Moo

Ever since I got on my health kick a couple of years ago, eating natural food has been important to me.  As an extension, this means that avoiding formula for Tierney is extremely important to me.  I'm sure formula is perfectly safe, but it just doesn't feel natural to feed my baby something manufactured.  On top of that, most formula is cow-milk based, and she has struggled with dairy. 

Due to this mind-set, I because obsessed with building up a freezer stock of pumped milk while I was on leave.  My job sometimes requires me to travel, and I was afraid I'd be sent over to Asia as soon as I got back from work and need to keep her fed for two weeks.  Also, I'd heard that production can drop after returning to work, and since I didn't know what to expect I wanted to be prepared for anything.  It's funny because at one point during the new mom group the lactation consultant was shocked when I said I had about 200 oz. of frozen milk stocked up.  Well, it's around 1000 oz now!  Shoe boxes work perfectly, neatly fitting two rows of Lansinoh bags.

  My mom has taken to calling me a cow.  But I can't help it!  I still get up in the middle of the night to pump even though she sleeps through the night.  And if I don't get the same amount at each pumping I get really upset.  I regularly freeze between 20-30 oz a day.  It's paying off now, because I'm headed off to my first work trip in two weeks.  Luckily it's only for 3 days, but I can breathe easy knowing Tierney will be well fed.  Now all we need is a bigger freezer!

Super Salad

During my maternity leave Tierney and I attended BYOB (Bring Your Own Baby) yoga at Blooma almost every day.  Wednesdays were my favorite because they had the class from 11-12 then the New Moms group at 12:45.  There is a great restaurant next door, and they let you order lunch before yoga, then deliver it at noon so you can eat before the mom group.  My friends Ann and Laura and I did this one day, and I ended up with the yummiest salad!  Afterwards I started recreating it at home, and it just never gets old!  It's the perfect combo of protein, fruit, and salad.

1/4 avocado, diced
1 strip of bacon, cooked and crumbled
6-10 purple grapes, sliced in half
Organic Romaine salad
2 tsp EVOO
sea salt
pepper

Toss all the ingredients together and enjoy!  I end up eating a huge portion most days for lunch.  Delicious!

**you can also add shredded rotisserie chicken if you have some left over.  I like to get a rotisserie chicken on Sundays for dinner, then use the left-overs for my lunch salads during the week.  The salad from the restaurant also had sliced celery, but I never add that. 

Avocado, Apple, & Turkey Panini

I never thought I'd be in the position where I wanted to stop losing weight.  I was incredibly fortunate to quickly lose all my pregnancy weight.  It's funny because I saw a quote recently from a celebrity, Molly Sims I think, and she was angry about other celebrities who lost their baby weight quickly and how it was a sham.  Well, I had that same opinion until I had Tierney, and when my weight fell off so fast.  Then I realized that for some people weight really does go away and you can't hold it against them, just like I would never judge anyone who struggled.  Anyways, I've mentioned how I cut dairy and soy out around Thanksgiving time to help Tierney's stomach.  This, in addition to my return to work, has made my weight plummet.  Normally I would love the numbers I'm seeing on the scale, but now I'm just concerned about keeping my milk supply up.

In order to maintain my weight and milk supply, I've been attempting to add healthy fats and calories to my diet every day.  Avocado has been my favorite "add", since it gives you lots of healthy fats and energy.  It helps that it's tasty too! 

Last week I was looking for a new dinner and decided to pull out our underused panini maker.  I dug out the Panera Sourdough bread from the freezer (dairy free), added sliced avocado, mesquite turkey, and thin apple slices.  If you cut the apple in discs down the side it makes perfect crispy slices for sandwiches, with some left over for a side dish!  I used my Nature Balance dairy free butter and toasted the sandwich in the panini maker.  Next time I think I'll mash the avocado first, but it was pretty good! 

Dairy-Free Sugar Cookies

Our baby is here, and she does.not.like.dairy.  As in it gives her terrible gas, causing her to scream incessantly all night. We hate to see her in pain, so after a bunch of research and tips from helpful moms like the wonderful Megs Hylland I found ways to cut dairy and soy from my diet. 

My amazing mom took a regular sugar cookie recipe and made it dairy free for me this weekend.  She felt bad that I wouldn't be able to eat any sweets over Christmas because literally everything has dairy in it.  The desserts are my favorite part of Christmas, so I was really sad.  I was supposed to put these in the freezer and save them to bring down to the Tiemeier's house (again, so I'd have something to eat), but they are so delicious I can't keep my hands off of them and will be lucky if they last this week!

Sugar Cookies

1 1/2C powdered sugar
1C vegan butter
1tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 large egg
2 1/2 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
(mom added 1/4 C sugar to the dough too)

1. beat powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, almond extract, and egg in a large bowl with electric mixer on medium. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

2. Heat oven to 375 F. Lightly grease cookie sheet with shortening or spray.

3. Divide dough in half. Roll each half 1/4" thick on lightly floured surface. Cut into desired shapes.

4. Bake 7-8 minutes or until edges are light brown. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

Frosting
(all quantities estimated, adjust accordingly)

1 stick vegan butter, softened
1/4 C vanilla almond milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2+ C powdered sugar (add to taste and consistency desired)

1. Mix all ingredients together with an electric mixer.

2. Frost cookies

Pump up the Protein

Ever since I got pregnant my blood sugar has been funky, and I've been tasked with cutting carbs/sugar and adding protein to each meal.  This week one of Mark's co-workers gave him a free dozen organic, free-range eggs that she raises herself.  We've talked about buying them from her but don't eat eggs enough.  Well, she decided to give us a trial run for free!  They were delicious so I think we are going to start buying them regularly, since eggs are high in protein. 

The other night I was tired of protein and decided to spice it up a little.  Rather than plain old chicken, I tried frying it a little (healthily, of course) to change things up.  I'd also stopped at the farmers market and bought a huge bouquet of fresh basil, and decided to incorporate it. 

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts (cut all extra fat off)
1 C panko bread crumbs
paprika
Mrs. Dash garlic and herb seasoning
fresh basil, chopped
1 egg
1 T butter

Melt butter in a skillet until sizzling.  Chop the chicken breasts into chunks.  Scramble the eggs in one bowl.  In a 2nd bowl, mix Panko, seasonings, and basil.  Dip the chicken first in the egg then in the Panko mixture, then place in the skillet.  Cover and cook on medium for about 5 minutes per side, or until cooked through (no pink in the center).

We finished off the meal with fresh green beans from the farmers market and a fresh home-baked baguette from Cub.  Delicous!

Lemon Fried Chicken with Quinoa

As I've been working through my protein quest, one of my co-workers, from Israel, has been helpful with finding recipes and creative ideas.  She mentioned a few ways to attempt making quinoa (chock full of protein) taste better.  Mark and I tried out this combo and really liked it!

Quinoa Ingredients:
1 T butter
1/4C onion
2 cloves garlic
chicken broth (amount depends on how much quinoa you use)
quinoa
diced orange, red, and yellow peppers (1/2 of each)

Lemon Chicken Ingredients:
1 chicken breast (or two, if they are small)
1 C panko
1 egg
1 lemon

Melt butter in a sauce pan and add diced onion and pressed garlic.  Cook until fragrant.  Add quinoa and chicken broth and cook per directions on quinoa package (generally about 15 minutes, or until you can see the "eye" of the quinoa.  Using the veggies and chicken broth will add flavor to the quinoa.  After the quinoa is cooked, drain water and add the chopped peppers.

In one bowl, scramble the egg.  Halve the chicken breastand dip first in the egg, then in the panko.  Melt another tablespoon of butter in a skillet and add the chicken once sizzling.  Cook about 5 minutes a side, or until cooked through.  There should be no pink left in the center.  Drizzle lemon over the chicken as it cooks for a light, refreshing taste.

Mango Salsa

I'm pretty sure I've posted a similar recipe to this before, but it's so good in the summer that I thought I'd put it up again.  Today I remembered that my handy-dandy Tupperware salad spinner also has a chopper attachment, so I tried that on my salsa for the first time.  Amazing!  It cut the prep time by 75%.  All you have to do is cut the ingredients into large chunks, toss it in the chopper, and spin.  Voila - instant salsa!!  Using the chopper made it nicely diced too, way better to fit more on a chip. It also goes well as a topping for pork or chicken, if you want to cut the carbs and up your protein. 

Ingredients:
1 Mango
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 tomato
1/2 white onion