12 Weeks

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day Weekend!  We had a great weekend in San Marcos with friends and family, but definitely enjoyed an extra day at home together!

Here are my 12 week pictures from last Friday...we were at Aaron and Kristi's apartment again.  I still haven't gained any weight, which makes ZERO sense to me since I can't button anything!  But, it is what it is.  I am starting to regain somewhat of an appetite, but still not super interested in vegetables, unfortunately.  I have been feeling pretty good, just still super tired!  I have been trying to get some walking in every day but am starting to get the urge to run again...hopefully I will set foot in the gym again someday soon!

The baby is growing to the size of a peach this week...3 inches!  Can't wait to see what next weeks fruit will be.

The pics are sideways again, I think the problem is when we take them with Barry's phone...won't be doing that anymore!

Off to watch the MAVS!!!

Breakfast Casserole

First of all, thanks to Becky for covering for me while I was gone!  I had a great time hanging out with Andrea in Arizona (I am so mad at myself for taking zero pictures) and learned a ton at my Sports Dietitians conference the rest of the time...but I am so happy to be home!

This is a breakfast that I make quite often when we have guests at our house on the weekends...in fact I should probably find a new recipe because people are probably sick of this...but it's just so easy!  And, everyone seems to like it...at least they haven't told me if they don't!

I made this Mother's Day weekend and served it with the Open the Can Fruit Salad.  This is also great because it reheats well in the microwave.

This recipe calls for 12 oz of ground breakfast sausage, I buy the HEB store brand Light Pork Sausage.  Here is what you save by going light vs regular (per 2 oz serving):

120 calories vs 160 calories

8 grams fat vs 13 grams fat

0 grams carbs vs 1 gram carbs

13 grams protein vs 8 grams protein

21 grams cholesterol vs 35 grams cholesterol

Yup, you read that right...half the fat and double the protein...can't go wrong with that!

So here is what you need:

12 oz light ground breakfast sausage, browned and drained

1 1/2 cups low fat shredded cheddar cheese (original recipe called for 2 cups, but 1.5 is plenty)

1 cup baking mix (I used low fat Pioneer brand)

1/2 tsp pepper ( I left out 1/2 tsp salt...cheese and sausage are salty!)

2 cups skim milk

4 eggs

After sausage is browned and fat is drained off (there probably won't be much), arrange sausage and cheese in bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish prepared with cooking spray.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine baking mix, pepper, milk & eggs.

Pour mixture on top of sausage and cheese.

Bake at 400 for 30-35 minutes...until browned.

I think this one would be really good if you made it into an "omelet casserole" and threw in some veggies...bell peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach, etc...who doesn't like a little extra nutrition at breakfast?!?  Ahem...Barry.  But maybe your household will =)

Have a wonderful weekend!  We are back on the road again, as usual.  We are heading to San Marcos tonight to celebrate my Dad's birthday with my family and will be staying there for the rest of the weekend to celebrate our friend Aaron's birthday as well.  They are going to float the river...I am going to the outlet mall with my mom!  Stay tuned for week 12 post...

ENJOY!

Guest Post: Poppyseed Chicken

Hello All! Becky here.  I am going to share a recipe while Tara is out of town and somewhat disinterested in food at the moment.  Unfortunately I am not a big fan of healthy foods, but Tara makes it a lot easier.  I have a two month old so these made over recipes are a great way to shed that baby weight!  

I asked Tara to make the substitutes for one of my favorite casseroles, poppyseed chicken.  I lived with my grandma for a while after college and she would always make this.  It is so simple and delicious!  The original recipe calls for sour cream and a lot of buttery goodness, but here are the ingredients for the new and improved version . . .

3 or 4 chicken breasts, cooked and cut into small pieces

16 oz plain no fat greek yogurt

2 cans healthy request cream of chicken

2 tablespoons of poppy seeds

whole wheat ritz crackers

1/2 stick of light butter

First things first, cooking the chicken.  You can boil and shred it, but I prefer using the crock pot.

I put 4 frozen chicken breasts in the crock pot, covered them with water, and cooked on high for 4 hours.  If you use this method, don't forget your handy dandy crock pot liner, aka the best invention ever.  When the chicken is done is just falls apart all by itself, so easy!  Now onto the casserole . . .

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Add the first four ingredients to a casserole dish, I used one that was 9x13.

*Reminder: greek yogurt usually comes in a 24 oz container, so don't forget to measure out the 16 ounces, I almost added the whole container on accident!

Next, mix all the ingredients together and it should look something like this . . .

For the topping, crunch up the Ritz crackers (I used one whole roll) and sprinkle them on top.  I was planning on putting them in a ziplock bag to crush them up, but then this little lady shimmied up to the bar demanding to be fed,

So I just crunched them up real quick in my hands over the dish.  Since I had to go tend to the little one, my husband, Michael, finished off the cooking for me.

The last step is to melt the butter, drizzle it over the top, and pop it in the oven for 20-30 minutes, and voila . . . 

Poppyseed Chicken!! This version was just as good as the original, and was even more delicious for lunch the next day. 

This was my first time to share a recipe so I hope I didn't miss anything!  I'm sure Tara will be back to posting recipes soon, but for now I am LOVING all the posts about my sweet niece or nephew!  I am sooooo excited to be an aunt and Cora cannot wait to meet her cousin :)  

11 Weeks

Greetings from Arizona!!  After a LOOONG day of travel, I am finally in Phoenix.  I am here for a conference that doesn't start until Monday, so I am spending the weekend with my BFF Andrea.

This is us in 1st grade...Halloween I'm assuming/hoping!

It's so weird to say that we have been friends for over 20 years...I feel like I'm too young to be able to say that, but apparently I'm not!

Andrea snapped these quick pics of me with the dinosaur so they aren't great, but they will do.  You can kinda see a tiny bump...or maybe I ate too much??  The baby is growing from the size of a lime to a large plum this week...2.5 inches...the head and body are about the same size now, not so top heavy!  The good news is we are over a quarter of the way done...not that I am wishing I wasn't pregnant, I'm just excited to meet our little one!

clearly a long day........

maybe it's just my dress?? maybe??

I didn't get around to posting the recipes I intended to this week, maybe next week whenever I get home.  But, in the mean time, Becky is gonna do a guest post for me about a recipe that she made-over recently!  Since I won't have access to a computer while I'm here after I leave Andrea's, Becky is taking over!  And its a good one...

Were off to watch Country Stroooooooooong!  Have a great weekend =)

Doctor's Appointment #2

Yesterday we had our second prenatal appointment and it went great!  First we went in to see Peaches, the sonogram tech, who is awesome!  She told us our baby looks great and is measuring 11 weeks already, even though I was only 10 weeks 5 days yesterday and the heart beat was 164.  It was so crazy to see how much Baby B was moving around...Barry thinks we are gonna have our hands full!  The baby was practically doing flips and was waving to us =) 

I was very relieved when we left the room because I had been nervous leading up to the appointment...but all is well and the baby is growing wonderfully!  We then went and talked with the doctor and got all of our questions answered that we forgot to ask last time.  We won't have another sonogram until our 20 week appointment, and that's when we will find out the sex!  We go back in 4 weeks though for another check up.  Here are the pics from yesterday...

Hanging out upside down, kind of a profile view.

This time facing us, still upside down.  See the little arms and legs???

Another view from the side.

In other good news...guess who cooked dinner last night?!?  Yup, its true.  I'll share the recipe probably next week.  I have another one of my mom's recipes to put up tomorrow that I meant to put up last week but never did!

PS...check out Barry's and Becky's blogs for lots more Wild Game pictures...they are much better photographers than I am!

10 Weeks

So, I may have lied about me starting to cook again....that was short lived.  I am hoping to wake up on the day my second trimester starts feeling like a whole new person...one who likes to cook and eat a nutritious diet again!

What a weekend we had!  Barry and I did our "tour of Texas" as I like to call it that we do at least once a month it seems like!  I tried to take a few pics along our journey but didn't get too many good ones.  We started off our weekend early this week and spent all day Friday babysitting Brody and Blake.  And by all day, I mean 5 am to 5 pm.  The day started off kind rough with two very unhappy babies, but I feel the same way at 5 am so I can't blame them!  I finally got Brody to sleep in the nausea machine rocking chair and Barry had Blake snuggled in the bed...I was jealous!  But the day got much better and we had a great time playing outside, eating, napping and reading books.  I didn't really get any pictures of them, probably because they didn't stop moving all day...except for nap time!

Barry is gonna be such a good dad! =)

After a day of babysitting in Yoakum, we headed to San Marcos to have dinner with our friends Aaron and Kristi.  I took my 10 week pictures at their apartment...

Note to self:  Do not wear this shirt when not actually pregnant!   Yes, that's Lori getting in everyone's business.

UGH! I don't know what the deal is...I have tried everything and the pictures won't turn!  I will try to fix them on a different computer later.

We had a great time eating dinner on the patio - grilled chicken, mashed potatoes and fried okra for me...probably could have eaten two more plates of fried okra!

After dinner we headed to Dripping Springs for the annual Wild Game Dinner at my parents house, which took place on Saturday.  Every year they have everyone from the deer lease plus lots of family and other friends over to cook all of the year's catches.  A.K.A. clean out the freezer.  Camo attire is obviously required for entry.

Cora's first wild game dinner!  She wouldn't stop moving either...

Abigail rockin the pink camo...she was not sure what to think about Cora, but she sure did like Cora's play mat!

Barry cooking who knows what!

Those were all the pictures I managed to snap...unfortunately a party that features a menu of mostly meat from all kinds of animals isn't the most pleasant thing when you're pregnant, and I wasn't feeling all that great most of the day.  The caramel brownies and Brie's stash of Easter candy helped quite a bit though! =)

This week the baby is growing from the size of a prune to a lime...I fully expect to have a bump of some sort by the end of the week!  According to my new favorite app, Baby B is forming finger nails and toe nails this week (I am REALLY praying my child get's Barry's nails!) and growing to 2 inches in length.

We have our second doctor's appointment tomorrow and we are supposed to have another sonogram.  I can't wait to see the heart beat again!  I will post it tomorrow when we get it...if you haven't noticed, I am using this as a "baby book" because I know myself and I won't take the time to fill out and keep an actual one...so it's going on here!

Open the Can Fruit Salad

This recipe hardly counts as cooking...but it's a start!  If you have ever been to a Fernandez Family Tailgate party you have undoubtedly had this fruit salad!  I'm not sure if this is my mom's recipe, or my aunt Cindy's, but someone always makes it.  And it's probably the easiest thing you will ever make...and has the most amount of sugar you will ever eat!  Until now...

It's called "open the can" because most of the fruit comes out of a can...which is SUPER high in sugar.  I LOVE this fruit salad, and seem to be craving cold fruit things lately so this was a must for Mother's Day weekend.  Instead of buying all regular canned fruit, I opted for all No Sugar Added varieties.  I had to substitute one fruit because they were out at the grocery store, but other than that it tasted exactly the same!

This recipe makes a lot...great for a party, but you may want to cut it in half for less people.  FYI...You are supposed to use peach pie filling for the base (my store was out of the no sugar added kind), so I experimented!

2 cans no sugar added apple pie filling

2 cans no sugar added mandarin oranges

2 cans no sugar added pineapple chunks

2 bags unsweetened frozen strawberries ( I actually only used 1 because I don't love the strawberries)

3 bananas, thinly sliced

Open all cans and pour into large mixing or serving bowl.

The peaches add a prettier color...but the apples worked too!

Add the strawberries in...

You will want to wait to put the bananas in until right before serving because they will turn brown.  The bananas are my favorite part so I add extras!

Mix it up really well and serve!  It's better when it's really cold...and great the next day (brown bananas and all!).

ENJOY!

9 Weeks

Happy Mother's Day!  I had a wonderful day at home with my family.  Barry, my Dad & Michael cooked a HUGE breakfast for me, my Mom, Becky & Mimi...they did a great job, complete with a bouquet of flowers for each of us and all of our favorites!  Barry did an even better job cleaning it all up =)  And, I got my first Mother's Day present. 

Another pregnancy week gone by...and the good news is I have kind of started cooking again.  I have actually been feeling a lot better the last few days.  Still pretty tired, but not nearly as many food aversions.  My fav food of the week is potato soup.  Good thing my mom has a great recipe...which I just finished eating!  I'm still not very interested in meat and veggies, mostly on a 95% carb diet unfortunately.  I have managed to eat a couple salads along side of my soup this week, so that's good I guess.

Still no weight gain, which I can't quite wrap my head around because my pants are super snug and my diet isn't exactly nutritious.  I know things are moving around but I feel like I have gained 15 pounds, at least!  I am not really showing yet, but I feel like any day now I will wake up with a bump.  I have a giant food baby after I eat but its always gone in the mornings.

Here are the pics from last Friday - 9 weeks 1 day.  Lori was trying to prove me wrong for calling her un-photogenic last time.  She cracks me up in these pictures!

No, I did not wear this to work...

Looking a little chubby!  My dog is so weird...we did not tell her to stand exactly like I was!

I think she proved me wrong...this is actually a good picture of her!

This week the baby is the size of a prune and busy growing knees, ankles and teeth!  Even though he or she is only 1.5 inches right now, I'm sure we will have a walking, talking child before we know it!

In honor of Mother's Day, I am going to put up a couple of my favorite recipes that my mom makes this week...stay tuned!  Maybe even tonight if I am feeling ambitious!

The first two months...

Its so hard to believe last week marked the 8th week of my pregnancy...2 months already!!  Crazy that in 7 months we will have a BABY...I think its still sinking in.  I have had some technical difficulties getting these pictures off of Barry's fancy schmancy camera, which is why I haven't posted...but I finally figured it out.  Turns out my dinosaur iPhone really isn't all that bad!

We started taking pictures at week 5...there still really isn't anything to see, although I feel much bigger.  My jeans are unbuttoned as I sit here writing...TMI?!?  I guess my stomach is getting bigger, but I can still "suck in" which I imagine will be ending pretty shortly!  I haven't gained any weight yet either...kind of.  I had lost a pound or two so now I am back up to where I was the day I found out I was pregnant...on some days!

Please excuse my extreme lack of fashion sense...but this is what I wear to work, and I take casual Friday to the extreme.

5 weeks

Taking pics by yourself is so awkward!

6 weeks

That may look like a small bump, but its just my shirt...I won't be able to say that too much longer so I have to while I can!

7 weeks

Hello crazy hair!  The fatigue is clearly setting in.  My super cute but extremely un-photogenic dog felt the need to join in this day.  I will spare you the other pics because they were just too bad!  Yes, it does get worse than this one!  Week 7 is when I really started to feel pregnant.  Still no nausea or anything...thank goodness...but sooooooooo tired and very little appetite.  Somehow still have an appetite for Easter candy though...weird!

8 weeks

We were going out for dinner so I actually got out of my stretchy dry fit clothes for the evening.  I am not one to show my stomach...EVER, but I figure while I still have the slightest bit of abs no harm done.  This will probably be the one and only!  I will spare you all the sight of my giant pregnant belly when it does come, don't worry!

Still feeling pretty pregnant.  10-12 hours of sleep at night is hardly enough.  I have broadened my horizons with food...I even ate a steak last Friday when we went out to eat.  But, pretty much all I was to eat is carbs.  I am over peanut butter and jelly for the time being, but still doing the Spaghettios.  I eat Saltines all day at my desk and am really into smoothies right now.  I am sure Barry is ready for this part to be over - he is on a steady diet of frozen pizza & mac and cheese...neither of which I am interested in.  It is the strangest thing that foods that I would normally demolish make me turn my head!  I promised him I would cook for him again some day and we would be eating veggies again eventually!  I did manage to cook spaghetti the other night...raw meat and all...I even ate it...along with lots of garlic bread.

Baby B is now the size of a olive...but that grosses me out so I changed it to a grape.  Almost 1 inch from head to behind!  The baby can move its tiny arms and legs and is growing a liver, spleen and gallbladder this week.  Such hard work...for both of us!  We head back to the doctor 2 weeks from today...looking forward to hearing the heart beat again and asking all the questions we forgot to ask last time!

Look how excited Cora is about her cousin!

These are Baby B's other cousins, Brody and Blake...their first time eating SPAGHETTI so I had to share...

Until next time....