Baby News

I had my first doctor's visit with my obgyn. I love her!

She took her time and answered all my questions and I look forward to meeting with her again in about 4-5 weeks and getting to know her over the next few months.

The news that I found out was that I'm actually only about 7 weeks along, not 12 like I was told earlier, but that's okay!

I had an ultrasound done and we got to see our precious little one for the first time. It was so exciting! And now reality has set in a bit more. The heartbeat is so fast and we could see the baby's heart beating during the ultrasound. Simply amazing! It truly is a miracle! What an amazing gift God has given to us. We are so excited about the weeks to come.

It's mind blowing to think that I have a little person growing inside of me. Absolutely insane!

I'm in awe of God's wonderful gifts, AWE!

I'm so thankful I'm able to get pregnant because I know there are so many who struggle with this everyday. I'm praying for you.

Thank you for your continued prayers. We are very excited about this new adventure in our life.

Sugar Cookies

Sugar Cookies-from Mom

Printer Friendly Recipe

Ingredients and Directions: Preheat over 350 degrees

Step 1:

Cream together until light and fluffy;

2 sticks butter (I use unsalted)

1 cup sugar

Step 2:

Mix together and add to step one;

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

Step 3:

Add to butter mixture;

2 tsp baking powder

2 3/4 cup flour, 1 cup at a time

Mix until just combined.

DO NOT CHILL DOUGH!

Pick out desired cookie cutters (or scoop with a cookie scoop and roll into sugar and flatten on the cookie sheet; if you choose this way the cookies will need longer to bake in the oven, add about 2-3 minutes).

Divide dough into 2 balls, put one on a floured surface and roll out into 12 inch circle into 1/8 inch thick or desired thickness (sometimes I roll my out thicker).

Dip cookie cutter into flour. Place on ungreased baking sheet. Re-roll dough until you have used almost all of the dough. Roll out second ball of dough, same directions.

Bake 6-7 minutes at 350 degrees.

Enjoy! They are delicious!!!

This is linked at Grocery Cart Challenge for a recipe swap.

This recipe is linked at The Mom Creative for the Cookie Swap.

Menu Plan Monday #15

November 30-December 6

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We did! It was busy, but still fun to see everyone.

It's fun to be busy for awhile, but always nice to get back to regular life!

Breakfast:

oatmeal

fruit

toast

bacon

cereal

Lunch:

leftovers from dinner

Dinner:

Monday:

Baked Spaghetti

Tuesday: 1st doctor's appt with my obgyn, I'm so excited to hear a heartbeat!

Chicken Scampi

Wednesday:

Potato Soup

Thursday:

Burgers and potato fries

Friday:

Pizza (using this pizza dough recipe)

Saturday:

Breakfast for dinner

Sunday:

Chicken Macaroni Bake

Have a wonderful week!

Lower Calorie Potato Soup

I am a member or SparkPeople.com. And they have fabulous recipes that are lower calorie options. I am pregnant but I don't want to gain 50 pounds. I worked really hard to lose 20 pounds and just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean I'm "eating for two." I've been reading up on all that and you only need 300-500 more calories a day to support the growing child. That's a relief! I would love to gain no more than 30 pounds in this pregnancy and I will continue to count calories and continue walking. It will help me and baby and hopefully to have an easier delivery! I'm praying for that anyways!

So here is a great soup recipe I found on Spark People. I love soups. They help stretch my grocery budget and are quick and easy to thaw out and eat during the busy season that is coming up. Enjoy.

Baked Potato Soup-from Chef Meg at sparkpeople.com

Printer-Friendly Recipe

7 large baked potatoes

3 T butter, unsalted

1 1/2 c onion, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup celery, diced fine

3 T flour

2 cup chicken stock, low sodium

4 cup skim or 1% milk

1/4 tsp white or black pepper

2 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled

3 T scallions, chopped (optional)

1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Remove skin from baked potatoes and chop into 1-inch cubes; set aside.

In a large saucepan, heat butter over medium until melted and frothy.

Add onions and cook for 2 minutes.

Add celery and garlic to the saucepan and continue to "sweat" the veggies for 3 minutes.

Lower the heat slightly so the veggies do not brown.

Add flour to the pan and stir with a wooden spoon and cook for 2 minutes; make sure to scrape the spoon against the bottom and edges of the saucepan to pick up any of the mixture that might of settled to the bottom of the pan.

Slowly whisk in the stock until it is all incorporated.

Add diced potatoes to the mixture.

Slowly add milk; do not boil, stirring occasionally.

Cook soup over medium to low heat for 20 minutes.

While soup is cooking, cook the bacon until crisp.

Remove and drain on a paper towel.

Crumble bacon and set aside for garnish.

(If you prefer a smooth soup, puree the mixture.)

Serve in warm bowls, garnish with chopped scallion, pinch of bacon and 3/4 Tbsp cheese.

Make 15, 1 cup servings.

Number of servings: 15

Calories: 259.3

Fat: 8.6g

Carbs: 36.2g

Protein: 10.6g

Menu Plan Monday #14

November 23- November 29

Happy Thanksgiving Week!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful Hubby today!!!

I hope everyone is able to spend time with loved ones at some point during this busy time. Tell them how much you love them and are thankful for them. It'll go a long way!

Not much in the way of menu planning this week since Hubby and I will be quite busy seeing family and friends. We're having a lot of leftovers the last half of the week since there will be so much food leftover, as there always is. Have a wonderful week! Happy Thanksgiving!

Breakfast:

cereal and fruit

oatmeal

yogurt and toast

Lunch:

leftovers from dinners

leftovers from Thanksgiving dinners

turkey and ham sandwiches

Dinners:

Monday:

baked chicken strips-make your own bread crumbs, see here

I'll add italian seasonings, 1 Tbsp italian seasoning to 1 cup bread crumbs

dredge in 1 beaten egg, then bread crumbs

bake 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes

Tuesday:

leftover Chef Meg's soup (see post for recipe on Tuesday)

Wednesday:

leftovers

Thursday:

Thanksgiving at 1, 5:30 and 7 with our families (yes we are very busy)

Friday:

leftovers from yesterday

Saturday:

soup

Sunday:

leftovers

How About Some Ham?

Okay, this ham is amazing!

And just in time for the holiday season!

It is a delicious ham that my mom's best friend has been making for a few years. We usually have it on Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. My Hubby is picky, but he absolutely loves this ham.

Well, I ventured out to try it. And it turned out pretty great! I honestly was VERY nervous about it. Stuff like this can be tricky to prepare, in my opinion anyways.

But there's good news. Just follow the recipe, it's so easy!

Vicki's Holiday Ham-Vicki V.

Printer-Friendly Recipe

-Mash's shank ham (smallest works) I think mine was 7 lb, on sale at Schnuck's

-small jar of honey (you'll use the whole thing)

-brown sugar (3+ cups, packed)

-heavy duty foil (3 pieces, layered together)

-large roasting pan

-crock pot

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Tear 3 sheets of heavy duty foil and layer together in the roasting pan.

3. Pour 1/4 of the bottle of honey onto foil, cover with brown sugar, about 1 cup, then place ham on top.

4. Pour rest of bottle of honey all over ham, make sure all sides are covered.

5. Dump brown sugar on top and sides, patting brown sugar into honey and ham to cover.

6. Wrap foil TIGHTLY and place in oven, 325 degrees.

7. Cook for 6 hours and NO peeking! Just leave it for the 6 full hours. LEAVE IT ALONE!

8. After 6 hours remove from oven, unwrap ham.

9. Dump juice from ham into crock pot.

10. Cut up ham if it's needed. It might fall off the bone on its own and place in crock pot.

11. Keep the crock pot on WARM if serving right away.

12. I make this the day before and keep in crock pot overnight in the fridge, then heat on LOW until the temperature is reached for serving. Then when its heated, turn to WARM.

-The ham will continue to soak up all those good juices in the crock pot. It seems like a lot of work and steps, but I promise it's worth it! And it's so EASY. I promise. I'm not one for complicated recipes.

This post is linked back to Grocery Cart Challenge.

I'm Pregnant!

First, God is SO good!

We are so grateful we are able to have children. And we are very excited and nervous about the upcoming months and years of our lives. It will be a wonderful experience, filled with many adventures.

Please pray for all of us as we experience many changes in our lives and my changing body. :)

I am not one for pain, AT ALL! So childbirth will be very interesting! I hope I don't break Hubby's hand in the process. I know he hopes I don't either.

I am 10 weeks as of today, with my due date being June 15, 2010. Thankfully I don't have to endure all the summer heat and pregnancy. That is a relief! Because it can get hot here in July and August!

But I am still nervous about all the changes that will happen when the baby comes. Money will be much tighter and our relationship as husband and wife will change as well. I just love the two of us, it's almost hard for me to imagine what it will be like with a child! Everyone says it the greatest experience of their lives and most rewarding too. But I think being a God-fearing woman and wife is so rewarding.

I want to make sure I keep God first, Hubby second and child/children third. I know people who put children first and I just don't like that. I don't like their behavior or their children's for that matter. When the kids are gone it's back to being just you and Hubby and that lifestyle again. And keeping him in front of the kids I know will make that transition easier. But that's my opinion. :)

But everything has been wonderful so far. No troubles or much pain at all, just a little cramping here and there. I hope it continues the next 7+ months.

Thanks for your prayers!!! They are greatly appreciated!