four days until he's done his MBA!

Critic's Corner

I made the lemon cake Thursday night. Unfortunately, like Ouiser, I also neglected to take pictures of it. Mostly because I didn't put the glaze on until just before we left for the party last night, and we were in such a rush that it slipped my mind. But it was delicious, got lots of compliments, and it was kind of fun to make. I think because I had my new Microplane zester, with which I promptly grated some finger into the lemon within the first 30 seconds of use. Aside from that, zesting was much more enjoyable than ever; so efficient! One bit of warning with that recipe: it says six to eight large lemons. I used three. Did you find that, too, Ouiser?

Anyway, it was great. Which is an impressive review given that I was making it around the hours of 1:30 to 4:00 am. I couldn't help it. I came home from a nine-hour day at work (that didn't used to be a big deal, but apparently now I'm pregnant enough that it is), and was just so exhausted, I knew it was a bad idea, but I fell asleep at six-something. I woke up at 7:00 and made myself get up, tried to stay up until a decent bedtime hour, but nothing doing. Fell asleep again at 8:00, slept until the husband got home from class at 11:30. Then it was all over. I was up. So the baking occurred in the wee hours. Then I slept again from 4:00 to 6:00. Not ideal, but I survived, and I'll even say the cake was worth it. Wish I had a picture. It was pretty. Even the husband complemented the look of it and he never notices those things, nor does he, as a rule, even like lemon cake.



Tonight we saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I'll give no spoilers here, but I will say the following:

• Daniel Radcliffe is growing into a fine actor. He's young, he's still got lots of improvement ahead of him, but he's becoming quite promising. All the teenage angst in this book gave him fodder with which to break in the real acting chops with this movie.


• Best casting choices: Luna Lovegood and Bellatrix LeStrange. Excellent. Perfect.


• Look for a line of dialogue from Luna that the husband and I can figure for nothing other than a massively blatant bit of foreshadowing that was not in the book. I know J. K. has lots of control in these movies. I can only assume she decided to sneak this in to please the fans, especially a week before the final book's released. I won't give the line, but fans should spot it easily.


• Also a fine performance by Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge. I expect that was an extremely challenging role to play--sickeningly sweet and terrifying at the same time--and she nailed it.

I don't have any real criticisms. The husband hates any movies made from books. But he also hates live music (I know, I know. And he's really quite smart about most other things, I swear.), so he clearly just has a real hang-up about anything altered from it's original version. I could stand for Julie Walters to be a little less shrill, but she does look just as I picture Mrs. Weasley. I will give away (because it's not really giving away anything) that they did not manage to include St. Mungo's, which is a shame as it would have been a really great piece of filmmaking. But you can't include everything, and I understand the limitations.

And I've got dibs on reading the book first (within this household anyway) when it comes next weekend! Very excited...

Goats and Sheep and Chickens, Oh My!

We're back from CA, safe and sound. We arrived on Wednesday. The plane was about an hour and a half late, but compared to my last misadventure, it was a dream flight. We stayed at my mother-in-law's farm, north of Sacramento, that she runs with her partner through Friday. My nephew, J, had been there all week and was an old farmhand (as old as you can be at not quite 18 months) by the time we got there. We met the pygmy goats and one regular goat, Mr. and Mrs. Baa (sheep, if you can't guess), and lots of chickens. It was about as ungodly hot there as it was in Tucson, unfortunately.

The husband feeding the pygmies, who are very shy.

Mr. and Mrs. Baa were rescued from previous owners who didn't have them sheared for three years, and it shows. Their new owners are currently desperately searching for someone to shear these poor creatures. They must be literally at least half wool.

Friday we headed to the cabin in Tahoe (the north side, sans fire), where we had a birthday party for the husband's uncle that evening. The next morning they through a baby shower for me--my first! It was lots of fun and included...

butterfly tattoos (even the boys were good sports and allowed themselves to be branded)...
and onesie decorating. The men joined in on this, too, which was great.

We brought home lots of fabulous gifts. We left Tahoe that evening to drive back to the farm, and flew out early Sunday morning. Too brief, as always, but it was great fun to see everyone and I was so touched that so many of the husband's family drove and flew in for the occasion. And Tahoe was beautiful, also predictably. It was the first time the husband and I had been there in the summer, though. The weather was perfect. I didn't manage to get any pics, but I know the husband's brother did, so I'll see if I can get some to share.

The flight home was also mercifully reasonable. Some nausea with the landing in Tucson (lots of turbulence), but it could have been worse. Keep your fingers crossed for my trip back East again in August.

I didn't work today, but kept plenty busy around the house. Also test-drove some Chai brownies from the March 2007 Cooking Light issue that I had planned to make for a pot-luck with people from work this Friday. Good thing I did because they did not turn out well. Very dry, so I won't share the recipe. I substituted whole wheat white flour for the all-purpose flour, which may have been the problem. Not sure. So now I'll have to come up with something else for Friday. Considering Ouiser's lemon cake.

Mystery Solved

I made these biscuits from Ouiser's recipe on Saturday and they were delicious. She's totally right about the glaze, though: I accidentally made way too much and ended up wasting a ton of sugar. But they are otherwise perfect and the amount of orange flavor is right on. I didn't mess with her recipe at all and found it to be just right. Subtle, as she said, yes, but still very much there. I highly recommend them.

I've been working more the past two weeks (and will be right up until we leave for Sacramento next Wednesday) and have been exhausted! Twice in the last week I've fallen asleep at 8:00 and slept for 11 hours. As die Frau mentioned to me on the phone the other day, it was not uncommon for me to need that much sleep in college, but that was bookending other nights of getting four hours of sleep because I was on the phone with the husband (who was then merely the boyfriend) half the night, for example. So it made more sense. But I think I've finally figured out this mystery.

Those of you who have been pregnant know that once you get to about 20 weeks (I was 21 yesterday), you're not supposed to sleep on your back anymore. The weight of the baby/uterus/etc. is now enough to constrict the artery that returns the blood from your legs to your heart. So you have to sleep on your side, preferably the left. This requires multiple pillows between the knees, behind the back to support you. I've been doing this and notice that I have to switch sides every couple of hours because I wake up with hip pain in the hip my weight is on. Turning over means waking up completely because you have to rearrange all those pillows every time. So that's several sleep interruptions per night. That coupled with the work it takes to build a whole new person I think more than explains the 11-hour marathon sleep sessions.

It also explains the not blogging, not sewing, not unloading the clean dishes from the dishwasher and allowing the newly dirty ones to stack up, not folding the laundry (though I did at least wash it, which I maintain is the most important part).

Cooking Spree

The husband really had no time for any Father's-to-Be Day activities Sunday, so I decided to try to cook some of his favorite things for him at home. This met with varied success.

• Mom-in-Law's Pull-Apart Coffee Cake: Some of my 'Gater readers may have this recipe in the cookbook my SIL made for my bridal shower. I prepped this yesterday and we ate it this morning, and it was delicious, and the husband loved it. Nevertheless, there are a few tweaks that we decided need to be made to the recipe as written. (1) The recipe told me to bake it for an hour, but a half hour was plenty. (2) The recipe says to use an angel food cake pan, but after the husband described to me the pan it was made in by his mother when he was growing up, we determined that it is in fact meant for a Bundt pan. Doesn't sound like it should make much of a difference, but the recipe calls for layering three or four layers of dough with the sugar/butter mixture. With the angel food cake pan, I only got about one and a half layers because of the width of the bottom of the pan. Anyway, it was still delicious and if anyone wants the recipe, let me know.


• Black Walnut Pie: The particular recipe I used was one that the husband found a while ago that he wanted me to make for him. He developed a mild obsession with the concept of a black walnut pie after we read a bunch of the Lilian Jackson Braun (The Cat Who...) books, in which the main character lives in a town where black walnut pies are the local specialty. This was my first time making a nut pie of any kind. It was easy, but I won't bother giving the recipe. Way too much maple syrup...


• I also made a particular filet mignon dish that I've made several times before, about once a year, only on special occasions, but which we both have always loved. This time, it wasn't bad, but there was a definite problem with it that led us to call it filet mig-ham. It didn't look right when I cooked it. It didn't look right when I served it. It didn't smell right. And it tasted like ham. We checked the package twice and it definitely said beef filet mignon. Finally, on the third check of the package the husband noticed the tiny writing that noted the filet mignon was cured. Who knew anyone would cure filet mignon? What a waste. So it was too salty, and, as mentioned, tasted like ham. Oh well.


• I made asparagus for the first time. Overcooked it. I knew that would be easy to do. I just have so little experience steaming fresh veggies.


• Mashed potatoes were good and we have lots of leftovers.


• The biggest success was the pepperoni rolls. This is a recipe my mom gave me years ago that came off a food package, I think. I tried them once before and wasn't so successful. This time they came out perfectly. Here's the recipe; I highly recommend them.

Pepperoni Rolls

• 1 (1-pound) loaf frozen bread dough, thawed (don't substitute pizza dough; I made this mistake the first time)


• 3 Tbsp pesto sauce


• 2 cups Italian cheese blend (I used a 5-cheese blend, shredded. Have also seen 3- or 6-cheese blends)


• 3-4 oz sliced pepperoni

Roll bread dough into 20- x 12-inch rectangle. Spread surface with pesto sauce. Sprinkle with cheese. Top with pepperoni. Roll up, starting at long side. Cut into 12 slices. Place slices, cut side up, in greased muffin cups, pressing slightly. Cover. Let rise in warm place 45 minutes. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown.

.500

Two attempts in the kitchen this weekend and I'm batting .500.

Of course I only thought to take pictures of the cookies, which didn't turn out so well, and forgot with the dinner, which was great!

Cookies first. Whole wheat oatmeal chocolate chip raisin cookies. With nuts. Trying for more of the almost-an-energy-bar thing, rather than the to-die-for cookie thing. But I was still disappointed. I'm thinking that the hazelnuts I included were either the wrong choice of nut, or that I toasted them too much. I also think I need to try them with more chocolate chips and more raisins. I'll get back to you if I give it a second shot. I also clearly need to space them out on the cookie sheet some more. Oops!

The dinner I made was another Cooking Light experiment. From the April 2007 issue, Thai Beef Tacos with Lime-Cilantro Sauce

Steak:

• 1 Tbsp sugar (I used Splenda)
• 1 1/2 tsps minced peeled fresh ginger (I used jarred)
• 1 1/2 tsps fish sauce
• 1/2 tsp chili garlic sauce
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper (mine was not fresh)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 lb flank steak, trimmed (I used a round cut)

Slaw:

• 1/4 c fresh lime juice (again, not fresh. Apparently, nothing in my house is.)
• 1 Tbsp sugar (or Splenda)
• 2 Tbsps rice wine vinegar
• 1 1/2 tsps minced peeled fresh ginger
• 1/2 tsp chili garlic sauce
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 c packaged angel hair slaw (I used cole slaw, which already had the carrots below included)
• 2 c packaged matchstick-cut carrots
• 1/4 c sliced green onions (skipped; we don't like raw onions)
• 1/2 c chopped fresh cilantro (I used dried; not sure how much)

And 8 (6-inch) flour tortillas

Because the carrots were included in the slaw I purchased, I just left them out and didn't think to compensate for the 2 cups less of veggies. Which explains why I was thinking their recommendation for 1/2 cup of slaw per taco wasn't going to add up to eight tacos. So next time, if I have the same packaged slaw, I'll just do 5 cups instead of 3. It was still good. Even the husband liked it. And only 431 calories for two tacos, per Cookine Light.

Next on the List: Conquering the World (or at Least the Vacuuming)

Okay, now I know I'm on the mend. I ended up with a "snow day" today (yay!) and haven't felt so much like myself in weeks. My impressive list of accomplishments today include:

• laundry (including folding! That never happens around here)
• unloading the dishwasher
• walking the dog
• grocery shopping
• cooking dinner
• purchasing tickets to see my parents in June
• beginning travel plans for our anniversary

Okay, so "impressive" may be an overstatement, at least for you normal folks. I'm impressed with myself. It's been so long since I've been a contributing member of this household. And now I've blogged twice in two days! Though no pictures today. I'll share a recipe instead:

Fettucine with Bacon, Peas, and Parmesan

• 9 oz fresh fettucine pasta
• 2 slices bacon
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 tsps minced garlic
• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme
• 1/2 c frozen peas
• 1/2 c chopped green onions
• 1/3 c half and half
• 2 tsps butter
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 c shredded parmesan cheese

1. Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain, reserving 1/4 c cooking liquid.
2. Cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving drippings in pan; crumble. Add onion, garlic, and thyme to drippings in pan; saute 2 min. Stire in peas; saute 1 min. Add green onions; saute 1 1/2 min. Add pasta, reserved cooking liquid, and half and half to pan; cook 1 min or until thoroughly heated, tossing to combine. Remove from heat. Add butter, salt, pepper to pan; toss until butter melts. Sprinkle with crumbled bacon and parmesan cheese.

4 servings.

It's from the March 2007 Cooking Light. I skipped the green onions because we boycott those in this household. I also used skim milk instead of half and half because that's what I had. I also forgot to reserve the pasta liquid to add in later. For us it only served 2, but I had intended to serve a salad or veggie with it, which I didn't because the husband was too starving to wait by the time it was ready. With sides, it would have served 4, if none of the 4 were my husband. I imagine it would be a lot better with the half and half than the skim milk, though it was pretty good as is. If anyone tries it before I do again, let me know!

What's Cookin'?

I know, I know, it's been two weeks. A new low. But I was out of town for a dear friend's wedding last weekend and it's been impossible to blog on weeknights lately.

The wedding was in Philly and it was lovely. We had a big ol' 'Gate reunion after over a year of not seeing my dozen or so closest friends (and spouses/SOs) from college, and my best friend from high school, who is an adopted member of the group. And old and precious friends from Philly. And did I mention two of the above people are also my B- and SIL? We all partied like it was 1999 and it was fabulous. Tragically, Ouiser could not be there, as she is busy with a bun in the oven, who should be showing her face any day now. We're hoping to see them both in April at another 'Gate wedding.

Upon my return, I launched headlong into spinning and water aerobics classes every morning and cooking (yes, cooking! Moi!) dinner every night. I ditched the old, within-walking-distance-but-without-classes gym and joined LA Fitness after all. I don't know what I was thinking before when that seemed like such a bad idea. It's actually slightly cheaper, I get to have classes, which are my favorite workout strategy, and I have an hour to kill by the time I've showered and dressed for work before I have to show up at the hospital. So the new routine is to head to Starbucks for breakfast, where I spend the zillions of dollars in Starbucks giftcards I have*, and sit and read for an hour. This has turned out to be very treasured, valuable me-time that actually helps get my butt out of bed at 5 am for the gym.

I think my hesitancy with them stems from having been burned by Bally's (who don't deserve a link) in the past. The big corporate gyms make me wrinkle up my nose. But everyone at this gym is very friendly. In fact, the old ladies in my water aerobics class (because those are the only people who take water aerobics, really: old ladies and chumps with busted up knees) have tried to become my new best friends and invite me to breakfast with them and want me on their e-mailing list so we can all share birthday wishes and sing to each other in the pool. It's a bit much, but sweet.

As for the cooking, I've already tried three new recipes, two of which we'll keep. All from Weight Watchers, so they're so not gourmet, but I find they're actually quick enough for me to manage before I starve to death upon getting home from work. And the husband and I have agreed that it's nice to be eating real food for once. He, until now, has mostly lived on quesadillas and I on crackers and peanut butter or Costco chicken meatballs. It's been a sad existence, so anything requiring actual ingredients is an improvement.

On the crafting front, I've made very little progress. I decided I needed some cotton twill tape to tie Chewy's mat to his crate, to hold it in place. Why don't they sell that stuff in the big fabric chain stores? I had to order it online. So I've cut the fabric to make the binding and ordered the ties. And that's about it. But I also finally hung the bulletin board above my sewing machine. The next patterned project I tackle will be made easier, I hope, by hanging the instructions right in front of my face. Then I'll have no excuses.

Everyone send healthy, speedy, easy birth thoughts Ouiser's way!

*I don't quite have a zillion dollars to spend at Starbucks. But I do have a couple hundred. The husband's company holiday party this year was a casino night at the boss's house, where a blackjack dealer tutored me all night and helped me turn $500 worth of chips into $6,000. These were then cashed in for raffle tickets with gift cards to various restaurants/stores as prizes. I won all the Starbucks ones. And then got more from friends for my Birthmas (that's SIL-speak for birthday/Christmas, as those with December birthdays will understand). Anyway, I have a lot of money to spend at Starbucks.