Food Blog, part II

Said upcoming food blog is consuming my life. I have a love/hate relationship with it already and I haven't even posted any recipes on it! ARGH! It's all about creating something cute but not too fancy for my header and background. I am learning more about "html" than I ever wanted to know. I'm also realizing that even though "blogger" is free, it is very limiting as far as organizing stuff like you would on a real website. I am about ready to pay someone to create a website for me at this point!!! I just want to get it done already! And I can't even nail down a good name for it, either. Serenity now!

Food Blog

I think the time has come for me to join the rest of the food blogging world and do my own, separate blog for recipes and other food related posts, etc. I've been tossing some ideas around with my mom, and soon I'll be ready to begin! It will be nice for me to start compiling all my recipes into ONE place (right now they are all OVER the place). It's hard to find them, so I keep forgetting to make some of my favorite things bc I forget they even existed in the first place! Eek! So stay tuned...once I get the format set up and the ideas finalized, I'll provide the link on this blog so you can check it out if you'd like!

Breathe Right...or Better?

Hello. I'd like to be paid for my upcoming endorsement of this product. Thank you. ;)

I have been having trouble sleeping well lately. I wake up about 10 times a night for a brief moment, look at the clock, growl, flip over, and go back to sleep. Actually, usually I have this problem. But it seems to be worse these days. My husband thinks I have sleep apnea (when you stop breathing for at least 10 seconds then "snort" yourself awake. Lovely, right?). Since I tend to panic over disorders, problems, sicknesses, etc., I started doing some research on it (thank you, Google). I decided to try the least invasive "treatment" option first: Breathe Right strips. They pull the skin away from the sides of your nose just enough to allow better air-flow. When my dad was here visiting in November, he told me he's used them and loves them. So this could be good! My best guess at self-diagnosis is that I am a "mouth breather." It takes quite a lot of energy for me to breathe through my nose, especially while sleeping. It's always been super annoying. Seems like I always have some sort of congestion or something--whether it's the super dry air here lately (nose hurts so bad or bleeds a bit), my allergies (not looking forward to spring), or pregnancy making your sinuses more "inflamed" or whatever they say.

So yesterday I finally remembered to buy the strips! They make clear ones in a package of 12 for $5 at Wallymart. They were about $2 more at other stores. Anyways--I ripped open the package and applied one before bed last night. Oh wait, I forgot to say that while checking out at the supermarket the cashier said she tried these and they didn't help at all (way to rain on my parade, lady)! Regardless, I put that thing on my nose. Immediately I could breathe through my nose like I was born to do it! I ran upstairs and jumped on the bed to show Reuben my new, cool sticker on my face! He just burst out laughing! I can't blame him, it was pretty funny! I laid down on my pillow and just enjoyed the fact that I could breathe with my mouth closed! Ahhhhh. This was going to be great. Just great. AND it is really comfy. Once I put it on, I couldn't even feel it anymore. I'm a side sleeper, too, and it didn't poke my nose or anything while I was laying on the pillow. Score!

So what's my verdict? I think I woke up maybe only 3 times last night. That is still a huge improvement over the night before! I asked Reuben if he heard me snoring or anything and he said "nope." Woo hoo! Now the only problem is if I use these for the rest of my life it could be a significant investment. I think you can buy a box of 30 for $10. So that would be about $120/year for the rest of my life to breathe. Ok yeah, I can live with that. :) I just hope it doesn't permanently stretch out my skin and make my nose wider! :P

Checking in on Growing Baby

Had another doctor's appointment today. I have to say ever since I switched doctors, I have been fully pleased. Unlike my last doctor, my current one is SUPER efficient and speedy--and almost always ON TIME for appointments! Y'all have NO IDEA how much I appreciate this. When I was pregnant with Jase I'd wait AT LEAST 1 hour, but usually 2-3 hours for every appointment. GAH! She was a very nice midwife, but I had to change it up. Now I see an M.D. who is very friendly and just plain fast. Did I mention she's fast? :)

Because of the crazy flu season, the clinic I go to does not allow ANY children to accompany you to visits. Although I can appreciate this, it makes it a bit challenging for me since I have Jase and it is very hard to get someone to watch him during the day. So usually Reuben has to meet me at the clinic and sit it the car with Jase while I'm inside. (yay for helpful hubbies!)

Today was my scheduled glucose test (to see if you have gestational diabetes). I am always a bit paranoid about this test! I had to eat a 50c sized hershey bar and drink 8oz of apple juice for breakfast! (now I can appreciate chocolate, but chocolate + juice is a yucky combo). Anyways, Reuben forgot he had a mandatory meeting he had to be to, so he only had like 30 min tops to wait for me at the clinic. I showed up a tad early and they really did cartwheels to accomodate me (which was very nice). My doctor had just arrived at the office after doing 3 c-sections (wow), and they put me ahead of another appointment to get me in as fast as they could.

I had my finger pricked (ouch--but i passed the test!) and also got my Rogam shot (the shot you need when your blood type is RH- like mine) very quickly. Then I had the fastest ultrasound ever (haha) since I told her I had to leave in like 2 minutes. She measured the baby and said he's at least 2 pounds now and his heartbeat was nice and strong. *sigh of relief* Always so good to hear. I still feel like this is all a dream and I can't believe in less than 3 months I will be a mother of 2. Still hasn't hit me yet!

Chicken & Dumplings

Here's another recipe from OurBestBites.com. I have always liked Chicken & Dumplings, but I don't have a recipe in my file. This one was good enough and easy enough that I'll keep it around. You can find the original recipe posting HERE.

6 cups chicken broth (1 1/2 boxes or 3 cans) OR 6 c. water + 6 chicken bouillon cubes
1 lb. cooked chicken, chopped (i used leftover frozen shredded ckn I made in a crockpot)
1 c. sliced carrots
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 onion, minced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 bay leaf
1 handful of chopped fresh parsley (or 1 Tbsp. dried parsley)
1/2 tsp. basil
1 14-oz. can evaporated milk
1 recipe of Bisquik dumplings (recipe is on the box)

In a large pot, heat some olive oil over medium heat and add onions and garlic. Saute for a few minutes and then add chicken broth, chicken, bay leaf, and basil. Bring to a boil. Add carrots and celery and reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and cook until carrots and celery are tender (took about 9 min for me). When carrots and celery are almost done, add chopped parsley. Add evaporated milk. Increase heat to boiling and add noodles or add prepared Bisquik by small spoonfuls (they'll really puff up while they're cooking). Cook until dumplings are cooked through (they should appear moist but feel firm; this is after about 10 minutes). Serve immediately. Serves at least 6-8 adults. *note: if you don't plan on eating it all at once, don't add all the dumpling mix bc it will absorb all the liquid in the soup as it sits. *

Ham-n-Cheese Roll Ups

I've been trying a few new recipes lately. Been getting them mostly from "OurBestBites.com." They called this one "hot pockets," but to me it was more like "roll ups," so for my purposes I renamed the recipe. Heh heh. You can find the original recipe HERE. I have to say the only reason I thought I'd try this was because I had a bunch of leftover ham I wanted to use up, and a good friend (Sarah!) told me she liked them, too. I was expecting them to be just "okay," so I was blown away when I tried them. I thought they were AWESOME! I can't wait to make them again! It was truly a nice surprise. Hope you like them, too! (I'm still wondering if it was just the honeybaked ham that made them killer good, or just the combo of ingredients I used...)

1 recipe breadstick & pizza dough (click HERE to see their recipe. i tried this, too, and it was REALLY good)
Ham (i used leftover Honeybaked ham and chopped it into bite-sized pieces)
Cheese (i used a combo of medium cheddar, some american, and monterrey jack)
Green onion, diced (i added this bc i thought it would be good. it was.)

Prepare dough through the first rise. After dough has risen the first time, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a rectangle, probably about 16x 8 inches. Using a pizza cutter, cut dough into 8 equal "rectangular" portions. Leaving a little bit of a "margin" on the right and left sides, add toppings with the cheese going on last. (add green onions if ya want). Stretch the dough out a little to give yourself a bit more dough to work with.
Fold the left side over the middle and then the right side over that. Starting at the bottom of the "mummy," tightly roll the filled dough, stretching it very gently as you go to make sure you're getting a tight seal. Place on a greased cookie sheet and repeat with remaining dough. When finished, cover the pan with a clean cloth and preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.

When oven has heated, bake pockets for about 15 minutes or until golden brown on top. For shine, you could brush the tops with a bit of egg white mixed with water during the last 5 minutes of baking, or you could rub a little butter on top of the rolls while they're still hot. (I just used a bit of butter). We dipped ours in ranch, but I bet honey mustard would be yummy, too.

Cardboard House Questions...

We bought the cardboard house at Costco. I'm not sure if they still have them or not (probably not), but here's a website I found printed on the side of the box: www.colormehouse.com. Apparently they have the house we got, a rocket, and a castle. Here's a couple more views of the house...and the windows open up, as do some little window vents in the roof, etc. It's really neat. I'm pretty sure the price was less than $15. (I just peeked at the website and you can click on where you live and it will show you where you can find a place that sells them. Cool!)

Christmas 2009, part II

Santa brought Jase the coolest cardboard house. It's awesome! It has a pitched roof, windows, stars, mailbox, doorbell, etc. Roob and I started coloring on it. Roob drew on shingles and window frames, and I did the mailbox and put his name on it. It was darling. He played in it forever on Christmas morning. And it was a very price efficient gift. My favorite was the warning on the box that said "keep away from fires and open flames." Check. Ha ha.Jase playing in his coolio cardboard house!
One of Roob's most favorite things to eat are the LDS cannery's potato pearls (dried buttery potato bits). You just add water (they are pretty dang good). Anyways, my mom gave Roob a big box of them for Christmas. We all cracked up. Just look how proud he is of them...
Grandma Jenith and Jase warmin' up by the fire.
Jase and Hibbin playing with their toys. They were in toy heaven. And very overstimulated, I might add!

Christmas 2009 at Grandma's House

Santa did not disappoint this year! First we had Christmas at our house with Jase (pics to come), then we drove to my mom's for Christmas with my brothers & my nephew. We had so much fun opening presents! Jase and Hibbin were hilarious. They had so much to open that they finally just got sick of opening gifts. LOL. Then Gma Jenith spoiled us with a delicious Honeybaked Spiral Ham! OOH AHH. I am still drooling thinking about it. Anyways, here's a pic of my brothers--Michael is on the left, and Nathan on the right. I'm the oldest bc I am the coolest, then Mike, then Nate.Here's Michael, Hibbin (Nathan's son), and Nathan just hanging out on the sofa.
Jase and me, Nathan and Hibbin. Hibb is only 4 weeks older than Jase, and he's my very first nephew on our side of the family!
There's the lovely Grandma Jenith with her only daughter!
Gma Jenith, Michael, and Nathan hammin' it up for the camera. Cute pic!

Children Come in Handy!

I got this awesome hand-held Shark vacuum from Santa this year. I'm already finding plenty of ways to use it!!!

3D Ultrasound Pics: It's a _____???

We finally had our 3D ultrasound appointment! I was soooo nervous to find out what we were having. For those of you who are ultrasound challenged like I am, I drew on the pictures to point out exactly what you're looking at. It helps me, too, bc I swear if I stare at these long enough I can't make out a darned thing. Ok let's get started...here's the baby's sweet little face...Here's another one. The baby was curled up into a neat little ball the entire time (shocking, I know).
And finally...it's a BOY!!! (sorry about this picture, little son. it's quite graphic! lol) So there was NO mistaking it this time (as you can see for yourself). Hee hee.
I have to say my initial reaction was "that's what I thought." I was so convinced it was a girl until my previous doctor's appointment. Ever since then I have been thinking that it was probably a boy. I think this is God's way of saying, "Amiee, you are going to have 3 children even though you thought you'd only have two." Heh heh. I know it's a bit too early to be thinking about that, but it's just a feeling I've got. Anyways, we initially wanted a girl (I'd like to have at least one boy and one girl) but now we're excited about another boy! I think it will be GREAT for Jase to have a brother close in age, too. Plus the boys will have to share a room (which is already boyish-bonus!) and we pretty much already have everything we need from Jase (poor kid will get a lot of hand-me-downs). :) Well, I guess anything that hasn't been worn out or spit up on a hundred times. Ha ha ha.

Now I've just been collecting a bunch of possible boy names and keeping a list on my computer. There are lots of good ones to choose from. I want something that sounds good with our last name, but also something that sounds good with Jase (bc you know you will always be saying your kids' names together). So here's a few on the list: Rowan, Cody, Cole, Jack, Jesse, Liam, Drew, Lane, Ian (I really like Rhees, but Reuben has completely vetoed it. Lame.)

24 weeks Pregnant with Baby #2

So I've made it to 24 weeks! Hooray! I had my 3D ultrasound last Monday, and everything looks good with baby! I am planning on scanning in those 3D pics as soon as I can get on the scanner and do it. LOL. Speaking of that--stay tuned to find out what we're having!!! (post coming soon)Here's another close-up pic of the growing tummy!
Here's just a random but cute picture of Jase standing by our Christmas tree this year.

Good Thing My MIL doesn't Check this Blog

Last Saturday we had a Christmas party for my husband's side of the family. It was so much fun! I always forget how gigantic his family is (and lots of people were still missing)! Anyways, we had a great white elephant gift exchange. One of those items was one of Grandma Connie's wigs. Hee hee. We couldn't get enough of it. Here's a pic of Lecia & Kurt (Kurt's sporting the wig). Too funny!
Of course I had to try it on, too. I think I am rockin' it like Joe Dirt--mullet style!
Couldn't let the moment pass me by to get Jase to wear it. Well at least now I know what Jase would've looked like if he were a girl! Heh heh. Anyways, he HATED wearing it, so I barely snapped a few pics before he freaked out and took it off. I was laughing so hard! It was so totally worth it.
Roob had this great idea to see how many of us we could fit into the small kitchen! I thought this picture was great. We were all cracking up! You can see me in the back over to the left...
Alrighty, so back to the white elephant gifts. A couple of weeks ago Grandma Connie & Granpa Larry rode with us to Gordon's baptism. On the way back G.Connie took a snooze...Roob said "take a pic" so I snuck one. Later on the genius idea came to turn the picture into a shirt for the white elephant gift exchange. Classic. I photoshopped it and Roob ironed it onto the shirt. Connie was SUCH a good sport about it. We were all DYING laughing over it. I think the shirt got stolen/traded about 7 times! And I believe Lecia ended up taking it home! Here it is:
I had my video camera ready to capture the moment as soon as somebody picked our present. Julie picked it first! But as my luck would have it, after only a few seconds of video, I ran out of memory card space! GAH! (knew I should have deleted some files off of it) Oh well, at least I got some footage of it! HEE HEE

Moose Munch

Have any of you ever been to Harry & David's? It's a fancy store that sells all kinds of chocolates, gourmet nuts, etc. They have this butter toffee popcorn that comes in all sorts of varieties called Moose Munch. It's one of my favorite treats of all time. However, one teeny weeny bag will cost you about $8.00! So, this year I set out to try to recreate their recipe on my own. I think I got it REALLY close--but it took a couple tries. On my first try I burned all the caramel corn, including the cashews and almonds. *sigh* It took me 2 days to get over my frustration, but I tried it all over again today. Success! It's delicious! I'm planning on giving away some as soon as it all cools off and I can package it up. I started with the caramel corn recipe from OurBestBites.com, but I have to say that when I followed their baking directions, that is how mine got burned. I'm assuming it's due to the higher altitude where I live. So here's how I adapted their recipe to suit my ambitious copycat of Moose Munch:

16 C popped popcorn (about 1 C. kernels--i just popped mine in oil in a pot on the stove)
1.5 C brown sugar
1/4 c + 1/8 c white Karo syrup
1/2 tsp + 1/4 tsp salt (if you are using salted microwave popcorn then omit salt here)
1.5 sticks of real butter
1/2 tsp + 1/4 tsp (would this be 3/4tsp? oh man) baking soda
1.5 tsp vanilla

cashew halves, salted
roasted almonds, salted
really good quality semi-sweet chocolate (please don't use Nestle's/hersheys! blech!)
half a bag of toffee chips

Pop popcorn and set aside. Place brown sugar, Karo syrup, salt, and butter in a microwave safe dish. I cut up the butter into chunks so it melts better. Microwave for 30-45 seconds. That should be enough to melt the butter at least half way. Stir it all to combine. Now microwave on high for 2 minutes. Take it out and stir. Microwave for 2 more minutes.

Then add the baking soda & vanilla. It will foam a bit, that's normal. Pour all over popcorn and toss well, leaving a little bit of the caramel to toss your nuts in. I recommend finding the biggest bowl you can find. I bought a HUGE one at Smith & Edwards (it rocks). If you don't have a big bowl--good luck to you. Ha ha ha. After that, pour popcorn into two greased jelly roll pans (cookie sheets with about 1.5" sides on it). Spread it out as best you can. Then quickly toss your cashews and almonds into the remaining caramel you left in the bowl. Just eyeball it. Then take a spoon and drop the gooey nuts all over the popcorn that is already sitting in your cookie sheets. Bake one sheet at a time at 250 for about 26 minutes. If you live in a lower elevation, you might want to try what ourbestbites recommends for cooking times, but that is what burned my popcorn in the first place. As soon as you remove the popcorn from the oven, sprinkle toffee chips all over it and toss well. Let cool until nice and crunchy. Then drizzle as much chocolate on your popcorn as you'd like. My chocolate was a tad on the "dark" side, so I did one sheet with a TON of chocolate on it, and mixed it with the other sheet that had hardly any chocolate on it so it wouldn't be too rich. Wait until your chocolate has completely cooled before you do any mixing or packing! Enjoy!!

Fun Things

Reuben: "Jase, what do you want to do that's fun today?"
Jase: "Uh...eat breakfast...and dinner!"

Ha ha ha!!!! I am still cracking up over this.

Easy Candy Turtles

These are so easy & cute, you must make them asap! I had to do a lovely cross-section so you could see the candy in all it's glory. MMM.Here's a pic of what they look like "un-cut." I did some with red or green M&M's (for the nut haters) and the others have pecan halves pushed into them.
Here's the recipe. I found it on OurBestBites.com.

small pretzels
Rolo candies - one bag has about 55 candies (I bought mine in bulk from Sam's Club)
Pecan halves - or optionally peanuts, cashews and m&m's
Optional: almond bark or white chocolate for drizzling

This is easy as can be! Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place pretzels on a parchment lined baking sheet. I like to use parchment paper for easy handling, but you can also put them on foil, a silpat, or directly onto the cookie sheet.

Unwrap your Rolo candies and place one on top of each pretzel like a cute little hat. Place pan in the oven for 3-4 minutes. Any longer is probably too long. You just want the chocolate on the outside to look glossy and melty, but they should still hold their shape.

Remove pan from oven and take a pecan and gently press it right into the center of the chocolate candy. Ta-da! You're done! Unless you're like me...then you'll drizzle them all with some white chocolate...then I added some green christmas sprinkles on top of my pecan ones, just to Christmas 'em up a little bit (you can see it in my close up picture). Mine were done in 15 minutes from start to finish. But word to the wise--these are NOT very good to eat warm. Trust me. They are MUCH better once they've completely cooled off.

Maternity Skinny Jeans

Kind of sounds like an oxymoron, right? Ha ha ha. For those of you who don't know what skinny jeans are, they are basically a fitted jean with a fitted leg all the way down. Not boot cut, not flare, not straight. ALMOST looks like leggings (eeks!). So unless you are stick thin, they are NOT flattering to the hip/thigh area if you were to just wear them with normal shoes. However, with boots over them, they look super cute! Anyways, I purchased some from Motherhood Maternity (M.M.) yesterday. When I first came out of the dressing room and looked in the mirror I just kept laughing and laughing and WISHING I had my tall boots to help balance out the top-heavy figure with teeny tiny calves I saw staring back at me.

The reason why I wanted some is that I have these cute "Ugg" knockoff boots (yeah I'm cheap like that) that I want to wear OVER my jeans instead of underneath them. I tried tucking my regular jeans into the boots but that did NOT work. So I began searching. The only places I could find these was M.M. or Old Navy. Old Navy's seemed to have a better "wash" on them, but they were the low-rise fit and I wasn't sure if that would see me through another 3.5 months. So I went with the M.M. ones. They kind of have a ghetto fabulous wash on them--it's still dark, but it has some unsightly horizontal whiskering RIGHT on the THIGHS (uh...did they think this through?) and a bit of a stonewash feel to it--a'la 80's style. BUT, nevertheless, the need to wear the boots over my jeans won me over and I paid for 'em.

Today was day #1 of wearing them. First of all, they are tight. I mean, painted on. Since I only own like 2 pairs of jeans, I am not used to them being fitted. In fact, they fit "cute" for like 1 hour after washing, then stretch out and just sag/hang off of me after that. Very unattractive. So these skinny jeans are tight AND stretchy. LOL. But in a way that's probably a good thing for me! The other thing is that they have the full tummy panel, meaning, it is super stretchy and comes up to my ribcage. After wearing them all day I have learned 2 things--1.) I am CONSTANTLY pulling them up and the crotch is sagging down (but that is how MOST maternity pants are 2.) I could camp out in negative degree weather in these things. I wore them today with my sheepskin boots, a thermal fitted long sleeve tee and a brown wool short sleeve sweater over that. I was so hot in the shopping stores I wanted to cry! Ha ha ha. But anyways, I am still happy with the purchase, but I don't think I will wear these out shopping all day anymore...there is only so much I can take. But hey, I looked cute--right? No pain, no gain. :)

for Jenny

hi! just wanted to say thank you again for what you said to me tonight. that made my whole week!!!! luv ya!

the Sciatic Joint...dum dum dum!

So I am having a new experience with pregnancy #2. For the last few weeks my sciatic joint (the joint where your pelvis connects to the base of your spine) has been giving me more than my share of trouble. The pain (feels like electric voltage) varies off and on--but it seems like the last couple of days have been the worst. It's pretty difficult to squat, lean over, sit on the ground (trying to change diapers), pick up anything off the floor, and even walk! It's frustrating me bc it makes me just want to sit still and not do anything. However, I purchased a medela tummy support band that is supposed to help a bit. I wore it yesterday for a few hours, and as soon as I woke up today I put it back on. It does seem to be helping a bit (awesome). I guess there are 2 reasons for the joint pain--one is that when you're pregnant your body releases certain hormones that loosen these joints, but sometimes it loosens them a bit too much (my case). The other reason is that the baby could be positioned such that its putting more pressure on that area. So the belly support band is supposed to help alleviate this pressure by lifting the baby a bit. For $24.99, it was worth a shot! I am hoping this helps. Otherwise, I am planning to seek out some prenatal massage and possibly a prenatal chiropractor so I can function normally again.

Disappointment--get used to it?

Today I had my hopes sky high to find out what the sex of the baby is. Last month I felt the same, only to find out that the baby wasn't ready to let us see. Apparently it still feels the SAME way. So after waiting 4 more weeks, I went back in again today. The doctor had a really hard time seeing anything since its legs were crossed--yet again. At first she was guessing "girl" but then all of a sudden saw "something" and said, "wait, possibly a boy!" She's not 100% sure, though, so I really don't know if it's a girl, boy, or possibly a combo of both (gah)? I was so upset I just cried and cried once I got to the parking lot. I was just so dissappointed that we couldn't tell what we're having. I can't take the suspense any longer. Yet, I have to.

I have no idea how some women don't want to find out on purpose. I CAN'T STAND not knowing. Although a boy would be cool for a myriad of reasons, I'm not sure if my body will be able to have 3 children, so I am really hoping for a girl. I'd love to have at least one of each. Before today I was convinced it was a girl--now I am totally doubting it and super confused. Oh well what do you do? So now I have to wait until December 21st for a third try at trying to tell what we're having. This next appointment will be the 3-D ultrasound, so if we can't tell on that one, I may very well have to just WAIT until this baby is born to find out! GAH!

Otherwise, I've been feeling the baby move just a tad here and there lately. Always a cool thing. It just feels like soft little taps and pokes. It's nice to know its alive & kicking in there. And I got to hear the heartbeat today, too. That was comforting. So all in all, today wasn't a total dissappointment, I guess!