A Quicker Blog Post

Today I will be trying to make this blog post as brief as possible because I am currently in my hometown and would like to spend as much time away from a computer as possible (naturally the iPad doesn't count!).

I only have one thing I would like to touch on for a minute and that would be how doctors and the media have influenced our everyday thinking. Now, this is one of my biggest topics, something I could talk about for a long time, but I am going to suffice to say this: people forget how things were before "The Change." The Change could be as simple as how fudge used to be made (with sugar and cocoa and no corn syrup) compared to how it's made today (evaporated milk and chocolate chips). While the result is somewhat similar, flavor and texture is somewhat compromised due to sheer laziness because of a shortcut method someone came up with. Or The Change could be something much larger, in my example people saying that pregnant women need folic acid. Before people knew about folic acid, what happened? Were people born with all sorts of defects? No, that doesn't make sense because those people would be our grandmothers and grandfathers and most of them are perfectly fine. Was childbirth more intense? No more than today I would think. So then what is it? Ahh, the doctors. Those doctors. Someone did a study somewhere along the line and discovered that folic acid was one of the nutrients babies developing in the womb used the most. Thus the connection was born, pun intended. So when someone asks me how I'm getting enough folic acid without taking a prenatal vitamin, I can simply say I'm doing it the old-fashioned way; not worrying about it and letting the natural/organic food I eat nourish my body and my baby, the way God intended.

Lastly, I am going to talk about recipes, as usual. I made everything I said I was going to make and even better than that I have good news! I have at least two more weeks of baking. I'm very happy about this. This week don't expect much by way of baking. I will be making four bundt cakes for my baby shower (on Saturday already, yikes!) and possibly a lemon curd. Anything else is a bonus!

French silk pie... that combination of words leave you feeling wrapped in velvet. The best part about this recipe is, no raw eggs. Normally, raw eggs don't bother me but I am pregnant. I only had 3/4 of a cup of whipped cream which ended up being just fine. I followed Brown Eyed Baker's recipe, plus Allrecipe's basic pie crust recipe and it turned out fantastically. Hint for the pie crust: use a bread or higher protein flour, it makes the dough WAY easier to work with!

Completed pie. Doesn't it look amazing? My whole fridge smelled like chocolate.

I had never made or tasted French silk pie before. It came out fabulously.

I did make the stuffed cheese buns, which were delicious but I think the next time what I'll do is up the oven temperature to 400 or 425 because they didn't brown enough. Thanks to Yammie's Noshery for the recipe! (P.S.: Any kind of cheese will do for the inside!)

Cheese buns. See? They didn't brown at all, except on the bottom. Next time I will up the oven temperature, or maybe spread some butter on them before baking.

The inside was wonderful though. So amazing.

So after weeks of talking about curd, I finally made a raspberry curd. I ended up tweaking the recipe a bit from About.com's, and then some more... and it really ended up being my recipe in the end. I hope you enjoy, it was quite yummy!

Raspberry Curd

Makes about 1 1/2 Cups

I know, only one picture. But hey, how many pictures can you make out of a smooth custard-y substance?

Ingredients:

Between 2 and 3 Cups of Raspberries, Fresh or Frozen (use a little more if frozen)

1 Tablespoon Lemon (or lime depending on your taste) Juice

1/4 Cup Sugar

2 Eggs

3 Tablespoons Butter

Directions:

1) If you're using frozen raspberries, thaw until room temperature.

2) Put the berries in a small pot over medium-low heat and cook, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes or until the juices run out of the berries and it begins to look like a thick, juicy sauce.

3) Put the now liquidy berries in a sieve, colander with a cheese cloth, or other extracting device. Use the back of a wooden spoon to extract as much of the juices out of the raspberries as possible into a heatproof bowl. Note: raspberry seeds are very small and some may still make their way through. If this doesn't bother you, no worries, otherwise re-strain as necessary. Discard leftover pulp.

4) Place a medium pot with about an inch and a half of water on the bottom over medium-low heat and bring to a simmer. Meanwhile, add the lemon juice, sugar, and eggs and whisk to combine. Once combined, add butter.

5) Place the heatproof bowl over the simmering water (creating a double boiler) and whisk or stir constantly until the butter has melted and until the mixture coats the back of a spoon, about 20-30 minutes. You will know when this happens because the transformation is surprisingly sudden and quite obvious. My batch even lightened in color.

6) Remove from heat and continue to stir for about five minute. Place curd in a glass jar or other sealed container and refrigerate. You now have a delicious spreadable substance you can use on desserts, fruit, chocolate, bread... anything you desire!

Lastly, I made homemade peppermint patties. They were outstanding and I give complete credit to Oh Nuts for a wonderfully accurate recipe. (Except mine made way more than what the recipe said... it could have been the way I rolled and cut them.) You can substitute the cream for half-and-half (I didn't have any cream) and I imagine you could substitute it for any non-dairy milk as well. This is pretty easily made dairy free.

My fiance and my friend Justin both asked me what the inside was made out of. Want to find out? Click the recipe link above!

Finished peppermint patties. I know, I'm supposed to use parchment, not plastic wrap. Well, it just so happens that plastic wrap works pretty well and I didn't have parchment paper.

That's it! Really! I have quite a lot to do this week. My stomach is now getting noticeably bigger every day... which is weird but also good. I like knowing my child is growing correctly! I hope everyone has a nice week!

Third Trimester Begins - Twenty-Eight Week Mark

The weather for many of us here in the northeast has been a little weird.

For example, before yesterday we had two or three days of straight sunshine and about 60 degrees. Then yesterday we were at like 40 degrees with a mix of rain and snow. And now, today, our high is 74 with sunshine (after this fog clears). What's in store for us tomorrow? Rain and high of 62, then on Wednesday the high is only around 39. April! What a crazy weather month.

Normally I write a blog post on Tuesday or Wednesday but because I'm leaving on Friday to go to New York and because Thursday is a crazy day for me, and because I have a bit of cooking/baking I want to get in before then, I have decided to post today.

Not much has been going on or changed much since last week, which is unusual for me because normally I find I have a lot more to talk about. I have the usual recipe list, but I do have a few pregnancy things worth mentioning.

I consider the beginning of my third trimester technically tomorrow, although my official due date would make it today. The reason I consider it tomorrow is because my initial due date was on a Wednesday and I averaged the two days. (For my timer above I put my official due date.) Just as when you have a birthday, you don't really feel any different than you did the day before when you go from one trimester to the next. As far as birthdays go, twenty-one is the big year for Americans because it's the year they can officially drink, of course fifteen is a big age for those who are Latin celebrating their Quinceañera, and there are plenty of people who consider eighteen to be the year of adulthood. Personally, eighteen was the year that was big for me even though when I turned eighteen I felt no differently than I had the day before. But people look at you differently. When someone says, "I'm seventeen," the thought is automatically, "well, they're still a teenager." When someone turns eighteen you start to think, "well, they're an adult now," even though we are all aware of them still being young. This is kind of how I feel about being in my third trimester.

The first trimester everyone is always worried about miscarriage. This is a large reason why most people don't tell anyone they are pregnant or expecting a child until the start of the second trimester. Also, no one really shows when they're just starting out their pregnancy. You feel awful, nauseous and all that comes with being in your first trimester. I didn't feel that awful during that time, I was really tired and I felt a little like I was coming down with a cold or something, not to mention my sense of smell and taste was a little weird, but by and large I was okay (other than a stressful job). But those first weeks of being pregnant doesn't normally come with a whole lot of excitement.

By your second trimester, you're feeling better, maybe a little nauseous still but pretty good. People often call this the "honeymoon" phase of the pregnancy. News is spread, you start to show a little... then a little more, you think of baby names, you find out (or leave it to be a surprise) the gender, you buy maternity clothes, think of all the things you are going to buy for your baby, plan baby showers, feel the baby's kicks for the first time... But for those of you who currently are or have been pregnant, the second trimester no one really "feels" pregnant. Yes, of course you know there's a creature inside of you wiggling around, eating your food, making you gain weight, but because most women generally feel so upbeat and good during the second trimester it's like pregnancy is more of a fantasy than a reality. You look in the mirror and think: "Wow! That's not what I looked like yesterday!" Even though you really did look that way the day before. This is also the time when strangers look at you and you know they're thinking: "Hmm... is she pregnant? Maybe she's not..." By the end of the second trimester, people just look at you because they know you are.

The third trimester. This is really the time you are "pregnant." There's no hiding it, those baby kicks can be seen from the outside, you feel tired and look huge. The baby is completely viable by this time so you know that if you did go into labor early, your baby would survive although with medical care. People are definitely staring at you now, there's no doubt about it. Standing up starts to become a chore, being useful is something you'd like to be but don't know if you can. I've been pretty fortunate to have not had to work since the end of January, but it can be lonely sitting around and not having anyone to talk to. (This will certainly change on Friday!) The point I'm making here is even though I don't feel any different physically than I did yesterday, I know that this is the real deal. The home stretch. If I'm to give birth on my due date I have 12, yes, 12 weeks left. It seems like so little time. Three months. Eighty-four days. Shudder.

I have pretty much gotten over the childbirth fear at this point, which is remarkable considering it was always one of my top four or five fears. (I'll never get over my fear of leeches!) For those of you who are still anxious about it and hope to move past it, this is what has worked for me: First of all, it will hurt. Even if you decide to get every drug available to you, it will hurt at the beginning. But, something I have constantly read is that going into labor really feels almost like stomach cramps. Women, we all know cramp feelings. I'm not one who's afraid of pain, but for those of you who are, if you can handle cramps you're already halfway there. Another thing that's helped me, believe it or not, is the fact that there have been millions of women who have done this before and many of them have had more than one child. Our body is designed to do this, whether we like it or not. It's the ultimate natural process. We know what to do because it's almost primal. Third, there comes a point in the pregnancy where you start to not care so much about it. You start to think: "well, the end result is me holding the child I created." You get to see what your hard work produced. What color is that hair? How about those eyes? When you start to think of it as something you have to go through to get something you really want your perception changes. It's like getting up on a payday to go to work. You must go, whether you want to or not, because at the end, there's the money you worked so hard for. Lastly, the thing that has helped me is being through with the pregnancy. Like I said last week, my pregnancy has been pretty good, but I still don't like being uncomfortable. Once you give birth, yes there is recovery (bleck) and then there's the new journey of having a baby to raise, but those nine months of hard work are over. It's done. While these thoughts may not help everyone, this is what has worked for me.

I don't buy that you forget about the pain of childbirth after the baby is born. I think the proof of that is if you ask any mother about the birth of their child. What I do believe is you're so happy to get your baby is that the pain stops. Euphoria will do that kind of thing. I can't say for sure because I still have yet to give birth, but I'm pretty sure it's worth the pain. It's like surgery, if you don't get that tumor/growth/problem resolved you're going to suffer but after the surgery is done, yes of course you need to recover, but you feel so much better after it's over.

The only pregnancy discomfort worth noting this week is my restless leg syndrome (RLS). I hate this. I was so hoping this was one pregnancy symptom I would not have. You just have this compulsive feeling to move your legs. Granted, I've been fairly sedentary the last few months, so part of it is probably do to lack of movement. One other reason for RLS could be anemia. Sigh, that's all I need is a doctor to tell me I'm anemic, again. When I had my blood drawn at the beginning of my pregnancy, I was so slightly anemic it really wasn't even worth mentioning. But that dietitian made sure I knew. Argh. There's no winning here. They want to take a blood sample from me on Thursday. Ha. I might just say no. I'm pretty sure my baby needs as much blood as possible.

On a happy note, it seems like my fiance and I have agreed on a baby name. On the off 1% chance that it does happen to be a girl, I'm still in the process of locating a good name. More on that later.

So, we're on to the final segment of my blog post, my recipes. I worked with six recipes this past week, down from eight last week. Before I get started on this, I did not take pictures of my dark chocolate truffles... and for the life of me I can't think why. I must have had a pregnancy brain moment. Last week I mentioned I would have a recipe for it, well, it was 1/2 cup of heavy cream and eight ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips. They were rolled in cocoa powder. They looked like a darker form of my white chocolate truffles, but they were harder to roll, I'm assuming because of the less amount of cocoa butter. Anyway, now that that's out of the way, let's start!

Baked beans. So much can be said about the history of this fine meal. First of all, the fact that it wreaks havoc on your poor digestive system and I think I have found the reason why: mustard powder. I think this because my fiance used mustard powder in his tuna steak dish from last night and I was hurting today. That was the only similarity besides Worcester sauce and I don't think I have an issue with that. Nevertheless, the beans were delicious and I have picture below. The recipe I used is from Allrecipes and I didn't change anything. I did use Canadian bacon, more flavor, less fat. I made it in an 8x8 pan covered with aluminum foil. Worked out pretty well!

Baked beans never look good, but they are tasty!

If you think about the one "breakfast dessert" that is brought to every church function and small get together, what is it you think of? It's not cinnamon rolls, very few people take the time to make that. The answer? Coffee cake. My friend Justin and I talked about coffee cake, it's not really a cake at all, more of a sweet bread covered in crumblies known as streusel. I found this recipe also at Allrecipes, but I did alter it slightly. It was really fantastic! Recipe and pictures below.

Basic, Delicious Coffee Cake

About 16 small slices

My cooked, delicious coffee cake!

A slice. I love the crumblies!

 Ingredients:

2 Cups Flour

1/2 Cup Sugar

2 Teaspoons Baking powder

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1/2 Cup Butter

1 Egg

Milk as Needed (about 3/4 cup or so)

1 1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

Streusel Topping:

1/4 Cup Flour

1/3 Cup White Sugar

1/3 Cup Brown Sugar

1 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1/4 Cup Butter (1/2 stick or 4 tablespoons)

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour an 8x8 inch pan.

2) To make the streusel, combine ¼ cup flour, ½ cup white sugar, ½ cup brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon in a medium bowl and mix. Cut in ¼ cup of butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Place in refrigerator for later use.

3) In a large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, ½ cup sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, and ½ teaspoon salt. Stir. Cut in ½ cup butter into dry ingredients until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a 1 cup measuring device, crack the egg and add enough milk to make one full cup. Mix briefly, then pour into batter with 1 ½ teaspoons of vanilla extract. Stir until just combined, be careful not to over-mix. Spread into prepared ban, mixture will be thick. Bake in oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle streusel evenly over the top of the cake. Place back in the oven for another 20-30 minutes, being sure to check for doneness. Cool for 20 minutes before eating.

As you all know, I've been on a baking kick lately however I do love to cook. I made braised chicken thighs the other night for dinner with a new sauce I found, "gastrique." This simple, deceptive glaze is so good, you'll pour it over vegetables, fruits, meats, desserts... I'm exaggerating a bit but you really will pour it over just about everything you can think of. I thank a new site/person for this recipe, David Lebovitz. He originally adapted this from Bobby Flay but David's site is where I found this. The recipe is 1/4 cup honey to 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar with salt and pepper to taste. I didn't caramelize the honey first, which probably would have added even more to the depth of the flavor, but it was still amazing. Click on the link and make it yourself. Gluten/dairy free and just amazing. Yum.

You can't really see it, but it's the liquid that's surrounding the chicken. Very good.

¡Carmelitas! I've been saying this word for the last few days. I've been dying to make these dessert bars and I finally got the chance the other day. I even made my very own caramel sauce, although by strict definition it is probably more of a butterscotch sauce. I can't take any credit for these recipes, I followed yet another Allrecipes recipe for the bars themselves omitting the walnuts (I made them in an 8x8 pan and cooked them an extra 5 minutes longer at the end) and for the caramel sauce I followed The Pioneer Woman's recipe, but halved it. It made plenty. They were delicious, I ate only a half of one while my fiance ate all of the rest. A winner!

Completed carmelitas.

Look at those layers. Oats, chocolate, caramel/butterscotch, and more oats. Mmm!

I'm a big bread fan. This definitely comes from my mother's side of the family even though my mother, my grandmother, and now my sister eat gluten free. I love a nice crusty loaf of bread, which is ideal for me because of the nice dense crust and the soft, chewy interior. Soft crusts just don't do it for me. Nothing to bite on. Anyway, I found this really great French bread recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe which I love because it worked out so well for me the first time out. It's a bit of a process, and I halved the recipe because I only needed/wanted one loaf but it's really great. So great that my fiance made half of it into cheesy garlic bread and I'll probably make another loaf today.

I know it looks a little bloated, but it's just the way it was shaped when I rolled it. Still turned out amazing.

The garlic bread was so good. My fiance's a really good cook.

I really only get to bake until Thursday so I've had to narrow down what I'm making for my final week. First and foremost is the raspberry curd. I hadn't gotten around to that though I will now. I will also be making a French silk chocolate pie. I haven't done a pie yet so this will hopefully be a good one (I don't do pies because normally they're fruit based; I don't like cooked fruit). I also plan on making peppermint patties, which should be delicious, and lastly cheese buns, which are just little rolls stuffed with cheese. I feel like I have a good variety for my last week and I'm excited about it. Today I'll probably make both the silk pie and another bread. This is probably my last week doing new baking for a while! I can't believe it.

Next time I post I will be in New York but I will provide information on baking, travels, and my next prenatal visit. So much excitement is coming up!

What They Don't Tell You

Twenty-seven weeks pregnant. The last week of my second trimester. (See the cool pregnancy timer above? Thanks to Lilypie!)

In my second to last prenatal appointment, my doctor told me about some third trimester aches and pains I may experience. While no woman will tell you pregnancy is comfortable, they have a tendency to leave out some things.

I was reading a pregnancy chat forum the other day about childbirth. One woman was pregnant with her seventh child and said if it was that bad she wouldn't be having yet another child. The general consensus is that the nine months of pregnancy is worth it once you have your child in your arms. I'm not disputing that, however, women tend to leave out details of pregnancy because in the end you have your "prize" as many women in the forum put it. I look forward to meeting my baby, but this pregnancy journey is not exactly fun all the time.

Not that I've had the worst pregnancy, mind you. In fact, I'm probably having one of the best pregnancy experiences a woman can have; I'm built strong. I just feel that people don't tell you certain things that you should be preparing yourself for during your pregnancy.

1) Being emotional. Yes, people tell you that. But for me, I'm not that emotional of a person. No one warned me that I would have a harder time trying to relax and handle fairly normal things. And I'm not just talking about being sad or upset: anger, depression, happiness... they all get intensified during pregnancy. My life isn't easy, but I've almost always handled it with some kind of a rational mind... a mind that I'm currently losing day by day.

2) Compression of your internal organs. This is uncomfortable to say the least. Aching, numbness, general discomfort, all just below your chest. I had no idea what was wrong with me, although I knew it had to be pregnancy related. I finally looked it up. Your baby needs room to grow and to get that room, your uterus expands. For your uterus to expand, your internal organs need to shift. This seems like a no-brainer, but I had no idea the amount of discomfort it would cause.

3) Inability to sleep. While most women know that it becomes very hard to sleep towards the end of your pregnancy, believe it or not it's pretty hard to sleep during the pregnancy period. Between getting up to use the bathroom and trying to find a comfortable way to lay, sleep is just difficult to achieve.

4) You're a Thermos! Not only do you contain a living creature living inside you who is kicking, rolling, and punching, but you are hot. I would rather be too hot than too cold for sure, but it's getting ridiculous. If I sit and generally do nothing, a simple blanket on my lap is great. Now, if I get up to do any chore related activity, my body warms up much quicker than it used to. I dread summertime; the humidity here is awful.

5) Leg cramps. Sure, it makes sense. You're carrying around extra weight. That weight is carried on your legs which move you. However, I did not expect to stretch my legs while still in bed and get cramps in my calves... especially because it wasn't like I was running any marathons in my sleep. And since I'm not working at the moment, I really don't understand how my legs can cramp this much. Not fun.

6) Self-esteem issues. Believe it or not, I'm actually not talking just talking about the weight gain. There is something remarkable about pregnancy; it holds its own kind of beauty. There are some women who really love being pregnant and I'm assuming one of the larger reasons for that is because they feel radiant about carrying another life. It can be exhilarating creating another life... but it can also be quite exhausting. So while no woman is thrilled about being large and uncomfortable, there are other issues as well. Your body changes. I hate when people say they "can't see their feet." You can see your feet just fine. Can you see much directly below your stomach? No and it is annoying. You start bumping into things with your stomach because it grows at a rate which doesn't allow your brain to adjust for spacing right away. For example, one week you might figure out you need an extra inch or two to open the fridge and by the time you get used to that, you need an additional inch or two. It messes you up. You start feeling stupid because you can't seem to remember things. Clumsy because your joints are loosening in preparation for birth and stomach growth. Emotional because you have so many different hormones running through your body. Weak, tired, and at times a little sick because your immune system has been suppressed so your body doesn't reject the baby. Getting off the couch becomes harder because of the basketball on your middle and it makes you feel lazy and weak. Women who have had children empathize with pregnant women because they've been there and in some cases this makes you feel a little better. Sometimes though, it makes you a little depressed because you know that you're supposed to feel this way.

7) Worry. Not about childbirth this time, I've covered that plenty. I actually mean about the recovery time after pregnancy. Your uterus needs to shrink back down to size after birth and that takes time. I have found that many women actually do lose the pregnancy/baby weight after childbirth and of course it does take time as well. Your body has become a funhouse mirror and you wonder if you will ever look the way you did before. In some ways you will and in some ways you won't. When a skeleton has been found and forensic anthropologists are looking at the bones for indicators of what they looked like and what they did, one thing they look at is the pelvic bone for signs. Men and women have completely different pelvic bones for sure but depending on the size and stretched look of the bone, scientists can tell whether or not a female skeleton has given birth. When your hips expand that way, they don't just go back to the way they were. Having a child changes your body and who you are in more ways than one.

As time goes on, I look more forward to having my child. Part of the reason is, of course, that my pregnancy will be over and my body can work on going back to the way it was, the other part is probably because I like adventure. I never anticipated having children, and now it's happening. It's a really strange journey and I want to know what the result is. What will my child look like? My fiance and I are both white but that's where the physical similarities end. (Our child better love cats!) Something else that they don't tell you is no matter how you feel about your pregnancy at the start, somewhere right around the end of your second trimester and the beginning of your third you start feeling this odd excitement. I'm assuming it's hormones kicking in to offset physical discomfort but that slight rush of adrenaline starts making you want that baby in your arms right now. I hope our baby is adorable.

This blog post is on the fairly long side, mostly because of the amount of food I made this past week. Now, as I was saying before I wanted to have my very own food site but that will have to wait. I realized the other day that I only have about a week and a half left of baking before I won't be able to until the end of the summer. Why? My fiance and I will be moving out of this house into a summer cabin that won't have an oven, and even if it does/did I don't think I'll want to bake in the heat. So I'm getting my baking and cooking in while I still can.

Before I get going with all of the crazy food I've made, I'm making the official switch from my squishable mascots to my cats. I just have too many squishables to keep up with although I will post pictures of them from time to time. Also, I've included sites and links I enjoy off to the right hand side, plus don't forget to subscribe to the blog if you're enjoying it. I hope you are!

First up, my breakfast/lunch bagel sandwich. I love bagels. I really do. The problem with bagels is they have a zillion calories because of the amount of flour packed in to one bagel. It's what gives those bagels that dense texture. I'm including this very easy quick recipe because I think people think I've given up on being anywhere near healthy, despite the fact that I buy organic baking products and use simple recipes, etc. So here it is:

Bagel Sandwich

Serves 1

 

Mmm... bagel sandwich...

Ingredients:

1 Bagel, toasted (I used an onion poppy seed bagel, but use what you like)

1 Egg

1 Slice Bacon (I used turkey bacon)

Ketchup

Mayo, Cream Cheese, or Sour Cream

Salt and Pepper to taste

Hot Sauce, optional

Directions:

1) Cut the bagel in half. Put a small skillet on your stove and set it to medium heat.

2) Cut your slice of bacon in half and cook both sides until done. (Some like crispy, some like chewy. With turkey bacon, it doesn't really matter. It doesn't really get either way.)

3) While your bacon is cooking, place ketchup on one half of your bagel and your mayo, cream cheese, or sour cream on the other.

4) After bacon is cooked, place directly on one half of the bagel. Crack your egg into the skillet, making sure to break the yolk so it cooks evenly. (Note: I love a runny yolk but in this scenario it would make the sandwich pretty messy.) Season the egg with salt and pepper and cook both sides of the egg until done, about two minutes on the first side and another minute on the second.

5) Place finished egg on top of the bacon and add hot sauce if desired. Place the other half of the bagel on your sandwich and enjoy!

Cinnamon rolls. I finally made them and they were amazing. They hold up pretty well too, if properly stored you can get three or four good days out of them. To rewarm them, stick one on a paper towel and microwave for 10 seconds. Mmm. I'm completely crediting Laura Vitale with this recipe which worked out perfectly for me and will be my go to cinnamon roll recipe. Easy, straightforward... it was perfect. Only a few notes: next time I make this, I will be halving the amount of cinnamon sugar I make, and using less of the cinnamon overall too. I ate two cinnamon rolls and I could feel the cinnamon burning in my stomach. Not to mention I have a whole bunch of leftover cinnamon sugar... which I'm not complaining about but I dislike waste. Also for the filling, you don't need 1/3 cup of butter. A quarter cup works just fine. Other than that, this recipe is awesome. I altered the cream cheese glaze as I did for my bundt cake as well. One day when I have my own food website or blog I will be much more detailed!

Don't they look amazing?

Glaze makes them look better...

They even look fluffy in the picture, they really did melt in your mouth.

Here's something I didn't anticipate making: risotto. For some reason, people fear making risotto because you have to keep stirring and stirring. It takes effort, yes, but it's pretty easy. I based my recipe off of About.com's Parmesan cheese risotto recipe but did make some alterations.

Very Basic Risotto

Serves 3-4 Depending on Hunger

Creamy risotto... a classic.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups Arborio Rice

1 Quart or so Chicken Broth or Stock

About 1/2 Cup Chopped Onion

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

1 Teaspoon Dried Parsley

1 Tablespoon Butter

2/3 Cup or so Shredded Cheese of Choice (we used a smokey cheddar, I believe)

Directions:

1) In a medium-large pot, heat oil on medium. Once hot, saute onion for about 2-3 minutes or until slightly translucent or softened.

2) Add rice to pot and saute until it takes on a slightly nutty/toasted smell but not browned. This should only take about a minute.

3) Add about a cup of broth into the pot and stir continuously until liquid is absorbed or mostly so. Keep adding broth a cup at a time until rice becomes "al dente," if you will. It shouldn't be mushy but it should be cooked through. This will take about 20-30 minutes. Stir continuously during this process.

4) Just before the rice is done, add the parsley. It helps to rub the parsley a bit before adding to stimulate the oils inside of the parsley.

5) Once rice is cooked, add your butter and cheese and stir until melted and incorporated. You can also add broccoli if you so choose, or another vegetable. Serve as soon as possible, best when freshly made.

Fudge. I finally made fudge. I've made fudge a few times and I was super excited to have a thermometer this time. The only problem was it didn't go up as high as I needed it to. So I did the classic drop a bit of the sugar solution in water trick, which worked but I probably should have cooked it another 3 or 4 minutes. No matter, my fiance ate the whole pan. I didn't eat a single whole piece of fudge, just a few scraps from the pot. A great tip I got from one of the reviewers of the recipe: for easy and delicious clean up, pour about a cups worth of milk into your fudge-y pot and cook on medium until all the chocolate has melted into the milk. The best hot chocolate ever. My fiance loved that as well. I can't take any credit for the recipe, I got it from Allrecipes and I didn't do anything different. At all. I usually do but I didn't this time. Weird...

I forgot to take a picture when all of the fudge was still in the pan. They still look amazing, plus it's gluten free!

White chocolate almond flavored cocoa powder coated truffles. While that's a mouthful, it's exactly what I made. Now, a basic truffle recipe is the same everywhere but I got my basic recipe from Simply Recipes although I will be making some comments on it. I'm not going to give a whole recipe outline here because there's too few ingredients for that but there's some important points I want to make. First you need 8 ounces of chocolate. Any kind of chocolate, but make sure it's a good kind you really enjoy eating. We used white chocolate chips. I'm planning on making more truffles (recipe will be included on that one) that are dark chocolate. (Probably the Newman's Own chocolate.) Next you need 1/2 cup of heavy cream. That's it. You want a basic truffle, there you go. Bring the heavy cream up to a simmer over medium-low heat, keep it there for about thirty seconds stirring constantly, then pour it over your chocolate. (If using chocolate bars, make sure you chop up the chocolate.) Let sit for about two minutes, then stir until smooth, adding your teaspoon of vanilla or whatever flavoring to them (I used almond). Not totally smooth? Microwave for twenty seconds than resume. It will work. Let cool to room temperature than cover with a cloth or tea towel and set in the fridge until firm, about two hours. Then take a teaspoon and roll into little balls and coat them with whatever you want. Want a hard chocolate coating? Melt some chocolate and dip away! Crushed almonds? Sure! Cocoa powder? Awesome! Powdered sugar? Sweet! The options are endless. Why do people spend so much money on something that is so cheap and easy to make at home?

I placed the truffle mixture into this loaf pan before cooling because it is a little easier to scoop out this way.

I used a ramekin with a bit of cocoa powder to help coat the truffle.

Part of the process.

I couldn't believe how many truffles this made with so few ingredients. I got 38 out of this batch (one fell on the floor unfortunately). If I had portioned it more, I could have gotten at least 40. This is awesome!

A quick picture for you here: my brownies. I never got a picture in last time I made them so I'm including one now. I added some semi-sweet chocolate chips to this recipe. Very yummy.

This is really the best brownie recipe ever. I'm a big fan of Allrecipes.com.

I exchanged my dinner roll recipe for a homemade loaf of bread recipe. The pictures below are actually my second loaf. The first loaf came out fine but it was a little flat because the dough had been so loose. I based my recipe off of Mel's Kitchen Cafe as well as the Dr. Strangeloaf episode of Good Eats. The first time around I followed the recipe exactly only adding a tablespoon of honey after halving it (I didn't want two loaves of bread) and the dough was very sticky, did not hold it's shape well, and barely even browned with little crust. It was tasty though, so I made some minor adjustments.

Basic Crusty Bread Recipe

1 Loaf

My H loaf.

Another angle. I was so proud of my bread making ability.

Ingredients:

3-4 Cups of Flour

1/2 Tablespoon of Salt

1 Tablespoon Honey

1 1/2 Cups Warm Water

2 1/2 Teaspoons Yeast (one packet) or up to a Tablespoon

Directions:

1) Place warm water in a bowl. Stir honey in until dissolved, then add yeast. Let sit for a couple minutes to proof then add salt.

2) Stir in 2 cups of flour, one cup at a time, then add additional flour until a soft dough is formed. It should be slightly tacky or sticky, but if you put your hand on the dough and then take it off it shouldn't leave a whole lot of dough on your hand. (A bit of dough stuck to you is okay.) Make sure the dough is evenly mixed by kneading for 2-3 minutes, then place in a slightly oiled bowl (coating the top of the dough as well), cover with a cloth and allow to rise for 2-5 hours. (Note: If you choose to let it rise more than two hours, be sure to deflate the dough by giving it a turn or flip at the 2 and 4 hour mark.

3) Once risen, form the dough into a loaf by rolling it in your hands being sure to leave the top smooth. Dust the bottom of your bread with flour or cornmeal, cover with a tea towel and let rest for 40 minutes. Do this on a pizza peel or a piece of parchment/aluminum foil.

4) Preheat your oven to 450 degrees, moving a 9x13 inch pan or broiler pan into the lower rack of your oven. If you're using a baking stone, be sure to have that in the middle of your oven as well during preheating otherwise preheat an upside-down cookie sheet.

5) Once the dough and the oven is ready, make a few cuts at the top of the bread with a serrated knife going no more than 1/4 inch deep, dust the top with some flour, pour about a cup of hot water into the pan at the bottom of the oven, and slide your dough onto the stone or baking sheet. (You can leave the parchment paper or aluminum foil on if you're using it.) Bake for about 25 minutes.

6) Remove baked bread to a cooling rack (should sound hollow if done). They say to let cool completely... but who can do that with freshly baked bread? If you allow to cool, it will stay fresher longer though... Enjoy!

Lastly, I made croissants. I was rather disappointed with them because they lacked color and some flakiness. I used Kitchen Simplicity's recipe and the only thing I changed was halving the recipe. I have another recipe I will eventually try, I just didn't feel like using 3 sticks of butter for croissants. This recipe did taste nice, but the dough was a little too sticky and it just didn't work out the way I would have liked. I will try with another recipe!

See? These are completely done but lack that nice golden croissant color. I brushed them with egg wash and everything. I know it has something to do with the recipe but I was still hoping for more.

They tasted fine but a little bland. I'm going to go for the more traditional recipe next time I make croissants.

So what is next for food? I'm making homemade baked beans tonight which I'm so excited about. I plan on making raspberry instead of lemon curd... my fiance doesn't care for lemon flavored things. I would like to make flan, more on that later, a coffee cake which will have the "crumblies" as my fiance and I call them but streussel is what it really is, and pretty much anything else I can find that will help me use up my leftover baking supplies. I'm excited but sad about my final baking days!

That, finally, is all! Be sure to check out the new parts of the blog, there aren't that many, and the links on the side. Next time I write, I will be in my third trimester! Wow! Enjoy your week!

Cabin Fever is in Full Swing

April. Can you believe it?

This was a rough winter for just about everyone. Never in my life have I wanted to move south more than this past winter, even though I'm sure some people in the south have complained that their winter was colder than usual. To them I say: "Aww, poor things. Your 60-some degree temperature was so much worse than waking up to our -10 degree temperature and having our car encased in ice with the high of the day being 8."

Fortunately, or at least somewhat fortunately, our weather has finally broken out of the 30's. For the next ten days, our weather shouldn't dip below 40 as the high. For some of you people in warmer climates, I don't want to hear about how your high is 70 for the day. I'm grateful for what I have.

Anyway, since the last blog post, I have been doing pretty well physically. I've upped my water intake which has helped me HUGELY but has not been easy for me. I was never much of a water drinker, rationalizing it by eating a lot of fruits and vegetables and getting my water from there. I hate having to use the bathroom 20 times a day but if it helps I'm going to do it. Now, no matter what "doctors" say, drinking 8 glasses of water a day is nearly impossible. Unless you're an athlete, I think if you drink at least a whole glass at meals and maybe another glass in-between, I think you're good.

So what's this about cabin fever? Well, for those of you who have never truly experienced cabin fever, let me explain. Imagine you're in your home. Now imagine that you have no neighbors, just trees. Now pretend that your nearest grocery store is at least 20 minutes away. Oh, and you don't have a whole lot of money for gas or to spend on frivolous things. Then picture there is at least two or more feet of snow on the ground and there is no place to walk to or go to to walk within at least an hour's driving distance. Got a good picture? Okay, the final piece: you haven't been able to go much of anywhere for the last two and a half months. That's cabin fever. I don't get out much because I literally can't. Did I mention that I only regularly see maybe three or four people, and not on a daily basis? Yeah, it can drive you a little nuts.

This is bad for a few reasons, one of course is because your mental state can be affected by all the solitude. It's also bad because when you do something, like clean the house (which I do weekly), there's only so much cleaning you can do. You can go nuts with it, washing walls and things like that but there's a limit. Also, for whatever reason (and I know there is some medical reason) doing nothing can actually make you tired. This doesn't help all the other issues cabin fever causes. For me though, the major issue is being active.

It is hard to stay active during the wintertime, unless you're in a warmer climate, a skier, or something of the like. But when you're pregnant, what do you do? No one is going to let me ski or hang glide, or go ice-fishing (something I would never do anyway... no matter how thick the ice is!)... in fact, my fiance will hardly let me walk to my car on my own for fear of me falling on ice. I have to admit I appreciate that because I really do not want to fall but it also makes me realize how little I can do to stay active. Aside from cleaning the house weekly and daily tidying up, what can I do? I can't walk anywhere, I'm at the point where I'm too pregnant to do anything crazy like I normally would (i.e. walk places no matter how icy or snowy it is), so I'm left with baking and cooking. Of course, when the baby comes I'll have plenty to do, and believe me, I'm looking forward to not being so bored and alone. I know many mothers out there are saying to themselves: "Ha! Wait until that screaming, crying baby gets there!" But I don't care. I've been working with kids since I was a kid myself. What most people don't realize is I know what I'm in for, which is probably one of the reasons I'm not one of those new moms who are just giddy with excitement. I'm realistic. I'm having a baby. It's going to hurt, I'm not going to get tons of sleep, my body will be sore, I'm going to be cranky... but there will be fun aspects of it as well. I do look forward to those. (That's another blog post!)

In the meantime, I'm happy the weather is finally coming around because I will be able to do more soon. My baby shower is in 25 days and I leave for New York in a mere 17 days. An activity for me to look forward to. I am 26 weeks pregnant today, with the baby being as long as a scallion. The baby is capable of blinking now and is developing some fat. He is also viable which means if, for any reason, I suddenly go into labor prematurely, he will survive. I only have one more week of my second trimester left... which is both exciting and scary. I definitely look pregnant now.

Something I've been very seriously thinking about is starting a separate blog or website devoted to organic and simple baking and cooking. Stay tuned for more information on that, but in the meantime, I do have new recipes to share with you. A few actually. I'm very excited to share them with you!

First off, I made my extra special chocolate dessert: molten chocolate lava cakes. I looked at two recipes for it and I didn't like either in its entirety, so I made my own by combining aspects of both and including some of my own personal touches. So here is my personal recipe for:

Chocolate Lava Cakes

Serves 6

(Adapted from Paula Deen and Laura Vitale)

Ingredients:

8 Ounces Semi-Sweet or Bittersweet Chocolate (see note)

1 Stick of Butter (1/2 Cup)

1 Cup Powdered Sugar

1/2 Cup Flour

3 Whole Eggs

3 Egg Yolks

3/4 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

(Note: The chocolate I used is pictured below with a description.)

This is my favorite chocolate in the whole world: Newman's Own organic dark chocolate at 54%. I would probably classify this as "semi-sweet," there is no milk product in it whatsoever, it's not overly bitter or overly sweet... it's perfection. I like their other bars but not as much as this one. I used two and a half bars for the recipe.

This was such a pain to dish out. I would use a disher or something like that to divide it into ramekins, or even a measuring cup with a pour spout. It should look like this when it's done.

Directions:

1) Preheat your oven to 425. Grease six ramekins.

2) In a double boiler over medium, medium high heat, melt chocolate and butter. Once melted, add flour and vanilla, allow to cool slightly then whisk in eggs one at a time. Whisk powdered sugar in last.

3) Divide batter evenly into the ramekins and cook for about 14 minutes or until outer rim of cake is set and the middle of cake is hot to the touch. (Note: I'm fairly sure that because my ramekins are not the standard size and shape, mine took about 5 minutes longer to cook. Fourteen minutes is the standard.)

4) Allow to cook for one or two minutes before turning out onto a bowl and serving with powdered sugar, whipped cream, or vanilla sauce. (Or plain! Or whatever you want!)

The final product... I had never had a chocolate lava cake before... it is heavenly. So, so, good.

Next, I did actually get around to making my vanilla bean "milk" bundt cake. Why is milk in quotes? Well, the recipe is called that yet only calls for a half a cup of milk. The cake was considerably smaller than I imagined, which means I'll have to make four of them for my baby shower, and I topped it with a cream cheese glaze which was very lovely. What I'm not telling you is how absolutely, incredibly, amazingly delicious this cake was. I have made many, many things, baked all sorts of goodies and have even baked foods that are not American, ranging from French to Greek and more. I've been baking for years. This was the best. By far. For all of you chocoholics out there: you may convert to vanilla. It's seriously that good. It doesn't even matter how small the cake is, I will make 20 of them if it means I get to share with the world. Not to mention it's also BEAUTIFUL. I can't take any credit for the recipe at all, I followed Tartlet Sweets recipe almost exactly, although as you already know I did not dust with powdered sugar. I can only assume partial credit for the glaze, I basically halved Laura Vitale's cinnamon roll glaze and sweetened to taste. The cake was so moist, barely sweet (I don't think I used a whole cup of sugar, more like 3/4 of a cup), the glaze was a perfect addition to the cake without being overpowering... it was perfection. It will be my go-to recipe from now on. My fiance hated me for this cake, saying that if I want to ever double check the recipe and remake it, it's fine with him. Pictures are below and before any of you say anything, yes, I know it looks like a giant donut. (Small note: Do NOT use vanilla extract as a substitute. It will still taste good, but not the same. Vanilla paste is the only reasonable substitute you can use if you don't have vanilla beans.)

My plain giant donut. Isn't it beautiful? Bundt cake removal hint: butter and flour the pan first. This is in the directions on the website, but it really works. Let cook for about 5 minutes before de-panning.

Doesn't it look lovely? My fiance wasn't home when I made this so it was torture for me to have to wait for him to get home to see it and then cut it open.

Doesn't it even look moist? It was really, really good. I only had maybe three pieces. My fiance had most of it, followed by some friends of ours who really liked it.

Dinner rolls. Nothing in this world evokes emotion like dinner rolls. Why do I say that? When was the last time you went to a relatively nice restaurant that did not serve you rolls when you walked in or at least slices of bread? Dinner rolls have a unique way of being ubiquitous as well as being nostalgic. (Unrelated note: I'm an excellent Scrabble player.) Rolls have a way of bring people together, sitting around the dinner table and being with family, talking about the latest gossip and events in people's lives. Yes, dinner rolls are quite powerful. Being pregnant, I have lost some brain cells to the baby; I haven't been able to play a decent round of Scrabble in a while, I forget some things, and I've been a tad bit clumsier lately. Now, I made dinner rolls according to Laura Vitale, and I knew there was something not quite right. I didn't realize until after the rolls were made that I had actually made up my own recipe for dinner rolls because I thought her recipe was too dense. I'm quite mad at myself for forgetting this. Nonetheless, I made them and lo and behold they were too dense for me, even though the flavor wasn't bad at all. However pretty much the whole time I was making them I thought my yeast was dead. What was the problem? The dough is just too dense to rise well. It took the heat of the oven to really get them risen, which was when I finally learned that my yeast was, in fact, alive. I will mention this again below, but I will be remaking my dinner rolls Holly-style, and include that recipe later. I only have a couple of pictures for you on the rolls, but I encourage you to make rolls of some kind before having a dinner party, enjoy the togetherness of mini bread.

There are things I will be changing about this recipe. We did not eat an entire 9x13 inch pan of them, in fact we still have two left from about three days ago. They really would have fit in an 8x8 pan. That hole in the roll to the left? I realized when I pulled them out the first time that they were still quite doughy.

They look nice though. The flavor was really good, but I have an idea to make them lighter and happier.

I thought for sure that the rolls were going to be the last recipe I had to share with you, and up until quarter to nine last night I would have been right. My fiance was saying that he had a craving for chocolate, of which we have none in the house and I have no suitable butter for baking at the moment otherwise I could have made brownies or something. Well, it had just so happened that I was on a website which I was enjoying yesterday, JoyofKosher.com, and came across an unusual but tasty looking quick treat not minutes before he said anything. Chocolate shots. I told him to look at it before I made it, which he did for about five seconds and wanted me to make it. Now, while I can't claim I altered the recipe that much, or really at all, there are some things I did differently so I've included the recipe below. This recipe is gluten, dairy, egg, coconut, tree nut, peanut, soy, refined sugar, and a lot of other things free, so unless you are allergic to chocolate or can't have it, this is actually a cool recipe that doesn't take long at all. (Warning: very dark chocolatey.) My suggestion is that you get some fancy looking shot glasses for this... it's worth the appearance.

Bittersweet Chocolate Shots

Serves About 6 (can be easily halved)

Here's one picture...

...and here's another. Note the scenery, this picture was taken this morning. These are quite tasty.

Ingredients:

1 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

1/4 Cup plus 2 Tablespoons Raw Honey (or 3/8 cup or 6 tablespoons)

1/4 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/4 Cup plus 2 Tablespoons Boiling Water (or 3/8 cup or 6 tablespoons)

Coarse Sea Salt for Topping (or a small dollop of whipped cream)

Directions:

1) Add everything to a blender, small food processor, or small container which an immersion blender can fit into and blend until smooth.

2) Pour into shot glasses or other cute little cups.

3) Two options from here: you can serve warm and top immediately with salt or whipped cream *or* the preferable choice is you wrap up your little chocolate shots in plastic wrap and stick them in the fridge until cold. The result? A healthier take on chocolate mousse. Personally, when it's hot I feel it's better served on ice cream or with cookies dipped in it. But when it's cold... mmm... Make sure you top it before you eat it. Sea salt is so good on chocolate... just a pinch though. Try it!

What can be expected for future recipes? Well, I have put the chocolate meringue German treats on hold. There are a couple reasons for this but just know I will make them at some point, but probably not for a little while. First thing on my list? Cinnamon rolls. Yes, I know, they sound so commonplace. But trust me, everyone loves a good cinnamon roll... a GOOD one. Everyone has had a dry cinnamon roll and it's never a good experience. Something I have made before, and I know there is one person who reads this blog and will want to comment on this, is fudge and I would like to make it again considering I have a decent thermometer now that I can use for sugar-cooking. I debated on making this next recipe because I think I'll be the only one to eat it but I decided I don't care: lemon curd. Sounds nasty, right? But for those of you who don't know what it really is, it's English in origin and is considered to be kind of a preserve or jam but is really more of a spreadable custard. (See this link for more information.) I hate cooked fruit desserts, banana bread and applesauce being two gray areas, but have always loved lemon in things. I think lemon curd would go great spread on my personal dinner roll recipe, which is also on my list. Something I hope to make is croissants because I found a good recipe that is simpler than the traditional French recipe (which I may try at some point...) but I will see if I have time. One other thing on my list that's a definite is a "baked" good in a different way: baked beans. My fiance is really looking forward to that one.

And that's about it! It's actually a beautiful day outside, but I can't enjoy it because I can't go anywhere... so I guess I'll just clean the house instead! Enjoy this final picture as a happy note to your day. Take care!

Not one of you can deny that you said "aww" when you saw this picture. My kitten, Vader, who is now a whopping seven months old, sleeps in the most ridiculous positions I have ever seen a cat sleep in. And look how happy he is! He's adorable, a pest, and a sweetheart all in one kitten package. I love this little guy.