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!