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!