Sep15

Welcoming Family with Food

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Welcoming Family with Food

Two weekends ago, we enthusiastically welcomed a visit from my Big Guy’s brother and sister-in-law.  (I’m admittedly a little behind – this no internet thing has really gotten the better of my blogging life!) Not having previously been introduced to Little Guy, and expecting a bundle of their own two days after LG’s birthday, this visit was long overdo and majorly appreciated, especially since they made the trip from Chicago via car, over the course of two days.  (I have made this trip a couple of times now and there is no way you would get me to agree to it again, nevermind while pregnant!)

To welcome them, I cooked.  Bacon cheeseburgers on Friday night, pork shoulder and mashed potatoes on Saturday night and Blueberry Peach Stuffed French Toast Sunday morning.  We took them on a tour of our favorite city, taught them to play Munchkin (hey hey FBO friends) and even stopped at the Borders going-out-of-business sale where I picked up a ton of parenting and baby books for super cheap.

LG couldn’t have been happier to meet some more of his extended family, although he kept looking at BG’s brother with an inquisitive look – almost as if he was thinking, “Why do you look so familiar and why do I keep yearning for daddy?”.  We loved having them for the weekend and were sad to see them go, knowing that we most likely won’t see them again until after their little guy joins the world.

To commemorate their visit, I present my adapted recipe for Blueberry Peach Stuffed French Toast.  Even though this recipe only has a Weight Watchers® PointsPlus™ value of 5 per serving, it tastes decadent and luxurious – perfect for a chat-awhile Sunday brunch.

Blueberry Peach Stuffed French Toast

Servings: 8

Ingredients:

  • 16 slices Stop and Shop light multigrain bread
  • 1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen and defrosted
  • 1 cup peach slices, fresh or frozen and defrosted
  • 2 1/2 cups Rhody Fresh skim milk
  • 2 cups fat free egg substitute
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tbsp Splenda® no-calorie sweetener
  • 8 tsp light, whipped cream cheese spread
  • 2 tbsp powdered sugar

I had fresh blueberries on hand, so used those, and defrosted some frozen peach slices.  Worked perfectly.

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a 9 x 13 baking pan with cooking spray.
  2. Arrange 8 slices of the bread in the bottom of the pan, squishing them together so that there are very few spaces between them.
  3. Sprinkle the blueberries and the peaches evenly over the top of the bread in the pan.  Set aside.
  4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, egg substitute, cinnamon, vanilla extract and Splenda, until well combined.  You can tell that it is well combined when the cinnamon doesn’t sit on the top of the liquid in a clump and it gets a bit frothy.
  5. Pour half of the milk mixture over the bread and fruit.
  6. Spread one teaspoon of cream cheese on one side of the remaining 8 slices of bread.  Layer the bread, cream cheese side down, on top of the fruit in the pan.
  7. Pour the remaining milk mixture over the bread.  Using a spatula, press the top layer of bread slices down to soak up as much of the milk mixture as possible.
  8. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake, at 400 degrees, for 20 minutes.  Uncover the dish and continue baking until the egg mixture is set and the top is brown, about 15 minutes more.
  9. Cool slightly before cutting into 8 slices.  When serving, place a slice on a plate and sprinkle with powdered sugar using a sift or strainer.  Serve warm, with real maple syrup!

This recipe was as simple as it sounds, mighty tasty and a low PointsPlus™ value start to the day.  Give it a try and let me know how you make out!

Until next time,

Sep15

The Unmentioned Heartache

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The Unmentioned Heartache

Breastfeeding is an aspect of motherhood I seldom thought about before I became pregnant.  With few little ones around while I was growing up, I wasn’t exposed to many breastfed babies and no one talked ever talked about it with me.  It wasn’t necessarily that my family didn’t want to talk about it, but more that it just never came up.  When there are no babies around, there is little opportunity to discuss the details of pregnancy and childbirth.  Quite honestly, I don’t think I could tell you how or when I learned the details of where babies come from, so it makes sense that until I actively started to educate myself, I had absolutely no clue what life was like with an infant.

Throughout my life I have had many differing thoughts about parenthood.  I’ve swayed back and forth on the topic like a pendulum, from dread, through complacency, on to curiosity and back again, but not a single one of my looks to the future ever included a stance on how I would feed my newborn child.  It probably wasn’t until my sister had her first child that the concept of breastfeeding crept into my brain, and even then it didn’t sit right out in front, but crawled into a dark corner to lie in wait.  When Big Guy and I were married and discussing family and children, the conversation was always about whether we were ready, how it would impact us financially, and how it would change the daily routine of our lives.  Like many newlyweds, we didn’t give the slightest recognition to how we would care for the child or what our parenting standards would be.

And so, with all of that breastfeeding ignorance, I don’t know how or why it came to be that when we found out we were pregnant, I immediately knew I would try to breastfeed.  I suppose I vaguely knew that it was somehow good for the baby, though I really had no idea how.  (I also knew that breastfeeding would help me lose all of that baby weight I would inevitably gain, but I would like to maintain that my choice was not entirely selfish.)  I took the breastfeeding class that was offered at our hospital; I put breastfeeding books, a breast pump and nursing accessories on my baby registry; I began to learn as much about it as I could before the time came for me to put it into practice.

Only 6 hours after being welcomed into the world, my Little Guy latched on and started to suck.  He was a natural; it was as if he had been practicing in the womb, just waiting to come out and show me what a great little eater he was.  And right from that very first nursing session, I knew why so many women are so passionate about breastfeeding.

Of course, the research on the benefits of breastfeeding are endless.  Babies who breastfeed have stronger immune systems and are less likely to suffer from childhood obesity and a range of other illnesses.  A book that I am in the middle of, Brain Rules for Baby by John Medina, sites the many benefits that breastfeeding has on a person’s intelligence level, benefits which last throughout their lives.  But all of this knowledge aside, the reason why I have become a passionate proponent of breastfeeding is simple – it has helped me bond with my baby.

During those first days, weeks and months of LG’s life, the time we spent together while breastfeeding are some of my most cherished moments.  Honestly, for me the mother-child bond was not immediate.  I remember thinking, a few days after he was born, “Why don’t I feel it?”, referring to that instant connection that all new mothers are supposed to have with their babies.  Now, when I look back at the first months of his life, I know that breastfeeding was a critical part of the bonding process for me and LG.

To know that I not only provided him with all of the nourishment and comfort that he needed to grow from a fetus into an infant, but that I was also capable of sustaining his life and growth outside the womb in this amazing, supportive, loving and connective way, is an indescribable thought.  To have him curled in my arms, feeling completely safe and protected, gulping down the perfectly suited, magical potion that my body naturally made just for him, is an indescribable experience.

And now, to think that this process of bonding and feeling of purpose is being stripped from us little by little, without any warning or regard for the ache it is creating in my heart, is an indescribable loss.

All of the classes, books and advice from friends didn’t prepare me for the heartache of a depleting milk supply.  Everyone talks about how important breastfeeding is, but no one talks about how emotionally painful it is to stop breastfeeding.  For almost a month now, I haven’t been able to fill LG’s need for milk, meaning that we have been supplementing with the awful F word (formula).  And even as I write that, I have to admit that it isn’t the use of formula that really has me broken up.  It is those nights, just before LG falls asleep, when I have given him everything I have and he still wants more.  It is the knowledge that I am no longer enough.

I have breastfed LG for over 8 1/2 months.  I should be proud of my accomplishment, happy for the time that we had together while we nursed and accepting of the fact that, to sustain a healthy, thriving baby, most women have to supplement with formula at some point.  I just wasn’t ready for it to happen now.

However, in true determined MommaSiefert fashion, I am doing everything in my power to fight the inevitable.  I am drinking more water than ever before, eating foods that are higher in fat content between meals, brewing lactation enhancing tea and swallowing a pharmacy’s worth of vitamins, minerals and supplements each night in an attempt to bring back my milk. (If you want a list of what they are, let me know.)

I have become passionate about a woman’s right to nurse her child wherever they may need, can talk in depth about creating workplaces and shopping venues that support a nursing mother’s unique needs and have no qualms about pulling down my shirt and exposing my breasts to the world, wherever I may be, so that my LG can eat.  Perhaps in exchange for all of that commitment, the power that is will let me hold on to one of the best joys I have found in motherhood for just a little longer.

Until next time,

Sep2

Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

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Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

{Two weeks ago, we moved.  We found a really great single-family house, with a big yard and an open kitchen, and it is even in a good neighborhood.  So far, there has only been one, small problem.  We have no internet.  We also have no TV or land line phone, but those are things we can mostly do without.  Lack of internet, though, is a killer.  So, to publish the two posts that have been sitting on my computer – one for over a week and the other for a couple days – I am camped out at my local cafe, using up all the free wifi they will let me have.  Which means that today you get a bonus post – two in one day.  What could be better?}

My friend Liz’s birthday was on Wednesday.  Like me, she is a chocoholic and a peanut butter junkie.  Also like me, she is using the Weight Watchers® program to lose a little weight.  More on that later.

As a friend who likes to cook, I couldn’t let the occasion go by without making her something delicious, but in support of both of our efforts at weight loss, it also had to be a healthier option – something that we wouldn’t feel guilty about next Tuesday when we climb on to that scale.  Weight Watchers® has a great online recipe database called eTools™, on which I did a search for “chocolate” and “peanut butter”.  To my continual surprise, over 30 recipes came up!  Who knew there were so many healthy-lifestyle-friendly desserts with my two favorite flavors?

I think I found a gem.  I took the recipe that I found on eTools™ and customized it slightly to reduce the PointsPlus™ value even more and to make it gluten-free so that one of my coworkers could enjoy it as well.  These brownies are delicious – they baked up nice and firm, the peanut butter patches are smooth and creamy, and the brownie mix was just the right amount of gooey.

Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

Makes 32 brownies, 3 PointsPlus™ per serving

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup Skippy Reduced-Fat, Creamy Peanut Butter
  • 6 oz fat-free cream cheese, softened
  • 1/4 cup fat free egg substitute
  • 3 tbsp half-and-half
  • 1 box King Arthur gluten free brownie mix, unprepared
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
  • 1/4 cup apple butter
  • 1/3 cup fat free egg substitute
  • 1/4 cup water

The original recipe called for Neufchâtel Cheese, which is a lighter, sweeter version of cream cheese.  I switched to fat free cream cheese to reduce the PointsPlus™ value, but might consider using the Neufchâtel Cheese next time to give the peanut butter swirl a little bit of a sweeter taste.  I think that would, however, increase the PointsPlus™ value slightly, maybe to 4 per serving instead of 3.

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with cooking spray.
  2. Place the cream cheese and peanut butter in a medium bowl.  Fold the ingredients together to evenly distribute.
  3. Add 1/4 cup egg substitute to the peanut butter mixture and blend with an electric mixer until incorporated.  The mix will be thick, so you may have to shut off the mixer and scrape the sides once or twice.
  4. Add half-and-half and blend until incorporated. Set aside.
  5. In a separate bowl, beat the brownie mix, apple sauce, apple butter, 1/3 cup egg substitute and water until well combined.
  6. Spread half  to two-thirds of the brownie mixture in the bottom of the pan.
  7. By rounded spoonfuls, dollup half of the peanut butter mixture onto the brownie mixture.
  8. Using a butter knife, swirl the peanut butter mixture through the brownie batter.  Place the edge of the knife on one side of a dollup and run it through to the other side, swirling your wrist as you pull the knife.  Keep swirling until you are satisfied (I may have over swirled, but it was so fun, I couldn’t resist!)
  9. Spread the remainder of the brownie mixture on top of the brownie/peanut butter swirls.
  10. Dollup the rest of the peanut butter mixture in the brownie batter and swirl, as above.
  11. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick entered into the center of the brownies comes out clean. Let cool and cut into 32 brownies.

These were a big hit.  No one could believe they were health-ified or gluten-free.  A success on all counts!

Until next time,

Sep2

Roasted Fruit Baby Foods

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Roasted Fruit Baby Foods

Making homemade baby food is a lot easier than I ever thought it would be.

Except for rice cereal and an unauthorized bite of ice cream at BG’s birthday party, I have made every bite of solid food that has crossed LG’s lips.  Seriously – with the right equipment, a couple of good starter recipes and a little chunk of time, I can actually prepare a whole week’s worth (maybe even two or more weeks worth) of food for my Little Guy.  Now, being someone who likes to cook, I always knew that I would make LG’s food for him, so I made a conscious effort to read up on it, buy some recipe books, ask for an immersion blender for Christmas last year and invest in a couple of silicone ice cube trays.

To me, making LG’s food is the same as throwing a dinner party or cooking a well thought out meal for my family; it is just another opportunity to provide wholesome, delicious food for the people I love.  But I never, ever thought that it would be as easy as it has turned out to be.

Tyler Florence’s Start Fresh introduced me to the world of roasting fruit for LG.  The process is so easy that it makes me wonder why more people aren’t making their own baby food.  There are only 5 steps (and they are unbelievably simple).

Roasted “Your-Fruit-Here” Purees for Baby

  1. Set the oven temperature to 350 degrees.
  2. Put your favorite prepped fruit(s) on a cookie sheet.  Some fruits go on whole (like bananas, which keep their peel, and blueberries) and some will have to be cut in half, like apples (which will also need to be cored), plums (which need to be pitted) and mango (which can keep its skin but will need to be cut away from the seed).
  3. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, or until the flesh gives easily when pierced with a fork. Let cool slightly.
  4. Remove fruit from peel/skin/etc (if necessary) and place in a bowl.  If you normally eat the skin of the fruit, it doesn’t need to be removed.  The roasting process will have made it so that the skin is very soft and can easily be pureed with the flesh.
  5. Puree!

Having already tried Tyler Florence’s Roasted Blueberries and Bananas – 2 bananas to 1 pint of blueberries, following the instructions above – this morning I took advantage of this cooking technique to make use of some of the fruit that I never got around to eating this week; bananas, mango and pluots (which I think are a cross between a plum and an apricot). So simple and delicious.

LG loved this flavor combination, asking for more when his bowl was empty.  I always try the recipes after I’ve made them, just to make sure they are actually tasty – you never know when the best idea can go terribly wrong. This one had a very sweet, slightly tart flavor, and you could actually taste all three of the separate elements.  Enjoy!

Roasted Bananas, Mango and Pluots

Ingredients

  • 2 bananas
  • 2 pluots
  • 1 mango

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Cut the pluots in half and remove the pit, remove the flesh of the mango from the seed and arrange pluot halves, mango (including skin) and bananas (in peel) on a cookie sheet.  I typically like to put a piece of parchment paper on the cookie sheet to minimize the mess.  I used the parchment this morning, but the fruit was so juicy that it didn’t really help.
  3. Bake fruit in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool slightly.
  4. Place the pluots in a medium bowl or blender.  Remove the bananas from their peel and place in the bowl.  Remove the mango flesh from the skin by scraping with a spoon, add to the bowl with pluots and bananas.
  5. Puree!  I really like using my immersion blender for pureeing.  It makes the purees come out smooth and it is easy to clean.

I fed LG one serving right away and froze the rest for later in ice cube trays.  It made about 12, 2 tablespoon cubes.  I do find that the silicone ice cube trays have been a huge help.  The cubes pop out easily and they are easy to clean.  The cubes are square, so the entire tray actually fits in a quart size freezer bag.  Once the cubes are frozen, I take them out of the tray, put them in the freezer bag and label it with the contents and the date that I made it, so that I know when the food has gone past its prime.

For this specific recipe, you could easily substitute plums for pluots and have the same flavor combination.  But the moral of this story is that you can basically roast anything in the oven and puree it for baby for a quick and delicious meal.  Yum!

Until next time,

Aug22

New Discoveries

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New Discoveries

I am slowly realizing that before I became a mother I didn’t know a lot of things about myself.  For instance, I had no idea that I could sleep for one hour (or less) at a time, all night long, and function as a normal human being the next day.  I didn’t know that my ears were capable of hearing the slightest whimper in the middle of the night, from the next room, over the sounds of a torrential downpour.  And I certainly wasn’t aware that my heart could be so full of love that it actually aches.

Having a baby has made me realize a lot of things about the many people in my life, as well. Before LG was born, I couldn’t picture my husband speaking in a soothing voice to our son, but he does, and it is wondrous.  I didn’t know that my Big Guy could take on so much responsibility, learn to smile and be patient with so little sleep, and bond so tightly with the newest addition of our family.  How could I have known that my sister would fall madly in love with my child? That his Vavoa and Grampa would be even better grandparents than they were parents? That all three of them would do anything within their ability to make him smile and laugh?

We have all been blessed with this new little love.  This little love that brightens every minute of every day, that adds joy and laughter and a sense of purpose to everything that has led up to this moment.  And all I can do is smile, even through my tired mornings, my up all nights and my just need to sleep afternoons.

Aug21

Leaps and Bounds

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Leaps and Bounds

I want my son to devour the world. To let every morsel of life sit on his tongue, melting deep down into the very fiber of his being. I want him to seek out happiness in every form in which it comes and to savor every experience for the simple joy of being human, loved and capable.

His first eight months of life have gone by in a flash. LG has learned so much, laughed so much and been incredibly loved. He is growing in leaps and bounds – he sits up on his own, he can use his hands in a myriad of ways and he knows both his own name and who is momma and daddy are. Some days I want to grab time by the wrist and say, “Slow down! You are taking my baby away too quickly!”. And though I can’t wait to see my happy boy grow into a great man, I cherish every single moment I have with him while he is still my Little Guy.

And then there are nights, like tonight, when I rush him.

When I found out I was having a boy, I was overwhelmed with doubt. Having been mostly around growing girls all my life, I thought I would have absolutely no idea what to do with a boy, that I wouldn’t know how to talk to him or treat him or show him that I love him. I didn’t know how I would be a good mother to a boy, and so I began accumulating books about mothering boys. I read recently that boys naturally develop a little slower than, and in a different way than girls. And, that moms who have been mostly around girls (like me) can lose trust in the fact that their son’s development is occurring at a natural pace, a pace that will lead him to a full, rounded life.  The cure to this, according to this author, is to fall in love with the man your boy will become and to trust that you, he and all of the other people who love him will help him grow into that man.

I have to say, that I have yet to have this problem.  Granted, I have only been a mother of a boy for a little under 8 months, but there has always been an image in my mind of what I know he will one day become and it is hard not to love that man.  However, the problem that I do have is that the I often think of him as a prodigy; my beautiful child, my genius boy, my super star baby.  Why is this a problem, you say?  Well, while it is a wonderful thing to encourage your child to devour the world one small bite at a time, it is important that we (I) realize that his little hands, his big heart and his growing brain must move at their own pace, regardless of how exceptional we think that they are (or will be).

Since his first days of life I have been making LG’s food – first as a natural function of my body (as breast milk) and then as home cooked entrees.  And since we first started solid food at about five and a half months, LG has been slowly savoring whole-heartedly devouring every new taste and texture.  We started with single ingredient, pureed steamed veggies, then fruits and then flavor combinations. We moved on to roasted vegetables and fruits, and then started on chicken, yogurt and butter.  LG has happily eaten his way through most of the seasonal fruits and vegetables with only a few shrieks and just a couple shudders.

Last week I ordered a new baby food cookbook – Tyler Florence’s Start Fresh.  While I was delighted that LG was eating everything we put in front of him, I was in search of something more.  I wanted to expand his flavor profiles – to give him the opportunity to love the flavors of a variety of foods from an early age.  And, from what I can tell so far, the recipes in this cookbook are sure to do just that.

This morning, I made two of the recipes – Roasted Blueberries and Bananas and Roasted Apples and Cinnamon (recipes to follow) – and both are amazing.  The Roasted Apples and Cinnamon is a cool, apple-pie reminiscent sauce, while the Roasted Blueberries and Bananas is good enough to pour over ice cream for a late night treat (which I may do in just a minute).  But, while I should have just left good enough alone, these two knock-out recipes just wasn’t enough for me.

I flipped through the book, looking for something else I could make for which I had all the ingredients.  I stumbled upon Chicken and Kale Risotto with Pine Nuts and Bacon.  We are lucky enough to be signed up for a program that delivers farm fresh veggies to us every Friday, and I still had some kale and onion left over from last week’s harvest.  I lacked a few of the essentials, so I made a quick trip to the grocery store and headed back to our new home on a mission to craft a delicious, flavorful dinner for my little guy that would make his face light up just as it did the first time I fed him peas.

Yes, this is the pea face.  I was just as stunned as I’m sure you are.

After over an hour of cooking in a hot kitchen, and dirtying four pans, the food processor and two spatulas, I was ready to present my masterpiece to LG.  The kitchen smelled divine, full of the deep nutty flavors of the roasted ingredients.  I knew this was going to be tasty, not just for him, but for m and BG as well.

It started as I anticipated: the expectant look on his face, opening wide for the spoon and then slowly feeling the new texture with his gums and tongue, followed quickly by the shudder – which I anticipated as well, since it seems to be a natural response to a new flavor.

And then there was a whimper. And a look of torture.  And when he took the next bite, the moaning and crying.

I thought maybe the texture was too thick or hard or lumpy, so I took his little portion and pureed it with the immersion blender for a second try.  He took one bite of the pureed meal and went into a fit.  When offered a second bite, he closed his mouth and turned his head.  And there it was: his first ever refusal of a home cooked meal.

I suppose when I picked the recipe out of the book I should have paid attention to the fact that it was listed for infants of nine months and older.  But the image I had in my mind of LG was that he could handle it – that his palette was ready for more than I was giving him, more than the several baby food books I have read gave him credit for.

Tonight’s shove towards manhood was more of a nudge really, but it made me take a minute to examine how I view my little love.  There is a delicate balance to be had between wanting to give him the world and expecting him to grasp it.  For as much as I am teaching him, he is also teaching me. Both in leaps, and bounds.

The risotto, by the way, was delicious.

Until next time,

Chicken and Kale Risotto with Pine Nuts and Bacon

from: Start Fresh by Tyler Florence

Ingredients:

  • 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 6 ounces each) – I don’t know why my chicken breast was really big, but I just needed one, it was 12 ounces
  • Extra-virgin olive oil
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 2 or 3 large kale leaves, ribs removed, torn into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 small yellow onion, cut into wedges, layers separated
  • 1 slice thick-cut bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 3 tablespoons pine nuts
  • 4 cups organic chicken stock
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 cup arborio rice

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Arrange the chicken on the baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.  Bake for 20 minutes, then add the kale, onion, bacon and pine nuts to the same baking sheet, return to the oven, and bake until the bacon is crisp and the chicken has reached an internal temperature of 155 degrees when tested with an instant read thermometer, about 10 to 15 minutes.  Keep warm.
  3. Meanwhile, bring the stock to a simmer in a large pot over medium heat; keep warm.
  4. In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the rice and stir to coat with the butter. Cook, stirring occasionally, until opaque, 2 to 3 minutes.
  5. Add 1/2 cup of the hot stock to the rice and cook, stirring constantly until all the stock is absorbed.  Continue adding stock, 1/2 cup at a time and stirring constantly, until the rice is creamy and tender.  Keep warm.  This took the majority of the time.  Plan on at least 5-8 minutes per addition of stock.Arborio rice and chicken stock
  6. Transfer the chicken, kale, onion, bacon and pine nuts to a food processor and pulse on and off just until coarsely chopped.  Into the food processor.
  7. Fold into the rice and serve warm.Finished dish
Aug12

Like My Mother Does

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Like My Mother Does

This morning, while taking a break from packing up all of our worldly possessions for our move on Tuesday to have breakfast, I turned on the TV to find the American Idol cast on Good Morning America and a women I’ve never seen before was belting out a really beautiful song.  It was about her mother.

As anyone who knows me will tell you, it doesn’t take much for me to get tear-filled eyes and a lump in my throat. Usually it is really ridiculous, embarassing stuff too, like Hallmark commercials and episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, but I think today’s tears were different.

As a new mom – well, maybe not so new anymore since my Little Guy (LG) is 7 1/2 months old – I am consistently amazed with how much I love my son.  It is the kind of love you can’t fathom before it happens to you; the kind of love you can’t describe; the kind that once it happens to you, you know you can never live without.  And for all of the words I have in me to write, I can’t tell you how it feels when he hugs me, when he smiles at me, or when he looks at me with those eyes that say, “I love you momma”.

My Little Guy

Given all of this beautiful love that I have for LG, I had a realization the other day that sent my perspective spinning like a toy puddle jumper (when do you think LG will be ready to play with those, anyway?).  If I feel the way I do about LG, then logic follows that my mom must have felt this way about me, too.

Sort of mind blowing, right?

And if you want to draw it out a little further, does that mean she still loves me that much now?  Granted, I’m sure that time has worn a little shine off of that apple (well, maybe more accurately my time as a pre-teen and teenager), but it has to still be there in some sense.  I mean, at this point I can’t really imagine that my love for LG will diminish over time.  Does my mom’s heart still ache when I smile at her or does she get overwhelmed with joy when I tell her I love her?

So then, for all you moms and dads out there, take a moment to soak in the idea that someone loves you as much as you love your own little one(s).  And for my own mom and dad, thanks for loving me so darn much. I know that LG will grow up a better man because of the love of his Vavoa and Grampa. I can only hope to always give as much love as my mother does.

Until next time,

Mar29

Losing that (pre)Baby Weight

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Losing that (pre)Baby Weight

Most new mothers, after having their babies, long to get back to their pre-baby figures. During my pregnancy, I gained 45 pounds, which is more than the recommended amount and, truthfully, less than I thought I’d gain over those long, eat-everything-in-sight months. When I got home from the hospital I refused to get on the scale. I didn’t want confirmation that my 8 pound 5 ounce bundle of joy left a bundle of weight on my body. And as a breastfeeding mom, I wanted to focus on taking care of my little guy, and eating right for him,not worrying about how many calories I was consuming. So I stayed away from the scale.

At my six week check-in with the doctor, I begrudgingly stepped on the scale. And what to my wandering eyes did appear? I had lost 35 pounds! I was amazed. I was shocked. I was so happy I almost fell off the scale!

No longer afraid of what the scale would tell me, I started weighing myself weekly, and, within another month the whole 45 pounds had melted away. I’m going to credit it to the magic of breastfeeding – apparently, every ounce of milk I produce burns 20 calories. And, since LG eats like a teenage boy, he is literally eating his momma thin. Yay for breastfeeding!

But alas, the story is not all good. I forgot to mention one small detail – that I was about 40 pounds overweight before I got pregnant, 40 pounds that I gained after I entered into wedded bliss (which is a side effect of marriage that is often not discussed).

When Dan and I were engaged, I lost 50 pounds on Weight Watchers without feeling hungry or deprived. The program helped me learn to balance my caloric checkbook, making sure I wasn’t wandering into bounced check territory and teaching me to eat more healthy, well rounded meals. Since I had such success on the program the first time around, by the end of my pregnancy I had committed myself to using Weight Watchers to lose my baby weight.  And now, not having any baby weight to lose, I’m using it to help me shed my pre-baby pounds.

I’ve been attending meetings for a month, with three weigh-ins thus far, and I’ve already lost 7.4 pounds. Granted, I do get to eat more because I’m breastfeeding, but I’m also hungrier than I’ve ever been in my life and I need to eat healthy for my kiddo. For those who are interested, no, you don’t get up in front of the room and say, “My name is Chelsea and I weigh 190 pounds.” The only people who know your weight are you and the receptionist. If you do well and want to share you can and everyone will celebrate with you. Its a great feeling.

So, moving forward with the blog, I’ll be putting a lot of waistline-friendly recipes up, and giving you the PointsPlus value so that if you want to join in on the weight-loss success you can. I’d love to hear from you about your own healthy lifestyle journeys and about whether you’ve tried (and hopefully liked) my recipes.

Until next time,
Love, hugs and lots of good (healthy) food!

Feb15

Valentine’s Day with a 7-Week Old

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Valentine’s Day with a 7-Week Old

As parents of a newborn (is he still a newborn at 7 weeks?  I’m not sure…) celebrating Valentine’s Day is pretty far out of the picture for Dan and I.  We had purchased a Groupon for Medditeraneo (on Federal Hill) awhile back, so we asked my mom and dad to watch LG on Saturday night so we could go out for dinner.  It was a wonderful meal, but being on the Saturday before Valentine’s Day, it didn’t really feel like a big special occasion.  So yesterday, I took a chance at surprising Dan with a Valentine’s Day meal, not quite knowing how it would come out as I’d never spent a day cooking and taking care of LG at the same time.

The menu:

Filet of Beef with Horseradish Sauce
Roasted Asparagus
Baked Sweet Potato
Pineapple Upside-down Cake

My intent was to document the creation of the entire meal, but as I quickly learned, cooking is enough of a chore when you are trying to take care of an infant, never mind photographing each step in the process. I started with the Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, since that isn’t something that needs to be prepared right before serving, while the little one took his afternoon nap.  When he woke up in the middle of cooking, I put him in his vibrating, music-playing chair in the kitchen and he was content.

And so, I have an entirely documented pineapple upside-down cake.  I wanted to surprise Dan with dinner, so I tried to have it done for when he got home at 6:45, and LG just didn’t want to cooperate with that schedule.  Between 5:30pm and 6:45pm when I was supposed to be cooking and photographing, I had to change him twice and feed him, leaving little time to do anything extra.  Since the meal wasn’t that extravagant (or difficult), I don’t feel so bad about not blogging it.  Maybe next time.

1 stick of butter
1 cup of brown sugar
1 can of sliced pineapples
1 jar of maraschino cherries
1 box of yellow cake mix (and the ingredients listed to make the cake, whatever they may be)

1.  Preheat the oven according to the yellow cake mix directions and prepare your pans with cooking spray.  I used two 8 inch round cake pans, but you could use square pans or a large rectangle pan as well.

2.  Divide the stick of butter into two separate microwave-safe containers.  Melt the butter in the microwave.  I used 50% power for 60 seconds.  I find that if you use 100% power, the outside gets hot so you get some melted some not, and it spatters all over the microwave.

3.  Pour the melted butter into the pans and sprinkle them evenly with brown sugar.

4.  Arrange the pineapples in the pans and add the cherries wherever they fit.  I like lots of cherries, so I stick them in everywhere.

5.  Prepare the cake according to the package directions. My cake mix called for water, oil and eggs.  I substituted the oil with applesauce because it works just as well and is way less calories.  For extra pineapple flavor, I substituted half of the water with pineapple juice from the canned pineapples.

6.  Pour the prepared cake mix over the pineapples and cherries in the cake pans.  Bake according to the cake package directions.

I thought that since I had two round cakes, I would make a double-layer pineapple upside-down cake.  But, there is a reason that you never see a double-layer pineapple upside-down cake – the top is too heavy and it causes the top layer of cake to split apart!  Since this was only for Dan and I, I wasn’t too concerned so I left it how it was.  If you were making it for a party or very special occasion, I would advise against it.

You can see the cracks on the left and right sides…

I hope your Valentine’s Day was as wonderful as mine and that every day is a celebration of how much you love the people in your life.

Until next time,

Feb12

Back in the Saddle

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Back in the Saddle

As many of you know, my beautiful bundle of joy was born on December 26, 2010.  After letting us have a really great Christmas with our friends and family, Little Guy made his debut in the middle of the season’s first blizzard.

Little Guy – 3 weeks old (look at all that hair!)

He is an adorable, amazing and aware little boy, who has been taking up all of my time since he was born (which has left no time for my favorite past time – cooking).  It is an under statement to say that we have been eating poorly – if it weren’t for the generosity of some great people who have brought us home made food and take out, we may not have eaten at all over these past seven weeks!

Today, LG slept until a wonderous 9am and after I fed him, he was completely content playing with daddy on his activity mat.  So I took the opportunity to make something delicious.  This is traditionally a fall recipe, but I had some pumpkin left over from the holidays.  I think everyone forgets that canned pumpkin is available all year long and that it is a great treat pretty much anytime.  For your eating pleasure – I present to you my Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread. Yum.

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 cups granulated sugar
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
2/3 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

I realized after I took the picture that I forgot to pull out the pumpkin!  (Also, notice my new apprentice.  He is going to be a really good cook!)
1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray three 9 x 5 inch loaf pans with cooking spray and set aside.  (I didn’t have any 9 x 5 inch pans – my loaf pans are 8.5 inches and 10 inches, respectively.  I used 2 of the 8.5 inch pans and 1, 10 inch pan).
2.  In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.
3.  In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, applesauce, water, vanilla and eggs.  Mix until smooth.
This is what it looks like after mixing.
4. Slowly bled in the flour mixture.
With the flour mixture added.
5.  Fold in the chocolate chips.
 I used mini chocolate chips because that is what I had in the cupboard.
With the chocolate chips folded in.
6.  Bake for approximately 60 minutes, or until browned and a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean when inserted into the center.  My two smaller pans were done in about 50 minutes while the larger pan needed an additional 5 minutes (for a total of 65 minutes).
7.  Remove loaves from oven and cool in pans for 15 minutes.  With a knife, go around the bread and loosen the loaves.  Remove from the pan and cool completely before slicing.  (I personally never wait for it to cool completely before slicing because I love it when the chocolate chips are melty.  Mmmm.)
That’s it!  So simple even the mom of a 7 week old infant can fit it in!  Hopefully it won’t be so long before my next blog entry, but until then,