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Merry Christmas

-Kelly

Baby Update: 33.5 weeks

How far along?  33.5 weeks (6.5 left to go)

Baby's size:  We had a sonogram at the doctor's office yesterday and they said he is about 4 lbs 11 oz. The sonogram tech estimated that he will be around 7 lbs at birth if he keeps growing at the same rate.

Symptoms:  Restless legs, heartburn, shortness of breath, mild cramping, round ligament pain, some back pain, and thirsty.

Sleep:  Most of the time not so great but sometimes I sleep through the night. This is mainly due to having to go to the bathroom and restless legs.

Movement:  Since he's getting bigger his movements are much more intense. I can usually tell if it's his feet, bottom, or hands. He's usually really active every other day (I guess he needs to rest a day???).

Labor signs: Not yet, thank the Lord!

Anything make you nauseated?  Nope!

Food cravings: Nothing in particular. I really like bread...super healthy I know!

Best moment this week:  Getting to see our little guy yesterday, his cheeks have definitely gotten chubbier!

Looking forward to: Baby shower on Saturday....Can.Not.Wait!

Exercise: I work out about 5-6 times/week. This usually consists of walking/jogging (mostly walking), strength training classes (2x/week), cycle (1x/week), and the elliptical machine. It's definitely harder to work out now that I have an almost 5lb human inside of me but I feel much better afterwards and hopefully it will help with labor and delivery!

Things done this week to get ready for baby: Scheduled appointment with pediatrician, washed all the baby clothes we already have, and working on setting up newborn photo shoot.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

 

Ingredients:

• 1 Tablespoon of canola oil
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 4 oz. can of green chilis
• 11 oz. can of corn, drained (I used Green Giant Chipotle White Corn)
• 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes, drained
• 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon of Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime Blend
• Ground black pepper
• 1 rotisserie chicken, white meat only, skin removed
• 1 package of corn tortillas
• 24 oz. jar of mild salsa verde
• 1/4 cup of light sour cream
• 8 oz. of reduced-fat Mexican style shredded cheese
• Fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Place shredded chicken in a large bowl and set aside.

3. Heat canola oil over medium-high heat and add the diced onion. Cook the onion until lightly brown and soft. Next, add the green chilis, corn, and tomatoes and stir until well incorporated. Season with garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, Mrs. Dash, and ground black pepper. Let simmer for about 7-8 minutes.

4. Add the vegetable mixture to the large bowl of shredded rotisserie chicken and stir to combine all of the ingredients. Set aside.

5. In a small bowl, stir together the sour cream and salsa verde. Set aside.

6. To assemble the casserole: Add about 1/2 cup of the salsa mixture to the bottom of a large glass casserole dish (spread so that it covers the entire dish). Next, spread about half of the chicken/veggie mixture on top of the salsa. Next, sprinkle about 1/3 cup of the shredded cheese on top. Lastly, layer the corn tortillas on top of the cheese (they should slightly be overlapping each other). Repeat in the same order except top the cassserole with the cheese insead of tortillas. (salsa, chicken/veggies/tortilla/cheese.)

7. Top with fresh cilantro. Bake for about 20-30 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Enjoy!!

Light French Toast Casserole

 

This recipe is adapted from Paula Deen's baked french toast casserole. Her recipe of course had lots of rich ingredients so I lightened it up a bit to make it figure friendly!

 

Ingredients:

 

Casserole:

• 13 oz. of whole wheat french bread (about 3/4 of a loaf)
• 5 whole eggs
• 7 egg whites
• 1.5 cups of fat free half and half
• 1 cup of skim or 1% milk
• 1 Tablespoon of granulated sugar
• 1 Tablespoon of Splenda
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
• Dash of salt

Topping:

• 1 stick of light butter
• 1/2 cup of light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup of chopped pecans
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
• Blueberries (optional for garnish)

Directions:

 

1. Grease a large baking dish with cooking spray. Cut the french bread into cubes and layer the cubes in the baking dish.

2. Next, in a large bowl combine the remaining ingredients for the casserole and whisk together until smooth. Pour this mixture over the top of the bread, making sure all the bread is covered (you can press the bread down with a spatula to get all the bread soaked in the mixture). Cover and place in the refrigerator for about 3-4 hours or overnight.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl add the butter (make sure this is softened, if not place in the microwave for about 30 seconds), brown sugar, pecans, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix together with a spoon or with your hands (hands work best) until well incorporated. Sprinkle on top of casserole right before baking.

4. Bake the casserole for about 40 minutes. Garnish with fresh blueberries and light maple syrup. Enjoy!

 

 

Mushroom, Garlic, and Swiss Turkey Burgers

 

Ingredients:

Burgers:

• 1 lb of lean ground turkey meat
• 1 Tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
• Ground black pepper
• Sprinkle of paprika

Mushroom, Garlic Topping:

• 8 oz. of white button mushrooms, sliced
• 1 Tablespoon of olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon of minced garlic
• Ground black pepper

Condiments:

• Whole wheat hamburger buns
• Reduced-fat swiss cheese, slices
• Dijon mustard

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, add the ground turkey, worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, pepper, and parika. Mix ingredients together with your hands until well incorporated. Assemble into 6 burger patties (you can do 4 if you like your burger larger).

2. Spray a large grill pan with cooking spray so the burgers don't stick. Add the burger patties to the pan and cook on medium heat until completely cooked through (should no longer be pink in the middle-this can take up to 20 minutes).

3. While the burgers are cooking, add the olive oil and sliced mushrooms to a medium saute pan and saute on medium-high heat until the mushrooms start to sweat (about 5-8 minutes).

4. Next, turn the heat down to medium and add the minced garlic (stir continuely so the garlic does not burn) and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Season the mixture with black pepper. Turn the heat off and cover so it stays warm until your burgers are finished cooking.

5. Add a slice of swiss cheese to one side of each hamburger bun and toast until lightly brown and the cheese is melted.

6. To assemble, add dijon mustard to the side of the bun without the cheese and add a spoon full of the mushroom/garlic mixture on top of the melted cheese. Place a burger patty in the middle and smoosh together. Enjoy!!

* I served these with roasted red potatoes and a side salad*

Spinach, Mushroom, and Turkey Sausage Stuffed Shells

I found some recipes in the Food Network magazine this week for light stuffed shells and rich stuffed shells and I thought I would do something in between. The flavors in this recipe sort of remind me of lasagna and pizza (just what I like)! Hope you enjoy! :)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of lean turkey sausage (I used Jennio brand)
• 2 Tablespoons of light olive oil
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 1 teaspoon of minced garlic
• 10 oz. of chopped frozen spinach, thawed and liquid squeezed out
• 8 oz. of white button mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup of fat free cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup of part skim ricotta cheese
• 1/3 cup of reduced-fat grated parmesan
• 1.5 cups of reduced-fat shredded mozzarella cheese (divide in half)
• 1/4 teaspoon of dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
• Black pepper
• Sprinkle of paprika
• 1 jar (24 oz) of vodka sauce (I used Preggo)
• Sprinkle of dried oregano
• 1 box of jumbo pasta shells

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet, brown turkey sausage over medium-high heat. Once it is finished cooking, drain any excess liquid and place in a small bowl and set aside.

2. In a large pot, boil water for pasta. Once the water is boiling, add the shells and cook for about 7 minutes. Drain and place the shells back into the pot. Add a little bit of olive oil to the pot so the shells don't stick together. Set the pot aside.

3. Gently wipe out the skillet that you cooked the sausage in with a dish towel or paper towels and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and diced onion. Cook over medium-high heat until onions are lightly browned (about 3-5 minutes). Next, turn the heat down to medium and add the minced garlic (stir consistently so the garlic doesn't burn) and cook for a couple of minutes.

4. Add the sliced mushrooms and chopped spinach (make sure you thawed and squeezed out all of the liquid) to the skillet and cook for about 5 minutes until mushrooms are lightly browned.  Add the turkey sausage back into the pan and remove the skillet from the heat. Season with black pepper and paprika.

5. In a medium mixing bowl, add cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, grated parmesan, and 3/4 cup of mozzarella cheese. Mix together until well incorporated. Next, stir in the sausage and veggie mixture to the cheese mixture. Season with dried basil and crushed red pepper.

6. Pour 1/2 of the vodka sauce into a large baking dish and spread evenly throughout the dish. Next, generously stuff each shell with a spoon full of the turkey/veggie/cheese mixture and place into the baking dish seam side down. Once you have stuffed all of your shells pour the remaining sauce over the top. Top with remaining mozzarella cheese and dried oregano.

 

 

7. Bake for 20 minutes (covered with foil). Uncover and bake for another 10 minutes (cheese on top should be melted and dish should be bubbly). Enjoy!

Blog/Baby Update

So what have we been up to these past 7 months........

As many of you already know we are expecting a baby boy at the beginning of May! We are super excited and can't wait to be a family of 3. The first 17-18 weeks of pregnancy were pretty rough, lots of nausea, vomiting, fatigue, etc. and that is the main reason why I stopped blogging. Since our lives are a tad bit different now I will be posting pregnancy/baby updates along with recipes, nutrition information, and other tid bits. So here we go with the first pregnancy update:

How far along?  28 weeks 1 day

Baby's size:  14.8 inches; 2 and a quarter pounds (according to babycenter.com)

Symptoms:  Tired, heartburn, shortness of breath, restless legs (this is terrible at night), increased appetite some days, and frequent bathroom breaks.

Sleep:  Sleep is definitely hit or miss. Some nights I sleep pretty well and other nights I don't. I usually wake up 4-5 times a night to either go to the bathroom, drink water, or get a snack.

Movement:  Most days our little guy is quite the squirmy worm but there are some days where he sleeps more. I recently started to notice the difference between him kicking/punching and him totally switching positions (usually my stomach jumps). For those of you that are preggo right now...I started feeling him kick around 20-21 weeks!

Labor signs:  I think (from what the doc says) I have had a few braxton hicks contractions in the middle of the night and in the morning when I wake up which they think is mainly due to dehydration (when you are dehydrated your uterus contracts). Once I go the bathroom and drink some water these go away pretty quickly. It sorta just feels like your stomach is tightening up.

Anything make you nauseated?  When I overeat! Terrible feeling!

Food cravings:  Bread, pizza, pasta (carbs in general), really cold and juicy fruit, cheese, chewy candy (skittles, laffy taffy, starburst, etc.). I pretty much force myself to eat my veggies!

Best moment this week:  We have an ultrasound tonight to see our little guy!

Looking forward to:  Holding the baby, baby showers, being a Mom, and watching Kel be a Dad.


**Next up: Stuffed Shells with Spinach, Mushrooms, and Turkey Sausage**