Crazy Cravings

Disclaimer...this entry will not make you think in any way. It will not solve the debt crisis, world hunger, or affect you in any certain way.  This is just a pregnant chic talking about food.  Lives will not be changed. Carry on.

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One thing about pregnancy is it has given me some odd cravings.  No I'm not sitting around eating pickles and ice cream, but I am finding myself wanting to consume things I don't normally reach for in the refrigerator or pantry.  Here is a short list of the food I have been shoveling into my mouth in the past few weeks

Green Olives. Salty little buggers.  I've practically eaten an entire jar in a 2 days.  Ally, being an avid black olive lover, reached for the jar yesterday saying she wanted one and I about took out my 3 year old.  Mine. Stay away.  Luckily they didn't appeal to her taste buds.

Pickles. Not just any pickle. Must be dill and baby.  The smaller the better. The smaller ones crunch.  I might drink the juice when the jar is empty.  Don't judge.

Sweet Southern Heat Barbecue Lays potato chips.  This exact kind.  I don't want barbecue sauce on meat.  In fact, I could be a vegetarian during pregnancy. I want it on crunchy, salty fried potatoes.  I'm sensing a theme here.

Wine.  Don't worry. I haven't given into this craving.  It's no secret I am a wine lover.  And now that Autumn is upon us (with the exception of a few 90 degree days left) and it's about to be grape harvesting time my mouth is literally drying out at the thought of not having a glass of vino.  But I have found an alternative.  Sparkling grape juice.  My wine club friends are laughing hysterically.  Apparently the thought of going 9 months without a wine glass in my hand is too much so I bought a bottle of Sparkling Catawba.  Not bad.  There are a few other variates available.  It's close enough to bad wine to get me through.

Cereal.  Normally I don't really eat the stuff. And when I do it's dry as a little snack. Lately a huge bowl with ice cold milk sounds simply divine at 2am when I'm up for the 2nd time of the night peeing.  Not sure why my brain goes to food while I'm using the restroom, but hey, I'm a little crazy lately.  One thing though.  I do not drink the milk.  I have never liked milk.  I'm pretty sure I didn't even drink it when I was a baby. Don't quote me on that.  I just like it for the wet factor on my dry Fiber Choice cereal.

Apples. Apple slices, apple pie, apple crisp, apple butter, baked apples, applesauce, apple syrup, apple slush, apple juice, and so on. Yum.  Here is an easy recipe for Apple Syrup.  Delish with my pancake recipe.  Find it in the recipe section of this very blog.

Apple Syrup

2 tart apples, peeled, cored, and diced

1/2 cup sugar

1 TBS Cinnamon

2 TBS Water

Put all ingredients into a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes or until mixture is thickened and syrupy.

Would be good on ice cream too, but since I'm not craving that at the moment, I wouldn't know for sure.  Dare you to try it.

Cold Turkey.  Not the lunch meat, but the kind you can only get from roasting a whole bird and carving it up.  I made a whole turkey breast last week for dinner just for the leftovers.  Lots of mayo, white bread and lettuce.  Thanksgiving will be wonderful this year.


Cucumbers.  Have you ever noticed how lovely they smell?  I made this recipe up today to satisfy this craving...

Cucumbers and Onions - This couldn't be any easier

2 cucumbers

1 onion

2 cups of water

1 cup of white vinegar

3/4 cup sugar

I snapped a pic of what you will need, for those who are visual

Pour water, vinegar and sugar into a pot and bring this mixture to a boil, set aside.  Wash, peel and slice cucumbers, place in bowl.  Slice onion.  Here's a trick to make sure an onion doesn't make you cry, cut it end to end, like this

If it doesn't work for you, this tip came from Rachael Ray. If it does work, it came from me.

Place onion slices in bowl with cucumbers, give them a little toss, a chance to mingle.

They look happy

Then pour the sugar mixture over.  Cover and let refrigerate for at least 2 hours. I like it nice and cold, so the longer the better. 

I'll add these 2 recipes to the Recipe section for easy reference.

Hopefully as time goes on my taste buds will evolve from salt and fake wine so I can try out some more recipes to blog about.  Until then...happy eating!

One more thing...

I'm now a brunette with a little belly - which is a result of the above mentioned food consumption.  10 1/2 weeks!

Oh So Many Things...

It's been awhile. A long while.  I have been completely and totally unmotivated to write in this blog.  My precious blog has done nothing to offend me, we are still close friends, I have just had the longest and most ridiculous brain fart imaginable!  I am sitting here even now wracking my brain for things to write about.  SOMETHING exciting and blog-worthy must have happened to me in the last countless weeks since my un-manicured fingers last graced this keyboard!  Well, let's see if I can think of any...

Hot, Hot, and Hotter

Summer is in full force in Iowa. I'm not a hot weather person.  I've decided that summer was a lot more fun when we were children.  This is especially true in my case seeing how my family had a pool.  No we weren't wealthy as I am sure you are thinking all pool owners are, it was one of those above ground round pools that my parents built a deck around.  It was heaven.  I spent my pre-teen days floating about the icy cool water, sipping kool-aid from wine glasses with my friend Jessica and talking about the latest boy crush I had.  There were a lot.  The summer nights were filled with sleep overs, catching lightning bugs and playing outside until it got dark and was time for bed, only to wake up and do it all over again.  Oh what a charmed life it was during summer in Missouri!  Summer was good for me until I had a child.  My carelessness was replaced with panic that the gallon of sunscreen I put on her 20 minutes ago was already wearing off and her delicate skin was going to burn to a crisp.  I don't even remember wearing sunscreen in my day.  And since the blow-up alligator pool my daughter has is not large enough to accommodate me, her, and 4 of her barbies, lounging in the pool is out.  Plus there is the sweltering, take your breath away, want to vomit heat wave we endured for months and months.  It seemed like months, I'm ranting.  Yes, summer is just not the same.  But I still do love the longer days, although not when trying to put Ally to bed at 8.  Her 3 year old brain can't comprehend that it's bedtime when the sun is still up.  I do love getting out on the boat, and grill outs with friends.  I love that my teacher friends are out of school and this stay at home mom has someone to talk to during the day.  But I must say, to the disapproval of my mother in law, once August hits, and the Iowa State fair is past...my mind drifts to cooler temps, football, sweatshirts, jeans, pot roast, and pumpkin spice.  For yes, dear friends, that wonderful season is upon us. Fall is just around the corner.  I just wish it came a little sooner on the thermometer!

School House Rock

Speaking of cooler weather and summer being over, that only means one thing. It's back to school time.  Usually this means nothing to me, except an increase in commercials for JC Penny and Macy's showcasing the latest back to school trends.  Which by the way, why don't kids dress like, oh I don't know, KIDS!  I can't believe some of the clothes out there made for children.  Wow I am getting old.  Anyway, back to school this year means the start of school for my little one.  Ally is going to preschool!  GASP! Tear :(  Two days a week for 2 hours a day I will have to let go of her tiny little hand and send her off to the Methodist Church to get educated.  OK, so 3 year old preschool is not so much for the education, but more for socialization.  Which she needs.  Staying home with momma all day may be great for her (and me) but she also needs some time with other kiddos.  Time to learn how to share, interact, and listen.  Despite the knot in my stomach I know it will be good for her, and me, to have this time.  I'll try to keep the tears to a minimum. Think happy thoughts, like how stinking cute she's going to be with a little backpack full of school supplies!  Better clear some space on the refrigerator for lots of crayola masterpieces!

Complete and Utter Exhaustion!

OK, here is a test to see how many people actually read my blog.  For the past few weeks normal Amanda has been taken over and replaced by tired, grumpy, nauseous, make-up and hair straightener free Amanda.  This is not a good looking Amanda.  This can only mean one thing.  I have a tiny sea creature growing in my body.  In other words, I'm knocked up!  (hoot, holler, let's make some noise!)  Yes, despite Ally's best efforts at making me want to never reproduce again (only at nap, bed, and tantrum time does this happen) we decided it was time to bring another Duke into the world. I'm in my 9th week and couldn't feel, well, worse.  I'm tired, my back hurts, my stomach hurts, and my once love for bacon has now turned into complete and total disdain for all things pork!  Pregnancy this time around is also making me irrational.  For example.  I've had sleepless nights over the fact that the hubs and I can not agree on a name for a boy.  I know how ridiculous this sounds, seeing how I have 31 weeks left to be pregnant.  AND, we don't even know if it is a boy and won't know until November.  But still, in my head it makes total sense that a name should be agreed upon in the first weeks of pregnancy.  Don't you think?  Don't answer that.  But we couldn't be happier and more excited!

So for all of you who read this you now know why you haven't seen me in the wine section at the grocery store for a while.  I know your typically not supposed to share this kind of news until your at least 12 weeks along, but I'm an atypical kind of gal. And who can wait that long, really!?!  Keep me in your prayers for a healthy go at this!

OK, so apparently I had a few things to write about.  Promises to not go so long until I grace your computer screen again!  Peace out peeps!