Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Chicken Cordon Bleu

The other Sunday all of the sudden I remembered something that they would make at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) every Sunday and I wanted it so bad! Every Sunday they would have chicken cordon bleu (and an ice cream sunday bar mmmmmm!!!).

So this week's menu included a chicken cordon bleu recipe I found on allrecipes.com and modified a bit.  I thought it would be super hard to make but it ended up being really easy and yummy.


Ingredients

  • 6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
  • 6 slices Swiss cheese
  • 6 slices ham
  • Italian bread crumbs
  • 1 egg
  • 6 tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 cup chicken broth
  • 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions

  1. Pound chicken breasts if they are too thick. Place a cheese and ham slice on each breast within 1/2 inch of the edges. Fold the edges of the chicken over the filling, and secure with toothpicks. Dip the meat in the egg and cover with bread crumbs.
  2. Melt the butter in a pan in the oven while it is preheating to 400 degrees. Once melted add the chicken broth.  Put chicken/ham/cheese combo in pan and bake for about 50 minutes or until juices run clear and chicken is no longer pink.
  3. Remove the toothpicks, and transfer the breasts to a warm platter. Blend the cornstarch with the cream in a small bowl, and whisk the extra broth from the pan in with the cream and cornstarch. Cook, stirring until thickened, and pour over the chicken. Serve warm.

Glucose Test

I have been worried about this test before even getting pregnant.  Pretty sure the first time I heard about it I was like "ew gross!"  For two reasons: #1 I am have a hard time taking medicine (I know glucose isn't really a medicine) #2 I hate getting my blood drawn.

The lovely orange flavor glucose drink has been sitting in my fridge for the past few weeks smiling at me everytime I opened it.  Today at 10:25 am I got it out of there and chugged it in 55 seconds.  I timed it on my phone cause I didn't know if it would be so gross it would take me the whole 10 minutes or not.  Luckily it wasn't bad, just super sugary and burned a bit on the way down.

I felt just fine my whole appointment as I was getting my blood pressure taken and the doctor checked the baby's heartrate.  While I was waiting in the hall outside of the room to get my blood drawn I started to feel lightheaded.  I tried taking deep breaths, thinking I was just anxious. That didn't help. I put my head in between my legs.  That didn't help.  Finally I told Thomas I needed to lay down.  He was sitting on a bench next to another lady and they both got up so I could lay down.  The lady asked me how far along I was and when I told her 28 weeks she was like "And you are STILL sick?!"  I just told her I had taken the glucose and Thomas told her I was kind of freaked out by needles and blood.  She said that's why she wasn't in the other room with her daughter cause she can't stand needles or blood either.  Anyways, then my nurse came by and the lady who takes the blood came out and they were concerned because my face had gone white and my lips were blue.  The blood drawer (I know there is a name for it but I can't think of it) decided to just draw my blood out in the hall so I wouldn't need to get up. They brought me a pillow and water and had the nurse stand to try and block me from view so other patients wouldn't freak out :)

I love the clinic that I go to.  The blood drawer is so fast and can get a vein no problem.  My nurse is a sweetheart and the ultrasound tech is too.  Once I had sat out in the hall for a bit after the blood draw they moved me to the ultrasound room that was right across the hall so I could rest for awhile more.  At the suggestion of my friend Tess I had brought a bag of cashews for afterwards and that helped.

My nurse Jennifer was saying that probably why I started feeling so faint was because I just had a huge sugar crash.  She said that happens to people who don't eat a lot of sugar and aren't used to it.  I laughed inside at that because I am definitely used to sugar :) But I guess lately I haven't really eaten as much because sugary things give me heartburn.  (I got the go ahead to take Zantac for it and so far today it's working).

After laying down and getting some food in me I was golden and feeling good again.  I have all my appointments scheduled until my due date (and one a few days after just in case I go over).  The excitement is building!!!!

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Goodbye second trimester

In the second trimester really my only complaints have been with acid refulx and my mid back hurts when I sit for longer than ten minutes or so.  I've found that 2 out of 3 times when I take tums to help with the acid it just makes me throw up.  The best relief just seems to be to take preventative measures so eating small meals with foods that don't have a lot of acid or aren't too sugary or spicy.  That doesn't seem to leave much but a few foods that I don't have problems with are oatmeal, apples, and graham crackers.  Also, juice is a BIG no-no as well as pop.  And I have to drink water in small amounts throughout the day rather than with food.  No laying down right after eating and I have to eat more than 2 hours before bed.  Basically I'm writing these things down to remind myself in future pregnancies what has worked.

This past Saturday we went on a tour of the labor and delivery floors of the hospital.  I was suprised at how many couples showed up there were probably 60 of us.  That's a lot of spring babies! I've never been around so many pregnant women before.  It was kind of comforting being around lots of people in that same situation as myself.

I was worried the tour might make me more anxious about having the baby but it actually made me feel more relaxed about the whole process.  All the nurses we met seemed really nice and I feel confident in the staff and environment.  The best part was going up to the nursery window and seeing all the brand new babies!!! The nurse in there held one of the babies up and everyone just sighed :) She was giving him a bath and he was crying but literally 5 seconds after the bath he was back asleep.

Other pregnancy benchmarks this trimester include feeling the baby move all over my stomach rather than just kicks in one place.  Thomas actually noticed this before I did.  He had been studying and came into bed after I had fallen asleep and put is arm around me and he said he just felt her moving all around.  The next morning before he got up I was laughing because I was feeling her move my whole stomach.  She's starting to kick up in the ribs area and I recognized her hiccups for the first time this past week. They feel like kicks to me but softer and they come one after another.

Last week I wanted to get outside to workout so I convinced Thomas to come walk/jog with me on the greenbelt.  I decided to walk for 2 minutes and then jog slowly for 3 minutes and keep repeating this pattern.  I felt really good the whole time and was loving being outside and jogging.  Once we got home though and I was walking around I could tell my lower ab muscles were not use to supporting the weight of a pregnant tummy and I was walking funny for the rest of the week.  No more jogging for me.  I did order a belly support band though so I can continue incline walking on the treadmill and hopefully doing Zumba.

Bring on the third trimester!

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Funny Funny

First graders really do say the funniest things.  And little boys are just so gross and hilarious.  I have been subbing a lot in first grade classes.
I was leading the reading center and one little boy caught another little boy picking his nose and Boy number one said "Ew gross! Stop picking your nose."  Boy number two: "But I'm hungry!!!" (it was around lunch time).

Today in another first grade class I was standing with them as they were in line for lunch. Choice one was pancakes and choice two was weiner wraps.  I overheard the following from two of the first grade boys "Ew gross those come from pig weiners!" "No they are human weiners!" Haha only one of the 25 or so students chose the weiner wraps.  I don't know why they call them that it sounds so unappetizing.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Lover Day

I really do just love this guy more and more every day.

Today I walked in from work to a bouqet of flowers, my favorite chocolate, and a card with a nice note from my lover boy.  Made my day.  
I love the backside of the card.  If you remember last years card it will make sense :)

Of course I made sure to carry on the tradition of the Jelly Belly's and I also bought some Pop Rocks.  We'll have to play with those later though because our schedules are completely opposite since I work from 8:30am-4:00pm and he works from 3pm-11pm (plus goes to school from 9am-11am). We have been treasuring all the time we get to spend together on the weekends.

This past weekend we went to dinner at a nearby bbq restaurant and then came home and watched Criminal Minds together on Hulu.  We also were able to go to a BSU women's basketball game and took a little bike ride together on the nearby greenbelt.  I'm loving being able to do more outdoorsy things again with my lover. A couple weekends ago we were able to try out a frisbee golf course at a nearby park that is only open in the winter time.

I made these for the girls I visit teach as a little Valentine decoration for their houses.  It says "Loved you yesterday. Love you still, always have always will".  The frames are just from the dollar store and the dowload for was free :)
There are some really cute downloads out there and we have a couple frames hanging out in closets so I thought I'd put them to use and be a little festive so I downloaded a couple prints to hang in our apartment too.
I substituted in a first grade class today and had so much fun being able to do some Valentine's Day crafts with them and see them enjoy their v-day party.  I heard multiple kids say "This is the best Valentine's Day ever!!" So cute! I remember being so excited for holiday parties at school and I loved looking through the different valentine's from my classmates.  As I was walking the class to lunch I saw a dad sitting outside the office waiting for his daughter with a rose and with smoothies from a local coffee shop.  I thought that was so cute and want Thomas and I to do that with our kids someday so they feel loved and special on valentine's day.

I'm feeling so blessed today to have the man of my dreams to spend the rest of my life and eternity with.  I love life with him.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Superbowl 46

Looking back on what we were doing last year for the superbowl it seems like forever ago.  Last year we had my sister Bea and her family over and our friends Kelsey and Brandon.
I always like to try out new to us recipes and this year was no exception.  Thanks skinnytaste.com.
Red, white, and blueberry trifle

Loaded turkey santa fe baked potato skins

Skinny taco dip
The taco dip was super yummy and is way easy. The potato skins were so flavorful and filling.  Both those recipes call for sour cream but you can use non fat plain greek yogurt to be a little healthier.  We also had bbq chicken and veggies and hidden valley dip (I used a dry packet and instead of sour cream used the greek yogurt and it tasted just as good or better than using sour cream).
I haven't even followed the teams playing in the superbowl but I love the chance to hang with my lover and relax.
My nephew Kaden let me know around Christmas time that he did NOT want the New York Giants to win cause he hates New York.  I asked him why and he said "Because there isn't any parking in New York".  I asked him how he knew this and he said "It's on the Geiko commercial."  So there you go, don't root for New York... there isn't any parking there.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

24 Weeks

In the past couple weeks my appetite has come back with a vengeance. It feels good to want to eat again and enjoy food again. I've also been able to regularly exercise although its hard to get back into the pattern of doing it daily. I like walking on the treadmill at an incline, yoga, zumba, and pilates. I will drop the car off sometimes at Thomas' work after I get off and then bike the 20 minutes home and I count that as exercise too.
 My back has been hurting now when I sit for more than five minutes. I have heartburn at night. But other than that I can't complain. I pretty much just feel like my stomach looks chubby and people who don't know I'm pregnant would be scared to ask if I was because I could just be chubby. Haha :) That's why I haven't posted any belly pictures, it's not cute.
 I can feel the baby kick and in the beginning it always felt pretty low and now the kicks can be low or high above my belly button. When I'm up and about teaching all day I don't feel her as much as when I'm just sitting around. The nursery is really coming along. Thank you pinterest for all the inspiration. Here are some of the inspiration photos we are using:
 I got the quote actually from a hallmark store and the print is from etsy.
I'm 3/4ths of the way done with the mobile and this weekend we are buying a mirror.
Color scheme we are going for
My MIL is making this pillows for us.
The rug we bought.