24 weeks

This kitty has been very needy since we returned from Kansas City, little does he know we will be leaving him again soon and for a longer period. 

Trees

The many trees of the weekend. 

We went back to Kansas City for a few days to see family.  It was a good time and tiring.  And this baby is already spoiled by all the gifts we received over Christmas. 

For all photos from the weekend, check out the my photos link on the right side of the page. 

Merry Christmas!

Heath was in the holiday season the other night and decided to pose in front of the tree.  So Merry Christmas! Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

23 weeks

So 23 weeks, one week away from viability.  I am starting to feel really large and clumsy.  I constantly drop things and this includes food on my ever expanding stomach.  I realized today that my hip bones that use to be visible are now not so visible.  I will miss you hip bones, hope to see you in about four months.  I also feel like I am gaining weight rapidly, but that could just be me feeling large.  Since my jeans do still fit.  And my normal shirts fit, they just aren't long enough.  I am also really glad I do not own a scale, I feel like I would be obsessing too much if I did.  Once a month weigh-in is plenty.

I can still barely wear my jeans, I think this too will be going away very soon.  I have to wear maternity shirts all the time though, my regular shirts don't really cover the stomach enough anymore.  
Movement is starting to become more consistent, like when I wake up in the middle of the night, the baby always seems to be moving.  I feel like this is a bad sign since sleep patterns start developing now.

I guess that is all for this week.  I felt the Christmas tree was a good addition this week, since it is only a few days until Christmas.  Hope everyone has a good holiday!

Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkin Cinnamon Streusel Muffins, taken from TwoPeasandTheirPod
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/3 cup water
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Brown Sugar Cinnamon Filling:
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Streusel Topping:
1 1/4 cup oats
1 tablespoon flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Dash of nutmeg
6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into chunks
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two muffin tins with paper liners or spray with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, water, pumpkin, eggs, and vanilla extract. Whisk until smooth and combined.
4. Slowly stir in the flour mixture. Mix until ingredients are combined.
5. For the brown sugar cinnamon filling: in a small bowl, mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together. Set aside.
6. For the streusel topping: in a small bowl mix together the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix in the butter with your hands until the mixture is crumbly.
7. Fill muffin cups half way full with the pumpkin batter. Sprinkle the brown sugar cinnamon filling over each half filled muffin cup. Fill the muffins cups with the remaining batter. Top each muffin with streusel topping.
8. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove pans from oven and cool on a wire rack. Remove muffins from tins and enjoy.
Makes about 24 muffins

These muffins are amazing, not much else to say about them.

22 weeks

Had an appointment on Monday, everything is still going good.  The midwife measured my uterus and it is measuring right on track.  The heart beat was 140.  And so far I have gained 10 pounds total.  Kind of crazy to think how much more I have to gain.  I think the next time I go, seeing the weight on the scale will be crazy because it will be the heaviest I have ever been.  But it is good knowing that it is mainly baby or baby related.  I am gaining weight steadily as I should and not too much which is nice.  I can still wear my regular jeans but definitely having to wear maternity shirts or long shirts to fit over the bump. 

On a side note, Christmas is around the corner!  I am completely done with all gifts and wrapping now.  But Denver has been way too warm, it is very odd.  It still has yet to really snow.  Every once in a while we get a bit but then it melts immediately.  I am really tired of the warm weather, I wish it would just snow.  And I made some awesome muffins tonight that I will soon post a recipe for. 

Crib

So we got our crib at the beginning of this week, and put it together on Friday night.  It ended up being a different one that I had originally planned to get because Target was out of that one and didn't know when they would get it in, so they canceled my order.  A little annoying but now that we have this crib and it is put together and I really love it, so it all worked out.  I found this crib on Amazon and the great thing about Amazon is that many of their items have free shipping.  So I think this crib ended up being cheaper than the other one.  And after reading many, many reviews this one reviewed the best among the cribs I was looking at. 
I was having such a hard time deciding on what crib to buy because I would find one that had good reviews overall but reading the low reviews would turn me off.  But this crib did not have the low review that turned me off, the low reviews consisted of people saying is scratched easily.  It seems like every crib I looked at this was a common complaint to I easily stopped caring about that aspect, because it is for a kid, it will get scratched to matter what. 

21 weeks

Overall not much has changed in a week.  Still getting use to the belly.  We have another appointment Monday.  I am curious to see how much weight I have gained, it feels like I have gained a lot, but then again, I am not use to the belly.  I still can't really believe I am this far along either.  Time is really going by way too fast.

Now when the baby is kicking, if I am paying attention I can watch my stomach move as I feel the kicks.  It is fun to watch my stomach move. 

Still able to wear my regular jeans, but I now have a larger collection of maternity shirt that I rotate with my lengthier regular shirts and sweaters.  They have to be able to fit over the bump and still cover the top of my jeans.  

The crib arrived yesterday and I am very excited to put it together this weekend, when it is put together I will have to post some pictures.  Now I really need to start collecting some cloth diapers, I am behind on that.  

Turkey Chili

So this is really late.  I am been kind of lazy with posts lately, especially in the food department.  Partially because I feel like I haven't made anything worth while.  But this was delicious.  We had a lot of left over turkey from Thanksgiving because the people we did Thanksgiving with didn't like dark meat.  I really don't understand that, so we got all the left over dark meat and made turkey chili with it.  I also need to post a recipe to some amazing pumpkin bread I made over the weekend. 

And I don't have a picture because I don't feel like connecting the camera to the computer.  

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1.5 punds of breast or leg meat

1 yellow onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 rib celery, diced

1 carrot, diced

1 green pepper, diced

1 red pepper, diced

2 tsp. ground cumin

2 Tbsp. chili powder

salt and pepper to taste

4 cups cooked white beans

3 cups chicken stock

sour cream  and cheddar cheese for topping

1. Heat cast iron dish over medium heat.  Add oil and onion, garlic, celery, and carrot to pan and cook for 5-6 minutes.  Add in peppers, cumin and chili powder.  Season with salt and pepper, and continue to cook for 10 minutes until veggies are soft.

2. Add turkey to the pan and add the white beans.  Pour in the chicken stock and stir to mix well.  Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. 

3. Serve with sour cream and cheese.

Serves 6-8

20 weeks

So we have reached the halfway point!  It is exciting that we are already this far into the pregnancy.  I still cannot believe how fast time has gone and how much more I need to do in the next 20 weeks.  Still craving meat, meat and more meat and salads.  Still having occasional heartburn.  I am beginning to feel more regular movement from the baby, especially in the morning when I am eating breakfast and at night when I am laying down to go to sleep.  I feel movement all throughout the day but during these two times there is a lot of movement.  My belly seems really large now, it is sticking out more than my boobs now.  It is now more obvious that I am pregnant.  I can still fit into my regular clothes, which is nice.  I did buy some Old Navy maternity clothes that were on sale recently, but those are all tops which will be nice to start wearing. 

19 weeks- Happy Thanksgiving!

Heath has a hard time not being the center of attention, so he had to get into the picture.  And this is the first pregnancy photo with the new camera, can't you see the better quality?

As I am quickly approaching the halfway mark, I am starting to feel huge.  I know this is way to early to feel this way but that is how I feel.  I am starting to have a harder time getting comfortable when I lay down, sleep or even sit.  My body just isn't use to this yet.  I know everything is growing a lot because I keep having ab pains, the are overall sore or some sharp pains every once in awhile.  It may be uncomfortable but it doesn't bother me too much, it just lets me know the baby is growing even more.
Definelty feeling kicks and movement, it is becoming a little more consistent, but it still varies a lot.
Heartburn is starting to kick in, pretty much after I eat anything.  Don't worry that doesn't make me stop eating, I think I need to get some Tums though. 
I am very excited for it to be Thanksgiving.  I am really excited for the food tonight, green bean casserole and corn casserole, mmmm.  It also means I can begin making Christmas cards and decorating the house with Christmas items without angering Jeff too much.  He obviously isn't as into the holidays as I am. 
This year I am thankful for having a healthy pregnancy and baby so far, hopefully everything still looks good on Monday when we go in for an ultrasound.  Thankful for my husband, and all his help during this pregnancy with working and school.  I am thankful for much more but those are at the top of the list. 

Early Christmas Gifts

The in-laws were very kind and generous in their gift giving this year and gave us a certain amount to spend on a new camera.  This was awesome since we were hoping to buy a new and better camera before the little one arrived in April.  With our allotment we were able to find some good deals online and got a Nixon D3000, plus an extra long lens, plus a Flip video camera (we were also hoping to get a video camera before April).  I really cannot say how great these gifts are and how excited I am to use them. 

Purchases

I have begun the massive project of buying all the baby items I need.  It is a little overwhelming because of all the items that need to be purchased before the baby arrives.  But I have a big long list and at least two moms have looked over it to confirm items and tell me items that should be added, which has been very helpful.  So I have this big long list but I am trying to get items that are budget friendly but still good quality and I am constantly looking for sales.  So far I have found two good sales for two big purchases. 

18 weeks

I cannot believe that I am only two weeks away from being halfway through this pregnancy.  It is kind of crazy to think how fast time has gone by and how much I have to do before April.
My regular clothes still fit, I just cannot wear a belt with my jeans anymore, but they still fit.  My biggest cravings lately have been meat and salads, which makes me think it may be a boy according to old wives tales.  The bump is starting to look more and more like a baby bump and not just extra flab.  I am starting to feel some movement which is exciting, it is not very consistent but it is there.

On Monday we had our monthly checkup and everything was good as usual.  I gained 4 pounds, which is right on track with what I should be gaining, so I have gained a total of 5 pounds.  We heard the heartbeat, it was at 160 bpm.  And my uterus is up to my belly button, right where it should be.  We scheduled the 20 week ultrasound, which is only two weeks away!  I am excited to see the baby moving around and measuring on track. 

And now I am slowly starting to acquire baby items and clean out the guest room to make room for all the baby items.  That room will be completely transformed soon.  So sorry guest but if you stay with us you will have to sleep on a couch. 

17 weeks

This is what I haven been waking up with, a small hard bump, but as the day wears on it likes to fade and hide.  But it is nice to know it is there some where. 
Still not really sleeping well, or feeling like I am getting enough sleep.  This week has been busy and school only has three weeks left which means everything is getting crazy with projects and papers. 
I have been alone all week while Jeff has been enjoying New Orleans with my family for my brother's 21st birthday. 
But it finally snowed here!  I am so excited, it has been too long for it to snow.  And as I type this it is snowing again!
My clothes are still fitting but some jeans are getting tighter than others and overall I look like I have eaten too much.  
Cheese is still my favorite thing to eat. 
Looking forward to Monday when we have our next appointment.  At this coming appointment we get to schedule the big ultrasound to make sure everything is good with the baby.  I am also curious to see how much weight I have gained.   

Baby Names

We have names!  Jeff finally admitted to liking both names that I really liked.  But for some reason he just didn't want to decide on them, so last night I made the executive decision that we have names.  Really he wanted me to just keep searching for names I was okay with to see if he was happy with those, ridiculous.  So here they are:

If it is a girl it will be Grace Kaya
And if it is a boy it will be Leland Oliver

Hope you enjoy!

Pumpkin Pasta

We have received lots of pumpkin from our CSA share, so I am trying to find a lot of pumpkin recipes.  We still have four pumpkins left.  This recipe was really good and very simple. 

Ingredients:

• Salt
• 1 pound whole wheat penne rigate
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 3 shallots, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, grated
• 2 cups chicken broth
• One 15-ounce can pure pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
• 2 pinches ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch nutmeg
• Pepper
• 7 leaves fresh sage, thinly sliced
• Grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese, to pass around the table

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt it, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain.
2. While the pasta is working, in a medium skillet, heat the EVOO, 2 turns of the pan, over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chicken broth, pumpkin and cream. Add the hot sauce, cinnamon and nutmeg; season with salt and pepper. Lower the heat and simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the sage.
3. Toss the pasta with the sauce and pass the parmigiano-reggiano around the table.

16 weeks

Still waiting to show.  I just look like I can't control my eating.  No major changes otherwise.  I can't really believe that I am this far along, time has gone by really fast.  Regular clothes still fit, which is nice.  People keep asking if we are going to find out the sex and we aren't.  But I have a small feeling it may be a girl based on how I look, which is awful.  I am having troubles sleeping lately, which is awful.  I am tired but I constantly wake up in the night, for no real reason but then have to resituate before I can go back to bed.  My cravings are mostly cheese, I eat a lot of cheese and it is always amazing. 
Jeff is going to be out of town next week, so I am not for sure how I am going to take a picture.  I guess I will have to figure something out, find a place to set the camera on.  We shall see. 
And I think we have finally decided on names!  I will hopefully announce them soon, but need to make sure Jeff fully agrees, it is really hard for him to agree on something.  He can be very indecisive. 

Pumpkin Pie Bars

Pumpkin Pie Squares are a favorite of Jeff's and they are made every Thanksgiving as dessert in his family.  I am a big fan myself, but I didn't' like that the recipe used cake mix.  So I found a recipe that is pretty similar but does not use cake mix and it includes cream cheese, the best ingredient ever.  All these needed were some fresh whipped cream, which I will make sure to have when I make these for Thanksgiving this year.

1-1/3 cups flour

3/4 cup  granulated sugar, divided

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup  (1-1/2 sticks) cold butter or margarine

1 cup old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats, uncooked

1/2 cup  chopped walnuts

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened

3   eggs

1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin, we are lucky to have lots of pumpkin from our CSA, so we used fresh puree!

1 Tbsp.  pumpkin pie spice, don't have so I used a mixture of ginger, allspice, nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons bourbon (optional)

a handful of butterscotch or chocolate chips for sprinkling on top (optional)

HEAT oven to 350°F. Line 13×9-inch pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides; grease foil. Mix flour, 1/4 granulated sugar and brown sugar in medium bowl; cut in butter with pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in oats and nuts.
RESERVE 1 cup oat mixture; press remaining onto bottom of prepared pan. Bake 15 min. Beat cream cheese, remaining sugar, eggs, vanilla, bourbon, pumpkin and spice with mixer until well blended. Pour over crust; sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture and a handful of butterscotch or chocolate chips (if desired).
BAKE 25 min.; cool 10 min. Use foil to transfer dessert from pan to wire rack; cool completely.

Can’t find pumpkin pie spice? Simply mix 1 tsp. each ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg and allspice, then use as directed.

15 Weeks

Not much change since last week.  Still feeling better everyday.  I am not as tired but I still sleep a lot at night, or I try.  I have been having an issue with sleeping.  I keep waking up at night, so then I have to reposition and fall back asleep.  It gets a little old after four or five times a night.

I am still waiting for an actual bump to start showing, which should happen in the next few weeks.  I am still wearing my normal clothes which is nice since I haven't had to buy a lot of new clothes.  

I am hoping that since I feel better I will start being more active.  I need to start walking more, stretching, doing some prenatal yoga, etc. 

Baked Potato Soup

So first off, this soup is probably the best soup I have ever made.  It is so delicious.  I think a lot of it has to do with replacing two cups of milk with homemade turkey broth.  We also made some Irish Soda Bread and broccoli along with the soup.  But you should definitely try the recipe sometime.  It takes a little time but it is not too hard. 

serves 8
Ingredients:
4 baking potatoes (2 1/2 pounds)
2 Tbs butter
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
6 4 cups 2% reduced-fat milk whole milk
2 cups turkey broth
4 ounces shredded cheddar cheese, plus extra for garnish
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 cup reduced-fat sour cream
3/4 cup chopped green onions, divided( we just added all into the soup)
10 slices center cut bacon, cooked and crumbled ( we just added this into the soup and not on top)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°.
Pierce potatoes with a fork; bake at 400° for 1 hour or until tender. Cool. Peel potatoes; coarsely mash. Discard skins.
Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Melt butter in a large dutch oven. Add flour, whisking to combine with the butter. Gradually add milk and broth, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly (about 8 minutes). Add mashed potatoes, cheese, salt, pepper, and paprika, stirring until cheese melts. Remove from heat.
Stir in sour cream and 1/2 cup onions. Cook over low heat 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated (do not boil). Add additional salt and pepper if desired. Sprinkle each serving with cheese, onions, and bacon.

Two Year Anniversary

Wow, it has already been two years since Jeff and I got married.  I feel like time has gone really fast, and it never is going to slow down again.  But I am looking forward to the many years to come to see what life brings us, besides a child in April. 

So for our anniversary we went to dinner at one of our favorite places in Denver- Solera.  And it was delicious as usual.  I had a spiced sweet potato soup and white truffle macaroni and cheese with scallops.  We also shared a brownie with peanut butter ice cream.  It was all very delicious.  We also decided to take a family photo!

Kettle Corn

I have a new obsession with popcorn.  I have made it three times in the past week.  Today I made some kettle corn to take over for football watching, GO CHIEFS!  And we preceded to eat all of it in about 30 minutes.  The great thing about popcorn is it is super easy!

So if you feel inclined, here is the recipes for this awesome popcorn.  It is taken from Joy the Baker.

Green Follow Friday

It is Friday again, so time for Green Follow Friday!

Baby items to buy

Okay so I typed up this big long list of items I need to buy before the baby is born that we need to slowly start working on.  So look it over and let me know if you think there is something I am missing or something that is really not necessary.

14 weeks

On Monday we went to the midwife again.  We heard the heartbeat which was super fast and exciting.  Blood pressure is still really good.  For weight, I think I gained back that one pound that I had lost but that is it.  I also got my flu shot which actually hurt and made my arm sore.  At the next appointment we have a chance of screening for down syndrome but we aren't going to do that testing.  And I cannot believe that the big ultrasound is only six weeks away!  And no we will not be finding out the gender, we are waiting until the baby is actually born.  Which means we need to come up with two names which is kind of a an issue right now because Jeff won't really decide on anything. 

13 weeks

Not much change... bloat is more manageable.  Still impatiently waiting for the next appointment on Monday.  I am technically into the second trimester which is good news as long as everything goes well on Monday. 

On a side note: a picture that the cats will deny forever.  But it is real and they were both laying on my lap this morning. 

Green Follow Friday

It is green follow Friday time again!  So come find some great blogs to follow!

12 weeks

So 12 weeks, not much different I guess.  Went and bought a new bra last week, I cannot believe the size it is and that it will only keep growing for a while.  I also got some awesome sweatpants.  I am pretty excited about these since I can wear them to work.  I can still wear my regular clothes they are just a little tighter.  Which is surprising because I feel huge most of the time.  Nausea is getting better and I am feeling less tired.  Still not showing and probably won't for another month or so, right now it just looks like I have been eating too much. 
My biggest issue right now is my crazy worries and fears getting the best of me.  Worrying if everything is still fine with the baby.  I know we saw the heartbeat on the ultrasound and so chances are low, but they are still there.  I am really looking forward to the next appointment, which is still a week and a half away, so we can hear the heartbeat on the doppler and I can know for sure everything is all right.  But until then I am going to keep worrying.  I am sure the worry will continue for other reasons after but right now it is getting the best of me.  I usually have a lot of irrational fears and worries but I keep those to myself knowing they are irrational.  But this I don't feel is irrational with the rates of miscarriage out there.  I keep trying to talk myself into everything is fine and going to be okay but each day I think about the worst.  So hopefully I can stop this fear and get on with the pregnancy.  This is the last week in the first trimester, next weeks marks the start of the second trimester which is exciting.  

School Update

So school in in full swing now.  Busy with tests, projects, readings, etc.  I am getting to know some of my fellow classmates which is always nice.  There are not a ton of people in my program which is also nice, so most of my classes have the same people.
In seminar, professors are making their way through letting us know their research projects and what they are interested in.  I have found a couple of professors that have similar ideas as I do, which is exciting.  I think I am going to focus on environmental education.  So now I have to start thinking about a thesis idea, so that at the beginning of next semester I can lock down an adviser and begin the thesis and its many components. 
Other exciting news is there is a funding opportunity for next year that I have found already.  It deals with education and I would get a very good stipend on top of funding for my actual school costs.  I am pretty excited about it and will soon start the application process, since the application is due at the beginning of next year.  It is somewhat competitive, but hopefully I can still have a chance.  So we will see what happens.

Chile Rellenos

I have been wanting to make chile rellenos for quite sometime, then pregnancy happened and not much sounded good.  But this past week they sounded okay and I knew the time period for poblanos was getting short, so it was now or never.  So we made chile rellenos and our own green chile sauce with some roasted green chiles our friends gave us.  The rellenos were really good, the chile was a little too spicy for me but it was still really good.  We also made some amazing cornbread that didn't make it into the picture because we ate it so quickly, but when topped with honey it was even better.  So if you are in the mood for a little southwest cuisine, you should try these recipes. 

The recipe for the rellenos was taken from CookEatShare. We cut this recipe into a third of the original because we only had 4 peppers.

• 12 Poblano chile pepperschile peppers, seeded and membranes removed.
• 3/4 lbs Cheddar cheese
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp canola oil

1. De-seed and membrane the peppers and quickly char on high heat on the grill (turn multiple times while charring). Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, mix milk, egg, 1 cup flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and oil.
3. Slice your cheese into strips (1/2 inch thick) and sprinkle with cumin. Place 1-2 strips of cheese inside each pepper.
4. Heat (on medium) a heavy bottom fry pan and pour enough oil to cover about 1" of the pan. While heating, dust the peppers with remaining flour (1/2 cup), and dip into milk / egg mix.
5. When hot, fry your peppers 3-4 at a time for about 4-5 minutes on each side. Should turn a nice brown. Serve hot! Top with green chile. 

The green chile recipe was taking from ThatsMyHome.

1 tablespoon unsalted butter or lard
2/3 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups chicken broth (we used vegetable broth)
1 cup (or more) chopped green chiles  1 large clove garlic, finely minced
Salt (optional)
Dash ground cumin

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Saute the onion until soft. Stir in the flour and the broth until mixture is smooth. Add chiles, garlic, cumin and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, adding salt if desired.

Yield: 2 cups. 

11 weeks

Not much change from last week, but when I try and suck in the flab I can only suck in about half.  So there is actually a little bump there under the bloat.  Nausea is getting better.  For food, the best thing to eat right now is anything cheese and disgusting items are anything meat. 
I am looking forward to getting out of the first trimester, hopefully it will ease some of my worry.
My jeans are starting to become tighter and tighter.  I am had to move my belt a notch down so my pants are not too tight, but in doing that I cannot get them situated right so they keep falling down.  I am thinking I need to make a trip this weekend for some new pants.  My bra still fits fine but it is getting to the point that it is about time for a new one also.  Acne is somewhat getting better, hopefully it will keep getting better as hormones aren't as crazy as I get further along. 
I have also been having to deal with a cold this week.  I haven't had a cold in over a year and it sucks.  I definitely think my immune system is a little weaker because of the pregnancy.  Last winter many cold went around at work and I didn't get one.  This is the first one this year and I got it.  Hopefully this is not how it will be all cold season.  And I think that is all for now.

Veggie Burgers

Finally a food post!  So a week ago or so I found this recipe on how to make garbanzo bean veggie burgers so I made them and they are so good.  And they actually hold up and stick together.  I have made veggie burgers before and they just never stick together or don't taste well or are not filling, but they do all of this.
I took this recipe from Love and Olive Oil. 

Ultimate Veggie Burger

Makes a lot… halve the recipe for 4 good sized servings.
Recipe from 101 Cookbooks.
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups sprouted garbanzo beans (chickpeas) OR canned garbanzos, drained and rinsed ( I just used beans I cooked myself)

4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro I despise cilantro right now, so I used arugula instead this time since I had it on hand, you could also use parsley too.
1 onion, chopped
Grated zest of one large lemon ( if you don't have this, don't worry)
1 cup micro sprouts, chopped (try broccoli, onion, or alfalfa sprouts) I have never had this on hand so I didn't add it and they still taste great
1 cup toasted (whole-grain) bread crumbs
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (or clarified butter)

I also added some garlic powder, cayenne pepper, hot sauce and italian seasoning.  I also had a green pepper so I diced it up and added it to the mix.

Directions
If you are using sprouted garbanzos, steam them until just tender, about 10 minutes.
Most of you will be using canned beans, so jump right in and combine the garbanzos, eggs, and salt in a food processor. Puree until the mixture is the consistency of a very thick, slightly chunky hummus. Pour into a mixing bowl and stir in the cilantro, onion, zest, and sprouts.
Add the breadcrumbs, stir, and let sit for a couple of minutes so the crumbs can absorb some of the moisture. The mixture should be moist enough to easily form and hold a patty shape. Add more bread crumbs a bit at a time to firm up the dough if need be. Conversely, a bit of water or more egg can be used to moisten the batter. Form mixture into 12 patties.
Heat the oil in a heavy skillet over medium low, add 4 patties, cover, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, until the bottoms begin to brown. Turn up the heat if there is no browning after 10 minutes. Flip the patties and cook the second side for 7 minutes, or until golden. Remove from the skillet and cool on a wire rack while you cook the remaining patties. Serve on buns topped with avocado, tomato, onion, and more sprouts, if desired. Alternatively, you can make extra-thick patties (1 1/2 inches), and slice them in half after cooking. Put the filling inside the patty, and you have a self-bunning-burger.

So if you are ever in the mood for a homemade veggie burger try these, they are amazing.

Green Follow Friday

It is Green Follow Friday again!  And since I was busy last week and didn't participate I decided I should this week.



So come and link up!

10 weeks

 

So here I am at ten weeks.  No that is not a baby bump, just some massive bloating that gets worse and worse as the day goes on.  At the beginning of this week I went in for my second appointment with the midwife.   She went over test results from my first visit and everything looks great she said, my iron content is really good, I have very good blood pressure, etc.  And I actually lost a pound, which she acted like it was a lot.  I didn't mean to loose that pound, I am sure it will come back soon.  She also tried to find the heartbeat using a Doppler but wasn't able to find it, I would have been surprised if she had.  She also said from the ultrasound the baby's heartbeat was around 160 bpm. 

We are going to try and be good about taking weekly pictures, so lets hope that happens.  I am feeling good for the most part.  I think my exhaustion is starting to be more manageable, but my 9-10 hours of sleep each night could also be helping.  Nausea varies day to day, hour by hour and usually results in me just gagging until a feel better.  My worse symptom thus far has been acne, holy mother it is terrible.  Worse then when I was a teenager, I bought some new face wash and I am hoping it will help.  But we will see.  

Food cravings are not too bad, the hard part is finding something that sounds good to eat.  I kind of have to wait until I am actually hungry or the nausea starts which also means I haven't eaten in a few hours, and then find something that I think will make me not gag or gag less.  But I can't complain too much, it could be a lot worse. 

So I will try and post each week about how I am feeling and such.  I have a doctors appointment every four weeks until the third trimester and then they become more frequent.  I have a second and final ultrasound around 20 weeks where we could find out the sex but won't be, we want it to be a surprise.  So that is it!  Oh I also added a new feature at the top right of the blog, it is a ticker of how far along I am and has a picture of what the baby should look like. 

News!

So I know I have been a little absent from the blogging world recently but I have been busy.  With work, school and being pregnant.  Yep that is right, the Stilleys are expecting a baby in late April!  We are both thrilled!  We found out in mid August and are excited for what the future will bring!

Current the nausea thing is taking over so most food is repulsive right now, which is also why I have not been posting recipes.  I really haven't been cooking much at all lately.  A couple weeks ago we had our first sonogram to figure out when the baby was due and we saw the heartbeat!  It was great!

So hopefully in a couple of weeks the nausea thing will die down and I will start posting some recipes soon.  I am very excited for fall to come so I can make some delicious soups and chilies.  I will also keep this updated with news about the pregnancy and such. 

Green Follow Friday

 

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No Impact Experiment Week: Final Day

So I am really behind on this post but I am finally getting around to it.  The final day of the challenge is to assess how you give back to your community.  I think I metioned this in an earlier post but I really slack on this right now.  I was very involved in the community in college and now that I have moved to a big city, I am not.  I really need to be and want to be but I find that I don't have much time to do so.  Between school and work now there is not much time left over, but I still would like to try. 

Are you ready for some football?

I am!  College football starts today and I could not be more excited.  Since going to K-State I am a Big 12 fan.  I will watch just about any college football game but I only really care and get into the Big 12 ones.  And Nebraska breaking up the Big 12, so what, I didn't care for them anyway. 

So today after work I am excited to go to a bar and watch the Wildcats.  I am decked out in purple today.

This was at last years K-State, Iowa State game at Arrowhead. 

Another reason to be excited about college football is that NFL games will soon start, like in a week! Which means I will be heading back to KC for the Monday Night Football game that the Chiefs are playing this year at Arrowhead.  I can hardly contain myself on how excited I am for this.  And it also means fall is on its way, my favorite season. 

So here is to football season!  Let's hope it is a good one!

The Chiefs game last year that was the day after the K-State game, yeah it was a lot of tailgating that weekend. 

No Impact Experiment Week: Day 6

Day 6 in the No Impact Week long Experiment is about water.  

 Today I am suppose to look at my water consumption and see how I can reduce it to be more sustainable.  A part of this is also looking at the foods you eat, since some foods ( mainly meat) have a much higher water impact than other foods.  The other part is more obvious, looking at when you use water and how much is used.

No Impact Experiment Week: Day 5

Sorry I am a day behind on posting this but it happens.  Day 5 in this journey of No Impact Week is all about energy.  

In this step of reducing your impact and being more sustainable we can/should make lots of changes.  We watch TV fairly often.  That could be the biggest change we could make is just getting rid of cable and then we wouldn't watch it all the time.  I am just not there yet.  I have thought about it, we have both thought about it, we just haven't made the step yet.

Green Follow Friday

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No Impact Experiment Week: Day 4

Day 4 in the No Impact Experiment is all about food.

I am happy to say this area I have made the most change in the past 5 years.  In college I became a vegetarian, but I still ate dairy products.  That lasted for a few years.  And while I don't consider myself a vegetarian anymore, mainly because I don't like labels; I don't eat meat very often.  And I think this is key for being more sustainable.  I feel that everyone can reduce their meat consumption and many resources would be saved.  Feeding animals in the mass quantities as the U.S. does, it uses mass amounts of water and grain.  I don't think everyone should be a vegetarian but I think it would be very reasonable to ask people to eat only one serving of meat a day or every other day.  I think Americans are too use to cheap meat, so they eat it at every single meal.  The thought to me is just disgusting.

No Impact Experiment Week: Day 3

Day three in the No Impact Week is all about transportation. 

Out of all the steps in being more green or sustainable this is the hardest for me to reform my actions.  I would be willing to take the bus but I get motion sickness so easily that it is not very feasible.  I would have to take Dramamine all day if I took the bus to work or class.  I did try to take the bus to class a couple of times and I thought I was going to puke everywhere by the end.

No Impact Experiment Week: Day 2

Day two in the experiment is all about trash.  And for today you are suppose to look at your trash bag and see how you can reduce the amount of that trash.  For us, this has actually been easier since we moved to a house.  We now have a compost pile so all of our food scraps have a new home.  This make our trash amount much smaller.  Before we were throwing away our food scraps. 

No Impact Experiment Week: Day 1

I just signed up for the No Impact Experiment Week.  To find out more information and sign up, click here.  I remember getting into the No Impact Man website when I was in college and he was still running his experiment with his own family.  I felt like I learned a lot from his posts and experiences.  I also saw the movie, which was very interesting, so I thought doing this experiment myself would be interesting.

Life

Sorry for the lack of posting lately, life has gotten a bit busy.  Since being back from Breckenridge I have felt a little overwhelemed.  I was covering for my boss that was gone for a week and a half right when I returned to work.  It wasn't that the job itself is hard but we have been short staffed with many people on vacations and I have a certain co-worker that makes every job difficult.  But he is back now so I don't have to really deal with her anymore, thank goodness. 

Green Follow Friday

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Grad School Classes

I will be starting my Masters in Environmental Science in a few short weeks.  I am both nervous and excited.  I feel like there is still much to do before, financial aid, orientation, etc.  I am sure it will all work out though.  But I felt I should share was classes I am taking this semester.  I am taking Environmental Geology, Risk Assessment, and Seminar.  I will keep you posted on the semester as it goes along.  Wish me luck!

Baked French Toast

As promised I am posting the recipe to the baked french toast I made recently. 

This recipe was taken from the wonderful SmittenKitchen. 

Breckenridge Family Vacation

Just got back from a week long vacation and it was very pleasant.  It was with my husband's family.  They all drove from Kansas City while we had just a short drive.  We did some hiking, mini golf, a train ride, lots of relaxing around the house, horse back riding, etc.  My husband climbed a 14er, his first.  I cooked all the meals but I slacked in actually taking pictures of the meals.  But I did happen to capture the two favorite meals- baked french toast ( will post recipe later) and pizza.

Along with many other pictures of the trip.  All the photos will be on my shutterfly site.

Green Follow Friday

It is that time again!  It is Green Follow Friday!  So join the follow and find new wonderful green blogs to follow!  I got this link from EcoFriendlyandFrugal .

Mt. Evans

My parents visited us this past weekend.  One day while they were here we went to Eldorado Canyon State Park and walked around.  The next day we decided to drive up Mt. Evans, which happens to be the highest highway in US.  It was awesome.  If you ever have the chance to drive up Mt. Evans you should.  At the top you can walk up a little ways to the actual peak.  One the way up there were many mountain goats.

Polenta and CSA

Today we got another share from our CSA and it included, lettuce, hot peppers, bell peppers, beets with tops, spring onions, basil, tomatoes, summer squash, turnips, kohlrabi, carrots and radishes. 

So for dinner tonight I decided on my starch (polenta) and went to work.  I ended up making a goat cheese polenta with sauteed veggies. 

I cooked the polenta (corn grits) as directed and then once it was cooked, stirred in some local garlic goat cheese.  It made the polenta very creamy and super tasty. 

For the veggies, I chopped up the summer squash, hot peppers, bell peppers, spring onions, garlic and tomatoes.  Added some salt, pepper, and Italian seasonings to taste and it was complete.  It was a very quick and simple meal but was filling and delicious.  And the great thing about it is you could use whatever vegetables/cheese you have on hand. 

I still need to do something with all this cabbage we have.  Any ideas?

CSA and Pesto

I have been behind on updating our CSA share every week and what we do with the vegetables we receive.  Really we have been receiving a lot of veggies and sometimes we don't know what to do with it all.  Like lettuce, how many salads can one person eat?  Or cabbage, we have two heads of cabbage in the fridge right now.  I need to make some sauerkraut before it gets old. 

We have also been receiving tons of peas, dill, cilantro, carrots, lettuce, spinach, garlic scapes, basil, green onions, turnips, fennel, peppers, squash, and it goes on and on.  I broke down and gave away a lot of dill and cilantro.  I can only do so much with dill and cilantro is repulsive to me anymore. 

With a lot of our veggies we have been making stir frys. 

This one had rice noodles, garlic scapes, green onions, peas and bok choy, along with our normal seasonings. 

The other night Jeff was nice enough to make a wonderful dinner, the best in a while.  He made pesto with all of our basil we have received, plus some pine nuts and jalapenos.  He also sauteed some peppers and zucchini to add to the pesto and pasta.  He also made a wonderful balsamic reduction and made bruschetta with it.  It was amazing.

Sorry I don't have recipes for these, we just kind of made these dishes from our heads and knowing the basics of these dishes. 

Green Follow Friday

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Fry Day

Since we have inherited a very large turkey fryer from my dad, we decided to put it to use and fry everything.  Seriously, and it was awesome.

We fried : jalapeno peppers stuffed with cream cheese, mozzarella cheese, zucchini, pickles, potatoes, sweet potatoes, kabocha squash, beets, mushrooms, green tomatoes, olives, corn fritters, macaroni and cheese, shrimp, chicken , bacon wrapped figs, bacon wrapped chicken, a meatball man, apricot fritters, pineapple, red banana, and oreos.

We also had many batters invovled and lots of beer.  There was also homemade ketchup, ranch and icing to dip items in.   It was a lot of fun, the food, company and beer were all great.  But the best was the fried oreos, if you ever have a chance to eat one, do it!  Seriously they were amazing, we dipped ours in cake batter.

The whole day was entirely unhealthy but it was worth it.  I won't be eating fried food for a while that is for sure.