Alien Invasion

Hi Everyone,

Before I get started, I want to let everyone know that the primary reason I did not post again last week was because I was waiting to see if those I sent a card to received it. I still haven't heard back from everyone, but it's been over a week so I think it's safe to say they were all delivered successfully.

I had started a blog post last week to post in the event that I was confident everyone received my card but I want to change my tune a little.

I dislike pregnancy for many reasons. I feel like I'm literally trapped in a pregnant suit, I'm terrified of my bellybutton popping out and/or changing shape (I loved my bellybutton and "outies" bother me a little), I'm afraid of my already big feet getting bigger, I don't like feeling clumsy and off-balance, and I'm not a fan of this congestion/dehydration combination. I'm afraid of my body never going back to the way it was before, not because of vanity, but because I liked being who I was. I felt capable and sturdy and let's face it, people identify you by the way you look. It's a reality and not always a shallow thing. I don't want people looking at me like, "so, I think she's pregnant" or "that's a mom." I just want to be ignored like I was before and continue on the way I had always been. My fiance (who has been exceptionally supportive) encourages me by saying I'll be back to my old self in no time, but no one really knows what will happen.

I'm a realist and an honest person. I believe in dreams and hopes and encouragement and all of that, which many of you know if you have followed my blog for any length of time, but there has always been a sense of reality in my tone. Realistic dreams have less of a chance of letting you down. Want to work as CEO of Toys 'R Us? You'll have to work to get there. It may happen. Want to move to the moon and live the rest of your life there? That may or may not be something we achieve in our lifetimes.

Why am I mentioning this? Well, something happened to me this last week that got me thinking. My fiance and I went out for lunch at an organic place we frequent so often that when I call ahead they know who I am without me saying. One of the workers there said to me when we got there, "You're starting to get a bit of a baby bump... are you excited?" And me being the way I am, I responded with the truth, "no." I'm scared. Labor is frightening to me. Having a watermelon in my stomach is scary to me. My fiance, however, was a little disappointed. He knew what I meant but he said that the way I respond to these kinds of questions is why people don't know how to talk to me about the pregnancy/baby. I started to feel bad. After all, I don't want to make people feel uncomfortable and I have nothing against the baby. I love the baby already. Do I love being pregnant? No. Certainly not. I also have an issue with lying. My fiance suggested that I could answer in a different way, for example, "I'm excited to meet the baby," instead of being bleak. I don't mean to be bleak and dismal. I'm just honest. But I really do want people to know I love the baby because I do love the baby. That's the truth. I want the baby to know I love the baby. I just wish, probably like every woman, that I could have the baby without my body being distorted and my brain feeling fuzzy. And it bugs me that women don't talk about how pregnancy is difficult and stressful. Women just endure it and keep going.

I can't lie about anything. But I can try to make it positive. While I really don't like being pregnant, I can say that having a baby will be an adventure for my fiance and I. We will have fun. We'll go to new places and read stories and play games and enjoy each others company. Will it be easy all the time? No. No one can say parenting is easy. Just like pregnancy. I can't say that I like pregnancy but I can say that I enjoy the little kicks I'm getting from time to time. I like picking out baby things. I'm enjoying the name I've picked out (that still needs an official approval from the dad). Will I still mention discomforts from time to time? Yes. But I really want to start lining it with happy statements too. I want my baby to be happy.

I'm 23 weeks pregnant today. Which means I'm officially in my sixth month of pregnancy. My little alien is over a pound now and is about the size of an eggplant. He, (it's a boy!), has developed full hearing and has about a 30 percent chance of survival if born today. By the end of the month, I will be in my last trimester. Scary right? Other than tired, a common pregnancy complaint, I feel fine. But man do I feel exhausted!

How am I occupying my time? Well, other than cleaning and maintaining the house, I have been bitten by that terrible baking bug, which is especially awful because I'm a health conscious, organic (which my baking is) person. But hey, I'm pregnant! I have also been rediscovering my love of regular cooking, something I've slacked off on because my fiance is such an excellent cook and I haven't had the energy to stand over anything on the stove. I built a beautiful Japanese fan shaped 1000 piece puzzle, which I preserved, like all my puzzles, to be hung at a later time and I am currently working on a hot air balloon 1500 piece puzzle. Lastly, I've been on an origami kick, I did make that bow, which looked exactly like the website's picture, but more importantly I've been on a kirigami kick! Ever made a paper snowflake or a pop-up card? That's essentially kirigami. For winter I decorated the sides of my car with snowflakes and since it's March I was going to take them down but my fiance said no because that's how people know it's my car. Well, I decided to make kirigami flowers to replace them which look epic. (According to Dictionary.com, epic can mean majestic or impressively great which suits my flowers.) This blog is one of the sources I used in making my flowers.

Kirigami sample. I have made way more than this.

Japanese Fan Puzzle Picture from Amazon.

Sky High Puzzle Picture from Calendars.com

Starting with my cooking, I have four recipes to share, two are my own and two are from websites. First I need to mention the butter-less vanilla cake/bread. I was out of butter (and milk) so I was trying to find something to bake that didn't have butter in it. The problem is that when you search butter-less cakes/baked goods, you also find dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free... Not that those are bad, but I don't need to follow any of those rules. I finally found a recipe online that I actually wasn't sure I'd like because it was heavy on the liquid and the batter wasn't particularly tasty. But once you bake it it was surprisingly good and my fiance loved it. (But, the recipe calls for milk and you said you didn't have any! I didn't, but I did have a lot of leftover half-and half!) Today, I'm actually going to make something totally new. When we went grocery shopping, I picked up a bag of Whole Foods mini chocolate chips. They are like little tiny gold pieces. I wanted to do something unique with them though, not make cookies or muffins or pancakes. I found a recipe for cookie dough chocolate chip fudge which looks amazing but I have a slight issue with fudge... but then I thought of this: chocolate chip bread! Why not? They make cinnamon bread and cardamom bread (something I have to make again) and raisin (ick) bread... chocolate chips are perfect for a sweet bread! I will be making this later today.

Butter-less Cake. Surprisingly good.

The first of my two recipes is something I have done before but have decided to modify. In my previous version of this, I relied on another person's recipe but then I looked up another recipe, and another and I finally settled on my own cocktail. It is my newly infamous:

Avocado Smoothie!

Updated!

Ingredients -

 

1/2 Ripe Banana

1/2 Ripe Avocado

1/2 Cup of Vanilla Yogurt (Greek or regular, if you only have plain then add a touch of vanilla extract to it)

1/2 Cup (or more) of Canned Plain Coconut Milk

1 Tablespoon of Agave Syrup

Between 1/4 and 1/3 Cup of Ice

Directions - 

1) Blend all ingredients until smooth! (Too thick? Add a bit of your choice of milk.)

Every night, my fiance and I ask each other the same question: "What do you want for dinner?" And neither of us ever knows. Last night, my fiance knew he wanted some freshly baked Amish bread, which I've made a zillion times before, but the main dish he didn't know. I said I could do something with the chicken we had and he said that sounded fine. I'd been wanting to braise some chicken for a long time, for one because I'd never done it before and for two because I thought it would be tasty and simple. Oh man. It had some unexpected results. I used two websites for help, but in the end it was my own recipe. (TLC Cooking and Stella Culinary were both helpful.) What is braising? It's essentially allowing something to cook long and slow in a small amount of liquid. Not enough to submerge the whole item, but enough to come up about half way on the meat.

Holly's Braised Chicken

Braising Ingredients

Seared Chicken

Ingredients for two servings - 

2 Whole Chicken Legs

1 Large Carrot

1 Medium Potato

1 Small Onion

1 Large Clove of Garlic

1 Pat of Butter

Chicken Broth

Water

Salt

Pepper

Directions -

1) In a skillet or saucepan with a lid (something large enough to hold all the ingredients comfortably), melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add chicken and sear uncovered until nicely golden brown, about 6-8 minutes on each side. (See above picture for how it should look.)

2) In the meantime, peel and cut carrot and potato into bite-sized pieces then slice the onion into small strips and mince the garlic.

3) When the chicken is done, remove from the pan and set aside. Add veggies and cook uncovered over medium to medium-high heat until they start to pick up some color, about 5 minutes.

4) Add chicken broth until veggies are mostly submerged (see picture), add salt and pepper to taste, and cook uncovered over medium heat for another 5 minutes.

5) Make some room for the chicken and place the chicken back in the pan with the veggies and broth. Add more chicken broth or water until liquid comes slightly higher than halfway up the chicken. Bring the heat up to medium-high until it boils (should only take a few seconds), cover then place heat on low.

6) Cook on low, covered, for about 40-45 minutes or until meat is falling off of the bone and is no longer pink. Check every 10-15 minutes and add more liquid if necessary. Liquid will absorb during cooking and liquid does not need to be at the same level the entire cooking process.

7) Remove chicken to serving plates when done, then cook liquid and veggies, uncovered on medium, medium-high heat until liquid is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Serve braising sauce and veggies over chicken and enjoy!

Lastly, I have my next Squishable Bunch pictures to share with you. I am thinking about eventually changing my mascots to be my cats, but more on the reason why and when will be at a later date. Enjoy and I will write again soon!