Spring Rolls!

Last night was the saints game. We lost. But it's preseason so it's not a big deal. I went over to my mom's house because I don't have cable and wanted to watch the game and because I was lonely, Kyle was at work working (duh) and I was bored.

And as usual, we made a meal out of the night. We made spring rolls, it's been awhile since we've made this recipe. . The original recipe was from a friend. I changed it drastically to fit my own dietary needs and I added different ingredients and removed others. There are certain ingredients that are item specific in this post. In case you can't find them in your local store that's okay. The prep time took longer since we cooked two of the ingredients the night of. If you do pre-cook the salmon and pasta, prep time takes only a few minutes. My local store is Winn Dixie. Below are the ingredients that are item specific. So I used Winn Dixie Salmon Filets, La Choy Sweet and Sour and Rouses Blue Dragon Spring Roll Wrappers.

please don't feel any need to actually follow with the ingredients if you can't find them, it's just what I used.

Items you will need:
for the salmon:
1 frying pan
1 spatula (metal)
1 fork (if necessary, for flipping)

for the pasta:
1 pot
1 fork

for the spring roll:
3 plates
1 large dish of water

Ingredients you will need:
for the salmon:
3 defrosted filets of salmon (depending on how many spring rolls you want to make - this made 14 well sized spring rolls)
tony chachere's (for spice, not necessary)
crisco oil

for the pasta:
water
salt
olive oil

for the spring roll:
blue dragon spring roll wrappers
cooked pasta
cooked salmon
romaine hearts
avocado (optional)

Prep and cooking:
for the salmon:
1. Make sure that the salmon is defrosted first.
2. If you are using the Winn Dixie brand salmon, you will need to cut the filets in half.
3. Place a pan on the stove and pour a liberal amount of Crisco oil into the pan.
4. Turn on the stove and cook the filets until they are browned on both sides.
5. The filet should flake when cooked completely.

for the pasta:
1. Fill the pot until it's at least halfway full.
2. Put olive oil and salt into the water.
3. Once the water is boiling, put the pasta into the water.
4. Cook the pasta until it is tender.
5. You will have to do taste tests.

After both of these are done, place in the fridge to cool them down before they are ready to put in the spring roll.

for the spring roll:
1. Take out two romaine hearts, chop the bottom off of both.
2. Pull apart the leaves and break them in half.
3. Place the pieces on a plate (that should already be out) to be used later.

Directions:
1. Now take out the last two plates to be used for the spring rolls.
2. The dish for the spring roll should also be out, filled with water.
3. Take out the salmon and the pasta, they should be cooled now.
4. Take out the first spring roll wrapper and completely submerge into the water until both sides are wet.
5. Now take it out of the water, and place on the first plate.  Make sure that there is enough to hang off the side a bit so that you can use it to wrap.
6. Take the romaine lettuce and place two pieces into the wrapper.
7. Now put the salmon in next to the romaine.
8. Lastly, put a good amount of pasta next to the salmon.
9. When you wrap the roll, take the ends of the roll to fold over the ingredients.
10. Than slowly roll the wrap until it's done, it's similar to making a burrito.
11. It may be a little big, if this is the case, reduce the amount of ingredients.
12. Now place the finished roll onto the second plate.
13. Do this until you've made as many rolls as you want.
14. Once done, take out the sweet and sour sauce to use as dip.

Viola! Sorry, no picture for this one. But seriously, these are great, says the pregnant lady over here.

nineteen weeks

yes he had to be in the picture.

How far along? 19 weeks.

Total weight gain/loss: up 12 lbs.

Maternity clothes? Mostly pants, but I'm still rocking some pants using the hair band trick.

Stretch marks? So far none.

Sleep: Okay when I get to sleep, but I still toss and turn most of the night.

Best moment this week: I felt the baby move several times! I think, or it could be really bad gas.

Have you told family and friends: Actually not really, many people have found out through the grape vine.

Miss Anything? I'm starting to not be able to see my feet.

Movement: I think at 18 weeks, and 4 days.

Food cravings: Sweets.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Certain smells.

Have you started to show yet: Yes,as one of my friends say, I look like I ate too much.

Gender Prediction: Girl, even though I want a boy.

Belly Button in or out? In, but I can tell I'm running out of room.

Rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: I do go crazy on Kyle occasionally.

Looking forward to: Finding out the gender.

eighteen weeks

this is the picture I used as my reveal that I was in fact pregnant.

How far along? 18 weeks, 4 days

Total weight gain/loss: up 12 lbs.

Maternity clothes? Pants.

Stretch marks? So far none.

Sleep: My back hurts a lot at night.

Best moment this week: I hope it's the baby moving, but I can't tell at all.

Have you told family and friends: Not exactly.  Family knew once I hit second trimester, but not too many friends.

Miss Anything? Running all of the time, now it just hurts to run.

Movement: Gas or baby moving?  who knows?

Food cravings: Pizza

Anything making you queasy or sick: Certain smells.

Have you started to show yet: I kind look like I ate too many donuts.

Gender Prediction: Girl, but seriously so many wives tales are saying boy.

Belly Button in or out? In, but I can tell I'm running out of room.

Rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy

Looking forward to: Feeling movement, should be any day right?

This week we publicly announced that I was in fact expecting to which many people were overjoyed and some said oh I already knew. Okay then.

seventeen weeks

How far along? 17 weeks, 3 days

Total weight gain/loss: up 9 lbs.

Maternity clothes? Broke down and had to get some maternity pants, at least they make my bump look like a bump instead of a fat bloat

Stretch marks? None yet, but they say it's genetics.

Sleep: It's hard to stay asleep because something is always uncomfortable whether it's my back, or my hips and now I'm starting to randomly wake up in the middle of the night :(

Best moment this week: Being told that my blood test was negative for what I had done last week!

Have you told family and friends: Unfortunately a co-worker guessed I was pregnant and asked Kyle and than proceeded to tell the whole world once it was confirmed I was pregnant.

Miss Anything? I miss just doing whatever without having to worry about my baby.

Movement : Baby's moving but I can't feel it.

Food cravings: Golden delicious apples with mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Whenever I eat a little more than I should, I feel so sick and bloated after.

Have you started to show yet: I think I popped this week?

Gender Prediction: Girl, but seriously so many wives tales are saying boy.

Belly Button in or out? In.

Rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy

Looking forward to: Really pop, where I look pregnant and not just like I'm a fat ass.

Is it a boy or a girl?  Some old wives tales

carrying high - girl

I've craved sweets like nobody's business - boy

I am gaining most of my weight in my thighs and hips - boy

I've had hardly any morning sickness - boy

However, look at the Duchess, she had morning sickness like crazy and gave a birth to a boy.

The Chinese predictor tool says I'm having a girl.

Dreams could determine the birth as well.

Whatever gender you dream that's the one you're having.

I've had both - a beautiful girl with details I can remember.

A boy with blurry details that I can't remember.

I've headaches like crazy, which can indicate a boy.

So yeah, I don't know what I'm carrying besides a human.

cooking again

So today I was hungry (of course) and wanted to make something with fish. I try to make most of my meals now, especially since I'm trying to save up money. Today I kind of just went with it and made up a meal. However, my meal had it's basic carbs, veggie, and protein. For my protein, I used flounder. Kind of made me uncomfortable since Flounder was the name of Ariel's friend fish. Veggie: broccoli. And lastly, potatoes, yummy starch and carbs. I cooked in this order, potatoes, flounder veggie. Doesn't really have a name, but it's was a good meal, regardless.

Items you will need:
for the potatoes
1 cutting board
1 cutting knife
1 rice spatula (click the link)
1 pan
1 spoonful of bacon grease

for the flounder
1 pan
1 spatula

for the veggie
a bowl

Ingredients you will need:

for the potatoes
6 small red potatoes (depending on the size, you may need more or less)
Bacon grease
Cayenne pepper or Tony Chachere's
Salt

for the flounder
2 filets of flounder (depending on the size)
Crisco oil
Cayenne pepper or Tony Chachere's
Salt

for the veggie
1-2 cups of chopped broccoli (you can just get the freezer kind in case you don't want to sit and chop it up)


Prep:

for the potatoes
1. Use the cutting knife and the cutting board to cut the potatoes into small pieces.  Think home fries size and smaller.  Try to keep the potato size similar so they cook evenly.
2. Place the other pan on the stove and put bacon grease into it to coat the bottom of the pan.
3. Once half the amount of potatoes you have are cut, turn the heat on allow the bacon grease to melt.

for the flounder
1. Using the pan out for the flounder, place it on the stove.
2. Put crisco oil into it, to coat the bottom of the pan.

for the veggie
no prep is needed.

Directions:

for the potatoes
1. Once the potatoes are done, place into the pan.  The pan should already be hot and should make a sizzling sound.
2. Using the rice spatula start moving the potatoes around, making sure that all of the potatoes are moved around continuously.
3. The bacon grease will coat the potatoes as they are cooking.
4. The potatoes may take about 15 minutes to cook or at least until they are soft.
5. If you can, try flipping the potatoes over so that both sides are cooked.
6. You'll need to do a couple of taste tests to know if the potatoes are completely cooked through.

for the flounder
1. Turn the heat on.
2. Depending on filet size, you can either place one or both onto the pan.
3. The one indicator sign that the filet is ready, will be the edges will start looking more white.
4. It will take about 3-5 minutes depending on the thickness of the filet.
5. When you flip the filet over, the indicator that it is ready is the entire filey will look light brown.
6. Flip to the other side and allow this side to cook.
7. Once both sides are completely cooked, allow the filet to cool down.

for the veggie
1. If you are using frozen veggies, pop it into the microwave for a couple of minutes or until done.

And there you have it! A yummy delicious meal. And it didn't take that long to cook either! Just make sure the flounder has had time to unfreeze.

tomato basil pasta

I've been trying to learn to expand my cooking skills because it's a lot cheaper than buying meals and because Kyle prefers cooking. Kyle's been kind of my guinea pig on food tasting, haha. My mom and I made it today. We kind of put our own spin on the directions and thought of things as we went along. The original recipe called for 4 ½ cups of vegetable broth. We ended up using only 4 cups of broth and found it worked perfectly.  (see below for the original recipe)

Items you will need:

1 large pot

1 can opener

1 knife

1 wooden or plastic spoon

1 garlic press

Ingredients you will need:

1 bag of Luxury shells pasta [12 oz] (any type of pasta is fine, my mom and I found out that shells worked well)

1 Hunts Fire Roasted and Diced Tomatoes [14.5-15 oz]

1 large sweet onion

4 cloves of garlic (minced garlic works fine as well)

1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes (or however much you want, it depends on spicy you want it)

2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves

4 cups of vegetable broth [regular, not low sodium] (depending on the brand of vegetable broth, it can range from 4 cups to 4.5 cups of vegetable broth)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (We used this as the base, so however much you want to put in is fine.)

Prep:

1. Place the pot you have out onto the stove and pour in the olive oil.

2. Turn on the stove, and let the olive oil heat up.

3. Now cut the onion in half, and than cut into strips.

4. Once you've cut all of the onion strips, cut those strips into half.  Now put them into the pot and that has the olive oil and let them brown for a bit.

5. Take out the garlic, cut it open, to pull apart the cloves.

6. Place the first garlic clove into the press and squeeze (make sure you do this over the stove to put the minced garlic into the pot).

7. Do this with all four cloves.

8. After you've finished with this, the onions will have had enough time to soften up.

*Note: if you used minced garlic instead (the one that came into a bottle), you don't need the garlic press and ignore steps 5-7*

Directions:

1. Now that the onions and garlic have cooked for a bit, start placing the ingredients in.  (We chose this particular order.)

2. Pour the vegetable broth in.

3. Now place the tomatoes, basil, and oregano into the pot.

4. Lastly, place the pasta in.

5. Stir continuously to mix up the ingredients and the pasta.

6. Cook the pasta until it's ready.

7. Turn off the heat and move it off of the stove.  There will be excess water, don't worry, the pasta and the other ingredients soak it up as it's cooling down.

And there you have it!

My mom and I actually added meatballs to it afterwards for some protein.

I had it for lunch and dinner.

Who knows, if I get hungry again, Kyle may not have the option to have any, haha.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is the original recipe from Facebook.

Ingredients:

12 ounces pasta (I used Linguine)
1 can (15 ounces) diced tomatoes with liquid ( I used zesty red pepper flavor)
1 large sweet onion, cut in julienne strips
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
2 large sprigs basil, chopped
4 ½ cups vegetable broth (regular broth and NOT low sodium)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Parmesan cheese for garnish

Directions:
1. Place pasta, tomatoes, onion, garlic, basil, in a large stock pot.

2. Pour in vegetable broth. Sprinkle on top the pepper flakes and oregano.

3. Drizzle top with oil.
4. Cover pot and bring to a boil.

5. Reduce to a low simmer and keep covered and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes or so.

6. Cook until almost all liquid has evaporated – I left about an inch of liquid in the bottom of the pot – but you can reduce as desired .
7. Season to taste with salt and pepper , stirring pasta several times to distribute the liquid in the bottom of the pot.

8. Serve garnished with Parmesan cheese.

sixteen weeks

How far along? 16 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: up 7 lbs.

Maternity clothes? Not yet, I'm still really small.

Stretch marks? Nope.

Sleep: It takes forever to fall asleep now, but no more waking up in the middle of the night to pee anymore.

Best moment this week: Making my appointment for our gender ultrasound!  And being told my weight gain is perfect!

Have you told family and friends: Told my side of the family.

Miss Anything? I miss just doing whatever without having to worry about my baby.

Movement: Baby's moving but I can't feel it.

Food cravings: Chocolate chip pancakes

Anything making you queasy or sick: Smells.

Have you started to show yet: Not really.

Gender Prediction : Girl, but seriously so many wives tales are saying boy.

Belly Button in or out? In.

Rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy

Looking forward to: Really pop, where I look pregnant and not just like I'm a fat ass.

I've developed the linea nigra - a common line that many pregnant women develop.  I just noticed 08/04 even though Kyle said it's been there for two weeks - what the heck?  And let's just say the weight gain is driving me nuts!!!  7 lbs and I'm only four months along...

second prenatal appointment!

Today,  I went the doctor's office again for another prenatal check up and I asked Kyle to come with me for two reasons:

1. he'd be able to hear his child's heartbeat and see her on the screen, and

2. I didn't want to go by myself.  It was kind of funny as he was one of the few males in the OB/GYN ward.

{side story: I'm the type of person who hates doing things along, I can do it, but I'd prefer to be with someone, preferably Kyle, so Kyle is often dragged with me}

This doctor's visit revealed a lot of things.  First, we have a finalized due date for baby J, January 22nd, 2014.  So unlike many people ringing in the new year with New Year's Resolutions, we'll be welcoming baby J into our lives.  I'm currently 8 weeks right now.  2 months down, only
8 months to go!  Second, my weeks are now starting on Wednesday (meaning next Wednesday I'll be 9 weeks)  Third, we heard our baby's heartbeat!  A wonderful 164 beats per minute.

Hearing the heartbeat was something I just can't describe.  I couldn't see Kyle's face but I know that it amazed him just as well.  I mean really.  There are no words .  JJ isn't that big yet, but compared to what he looked like 3 weeks ago, he's increased in size so much!  I read online when you've heard the heartbeat the rate of miscarriage drops down to 5%!  We only got to hear the heartbeat for a few seconds before she turned off the sound to start taking pictures of the baby.

I still can't believe that there's a baby growing inside of me.  A baby that we created.  I really want a boy, and Kyle's on the fence.  He wants a girl, but then he wants a boy because he knows how little boys think about little girls.  In the end, we really just want a healthy baby.  We both love JJ and can't wait to meet our baby.

On the right is the 4 week ultrasound, and on the right is the 8 week ultrasound.  Can you believe how big the yolk sac is now?  On the left side, that black dot inside of all of the white is the yolk sac.  Now, the yolk sac is covering up at least half of the ultrasound picture.  Oh and that grey thing?  That's JJ.

Sweet && Sour Chicken!

I've spent my summer after college being lazy on the weekends, playing candy crush and now recently making recipes found on Pinterest.  I actually started really enjoy cooking, and I kind of want to eat everything.  I cooked this for Kyle on Monday, but am only writing about it now.

This most recent one, I actually found off of a blog post where she found the recipe from Pinterest.  Unfortunately, she doesn't post where she found the recipe, but gives the instructions to it.  It's Sweet & Sour Chicken .  Now, this takes time, so make sure you have at least 2 hours blocked out of your day to do this.  She suggest using 3-4 chicken breasts, I used 6 tenderloins, which are smaller, but probably ended up making the same amount.

I broke the recipe down into what you need, (by item, by ingredient), than by prep (sauce than chicken) and than cooking (chicken cooking was in chicken prep).

I found this to be an easy recipe, but time consuming.

Items you will need:
for the chicken
2 small to medium sized plates
1 9x13 baking pan (or whatever size works best, I used a pyrex baking dish)
1 bowl or shallow dish
1 skillet or pan for the stove top
1 spatula (the one used for making hamburgers or pancakes, not for cakes, it should be metal) or 1 fork
1 ziplock baggy
1 cup measuring cup
2 oven mitts for the baking dish

for the sauce
1 mixing bowl (medium sized is fine)
1 whisk (small or large)
1 ¼ measuring cup
1 ½ measuring cup
1 teaspoon spoon
1 tablespoon spoon

for the rice
rice cooker
any amount of rice you would like to cook

Ingredients you will need:
for the chicken
6 tenderloins
1 cup of Argo cornstarch
2 eggs beaten
1 cup of crisco oil

for the sauce
--> ¾ cup of sugar4 tablespoons of ketchup
-->

½ cup of distilled white vinegar

1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 teaspoon of garlic powder

for the rice
soy sauce

Prep & Cooking:

*turn on the oven for 325*

sauce
1. mix all of the ingredients for the sauce together using the measurements specified.  There isn't any specific order, and ignore what it looks like, it will look gross at first.
2. using the whisk, mix the entire concoction until the ketchup parts are completely gone.
3. let the sauce stand, it can be either in the fridge or on the counter.  It will be kind of thin, it will thicken when cooked.

chicken
1. beat the two eggs in the shallow dish or the bowl, put that aside until the chicken is ready.
2. place the cornstarch into the ziplock baggy.  You can be liberal with the cornstarch.
3. make sure the two plates are out and ready to be used.
4. cut the 6 tenderloins into either fifths or sixths depending on the size you want the chicken to be.
5. place 5-6 pieces of chicken in the ziplock baggy of cornstarch.  Shake the baggy until the chicken is completely covered.
6. do this until the chicken is completely covered with cornstarch.  Now, place those cornstarch covered pieces of chicken onto the plate that is already out.
7. now dip the chicken covered in cornstarch into the beaten eggs, and place the chicken onto the next plate.
8. do this until every single piece of chicken is coated with the eggs.
9. put the skillet or pan on and pour in a liberal amount of crisco oil into the pan.  Let this heat up.
10. put half of the chicken into the pan, unless you have a very large pan.
11. only cook the chicken until its lightly browned on both sides  It usually takes a minute or two, so watch the chicken carefully.  You can use either a spatula or fork.
12. once the chicken is browned nicely, put the finished chicken into the baking dish.
13. After all of the chicken is browned, get the sauce that was made in the beginning and try to evenly distribute it to the entire pan.  It will be thin at first, but as it cooks, it thickens to coat the chicken nicely.

now here comes the baking!

*it will take an hour plus a few minutes*

1. put the baking dish into the oven for the first 15 minutes. (set a timer)  [first 15 minutes]
2. once the first 15 minutes is up, turn all of the chicken over using a spatula.  It may be a little difficult at first, but don't fret if it takes five minutes to do all of it.
3. place the baking dish back into the oven and set the timer for another 15 minutes. [second 15 minutes]
4. after the second 15 minutes are up, pull the dish out and flip the chicken again.
5. flip the chicken again once the 15 minutes are up, and put it in again. [third 15 minutes]
6. this is the final time you'll flip the chicken, and put it in again for the last 15 minutes [fourth 15 minutes].  If done correctly, each side of the chicken would have been cooked twice.
7. after flipping the chicken for the final time, place your rice into the rice cooker, add water and turn it on.
8. the rice and the chicken should come out around the same time.  If not, it allows for the chicken to cool until the rice is done.

And you're done!

I'm really glad I did this on a day where I didn't have much to do.

The finished product:

You can add broccoli or another vegetable of your choice :)

You should go make it.