List

Things I really miss right now (most of these will relate to food since this is FOODIE in the UK!!)

• taco bell- of all friggin things, I could really use 3 hard tacos right now from TB
• sushi
• oysters- is it weird my mouth seems to be watering at the thought of 6 raw oysters with shallot vinaigrette :-)
• The last time I ate deli meat, I got violently ill with a stomach bug, and was later reminded that I shouldn’t be eating it in the first place. Doesn't mean I still don't miss it! Blergh..
• Chicago
• Corner Bakery- on top of that deli meat, I really could go for either corner bakery's cobb salad (amazing!), and any of their soups/sandwiches. 
• Portillo's- Enuff said!
• my cats- I've thought about them passing away a few years ago about 2 times now during my pregnancy and had a really good cry about it.
• energy level- this mostly because I want my fitness level back. I used to feel such a high either running, weight lifting, kickboxing, or doing something simple like pushups. Lord knows all I've done these past few months is just shuffle food in my mouth.
• dancing- Yep, in addition to not having worked out, I've pretty much shoved dancing to the side as well. I did put on some Marc Anthony while doing the dishes today and attempted to dance. Now that's what I call multi-tasking!

Things I can't wait for

• Baby dancing in my tummy. I think I'm supposed to feel flutters at first, but that doesn't even come until 16 weeks or later. I'm only at 13, going on 14!
• Shopping for baby EVERYTHING. Is there nothing cuter than clothes the size of your head? Adorbs!
• Decorating baby room- not sure where we're going to move to, but we're definitely not staying in our flat when the baby comes. 
• My belly flab turning into an actual belly. Right now it just looks like I ate two overstuffed burritos!
• Christmas, New Years, my birthday, because it means I'm that much closer to meeting this lil bean. 
• Finding out the gender- We have a private gender scan scheduled for December 19. Can't. Wait.
• 2nd trimester glow- everyone keeps talking about how much better they feel once they hit the 2nd tri mark and all I feel is more tired and I've been having these awful headaches for the past 2 days. Boo!! 

Back to the weekend's eats

She's got a crazed look in her eye as if she'll be getting some of this!

Man, I love my smoothies! I also added in some fun toppings like sprinkles and chocolate covered candies.

On Saturday, we ordered some Thai food and I caught up on episodes of American Horror Story. I love that the show has everything I love about horror movies, yet it is on every week!

Thai takeout @ Thai Aubergine.

duck wraps

T's plate O' food.

lek tom yum- rice noodles, and seafood

I mostly ate this soup since curries make me sick, and I wasn't in the mood for anything else that night.

lamb curry

best chicken pad thai eva! I had some leftover Sunday night after watching Breaking Dawn Part I. I dragged T to go see it with me, and I'm not going to tell you who enjoyed the movie more! O-b-v-i-o-us!

I've been trying to get my green on for breakfast lately. This time I had some roasted broccoli with my scrambled eggs and toast.

lunch was a medley of vegetables sauteed in dark soy, sea salt, evoo, and black pepper.

Yum! My seabass formed a really nice crust in the oven. I used olive oil, sea salt, garlic powder, pepper, and cayenne pepper to season it.

Time to lounge on the couch!

Aunt Jemima

aaaand we've reached the 2nd trimester! Woo hoo! Eggs, hummus, and toast. Perfect com pow!

Perfect breakfast to start my day. Funny story- I had a small cup of coffee later that morning prior to doing an in class essay, and since I hadn't taken any caffeine in ages, I found my brain racing a mile per minute! It may not have been good for my essay, but I really needed a pick me up that morning. I actually don't remember what I wrote, I just remember writing way too fast... oops!

lunch after class. It's the leftover's that just keep on giving!

oven roasted turkey breast, leftover jap chae, and green bean casserole..

 

had a random afternoon craving for cereal and cold milk.

definitely. hit. the. spot.

lunch after class on Friday

minestrone soup with a tuna sandwich and salt and vinegar chips. I made the sandwich with canned tuna, mayo, and dijon mustard on whole grain bread.

the sandwich was simple, but satisfied my tuna craving. For anyone that has wondered whether tuna is safe to eat while pregnant: it is!
http://www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/nutrition/foodsafety/tunaexpert/

Bored and stuck at home with a headache on a Friday night, I did what was necessary; I made rice crispy treats.. YUM!

I followed the recipe on the back of the Jet's marshmallow pack

• 1/2 stick butter
• 1 package marshmallow 
• 8-9 cups rice crispy cereal

Aside from my fingers being incredibly sticky, these were buttery and delicious, just how I remembered them to be.

I may or may not have messed with my appetite with dessert first ;-), so I made some simple whole wheat pasta with sauteed mushrooms and bottled sauce for dinner.

I hate that my Friday's have consisted of being couch bound and in bed by 9. I honestly don't remember my life ever being this mundane, but I'm trying to take it all in stride. :)

I woke up this morning with a pretty meager fridge, only two eggs, and no bread so I decided to roll with some pancakes. Aunt Jemima is the best! So glad we were able to order a box from the American Thanksgiving shopping list online.

buttery and soft.. mmmm.. Is it possible to sleep 10 hours and still want a nap? Why yes!

Good eating

5 cans bought and 3 cans left. I was so excited FINALLY to have pumpkin in the house that I decided to make some pumpkin bread. Now, I've never made this before so I did what I always do when I need a trustworthy recipe- I googled it! I always type in best _____________________  recipe and this method has rarely failed me.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pumpkin-bread-iv/detail.aspx

combine dry ingredients first

I pretty much followed the recipe to a T. The only change I made was cutting down the recipe to feed 24 instead of 36.

mix wet ingredients thoroughly

combine wet ingredients to dry and mix until well blended

into the oven at 175 degrees C for 35-40 minutes

Oops! I burned the top off the first loaf because I wasn't paying attention to the oven. Hate it when I do that!

I added dark chocolate chips and chopped pecans to the second batter

The recipe called for the bread to be baked for 50 minutes but our oven gets way too hot so the bread baked faster. It turned out really delicious with all the spices that the recipe called for. Initially, I thought it was a bit too spice heavy but the flavor mellowed out really nicely the next day. Yummy! There was no way we could eat 2 loaves of bread to ourselves so I spread the wealth and had T bring some in to work.

I'm a bit behind blogging on my food, but here's dinner from two night's ago. I had some tilapia filets so I seasoned them with my usual spices of evoo, sea salt, garlic powder, black pepper, and soy sauce.

side of bok choy sauteed in evoo, sea salt, black pepper, soy sauce, sesame oil, and siracha.

I oven baked the filets for 12 minutes and they turned out great!

I enjoyed my dinner on the couch since T was at work.

breakfast was cinnamon and all spiced eggs with toast and hummus

Sigh.. I miss drippy egg yolks!!

in my quest for crispy onion bits for my green bean casserole, I found the next best substitute at Sainsbury's. This should do...

Yuumm! the onion bits were exactly what this was missing. Tastes almost like my momma's Thanksgiving casserole.... almost. And now I'm hooked!

good thing we have substitute cans of mushroom soup coming next week!

why mess with a good lunch? I had the exact same thing two days in a row. Oh, and the casserole? I polished off the entire pan on both days!! Here's the simple Campbell's recipe I used:
http://www.campbellkitchen.com/recipedetail.aspx?recipeId=24099

T surprised me with some hanguk umshik last night for dinner.

He made some beef jap chae and chicken marinated in korean spices. It was a delicious meal.

I'm trying not to use my flash these days for a more natural picture, but I can't seem to keep the pictures from getting blurry!

T's egg in a hole covered with a circular piece of bread. I know it had a better name than that. ha! It was quite buttery, but really tasty!

I'm sure the baby was gloriously swimming around in all that butter I digested :-)

leftover fish and noodles for lunch

Good news, I think I did really well on my Chemistry test today! Cha Ching!

Now excuse me while this mango and I get into it.