New Recipes, Planning and Feeling a Little Bit Pregnant

This morning I joined a moms board on babycenter, for the first time, ever.  For whatever reason I never really got into the online pregnancy/mom community before.  I still don't know that I will do much with it other than check into the homebirthing/moms due in Aril 2013 group every now and again.  For now it's nice to be reminded that I'm not alone.  That as wonderful and blessings-ful as pregnancy is it's also really hard, and painful.

After my run yesterday I was flying high.  Every time I set out to run I wonder "will this be my last until the baby comes?" " is THIS the time I wet my pants?"  Haha, thankfully yesterday was neither of those.  It was great.  After getting home and doing some fun stretching and arm dips and squats and sit ups with Ainsley I still felt good.  Then last night and this morning?  SO INCREDIBLY SORE.  I even took some tylenol this morning hoping to alleviate some of the pain in my lower abs and groin.  This round ligament pain is no joke.  Toting the girls to and from activities all morning plus hauling groceries and 12 dozen cookies around town?  double, no triple, no joke.  I'm beat.

Last night I whined a bit to Ian.  "I'm sore.  I FEEL pregnant."  "well, that's good right?  the feeling pregnant part?"  Yeah yeah I guess so.  But it doesn't mean it's not hard to always feel a bit off kilter.  Sure the kicks and pokes from our little one will always remain wonderous.  But the not sleeping on my tummy, no wine when I REALLY REALLY want it, terribly sore mid-lower section of everything on my body, growing bigger and bigger AGAIN?  I think it's ok to be whiny about that stuff every now again.

So I whined.  I took my tylenol.  I exploded a bit to the girls in the car this morning that MOMMY IS PREGNANT! AND TIRED! AND SORE! AND YOU NEED TO BE GOOD HELPERS!  Sooo effective right?

They've actually be great, especially Ainsley.  She is such a good big sister, I really couldn't ask for more.  And sweet Louise?  Well she's pretty great too, but she's two and likes being the baby and I'm trying to let her be one while she still can.

But now onto the fun stuff!

It's been a while since I've shared a meal plan, mainly because there hasn't been one (other than Thanksgiving week) in quite a while.  Cooking is still really hard for me and rather than fight it I'm just letting it go.  This is when I'm thankful that i've been so good on our food budget for so long.  That if we have a week (or 4) when we eat take out or freezer meals more than homemade we're all going to live and so our our pocketbooks.  But the bug still does itch me occasionally and this past week it was full force and I just have to share some new great meals.

Jamie Oliver's Overnight Slow Roasted Pork

This is the best thing I've made in a very very long time.  It was SO easy, SO cheap ($12 for that 7 lb pork butt!) and left us with SO many leftovers that we ate it all weekend and still have more than enough to make some BBQ pork sandwiches on some brioche buns tonight (because once you've had brioche, you can't go back).

one 11-12 pound bone in pork shoulder (this is a HUGE piece of meat and I'm told a special order size, I found a 7lb pork butt (apparently the same thing?) and it worked wonderfully with a half recipe

1 large fennel bulb trimmed and roughly chopped
4 big carrots peeled and roughly chopped
2-3 big onions, peeled and roughly chopped
a big bunch of fresh thyme

2 T. fennel seeds
1 T. kosher salt

1 bottle white wine

crush the fennel and salt and rub all over the pork, place veggies and thyme in a big roaster and place the pork on top

Roast on the highest temp on your oven for a half hour or so, until the pork starts to brown, then cover and roast at 250 for 9-12 hours (I did 6 for our 7 lb butt).  In the last hour pour the wine in and baste the pork a few times with the delicious sauce.  When the pork is pull apart fabulous, remove it from the pan and let it rest covered in foil.  Strain out the veggies and reserve the delicious sauce.  I served this with sauteed spinach, the veggies and mashed potatoes.  Its was AMAZING.

The other amazing recipe I made this weekend was Jamie Oliver's Spinach and Cheese Cannelloni.

I've made lots of filled pastas and this one was my favorite so far.  Pretty easy and SO good and again, made lots.  I did make a bechemel in lieu of the creme fraiche sauce because I couldn't find that at the store we went to (and I love a good bechemel).

So for food this week I'm relying heavily on all the leftovers.  Pork sandwiches with corn tonight and the rest of the cannelloni at some point later this week.  I found some frozen pierogies at the new store we tried last week and am excited to try those for the first time.  I'm also going to try out a wild rice meatloaf recipe after seeing one on the menu at a restaurant we're planning on trying in Duluth.  I'll let you know if it's any good!  I'm also going to make a basic margherita pizza with the amazing leftover mozzarella from the canneloni.  It's the best I've ever had.  I'm excited for the first time in a LONG time for the food this week.  Yay!


And about that trip to Duluth?  I am SO excited.  I'd originally set out to plan a ski trip for Ian as a little You're Amazing!  you have your PhD! present.  Then dates didn't work out with his new job and I had to reboot.  Slowly the idea formed in my head.  A couple of night, just us, somewhere we could drive to from our parents houses over the holidays where our girls would be taken care of so we could just relax and unwind and enjoy being us two for the first time in  4 years.  The more I plan the more excited I get.  We're staying in Canal Park, planning on eating pretty much the whole time we're there to get in on all the amazing food we hear is there, and the rest of the time?  I don't even care.  My boy and peace and quiet?  Ah.  I can't wait.

And lastly, some more Christmas planning.  The girls and I made some wrapping paper this afternoon.  Cookie cutter stamps, potato stamps, wine corks as stamps, q tips as paint brushes.  They had a blast.  I think it turned out super cute.  Now how to fill the rest of the gigantic butcher block roll?  Oh boy.

::making the "stamps"::

::Louise worked so hard on that tiny corner of paper, I'll have to find a way to make it take center stage on a gift::

::post crafting, eating oranges and reading books on the couch (and yes Louise is naked, has been for nearly two straight days, we're in potty training mode over here, it's going so well!)::

::so many uses for those art clips::

Have a great week everyone!