2 Weeks with Eileen

Tomorrow our little girl will be 2 weeks old. So far she has been a great baby. I think God knows that I need good babies because I have little patience. She has been a joy.

Thankfully the weather has gotten better and I've gotten some good exercise in. I've worked my way up to 3 miles of walking now, while carrying Eileen. I've also been doing my  postpartum ab exercises so I'm nice and strong by the time I start really running again.  I feel great and almost had myself talked into trying to run tomorrow, but I decided it would be best if I waited another week like I did with Travis. I wouldn't want to go backwards! I only want to move forwards.

Today Eileen and I walked part of the Mt.Summit Challenge. This is a race I have always wanted to do, but something has always come up. So I decided to take Eileen, my newest walking partner, with me to do the race.

The race is 3.5 miles uphill from the little town of Hopwood, Pennsylvania. What I didn't realize was that there is no shuttle back down the mountain. I couldn't very well hitch a ride with just anyone since I would need a car seat, so I decided to just walk 1.5 miles up the hill and then turn around and walk back down to the car. This was 1 mile longer than I have walked in a while. On the warmest day of the year so far Eileen and I made the trek. We had a great time, and she slept most of the way. Lets hope it's the first of many races for Baby Eileen!

The spring racing season is now in full swing, and Boston Marathon is coming up next week, so I am really itching to run. I have to remind myself that I am still a good 15 pounds overweight and it will not be easy or even really enjoyable when I go out for my first few runs. I'm just hoping I can survive for 30 minutes. I just have to look for the light at the end of the tunnel! I make it through these first few weeks and the rest of the summer will be awesome!

Eileen Lorraine Parks, 3/28/11

I've neglected my blog long enough. I guess I was preparing for our little one to come and it slipped my mind. I wasn't walking much, and I wasn't cooking from scratch much in the past couple weeks, so I really didn't have anything to write about. I have made Huevos Rancheros, corned beef and cabbage for my birthday (not a cookbook recipe, but it's tradition), Tacos with sweet potato puree and deer meat, and others that I will get to at a later time.

On Sunday I woke up having minor contractions. I had been having these kinds of contractions for about a week and they would go away, so I thought it might not be the real deal. As the morning went on they kept up and got a little more intense. I told Don that he may not be going to work on Monday, which he didn't mind one bit.

That afternoon Don had to time the Cooper's Rock 10k, and I took Travis to Morgantown to the Dance Baby Dance children's cancer fundraiser. We were having a great time, and we saw lots of friends. These friends all thought I was joking when I told them I was in labor. Nope, I was serious. It's kind of funny to tell people that though, standing there having a contraction "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm in labor". I was the only one that knew there was no reason to panic, after all I figured it would be about 18 hours. Travis was 36 hours with 2 1/2 hours of pushing. No fun at all.

I picked Don up on the way home and still the contractions were getting more intense, but still bearable. We got home around 4:30 and Don went to go do some chores around the farm. I thought he was only going to be gone for about 30 minutes or so. An hour went by and the contractions were getting bad. Travis was not feeling well, so he wanted to be hugged. Every time a contraction would come on I would ask him to get off me. He had no idea what was going on and I was getting pretty upset that Don was not back yet. I called Don and said "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" To this he responded that he would be home shortly.  At that point I was in tears and Travis was saying "Don't cry mommy!" I felt so bad.

Don came home and we made Tacos. I still didn't really know if this was a fake out, so I wanted to eat some spicy food (well, spicy for me). I could barely make it through the meal. I called the mid-wife and she said I'd better come in sooner rather than later so I could get an IV in. So I called my assistant track coach and told him to come get the track book, then I called Travis' baby sitter and asked her to come get him. We still weren't in a panic yet, but by the time everyone came and went, my contractions were 5 minutes apart and we live about 40 minutes from the hospital.

On the ride in my contractions continued to be 5 minutes apart, so we were now panicking.  I could hardly stand to walk, and of course they wanted me to fill paper work out when I got to the desk. Why do they ask you if you have a living will and power of attorney right before you're going in? Not very reassuring!

So, at about 9 pm I layed down in the bed and my contractions of course slowed down. They were so intense though that I could hardly breathe through them and I would tense up. I got the nubane but it really didn't help at all. I knew I still had a while to go, so at midnight I gave into the epidural. I don't know why I tried to tough it out. With Travis when  I got the epidural my contractions got closer together and more regular and did their job! Same thing happened here.

While Don was trying to sleep in a recliner, I also tried to sleep all the while looking at the monitor for Eileen's HR and my HR and wondering about contractions and being worried that maybe I'll have to have a C-section if she doesn't progress. I was having flashbacks of Travis' birth.. The mid-wife refused to break my water which was making me angry, but I'm no doctor, so whatever.

At about 6 am the mid-wife came in and said "well, you're 9 3/4 dilated, but you're water hasn't broken yet." Great! Jeez! I've got some stubborn kids! She told me I would know when my water broke and that I would feel some pressure when it was time to push. The 7 o'clock hour came and I didn't think my water broke, but I was starting to feel some pressure.

A little before 8 o'clock a new mid-wife came in, fresh off of vacation. She said "oh, you're water broke" and I said I had been feeling some pressure, and she said "Oh, there's the head, we're ready to push"! Not 15 minutes later (thank GOD!) Eileen came into this world, all 8 lbs. 12 ounces of her. 

So now we're recuperating. I went on my first walk yesterday (Friday) and another one this morning. Just an easy 30 minutes and some very light abdominal exercises. I will do this for another 2 weeks then I will hopefully try running. Easy does it! I hope Eileen likes being outside as much as Travis does!

Mashin' Taters!

Ahh, another week gone by. 37 weeks and I'm beginning to think I may start charging this kid rent. It is getting painful to even walk now, but I try. The wicked March weather isn't helping my situation any, but it is what it is.

This week I tried a couple of fairly easy recipes. I think although I am nesting, I've lost my drive to create great food. Some of the recipes in the Mealtime sections of Jessica's cookbooks aren't really "meals". Some are just side dishes. This week I decided to make mashed potatoes from "Deceptively Delicious" and Skinny Egg Salad from "Double Delicious".  I had already made the Skinny Egg Salad before New Year's Eve, but Don told me that I couldn't count it towards my resolution. Stickler!

The mashed potatoes were very easy. Just like making homemade mashed potatoes, only you add cauliflower puree. 1 lb. baking potatoes peeled and cubed (we used red), 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 cup cauliflower puree, 2 tablespoons margarine spread, 1/2 cup low fat buttermilk. We never use buttermilk, so I just used skim milk. I also added a little bit of garlic salt.  We had it with our deer steak stir fry that Don likes to make and it was delicious!

Onto the Skinny Egg Salad. 1 dozen large eggs hard boiled, 4 green onions (left them out, didn't have them), 6 tablespoons reduced fat mayo, 1/4 cup plain yogurt (used greek, but i think it made it taste funny), 1/2 cup cauliflower puree, 1 teaspoon dijon mustard, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, pinch of sweet paprika, whole wheat sandwich bread. Mix everything together and yummo! But really, it tastes a little bit funny to me just because of the greek yogurt I think. But hey, I used a lot of our eggs!

Tonight it's Huevos Rancheros! Can't wait!!

36 weeks! Can you tell I'm counting down the days?

I have to admit, I have not gotten in any running in the past week. I have been walking about 2 miles a day though, so I'm happy with that. My ligaments are starting to protest my daily activities. It's so strange the things that happen to your body when you are pregnant, and fascinating at the same time. I'm not quite sure how we came to be (God, evolution, yada yada) but it can be really mind boggling when you find out how everything works to bring a new life into this world. I must admit though, I sometimes wish I was a kangaroo so I could store this baby on the outside of my body for a while. I suppose that's what the Baby Bjorn is for.

If you'd like a good laugh, you should go walk around Target or Walmart with me right now. You can see the fear in people's eyes as they think my water is going to break right on the spot or something. I am quite a sight. Don says he will wait to take a belly shot of me at least another week since I was almost 40 weeks when he took the picture of my belly with Travis. So maybe I will post that picture until then and you will get the idea.

On to this weeks recipes!  The first recipe is Tortilla "Cigars" out of "Deceptively Delicious". The picture of this recipe in the book reminded me of my high school days working at Ponderosa. One of my favorite things to steal off of the buffet were the Toquitos. They were probably very bad for me, and I have to admit, although I worked there all through high school, I've only set foot in a Ponderosa once in the last 17 years.

So, I decided to use my leftover deer meat for this recipe instead of making a meatloaf. I was running out of time in the week to get my two recipes in, so I looked for something to make here instead. 1 cup of sauteed meat (you can use chicken or turkey if you like), 1/2 cup shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese, 1/2 cup yellow squash puree ( I used sweet potato), 1/2 cup carrot puree, 4 ounces reduced fat cream cheese, 1/4 tspn garlic powder, 1/4 tspn salt, 6 large whole wheat tortillas cut in half.

Stir together meat, cheese, purees, cream cheese, garlic powder, and salt. Spread about 2 tablespoons of the mix on the tortilla's edge. Roll the tortilla into a cigar shape. Place seam-side down on the baking sheet. Bake until the tortillas are begin to brown, about 4 to 5 minutes.

Don and I loved this recipe, Travis does not like red meat so he wasn't too fond of it. Oh well, more for us!

My other recipe for the week was home made macaroni and cheese out of "Double Delicious". I told a friend that I made it on Sunday and he said "oh, yum, my mom and grandma always made home made mac and cheese". I had to explain to him that his mom's recipe was probably much tastier just for the simple fact that it is traditional southern mac and cheese, and not the healthy hidden veggie kind I made.

The recipe is as follows: 1 lb. whole wheat pasta, 2 Tablespoons fat free margarine, 2 1/2 cups skim milk, 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 cup cheddar cheese, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 cup sweet potato puree, 1/4 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs, 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan. Heat margarine in a saucepan and whisk in the flour. Slowly whisk in the milk. Bring to a boil and cook until the mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. Add the cheddar cheese, salt, and sweet potato puree, whisk until smooth. Stir the cheese mixture in with your already cooked pasta. Transfer to a baking dish and sprinkle the top with bread crumbs and Parmesan. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes.

We all loved this one and we had plenty of leftovers.  It's another recipe that I will probably make again. Tonight I made the chicken enchiladas recipe again and it was just as good as the first time.

35 weeks!

Here we are at 35 weeks. Could be 3 more weeks, could be 6 more weeks. AHH, science. I'm very impatient this time around. I just want to get on with it. I thought spring was around for about 3 days, but now we have some snow on the ground again and I am back to feeling as if the sun will never come out again and this baby will never come. On top of that, Travis is getting so excited about his little sister he asks me multiple times a day when she is coming out. I just want to say "Your guess is as good as mine kid!" But, it has given me plenty of time to stick to my resolution and keep on cooking.

This past week I made Chicken Enchiladas and Meatball Soup. Both got good reviews from my judges, but the Chicken Enchiladas were by far the more popular and Don has requested that I make them often.

Recipe is as follows: 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cubed, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1/2 cup sweet potato puree, 1/4 cup fat free sour cream, 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or mozzarella) divided, 6 whole grain tortillas, 1/2 cup spinach puree, 1/2 cup mild tomato salsa.

Preheat the oven 350*. Coat a baking dish with cooking spray. Warm oil in a large skillet. Sprinkle the chicken with garlic and pepper. Cook the chicken until it is cooked through. Off the heat mix the sweet potato puree, sour cream, and half the cheese in the skillet. Fill each tortilla with the chicken mixture and roll up. Place seam side down in the baking dish. Dot the tops of the enchiladas with the spinach puree. Spoon salsa over the top and sprinkle the remaining cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 35 minutes.

I pretty much stuck to the recipe here except I put a bit of salsa in the chicken mixture and I didn't use the spinach puree. We all loved it. I will probably make it again this week, maybe with some rice.

The Meatball Soup had a long list of ingredients that really intimidated me. I of course used Deer Meat for the meatballs this time. They held together much better than when I tried to make meatball subs. The recipe said to put them in the soup to cook, but I was afraid they would fall apart, so I cooked them in the skillet first and then dropped them in the soup.

Ingredients: 3 ounces of pasta (we used wagon wheels), 1 small onion (I used half), 2 cloves garlic, 28 ounces of whole peeled tomatoes, 1/4 cup carrot puree, 1 1/2 tsp salt, 3 cups reduced fat beef broth, 3 slices whole wheat bread cubed, 1 large egg beaten, 1/4 cup sweet potato puree, 1/4 cup non fat milk, 2 Tsp Parmesan cheese, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1/4 tsp paprika, 1/2 lb lean ground turkey (I used deer meat).

I pureed everything including the tomatoes. Cook the onion and garlic in oil in the soup pot you will be using. 3 to 4 minutes until onion is softened. Add the tomatoes and carrot puree along with the salt and the broth. reduce heat to low and let simmer while you are making the meatballs.

Put the bread in a large bowl. Add the egg, sweet potato puree, milk, Parmesan, salt, pepper, and paprika and let the bread soak it all up.  Stir to break up the bread and then add the meat.  Form into mini meatballs and add to the soup. Cook 12-15 minutes. Add already cooked pasta.

I have to say that I prefer the Chicken Enchiladas over the soup as well. But both are good February meals. I'm going to make Bea's meatloaf this week. I haven't decided what meals I will make out of the Seinfeld books. We'll have to see. 

If you would like more information on Jessica Seinfeld's cook books here is her website.
http://www.doitdelicious.com/

Keeping your New Year's Resolution!

Well, so far so good as far as my New Year's resolution goes! I almost let it slide last week, after all, it's a lot easier to pop some pasta in a pot than follow a new recipe with a long list of ingredients. I do find myself a bit intimidated at times just looking through the cookbooks trying to find something to make. I'm hoping it's just my pregnancy brain psyching me out.

Pregnancy brain! Myth or not, I have been misplacing things more lately (thankfully never Travis) or walking into a room and forgetting why I am there. It is very frustrating for me. I feel as if I am slowly going crazy. I think maybe it's because I am just a bit more tired than before and I now have to remember things for Travis and I, and sometimes Don, who by the way has what I affectionately refer to as "sometimers".

Last week I made Lasagna. Her recipe calls for ground turkey or sirloin, but I decided to go with the meatless version which is an option in the cookbook. It's all the same as your usual Lasagna, except she called for low fat sour cream and low fat cottage cheese. I had some low fat ricotta cheese in the fridge already. I bought it thinking I needed it for a recipe, but I couldn't remember which recipe. Really, it's driving me crazy. So, I used it in the lasagna instead of the sour cream and cottage cheese. It sounded better anyway.

Since I wasn't using meat I mixed the sweet potato puree, cauliflower puree, egg white, ricotta cheese and Parmesan cheese all together for my filling. She tells you how to make your own tomato sauce, but I just used regular old Ragu, which is also an option she offers to save time. I used noodles I had from another Lasagna venture a while back. We all loved it, but of course Don said next time I should use meat. I thought we needed a break from meat!

My second recipe of the week was Honey Mustard Chicken. This is the one where I was dragging my feet. I finally decided to make it on Tuesday for lunch and have the leftovers waiting for Don when he got home since Travis and I would be at Track club.

The recipe is as follows: 1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs, 1/2 cup crushed pretzels, 1 Tsp Parmesan, 1/2 tsp Paprika, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp onion powder, all stirred together in a bowl and set aside. Then 1 cup sweet potato puree, 3 Tablespoons honey, 1 large egg, 1 tsp Dijon Mustard all mixed together in another bowl and set aside.

Take the 1 1/2 lbs of skinless chicken breasts and cut them into cubes. Dip the chicken in the sweet potato mixture and then coat them with the dry mixture and drop into a pan on medium heat. Brown the chicken on both sides 4 to 5 minutes on each side until the chicken is cooked through.

Really, after having to crush the pretzels and mix everything together, this is a pretty simple recipe. I was on my way to track club when I got a phone call from Don who said I need a big food processor instead of my little tiny puree blender because the chicken was awesome and he is loving my recipes. Travis and I ate the chicken for lunch along with sweet potato fries and Travis seemed to like it too.

This week I am trying Chicken Enchiladas and Meatball soup. I am going to try and use Deer meat again, we'll see if it works!

PS. I am now 34 weeks and baby is running out of room. I've had many people tell me that I will probably go early. GOOD LORD I HOPE SO!! 3 more weeks at least. I have been enjoying the nicer weather and even got outside with Travis today and walked/jogged 2 miles on the rail trail while he was in the jogger. Maybe I can walk/jog this kid right out of me!!!

Deer Meat!!!!

When an 86 year old woman gives you her meat loaf recipe, you cherish it! You think "there can be no better meat loaf recipe than this meat loaf recipe!". This is a recipe that needs to be passed from generation to generation and must always be your go to recipe. This is how I feel about our neighbor Bea's recipe. She passed away a year ago, and I learned little secrets from her not only about her meat loaf, but also about apple pies and kettle corn. So it's understandable that I would have my reservations about making meat loaf with another recipe, but I did.

This week I tried the Turkey Meatloaf recipe from "Double Delicious". Of course I changed the recipe a bit. The recipe calls for 2 lbs. of lean ground Turkey, but I used ground Deer Meat, because that's what we eat in our house. I mixed in some sausage per Don's request simply because Deer Meat has very little fat. I think next time I might just be able to use the Deer Meat. The recipe also calls for 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/3 cup breadcrumbs, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, 3 large egg whites, 1/2 cup carrot puree ( I used sweet potato because I had some made already), 1/2 cup cauliflower puree.  Mix everything together and put in a 9x5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray and bake 50-55 minutes.

I have to say, it turned out pretty well. I enjoyed it, Travis enjoyed it, and to my surprise, Don even said he thought it was better than Bea's. All I could think about was that she, much like my own 86 year old grandmother, would love the fact that it was "healthy" and had veggies hidden in it. After all, she made her pie crusts with Canola Oil so they would be healthier!

A couple days later we had some meat left to use, so I decided to make the Burgers 1 recipe from "Deceptively Delicious" (there are 2 hamburger recipes in this book).

Again the recipe called for 1/2 lb. lean ground turkey and I used the Deer Meat and sausage combo. 1/2 cup breadcrumbs, 1/2 cup cauliflower puree, 1/4 cup skim milk,  2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 cloves garlic, 1/8 teaspoon pepper, 1 tablespoon olive oil,  whole grain dinner rolls. Stir together all the ingredients (except the olive oil, that's for the pan) and mold into hamburger patties.

We were going to try and cook these on the grill, but the weather turned wicked and Don didn't want to be outside on the front porch, and I don't blame him. We wound up using my pampered chef stone pan to broil them in the oven, which turned out great. So even healthier probably than frying them in the pan. We paired it with potatoes and peppers which were also roasted in the oven. We ate the burgers on Thomas' whole wheat english muffins, and it was great!

I don't yet know what I will make for this weeks recipes. I'll have to think about that tonight. Now at 33 weeks pregnant I am beyond the point where I stopped running with Travis. I ran a mile on Saturday and Sunday at the track along with some drills and hope to get another mile in today.  But I must say, my belly has gotten to that point where I am amazed that it can stretch this far and I am convinced it will never go back again! It's quite a sight!