Blog Fooding

Each weekday night our meals consist of protein (usually grilled) and veggies and salad. On the weekends I like to get "fun" with my food without going completely overboard. I think the best thing to do is to try to add as many vegetables as you can to something naughty.

For example, this weekend Greg's brother and his family came over to watch the World Cup. I made PW's Eggpland and Tomato Pizza. Because the dough in the recipe makes enough for two pizzas I also made one with italian sausage for the boys. I have a "thing" for eggplant to say the least so that version is my favorite. Plus, since I have been nursing I cannot get enough tomatoes. This pizza is basically my dream food. No matter how you like your pizza, you should definitely use this crust recipe. It is incredibly easy to make and crisps up nicely in the oven.

I also mad Deb's blue cheese coleslaw on Saturday night. I healthified it by reducing the amount of blue cheese and using low fat mayo. We put this slaw atop buffalo turkey burgers on whole wheat buns and had carrots dipped in guacamole on the side. (Make buffalo turkey burgers by mixing some wing sauce in with your ground turkey and usual burger seasonings. Then drizzle them with the a little more sauce when they come off the grill).

Sadly, there are no pictures of any of these delicious foods, but I wanted to put this out into the blogosphere. My memory card for the camera is not working, so I need to get a new one. I will post pics next time.

Vom

I feel like I have morning sickness all over again. Next Monday Greg is starting to teach summer school and it will be Ben's first day in daycare. I am so sick about this that I can barely eat (notice I said barely). Really, I am not worried for his safety or happiness. I found a wonderful lady who will keep Ben at her house. Aside from being very nice and cute, she is super clean and organized and scheduled. You know I sparkleheart schedules. She also speaks Spanish mostly to the kids, which I really think that is good for his brain to learn the two languages at once.

But I am going to miss him so much!!! Right now I go home at lunch every day to feed him and cuddle him. I know.... I can drop in on my lunch break and check on him, and I will, I'm sure. But it is not really practical for everyday. Plus they are watching a buncha kids so I don't really want to be a pest and get in the way.

Aside from missing him, I think I am majorly disgruntled about not being his primary caretaker. The control freak in me wants to be in charge of when he eats, naps, plays alldayeveryday. I know it is not sane, but I feel like I am letting someone else raise my kid.

Greg and I crunched the numbers to see if it was even possible for me to quit my job. We determined that if we subsisted entirely on his salary, paid all our bills, and cut out all luxury expenditures (gym, spending money, etc.) we would be able to put a whopping $11 into savings every month (sorry Ben, college is not an option... neither is Disney World). Then we realized that we didn't account for my health insurance and Ben's. It is just not financially prudent right now. Plus my career track is not one of those that I can really leave for awhile and return to easily. Change happens so fast in tech comm, that I would lose alot of ground and have to start allover again. As a last ditch effort, I might decide to stay home and make my millions by selling Scentsy candles.... jk!

So for now, I guess I'll just have to grin and bear it. Who knows, I may even enjoy the extra freedom this gives me. Work out on my lunchbreak! What?! And maybe I'll get the skinnies from my lack of appetite from worrying...

I cook blog food.

Today was wonderful. It was the first weekend day in a while that we haven't been out and about visting family. We started off the day with a trip to the farmers market.

Ben got to make friends with my red potatoes...

Then I let my ADD run wild and ping-ponged around my house working on random to-dos. I FINALLY got my sense of accomplishment back. The reason I think this happened is because, (1) Ben is getting a bit more predictable. Therefore, I can really utilize his naptimes. (2) I realized I the amount that I can accomplish in a day is less than 1/4th of what I used to. I started setting realistic goals and ticking them off my list.

Todays goals were:

1. Sweep and mop the dining room

2. Sweep and mop the kitchen

3. Weed the garden

4. Cut out two sets of pieces for Katie's wedding garland (more on this to come!)

5. Fold and put away 2 loads of laundry

6. Write a blog post.

I actually crossed everything off!

The real meat of my post is about the two dishes I made tonight. I think I might make this a feature on the blog. I will cook a meal entirely of recipes from one blogger. This week Pioneer Woman posted two recipes that I could not get out of my head.

The first was Summer Stir-Fry. I think I couldn't get it out of my head because I had everything for it already in my fridge, aside from the corn... which I purchased this morning at the farrmer's market. Squee!

This was a light and refreshing summer meal that went great with my sauvignon blanc (pump and dump, baby). I used basil from my garden which added a great flavor. I don't think the hubs loved it, but I would definitely make it again. Especially if I was having the girls over.

The second PW recipe was Mystery Mocha. All I have to say about this is...

HOLY. HELL. MAKE . THIS. IMMEDIATELY.

It is a chocolate lava-type cake and it was super easy. If you have company coming over they will be super impressed! Greg forgave me for the 'light' dinner after he dug into this one.

Hope everyone is having a great summer weekend!!

Finding the time...

Right now I am really struggling to find the time to work out. Currently, I am 10lbs heavier than I was pre-bug. Losing those last stubborn pounds is certainly a goal of mine, but also I need the endorphines like no other. Sometimes I think working out is the only thing that keeps me from needing some serious anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication.


However, when I leave work, I want to drive straight home for a snuggle session, so getting to the gym is super hard. Monday I made myself go for a quickie 30 min workout. But the rest of the week I have had to get home for some reason or another. And not to be a whiney ass... but it is just too freakin' hot to workout outside in the evenings right now. For now, my goal is to workout 3 times a week. That feels so lame for a former 6 X week worker outter, but I have to start somewhere. Most likely, two of those workouts will be on the weekend days.


I think I will make a deal with myself (and with my husband). If I can stick to my workout and daily calorie goals for four weeks, then I will buy myself a pair of spin shoes. I love me some indoor cycling, and have had shoes on my wishlist for about 2 years. (p.s. It ticks me off that my road bike shoes won't fit on the spin bikes).


I already have them picked out.



Oh yeah. To counteract the fact that we aren't working out nearly as often as we used to, Greg and I BOTH started diligently counting calories. We can't indulge in all the little cheats we used to when we were burning them off with so much working out (though since I am breastfeeding, I have little more wiggle room). Having his support in this area is amazing. It is so cute when my buff husband who can eat his weight in burritos marvels about the amount of calories in 24 almonds!

If at first you don't succeed...

I am trying again here on the blogging. Unfortunately, I missed out on what would have been the most entertaining blog topics in the past few months. But honestly, Motherhood hit me like a ton of bricks. I think I was a little overconfident going into the whole ordeal. I thought I could do it all. Turns out... I can't. That realization sent me into somewhat of a tail spin.

I am getting back on the blogging bandwagon and it will help me resurface and realize that there is still a little bit of "me" left. Hopefully, I can fill in the gaps and do some retrospective blog topics on the birth day, postpartum bipolar disorder, and all the wonderful things that come along with being a Mommy.

For now... here is a recent pic of the boy, Benjamin Douglas Axelson. We call him Ben...or Bug, or Angel Pie, or Monkeyboy, or Pickle Toes.

I am promising to post twice a week from now on.

Happy Friday

I should be thinking about diapers, and breastfeeding, and freezing meals... but instead I am thinking about fabulous outfits, cocktails with my besties, and John Corbett (le sigh).

Click here if you can't see the whole width of the trialer. This looks over-the-top and insane. But a girl's gotta get away right?

Cookies

Not sure if this is a nesting thing, or a Melissa thing, but I have felt absolutely compelled to make cookies lately. So I decided on two Smitten Kitchen Recipes (what can I say, I am obsessed).

The first, I made are World Peace Cookies. I think I am going to name them "Health Care Reform Cookies" so they will be a little more specific and relevant. World Peace is just asking too much of these cookies. They definitely fulfilll the pregnancy chocolate craving, aren't too sweet, and taste awesome and crumbly with a glass of milk. Here's some pictures! Finally, I am getting better.

My potty humor got the best of me here...


The final product. Mine don't look quite as "shiny" as Deb's. I think my over cooks a bit hot, so they might've gotten overdone.


While the poop chocolate cookie logs chilled in the freezer, I washed out my mixing bowl and started on the dough for these amazing Key Lime Meltaways. In my opinion, these cookies have a bit more of a "wow" factor than the world peace cookes. They actually do what their moniker implies, which is meltaway in your mouth, and the lime taste is strong but tempered by the creaminess of the butter, vanilla, and powdered sugar. My opinion may be biased right now though, because anything citrusy and tart makes me positively giddy in my elastic-waist jeans!

The texture of these cookies would also lend themselves to a pecan-sandy type of thing. Just sayin...

Love. Love. Love. How easy my Kitchen Aid + Chilled Dough Logs makes baking cookies.


After they're baked.


Final product.


So that's it for my baking. I also have plans to take PW's Lemon Crumb Squares over to my grandma's on Easter. I told you I can't get enough citrusy goodness!

Note: Before you start think I am a complete porker, please know these cookies were wrapped in gift bags and doled out to my doctor and nurses at my appointment yesterday. I only ate about 15. :)