40 Weeks - Jackfruit

Well.. it's my due date, and there's no baby!

We had a doctor's appointment today to see if we needed to induce and of course he's perfectly happy and comfy in there.  He scored an 8 out of 8, he's active, practicing breathing, and plenty of fluid.  So... we'll induce next Tuesday if I haven't had him yet.

Luckily, step 1 of "inducing" is already done.  I'm 3cm dilated, 80% effaced, and he's still head down.  That makes that easier.

I've tried everything to have him come out and nothing is working.  We walked 4 miles, ate pineapple, ate spicy food, ate Italian, rolled on the birthing ball, etc, etc and nothing works.  Darn. Either way, by next Tuesday he'll be on his way!

Last weekend my sister in law came into town and we had so much fun with her!

We enjoyed some yummy Mexican food

and enjoyed a gorgeous day on the patio.

I "pinned" this last week,

and Dave got wood from a dumpster and came home and made this...

looks pretty good!!

I also spent yesterday making lots of freezer meals!  Lasagna, spaghetti sauce, and chicken spaghetti.. We're ready James.. please come out soon!

Ninfa's green sauce - redo using NONFAT GREEK YOGURT!

I just made the most amazing discovery, greek yogurt.  I do understand that I probably should have bought non-fat greek yogurt, but this stuff is still better than sour cream and it tastes THE SAME!!  Even my husband approved and he is a strict no diet/no non-fat/low-fat anything!  It's on the list of superfoods that everyone should be eating.  It has twice the protein of regular yogurt!!

So, what did we use it for??  Ninfa's Green Sauce!!  We blogged that whole thing here. 

Here's the recipe though:

Ninfa's Green Sauce

Ingredients:
3 medium sized green tomatoes, coarsely chopped. I use yellow or the green parts of red tomatoes if I can't find green tomatoes

4 tomatillos, cleaned and chopped

2-3 jalapenos, stemmed and coarsely chopped (leave seeds in)
4 garlic cloves
1 large avocado, peeled, pitted and sliced
cilantro
salt
1/2 cup of sour cream (change this for NON FAT GREEK YOGURT!!)

Directions:
Combine chopped tomatoes, tomatillos, jalapenos and garlic in saucepan. Bring to a boil (tomatoes provide the liquid), reduce heat and simmer 10 to 15 minutes.
Remove from heat and let cool.

Place tomato mixture in food processor, add avocado and blend until smooth.
Add cilantro and salt to taste.
Stir in sour cream(NON FAT GREEK YOGURT) and serve with chips or put on tacos, fajitas, anything you can find!

This is now super healthy - yum!!

24 Weeks - Cantaloupe

24 Weeks - Cantaloupe

Last week we announced the baby name, James Charles Ball, after both our fathers.  Apparently when I tagged our parents on facebook it looked like the baby had 5 middle names...oops.  We've also had lots of questions of what we call him.  We think James, but some people are already saying Jim Chuck... oh no.

I remember when I was taking pictures with a little green olive, and now a cantaloupe??  One of my main pregnancy cravings has been fruit, so I'm thrilled that this week's cantaloupe will make some yummy breakfasts and snacks!  The other craving this week is pickled okra - yum - I can't get enough of it!!

Weight gain?  Over the past two weeks I think I've gained 4 pounds so that's a total of 19 in the 24 weeks.  I'm a little afraid of that number but hoping that since all I've done is eat and not exercise for Christmas and New Years that that number will soon change a bit!?

We had such a good time with family this past week.  On New Year's Eve Eve we had a fondue party.  It was so much fun!

Habers - New Years Eve Eve

Balls - New Years Eve Eve

Dave and me!

The whole crew!

Habers and Seiters - New Years Eve Eve

We then drove back on New Years Eve (in snow and rain the ENTIRE way with 2 dogs that were PERFECT!!) and made it in time for a friend's New Year's party.  Fun!  I got the oreo balls out of the freezer and they were a hit again.  Please don't notice that I have very few maternity clothes and am wearing the same thing in most pics..




                                        Actual New Years Eve at midnight!  With my non-alcoholic bubbly!

I read on a friend's blog about her 2013 fitness goals.  Obviously, I can't make any huge goals for the next few months but I can make some post baby goals.  Of course first and foremost it's to have a healthy pregnancy, delivery, and baby.  After that though, she said that she wants to do a muscle up.  Read about that here.  That's one impressive goal!!! So, Dave now has that same goal (if  a girl can do it he can too..) and I would like to be able to do a strict pullup.  I got a couple kipping pullups right before I got pregnant and so a strict pullup is a big goal!!  I'd also like to run a half marathon faster than before, sub 2.5 hours.  I can't really work on those goals right now, but I have them for the future and between now and then I'll continue to safely workout while pregnant!

Nursery?  Yay, the blinds are up in the nursery and we've picked bedding!  While fixing up our house we've now officially replaced every set of blinds in the whole house!  We're done!!

We did wainscoting in the nursery, painted it a pretty gray, and went with a moose, bear, buffalo theme.  So the bedding we chose is Dwell Studio Woodland.  It's neutral and has cute foresty animals on it! Super cute.


This week I hope to pick out a crib and get started!



Oreo Truffle Balls

Yum, here is something that isn't about babies for a bit!

These are some of my favorite treats to bring to a Christmas party, they're so yummy and delicious!

You'll need

- 1 package oreos
- 1 package cream cheese
- 1 package vanilla or any flavor melting chocolate

I usually double the recipe.  You can freeze these ahead of time so they're ready when you need them!

Start by crushing the oreos.  I use a food proccessor and you don't need to separate them at all.

Mix crushed oreos with package of cream cheese.

Roll them into balls and refrigerate or freeze for a bit.

Melt the dipping chocolate.  Dip the oreo balls in that.

Refrigerate until you need them!  Yum!!!!

Edible (eggless) Cookie Dough - perfect for pregnant women!

So, if you ever known anyone in my family, you know that we LOVE sweets.  It might  be the joke at the bar on multiple occasions of just how much powdered sugar we go through for breakfast, or how we put sugar on our tomatoes.  One of the hardest things to get used to while being pregnant has been baking and NOT getting to eat the batter.

There are some desserts that I make just to eat the batter, like these peanut butter and chocolate brownies.

Just the other night while making these rice krispie chocolate chip cookies, I decided I had to try the "cookie dough for preggies" found here.  And let me tell you, it really is that good!! It tastes just like the real thing, except no fear of hurting baby!

Here's what you need:

3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup milk
1 cup flour
Pinch salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips

First cream together the brown sugar and butter.

Then mix in vanilla and milk.

Stir in flour, salt and chocolate chips.

How absolutely delicious does this look?!?

I couldn't stop eating it!

I then put it in a plastic bag in the freezer and it's ready for every time the craving comes!!

It should be added to the Pinterest- what works and what doesn't post!

What cravings do you other pregnant women have? And how do you help them?!  FRE - wine removed wine is not very good and doesn't help with wanting to have a glass of wine.  It tastes like a mix of grape juice and wine, which to me tastes like wine gone bad.  I'll just stick to water. I also don't go to sushi restaurants anymore because eating tempura or veggie sushi is just not the same and makes me crazy and depressed as I leave. 

Pollo a la Crema

I haven't blogged in forever!! Oops!  Well over the 4th I found out that my 2 readers (thanks mom and mother in law) have been checking for posts - so here it goes!

My absolutely favorite dish from back home is Pollo a la Crema from a Mexican Restaurant in Kansas City called Ixtapa.  I like the place sooo much that I even had my bridal shower there! 

I of course had it last time I was home and lucky for me they had a few more details on their menu so I was able to figure out how to recreate it!  I figured out it had chicken,  poblano peppers, white wine, cream of course, and then obviously onions and sometimes corn.  I then found this recipe and adapted from there!

So, you need

2 poblano peppers (2 if you like it spicy, 1 if you like it mild)
canola oil
1/2 yellow onion
3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup corn (frozen works great)
1/3 cup white wine
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 chicken breasts
salt/pepper

Start by charring the poblano peppers over your gas burner.  I just set them on the burner and then once brown moved them around until ALL sides are brown.

Then put it in a paper towel for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes remove the skin.

Then remove the inside seeds and dice them up.  Set to the side.

Heat 2 tablespoons canola oil in pan.

Dice half of yellow onion.

Add onion to the pan.

Mince garlic and add to pan.

Let brown for a few minutes.  Once it's good and brown add the corn, then add the wine.  (I like the cheap white wine in the little plastic bottles for cooking)

Let that simmer down.

Add 1/2 cup cream and poblano.

Let simmer.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Blend if you want.

While that simmers, salt and pepper the chicken breasts.

Dice them up.

Heat canola oil in a separate pan.

Cook the chicken.

Once the chicken is brown add to the cream sauce.  Stir together!!

YUMMY!!! I swear it's the same as Ixtapa's!! Yay!!

Serve with Mexican rice and beans and maybe even a tortilla!

Enjoy!!