Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Menu: Feb 20-26

I decided this last week that if I had a laptop (nope, we don't have a laptop) my life would be incredibly easier... why? Well, because around the time I started blogging again, I went back to helping my mom again. I get to go spend time with my brother and sister while my mom gets to run errands and such. I get to take my son with me and there are just sometimes when having a laptop there would allow me to be able to get everything I need to done! However, this one little piece of technology has eluded me so far and will elude me for a while yet... but that is partly my fault! You see, I told my husband that if we were having a baby in July, we needed an Air Conditioner... so we're getting one installed this week! So any excess money we may have had to buy a laptop got sucked away into this little investment. However, I am certain that come this summer I'll be glad we have an Air Conditioner... especially when I'm as big as an elephant and extremely hot all the time.

This is the menu we had last week:

 Monday: French Onion Soup (It's been a while since I made it and I couldn't find my recipe so I totally botched this and added too much vinegar... Hubby could finish his bowl but I couldn't.)

Tuesday: Ate Out
Thursday: Taco Salad

Friday: Taco Salad
Saturday: Hoisin Chicken Bowl
Sunday: Meatloaf with Roasted Green Beans and Fingerling Potatoes

Friday, February 24, 2012

Winter Fun

It finally decided to be winter here (well... it's been winter as far as the cold is concerned, but the snow has been very meager at best!) On Sunday, it snowed pretty much all day (there was a break or two, and it was light snow most of the time, but we got snow!) The next morning it was bright and sunny and there was still snow on the ground. So I bundled my son up and took him out to play in the snow.
He walked straight to the snow...
stuck his hand down into it,
brought up a 'handful' of snow (this snow was very powdery... not great for packing or picking up.)
Then he got up and started walking...
and walking,
towards me!
And yes I was standing on the sidewalk that did not have snow... Pretty close to the door to our house actually, since we'd just come outside.
Coming closer...
When he gets closer he stops and looks at me...
Right in the eye,
Then he smiles, laughs and throws a 'snowball' (which is really a small amount of snow in his fist) right at me! This process repeats many, many times... even while I am shoveling the front walk (the back is where the sun melts, but the front of our house needs shoveled... go figure!)

It's hard to believe this was earlier this week as pretty much all the snow has now melted and it feels like spring is on the way. I am sure it will be a few weeks before I actually feel like leaving without a coat on though!

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Beef Fajitas

I do have to admit that I was really spoiled with my last pregnancy. We lived in a college town and there were an abundance of places to eat of all types. Here we have mainly fast food, a few Mexican-type places, a few Chinese places, and then the rest is American food. However my favorite places to eat while I was pregnant then are not available here. :(. I guess that's what we get for living in a rural area! I do however keep thinking back to the places we frequented then and wishing that I could go eat at (fill in blank here.) One of my favorite places to eat was a soup/sandwich/salad place called Atlanta Bread Company (which incidentally isn't there anymore either...) They had these delicious bread bowls and wonderful soup (as well as really good sandwiches!) There are other places that I crave to eat at as well... Those of you in places that actually have a good selection of places to eat - be grateful!

Cravings are sometimes so strange. About the time I started getting heartburn with this pregnancy I started craving fajitas. The craving only lasted a few days, but fajitas and heartburn do not get along. However, I do know how to handle calming down heartburn when I eat food that aggravates it... so I usually give into the craving! Especially when nothing else is really sounding good. I typically like chicken fajitas... I'll get into why I like chicken better than beef some other time though. However, another great craving I have when pregnant is for steak. I would have to admit that my husband doesn't mind this craving... One time we were discussing it and he said something like, "it's not like you are craving Pickles and Ice-Cream, you crave Steak and that's not something I can really complain about!" Because most of the time when I crave steak we go out to get it. (Incidentally I've only found one place that I've loved the steak at here and that is Golden Corral... the guy who grills it is amazing and even the well done steak - for pregnancy safety - is tender.)

Beef Fajitas

With these fajitas I used a frozen bell pepper and onion mix - 8 oz. It was about half onions. Normally I use 1 large onion, sliced.
Since the frozen mix was mostly onion, I sliced up a green and red bell pepper. Had I not used the frozen mix, I would have probably added one more pepper of another color, cost permitting.
You'll also need a steak. This one was about 8 oz.
Slice it into strips.
In a large skillet over medium high heat, add 2 Tbsp oil (I typically use Olive Oil, but Canola or any other that does well with high temperatures would work fine.)
Cook the steak strips in the oil until completely cooked.
The liquid cooks off as it finishes cooking.
So you'll need to add 1/8 cup water (2 Tbsp).
Pour it into the pan.
Along with 1 Tbsp of Fajita Seasoning. (You can use the linked recipe or a packed bought at the store.) You can also add more or less seasoning if you like.
Dump it in and stir it to coat all the beef.
Cook until liquid is dissolved.
Remove cooked steak from pan and place into a bowl or on a plate and set aside.
Next add the onions and bell peppers to the pan.
Cook until crisp-tender, or to your desired done-ness.
Next, add 1-2 Tbsp Fajita Seasoning adding water if necessary.  Stir to coat and let cook 1-2 more minutes. Remove from heat.
You'll also need some lettuce washed, dried and cut up.
To assemble, place tortilla on a plate.
Spread on a layer of Sour Cream, or you can skip this if you like. You can also add guacamole for an extra flavor kick.
Top with a layer of bell pepper and onion mixture.
Then add the beef. (Alternatively you could mix the beef in with the pepper mixture, but then you can't control how much you get...)
Next, top with cheese.
Tomatoes, or fresh salsa.
Then top with lettuce.
Wrap up and enjoy.
Print Recipe

Monday, February 20, 2012

I'm back

Hello everybody, after what seems like ages and ages I'm back to blogging again! It honestly seems like it hasn't been that long until I look at the fact it is February. When the morning sickness finally abated I felt like I had come out of a dense fog, and it is honestly hard to believe that I am 17 weeks pregnant. I feel like I should be 10 weeks, maybe. The really sad part is that I haven't kept up with others during the past almost 3 months. I in some ways feel like an estranged family member coming back after years of being gone. (Okay so maybe not that drastic, but you get the point.) I have no clue what's been happening in other bloggers lives that I usually follow so closely because I honestly couldn't read a post that talked/mentioned/had pictures of food when I had morning sickness. So here I come back from my hiatus and will probably try to ease back into reading all my posts and commenting on other blogs again. Oh and responding to comments and emails here again.

During my time off I have decided to change a few things... such as the weekly poll will be done away with. This was a hard decision for me because I've had it since I started the blog and felt it let you give me feedback. I feel like it made different than other blogs. However after considering the following, I've decided it really wasn't working...
 1- in the last poll only 2 people voted... I know I don't have the most trafficked site, but I know more than 2 people visit my site in a week, and the number of votes just don't equal the traffic I do get, so I feel that as my readers most of you really don't use this feature.
 2 - In doing the weekly poll it does not allow me to get extra posts ready in case I'm going to be gone or don't have time to write that day/week.
 3 - I have tons of posts I can edit pictures of and post recipes that I really love but did not make the polls... so I can do that now.
 4 - Let's be honest - in July I'm going to have a baby so if I were still doing a poll and didn't have posts already written, I'd be taking a long blogging break again...
 5 - It just feels right.

That is the major change that will be taking place on this site now I'm back. I will still be posting my menus and new recipes each week. I'll be posting the Beef Fajita recipe first since it was the last poll winner. I will not however be posting my menu this week (due to not keeping track of it last week...)

Oh and thank goodness that my morning sickness is over!