Delicious, Nutritious Fruit Bars (and more sleep!)

A week or so before Joseph was born I discovered magic of granola bars in the morning. So desperate was I for extra sleep that I started keeping our bedroom door closed at night and instead of making the girls stay in their room until 7 a.m. with this clock , I said "to h-e-double-toothpicks with it" and let them exit their sleep space whenever they wanted as long as they left me alone. I put the granola bars within their reach to push off the begging-for-breakfast moment as long as possible and it worked! But our grocery bill soon started to suffer because good granola bars get pricy and the girls started to not finish them because they got a little tired of them, I didn't really blame them.

Enter baking something that they can grab easily in the morning sans motherly assistance and enter these:

I've made several different types of muffins for them and while the baked goods change, the purpose remains: MORE SLEEP! So far, this is my favorite baked good for the morning time and I personally have to not look at them or else I will eat all of them at once.

I adapted this recipe a bit, making my own fruit concoction instead of using preserves. Here it is for you:

-For the crust and top crumble:
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup cold, unsalted butter, chopped into 1/2-inch cubes
2 tablespoons cold water

-For the fruit filling:
2 cups of fruit of your choosing, I used blueberries and was very pleased
1/4 (or less) cup sugar
splash of water

Worst ingredient pictoral ever, in case you need it:

• Preheat oven to 350
• Combine the crust ingredients in food processor and pulse until a course dough forms. 
• Grease an 8x11 pan. 
• Pour 2 cups fruit into saucepan over medium-high heat on stove top, mix water and sugar with fruit and bring to a low boil until fruit is soft. 
• Divide dough in half, put one half off to the side in a bowl and press the other half into greased pan. 
• Pour your fruit mixture into food processor and pulse until there are no more fruit chunks. 
• Pour fruit mixture over crust then crumble the rest over top. 
• Bake @ 350 for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown on top. 

Side note: we are not a "whole 30" or gluten free or exclusively organic-eating family, however, if you are one of those families, I feel sure you could do this with some almond flour and coconut sugar and still get a great result. If you try it that way, let me know how it goes!

Let them cool completely before eating and store in refrigerator, on a shelf your kids can reach in the morning.

Enjoy!

The Mostly Coffee Smoothie

The other day (the one where I wouldn't shut up about being tired), I went on a quest to find the perfect coffee smoothie recipe. It is hot out, and my pregnant self is still rather resistant the smell and taste of too much coffee, in fact drinking it most mornings is a chore that I perform simply for the sake of the 30 minute lift it gives me to start the day.

Now that Bernadette has all but completely quit napping, our afternoons look a lot more like the chaos of the rest of the day rather than the gloriously, sweet, silent and still afternoons we once had when most parties were slumbering. I am still mourning its loss, and I probably will forever. This means that at around 2 p.m., I am utterly desperate for some lift of the legal stimulant nature to revive my weary body and carry me on at least until dinner prep where I can see the light of the end of the tunnel (BED TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Ok you get it. I want coffee that doesn't taste like coffee in the afternoon. But like, COFFEE, not mostly banana and ice and a tiny bit of coffee, and I was having a hard time locating a recipe I really liked on the webs. I came up with one that is work in progress, but it is pretty great for the time being and I thought I would share with you (per my friend Sarah's request: here you go, Sarah!)

The Mostly Coffee Smoothie (with homemade espresso whipped cream):

*3/4 cup coffee plus a little to pour in
*6 cube sections of an ice cube tray
* 1/2 frozen banana
* 1 tablespoon peanut butter (for consistency and a little bit of protein, feel free to omit)
* sweetened creamer or Milk with sweetener of your choice
* 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
* milk

Homemade espresso whipped cream:

* 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
* 11/2  tablespoons sugar
* 1 teaspoon espresso or extra-ground coffee (grind in a coffee grinder until espresso consistency)

I have already mentioned that this is my second dose of coffee for the day, I make a pot in the morning to have then and while I',m brewing it I just go ahead and make some extra for my afternoon coffee fix. I use most of it to fill the ice cube trays with (if you fill them in the morning, they will be hard by the afternoon) and the rest as extra to add to the smoothie. Or, if you'd rather have this in the morning, just make some at night and fill the trays then. Whatevs.

First for the whipped cream.

Pour the heavy cream into mixing bowl and mix on high speed until fluffy, gradually adding sugar as you mix. Once it's to a nice whipped cream consistency, throw in your espresso into the whipped cream, then mix until incorporated.

Set aside.

Gather blender ingredients:

I put all the ice cubes in, 3/4 cup made about 6 cubes, then poured about 1/4 cup of cold coffee left over from the morning to round out one full cup. Blend it up then taste to make sure it is sweet enough, if not add some creamer or extra sweetener and blend some more.

Put it all together and inhale at lightning speed.

Depending on how much whipped cream this makes for you, you can refrigerate for your next smoothie. I am sure you could have figured that out for yourself, but they call me Captain Obvious.

Enjoy!

Cooking With Naomi

Homemade Ice Cream:

A recipe by Naomi 

PHOTO CREDIT (not Naomi's ice cream)

Naomi: Do you know how to make ice cream?
Me: yes...
Naomi (acting as if I said "no"): Well, I do!

 ---

You're going to want to file this one in the old recipe card holder...

Step One:
First, you dip the ice cream into water, then you put salt all over it.

Step Two:
Then you twist it in the oven...

Step Three:
and you burn in it the fire.

Step Four:
Then you gobble it all up.

*We don't know where the original ice cream came from, we'll assume she followed a standard recipe...

A Note from Naomi:
"I generally put icing on mine first"

Oh good, that will really improve the finished product.

double chocolate chunk cookies

Last recipe post for a while. I promise.
I should also let you know that these cookies are grain, egg, and dairy free. They are NOT sugar free, I am not that evil.

I'll go ahead and fess up that I have been off the cow and out of the grain fields (well almost all grains) for a week now. Absolutely not for any ideological reasons, only to try to make the days a leeeetle less miserable in the stomach arena. I will not go into deets (you are very welcome) but I got pretty desperate a week ago and decided to cut out "trigger foods", which when you google it, grains and dairy are at the top of the list.

Am I feeling any better? Maybe, who knows? It could all be placebo effect. I feel like I have had some better days and then some that are back to miserable. I am committed to giving it 2 weeks and if there is not an earth shattering difference I will consider it not at all worth the time, money or inconvenience. I will surely let you know what I think in a week.

I have been pleasantly surprised by the quality of all the food I have baked thus far with almond flour. If I can find it somewhere on the cheap I will continue to bake with it even if I don't end up giving up grains, that is how good it is.

Upon tasting these cookies Mike enthusiastically said:
"These are among the best cookies you have ever made", and for a cookie with NO flour NO eggs NO dairy at all and coming out of Mike's mouth, I consider that extremely impressive.

I would simply link to the site where I got the recipe and leave it at that, but I did 2 things that I think most likely improved upon the recipe, even though I haven't actually tried it as it is posted. If you do you can let me know how it turns out as I will only ever make them the way I did today.

This food elimination diet was proving beneficial for my postpartum weight loss. Until today.
So here you go (cue food picture with text added):

 ingreeeeds:

• 2 packed cups blanched almond flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 Tsp. Baking Powder
• 1/4 Tsp. Salt
• 3 Tbs room temperature margarine (use butter if you want, I am sure that would be better)
• 1 Tbs Vanilla Extract
• 2 Tbs dairy free creamer (I used hazelnut by Coffeemate, you can just use milk if you're okay with dairy)
• 1/2 of a large dark chocolate bar, I used %70, chopped into chunks
• 2 Tbs cocoa powder

Mix together and bake at 350 for 10 to 15 minutes depending on how hot your oven is, I baked mine closer to 10 and they were perfecto. I do not think they would be any good over baked.

I just mouthed off to my friend the other day about how I would NEVER bake a cookie without flour because it would just "not be worth it!" all opinionated and what not and now I am eating words. And eating these cookies. One after another after another.

You will see no pictures of the girls devouring these because their indiscriminate tongues wouldn't know a truly good cookie if it threw a snow ball a them.

Speaking of snow balls, here a a couple of them in the snow while I baked:

 Happy baking!

cha cha cha chia

As is the case with anything cool, I am just bringing it up the rear with attempting to incorporate various trendy foods into my diet.

As I stared at my grocery cart the other day and saw coconut oil, quinoa, almond meal and chia seeds I kind of hated myself. Mostly because I have been at the forefront of food-trend haters and would really like to remain there. But I also like to be apart of the cool crowd, so I found myself between a rock and hard place and just went ahead and gave in to my need to fit in and spent way too much money in the process. I do not intend to do it again except for buying chia seeds, that I will continue to do.

The aforementioned friend who introduced me to the 3 ingredient peanut butter cookies brought me these fabulous chia seed breakfast bars after I had Lucy and (shocker!!) Mike liked them. I also enjoyed them and have been wanting to make them ever since. You've probably all already made them and you probably all read the Wellness Mama, because you're all cooler than me. Just let me think that I am not a loser for a few minutes.

So on my ground breaking trendy trip to the store I picked up the ingredients, or most of them, and was able to throw together my own variation of the bars, which I give to you now.

Honestly, I have not eaten them for breakfast at all since I will never ever give up my morning creamer and coffee. So I eat something else with my caffeine and then wait for 10 o'clock to hit and satiate my veracious appetite and intense jonesing for more coffee with these bad boys. They fill me up until lunch and give me the energy I need too. Baddabing baddaboom.

The original recipe calls for medjool dates, but there was nary a date in sight at the ghetto Kroger that I went to so I just got some figs instead. (** I think dates are probably preferable especially for the purpose of the bars not being as crumbly as mine, although I do prefer the taste of figs)

The other recipe also says to use the food processor for the dates and then to hand mix it all together, but I used my food processor for everything and that was way easier. Also, I melted my chocolate and food precessed it as well to help it be in every, single, bite.

First gather your things:

Watcha need:

• 6 large medjool dates (or figs, but use a few extra if you're going the fig route)
• 1/2 cup chia Seeds 
• 2 Tablespoons coconut oil
• dark chocolate chips, I used 3 squares of a dark chocolate bar
• shredded coconut

You can go the crushed chocolate route or you can melt your chocolate in a double boiler (or put a tiny pot inside of a bigger pot of boiling water if you don't own a double boiler like me). Either way, just throw everything in the old Cuisinart and blend the heck out of it.

Then press it into a greased pan, make sure you grease it:

Refrigerate for 30 minutes or so to harden and enjoy!


**After note: I am not just trying to be cool buying various health foods, I am kind of desperate to clear up some nagging stomach issues. #notatotalloser

No flour coconut and flax cookies

I really hate flax seeds and I wish I wouldn't have put them in this recipe, but what's done is done and I am pretty sure I am the only person on the planet who doesn't like them, so hopefully this will serve to please others.

Also, it should be noted that I literally threw everything in a bowl for this without measuring anything and without looking at any recipe, and I am now trying to guess at the proportions, therefore if anything goes wrong for you, I assume no responsibility.

For all you gluten free people out there, here is a recipe that doesn't taste horrible.

The stuff you need:

• 1 cup rice chex finely ground
• 1 cup coconut, sweetened or unsweetened, I used sweetened 
• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons to 1/4 cup flax seed
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 2 egg whites or one whole egg

Mix it all together and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

They aren't the best "cookies" I've ever had and really they are more like granola bar bites or something, but the girls like them (!!!!!) which was a major shocker. After yesterday's discovery that they will actually eat foods not packed with refined sugar and chocolate, I figured I would try my hand at a good recipe for them. This is what they got!

She like's it!

3 ingredient birthing cookies

Way back when I was preparing for the business of birthing Naomi, Mike and I attended a weekly Bradley birthing method class, I may have mentioned it before.

We learned a lot in that class, relaxation breathing methods, to never ever get an epidural, that c-sections are the greatest of all evils and doctors are out to cut you open every chance they get and lots of other fun stuff**.

But I think looking back that the best thing that I learned in the class was how to make 3 ingredient peanut butter cookies. And we all know I love recipes with as few ingredients as possible.

We made some friends in the class too- the 2nd best thing about it- one of those friends brought these cookies to one of the meetings (because we had snack time every week, 3rd best thing) and I have never forgotten the recipe, partially because she wrote it down and it is still in my recipe box, but also because I love them, so so much.

I made them today and did a bit of a modified version that I give to you now.

3 ingredient peanut butter cookies:

1. 1 cup peanut butter
2. 1 cup powdered sugar
3. 2 egg whites

Blend and bake @ 350 for 6-8 minutes and DO NOT over bake. Makes about 12 cookies.

The time that my friend made these she used all natural peanut butter with the oil on top and that was great too if that's what you're into. Also, the recipe calls for regular sugar and 1 whole egg. When I made them I cut the recipe in half, used a little less powdered sugar and only 1 egg white for the healf recipe. You can used regular or powdered sugar- pick your poison, although it will change the consistency of the cookie, it tastes great either way. You can either use 2 egg whites or one whole egg, again do what feels right.

Just make sure you enjoy them, that's the most important thing.

**I kid about the class, but it really was a great learning experience and gave lots of great tips for natural birthing, which have come in very handy for us.

Nailed it

Since being bitten by the nesting bug, I have all but given up all other forms of domestic recreation-- other than cleaning-- particularly in the form of making new good meals/baking tasty desserts/dressing myself in decent attire (Naomi looked at me today and said "mommy, are you all dressed in your rags?"- aka maternity sweat pants).

I haven't wanted to put forth too much effort, particularly in the kitchen because I don't want it to get dirty. Therefore, I just try not to make any messes with, you know, good cooking or baking. Luckily I have a husband who is fine with eating spaghetti on Monday, leftover spaghetti on Tuesday and Wednesday.... burritos on Thursday and leftover burritos for the rest of the week. That being said, I decided to go crazy tonight since it is my favorite Saint and my eldest daughter's name Saints' feast day and make something that we don't eat 3+ times a week every week AND that tastes good! PLUS a shnazzy dessert to go with it. I have to say that life does not seem so hard and all together difficult when you are eating something that you actually enjoy. I am being hard on myself, my burritos are really good...

I went real big tonight and made what I have discovered to be quite possibly the very best chicken I have ever tasted. The thing is, it is just the recipe on the back of the Bisquick box. (**note, I am not being paid by Bisquick to tell you about this, however if you know anyone who works for Bisquick, please tell them I would be more than happy to advertise for them in exchange for free goods).

I will just go ahead and share the recipe in case you happen to have the generic store brand baking mix or only half a bag sitting in the pantry because you threw the box away to save space, I would not want those of you to miss out on this goodness:

3 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
2/3 cup Bisquick baking mix
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 egg, slightly beaten
3 tablespoons butter or 3 tablespoons margarine, melted

Throw all the dry ingredients into a bag and mix around.
Here's the best part: all you have to do is toss the chicken in the egg mixture, put in the the bag with the dry stuff and go a little nuts coating in and then DUMP in onto a sprayed pan. Drizzle with butter. And bake. So easy and sooooooooooogood. 

I topped tonight's feast off with a special feast day apple pie complete with homemade crust. HOMEMADE CRUST. Sorry, I didn't know if you heard that. 

I didn't have shortening so I found this recipe for an all-butter crust. Now I am just sitting here wondering why the H anyone would ever use anything else but butter?? Is there an answer to that? This was seriously the best pie crust I have ever tasted. Maybe I just haven't eaten anything good in a while.

I just feel awesome. I am off to eat some pie. 

Adios from Bored Eater and Crazy Eyes McGee. 

A Retraction

I would like to formally retract my previous praise of the Pinterest Banana Ice Cream craze about which I recently posted.

Here's the deal: I was hasty in my post. I hadn't yet tried out other ways of making the stuff and I was just so darn impressed that it had an initial consistency of soft serve ice cream (which it only retains for the first 30 seconds of being blended). I think you could have told me that dog feces could be ice cream if you froze it and blended it and I would have been sold based on the excitement that something low-calorie could pass as that frozen goodness (is dog poo low calorie? I know not).

"Did you want that with or without sprinkles?" (photo credit)

So in the end I have made it several more times using different add-ons to try to get it to taste like anything but straight blended bananas, and guess what it only ever tastes like? Straight blended bananas. Even with 2 heaping tablespoons of Nutella this evening, all you could taste was banana. And too much banana. I am no longer a fan. If you have to add hundreds of calories to get it to resemble anything close to ice cream, than I say, why not just eat ice cream? Or, if you want to eat something that tastes like bananas, than why not just eat a banana?

So I am sorry for my hasty high praises, and hopefully you didn't waste too much time, energy or bananas based on that post. Ana, over and out.

Bananas+Freezer=Ice Cream

I realize that this recipe will probably not be surprising for anyone, since everyone and their mother (literally, even really old people) is on Pinterest, and this recipe is apparently all over the place there. But I have recently vacated the Pinterest scene, which of course has left me void of all creativity/home making skills and our house now resembles a luxury cardboard box-- that's just the price you pay. Also, we've just been eating vittles.

Then this week my sister, who moved a little while ago to a town a couple hours from me, called me up offering to come visit and help me the heck out. Seriously, there has been a glut of toddler watching, dish cleaning, house cleaning, talking and hanging out with her otherwise non-social SAHM sister. It has been glorious.

However, even though she has helped in every way, I think that the most important contribution she's made so far is introducing me to Banana Ice Cream. This crazy new thing where you freeze bananas and then put them in your food processor and they turn into ICE CREAM. What the H? How is this just now getting around to me?? I don't know, but I thought that on the off chance that anyone and I mean anyone who reads this blog has also not been enlightened, they should be asap.

"Ana, when did you get an in-kitchen soft serve machine?" Just bananas.

A friend was recently telling me about the Yonanas Ice Cream treat maker, which also operates on the concept of putting frozen bananas in something and magically turning them into ice cream. But you don't even need this contraption! All I have is a fairly crappy mini food processor and it worked like a charm.

Without further ado, I give you banana ice cream:

Ingredients:
3 bananas, cut into pieces and frozen for at least 2 hours, until not soft and frozen through
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
Vanilla extract

Place in food processor or blender and blend away until smooth and creamy, just like ice cream!

**We tried this one with the cocoa powder which gave it a dark chocolate flavor, but you can do ANYTHING. I used honey yesterday and it was delish. I really want to try Nutella (that won't negate the health factor at all) Chrissy put some peanut butter on hers in the above picture.

"Say, brainless, don't you know where coconuts come from?"

And Mike threw some strawberries onto his chocolate "ice cream"

And that's that.
This may end up making it so that I don't gain an extra 12 pounds in the last-mester since all I have been wanting is ice cream, or any cold/frozen treat packed with sugar. But first I have to finish the 2 bags of frozen Reese's cups in my freezer. Maybe I will add them to my Banana Cream.

Easy, spicy burritos and more...

First: go check out Cari's most recent edition of snapshots from a Sunday. They are fantastic, and so is her new blog look. 

We all know that I am a big fan of recipes that require very few ingredients and very little time. We all knew that, right? No?

So this new-found dinner recipe will be on the menu for the next many, many weeks to come until neither me, nor Mike, nor our plumber (what?) will tolerate another burrito being eaten in this house. Sick- sorry. Also, this is not a new recipe at all. It is a recipe for burritos, which I am sure you all already know off the top of your heads and make weekly.

But it was revolutionary for me.

Mainly because I have a husband who likes meat- a lot. And he happens to have a very pregnant, very easily nauseated wife who does not like to look at/handle/go anywhere near, let alone eat, store-bought meat right now-- I say store-bought because I would gladly eat a burger that someone else made, just not one that I made. I do not want to see the pre-cooked meat.

But Mike loves this. It is super hearty and filling, and here's the clincher: EASY.
I also really like this recipe because it uses up all the contents of all the ingredients: 8 tortillas, 1 can of beans, 1 can of tomatoes, and if you are super crazy, one block of cheese-- we were not so crazy because Mike is ever-so-rigorously fighting the battle of the bulge. SIDE NOTE: One large burrito is about 10 weight watcher points, not bad considering one is an entire meal for me.

So I give you an easy, tasty, minimal-ingredient recipe for spicy burritos. With more pictures than instructions- me likey.

Ingredients:

• Burrito tortillas 
• Re-fried beans
• Rotel diced tomatoes with green chilis 
• Shredded cheddar cheese
• White rice (not pictured)

Prepare the rice and add the can of Rotel (it is rather spicy, so I make one for the girls with just rice and no Rotel)

Spread beans on tortilla
Give a hefty scoop of rice
A generous sprinkling of cheese
Fold up and place on pan to bake @ 400 for 10-ish minutes (flip and bake for 5 more on the other side if you so desire both sides to be crispy. We do.)

While baking, head to the living room to watch your husband rolling your children into human burritos:

I did not prompt this.

And one dad burrito for good measure:

Yes, she is taking a bite of him

Then enjoy your dinner with a cold can of Icehouse- only for the classiest.

And wrap up the generous leavings for an entire. other. meal.

Shazam!

"Wow, this burrito is delicious, but it is filling."

Best meatballs ever

There are 2 things in life that, if nothing else, I want to be remembered for when I die, and which I have been striving to perfect since getting married: my dynamite cinnamon roll making, and (as of the past year or so) my perfect meatballs. Perhaps it is because I grew up in the Ohio Valley, where declining to eat an old lady's homemade meatballs is akin to cutting off her pinky toes or sacrificing her firstborn (ahem, Grandma Homol), or maybe it is because I don't have any teeth but sweet ones and could sit and feast on pans of cinnamon rolls all day every day if you let me. I say it is a combination of both.

Either way, both of these things have become part of my life's passion and tonight, folks-- well tonight I really made some headway in the meatball department. This recipe, by none other than the Pioneer woman, has been my starting point with the cinnamon rolls, and so far I am sticking with it, but it wasn't until a little epiphany that I had pre-dinner tonight that I really figured out the right direction to go with my meatballs.

You didn't think anyone could care this much about meatballs, did you? I just blew your mind.

I was all set to make my standard meatball concoction combining the usual ingredients: bread crumbs, egg, brown sugar, other stuff, when it hit me: RICOTTA CHEESE. I had half of a container left in my fridge and realized I needed to google this immediately to see if anyone had ever thought if it before. Of course they had. I used THIS recipe to get me started and then I ran free like a naked baby outdoors.

Here's the recipe I ended up with when it was all said and done (why I am telling you my recipe I don't know since now it will never be my secret meatball recipe, but I when I am 80 I am sure I will not care, or even remember that I kept this silly blog. Plus I like you):

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp garlic, minced
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 2 tbsp parsley
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound ground beef (90% lean)
• 3/4 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
• 1 (28-oz) jar prepared marinara sauce
• 2-3 tbsp brown sugar  

Combine all the ingredients from garlic to breadcrumbs, mash them around with your hands, roll them into balls, put them on a greesed up pan and bake them for 15 minutes @ 350.

Put them on the stove in a pot, pour the marinara sauce over them combining with the rest of the brown sugar and let them simmer in the sauce for 20-30 minutes until cooked through. Serve with pasta of your choice.

I think my favorite part of all of this is the brown sugar- it really does wonders. That and the ricotta cheese- it pretty much knocked me on my bum.

Enjoy!

7 big ones

Bernadette is making this goat feel more uncomfortable than he has ever been before

7 quick takes is the only thing holding me accountable to blog anymore, since the children I am rearing have nearly broken me and stolen my soul and all my spirit, and I am literally hiding in the bathroom right now to type this out.

So it will be quick, but at least it will be something.
7 favorite things this Friday. And, GO:

1.

We had family visit this week, and I realized how much I love love love that my girls have super fun uncles. Nothing makes them happier or gives me the chance to sit and do nothing for such long spurts of time. WIN WIN. 

2.

The uncles will hold 2 favorite spots in this post, since they helped Mike to tear down and rebuild the fence on an entire side of our yard, which would have cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars to have someone else do or ALL of Mike's sanity if he had done it it by himself. Uncles (plus Mike's mom and dad) rule.

3.

Keeping it in the family, I would say that the girls' "Nana," aka Mike's mother, gets a spot since she so graciously got up with the girls each morning while hey were here AND cleaned my kitchen all the time AND did lots of laundry AND is just downright fantastic.

4.

Next would have to be THIS RECIPE, since it is the very best strawberry shortcake I have ever tasted, and you must must must try it some time, if you love yourself and those around you at all.

5.

One of my new favorite blogs ever is THIS ONE. Paige is hysterical and I almost pee a little with excitement every time I see that she has written. I often read her posts aloud to Mike and even he laughs, because she is that funny. Her posts on her toddlers helping her around the house are some of my favorites. 

6.

Speaking of blog favorites. I read THIS today and also almost peed my pants laughing a little. I would blame pregnancy, but I can never be sure whether it is only that...

7.

Lastly but never leastly would be a one-liner by Mike last night. I was sitting in bed letting him know how far along I am in the pregnancy (28 weeks- 3rd trimester baby!!!!). And he looked at me and deadpanned: 

"Just exactly how pregnant do you think you are going to get?"

recycled awkward Mike picture because I really should leave the bathroom and check on the children....

For more fun ones, go see Jen.

Happy Friday!

3 words: funnel cake balls

--> Just in case any of my super sweet, extra affirming readers think that I have gone off the deep end of worry over my weight or that I am actually really following through with the giving up of all sweets to manage my weight, fear not. I cannot and will not (unless it it’s a serious health issue or something) completely give up sweet things. I certainly do not care that much about how much weight I gain that I would forfeit such a joyous thing as sugar during such a trying time as pregnancy. I've mostly been reacting out of an irrational fear of my Doctor and not out of any extra insecurities over being too chubby. 

So when my pallet had a sudden urge to experience the glorious taste of funnel cake the other day, I gladly conceded. However, it really did not turn out to be the funnel cake experience I had in mind, but rather more of a "funnel cake ball" experience. Either way, deep fried dough+lots o'powdered sugar=happy toddlers and pregnant lady.

I found this recipe using the Google and it was pretty good.

2 issues occurred during the making that I would be aware of if you are going to give it a go:

UNO: The batter was much thicker than I thought it was going to be so when I put it in a gallon bag like it told me to (I didn't have a funnel lying around), I cut the hole waaaaaaay to big which meant that I couldn't squeeze anything smaller than a large ball of dough into the the oil. So it wasn't so much the swirly funnel cake that you expect to see, but actually just deep fried dough balls.
So: cut the hole in your bag small, or use a tiny funnel so that you can end up with something resembling this beauty to the right.

yeah, not so much

DOS: It turns out that our lone "deep skillet" that I used to fry the batter is made with that lovely black calphalon substance, which started coming off all over the deep fried goodness due to the hot hot oil. I am fine eating all sorts of foods of which I am not totally sure of the origin or meats where the cows may be fed questionable things, chickens who are given hormones and what not, but I draw the line at black substances that come off of pans which is not even edible. Once I realized this was happening I just had to be sure the balls weren't touching the bottom of the pan, but next time I will probs just use a pan not made of this questionable substance.

So in the end mother and children were content to enjoy a few deep fried dough balls a piece as the rest were thrown out half blackened by remnants of our pan. Still, we were happy.

**I feel I should let all readers know that previously talked of Dr. Mean Pants was very nice and affirming of my weight gain today, she still made sure to say I want to keep it minimal so as to not produce a mammoth baby, but still she was sweet. 

Happy Monday.

4 ingredient recipe=awesome

I've been wanting to post this recipe for some time now and Grace's sweeeeeet little link up today has encouraged me to "just do it", so here we go.

I love macaroons, so when I googled "chocolate chip macaroons and found this recipe that only calls for 4, count em 4, ingredients, I needed to try it and try it I did.

Chocolate Chip Macaroons:

• 2 1/2 cups flaked coconut
• 2/3 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips
• 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray cookie sheets with non-stick spray.

Combine the stuff; mix until well blended.

Drop the goodness by teaspoonfuls (ish) 2 inches apart onto cookie sheets.

Press dough gently with back of spoon to flatten slightly.

Bake 8-10-12 minutes or until light golden brown. My oven is super hot and I HATE overcooked cookies, so I went for about 8 minutes. 

Definitely let them cool for a while before eating or they will just completely fall apart all over you, unless you like that sort of thing, then just go for it.

These are obviously not conducive to the Dr. Meansly diet, but sometimes you just have to stick it to the man. I am still working on responding to all you awesome bloggy friends who have been so sweet in commenting on my somewhat pathetic little post yesterday- let's just say I am completely inspired/encouraged, thank you all so so much!!

A Sunday Recipe

This is the first week of my official second trimester and I am more than a little excited about this. While I still manage to complain plenty about the nausea not having completely vanished the day I turned 14 weeks (like it's a birthday), it has undoubtedly gotten much, much better. I can do normal things now like drink COFFEE (so excited about this) and drink my coffee before eating anything in the morning (normal for me) instead of running to the kitchen as soon as I wake to get a bowl of cereal, or piece of ham, or stick of butter or anything to keep me from being hunched over the toilet.

Another normal thing I can now do is cook fun things for the fam without feeling like I am going to hurl when I see the picture of the food in the cookbook, the old Ana and coming back! It's just a matter of time before I bust out my *brand new* birthday sewing machine and sew something awesome... but we'll give that a little more time.

So this morning I made these. I borrowed "the Pioneer Woman Cooks" from the library the other day, so that is why I am all of the sudden posting her recipes, but I will be honest I should always be posting them. They are all amazing and I would like to own this cook book one day. These were the best pancakes I have ever had. Fo realz.

They made for a happy mother and children (and a would-be happy husband if he had not been up til the a.m. hours of the night/morning working on a paper, poor guy, he will eat his later)

To document the happiness:

The other child was happy too, but her face was not as messy and that always makes for a better, or at least more entertaining, picture.

Granola, dummy

Since the new growth of the new baby resulting in newausea, I have ceased all gratuitous baking, crafting, hobbying of any kind. However, while out with a friend (a rare occasion) the other day I was given a fantastic sounding recipe for some homemade granola. This was really timely since even though I make almost nothing by way of food these days, I EAT almost everything by way of food these days. I also get terribly anxious when food starts to become scarce, so I thought I would add to our supply now to decrease potential anxiety.

So this afternoon I summoned any traces of homemaking left in my inhabited body and put all the delicious ingredients together and baked away. It was all going well...

And then I baked it on the bottom rack of the oven, like the really low bottom rack right next to the hot wires. Then I forgot to check on it for a little bit and it would have been great but now it's bad.

I got what I deserved. Now instead of enjoying some seriously delish granola I am gagging down charred nuts and coconut. This is at least making me think that maybe I could stomach the gross looking Chia that every-one-in the world is raving about... we'll see.

But for those of you who are not dummies and will not waste a perfectly good batch of granola by baking on the bottom rack, here is the recipe:

3 cups oats
1/2 cup crushed nuts (I used walnuts, do what suits you)
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 craisins or raisins or any delicious dried fruit
1/4 cup flax seeds

1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup maple syrup*
1/3 oil (veg, canola, coconut, whatev)

Mix it all together and bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes stirring every 5-10 minutes until crispy.
*I didn't have maple syrup so I used 1/2 cup honey and some maple extract.