Let's Talk Food

Pregnancy is tough; not going to lie.   I'm 14 weeks into this with 26 weeks (give or take) left.  Seems like forever but I know it will be here before I know it.  And now that I'm finally feeling better, bring it on!  Like the "baby bump."  It was a surreal realization.  One day, there it was and it's like holy moly, there IS a baby in there!  Kind of freaked me out a little.

The first 9 weeks or so were bad.  The nausea was excruciating.  But you have to eat.  And what do you eat?  I would go into the grocery store and absolutely nothing was appealing.  I had no idea what I wanted to eat.  M would ask what we should get and I just said whatever you want, I'll choke down what I can.  And so it was for 9 weeks.  People told me it would get better but while you feel that way, you don't believe them.  You want to shout "Liar!  I will have 31 more weeks of this!"  But then you feel better - eventually.  Which is good because I was basically a hermit for those 2.5 months.  I told M there is no going out.  Most days I wanted to be like Maddux, hiding under a blanket.

One bad aspect of having my first trimester during the fall was I essentially missed out on Thanksgiving dinner.  This is one of my favorite meals of all time.  And I could hardly eat any of it.  Probably due to my poultry and vegetable aversion I had going on.  Or it could have been my brother in law's awesome cheesy salsa dip he made as an appetizer.  That was something that actually tasted good so I loaded up.  I was also able to get dessert down too so I guess I didn't miss out completely on the holiday.

Then there's the food I can't (or am not allowed to) eat.  Like deli meats, pepperoni, salami, certain fishes, under cooked meat (shoe leather steak, anyone?) and unpasteurized dairy.  I was like, no problem.  I can live without those things for 9 months.  Except when you're told you can't have something, you want it all the more.  I told M that after the baby comes, this is what I want for food:

• An Italian sub (all time favorite sub)
• Pepperoni pizza
• A steak cooked to medium perfection (a glass of wine would be nice here too)
• A Turkey Club Sandwich
• Anything with some feta and/or bleu cheese (where it's not cooked until it's bubbly)

I'm typically not one for turkey sandwiches, but I want one now.  Another thing you can't have is bacon.  BACON!!  WHAT?!  I was like how can I live without some bacon?  Then the doctor said, it's the nitrates.  If you can find nitrate free bacon, you can have it! 

I now fall to my knees in gratitude at Whole Foods who supply nitrate free bacon.  I just had a BLT for lunch today.  I love me a BLT.

Anyway, I will get through this and I will once again eat all the foods I love.  26 more weeks, 26 more weeks....

Good Things in 2012

Well hello!  I realize 5 months have passed.  Eh.

I was so unmotivated and uninspired to do anything.  I was essentially broken, defeated, and in a constant state of blah.  M had been searching for a job for well over a year, I was feeling unsatisfied in my work, and it seemed that everyone around me was moving in amazing directions and mine just stayed static.  To be honest, I was just having a straight up hard time with where my life was at the moment.  I tried to focus on all the good but there comes a point where you just don't have the energy for that anymore.  I was desperate.  Desperate for life changes.  Desperate for my biggest dream to come true. 

And wouldn't you know it, it's true what they say - good things come to those who wait and come around when you least expect it.

I had been waiting for a long time but finally, it's here!

Drum roll..........

I'm going to have a baby!!!  Look at this little love.

I can't believe I am finally saying (or writing) those words.  I am ecstatic, thrilled, overjoyed!  Oh yeah, M is too.  My biggest dream is coming true.  In 6 and a half more months, I will be holding my baby in my arms.  And I couldn't ask for more right now.  Maddux is excited he's going to be a big brother too!  Doesn't he look thrilled? 

I am also scared.  This is huge.  Big change.  Not only with my life but with my body too.  It's a little freaky to know that a person is growing inside of you.  But when you see that little baby on the ultrasound screen and hear that strong heartbeat, all your concerns and worries fade away.  That little nose and those little shadowy hands on the screen turn you to mush.  It's all I've ever wanted - to find a wonderful man to marry and to be a Mom.  The first part came true 8 and a half years ago.  The second is now.

So, good things will be coming in 2012.  And now that I'm finally feeling better, more cooking has been happening in our house because for about 3 months, there was no cooking.  Right, didn't even mention the food stuff and here we are in A Homemade Kitchen.  The thought of food made me recoil so I couldn't be smelling it either.   Poor, M.  There will be food posts but for certain, there will be baby posts too.  I wrote in my initial welcome page that a kitchen is about family and my family is growing so this little blog may morph into other topics but there will be food.  Oh, and perhaps baby food.  Homemade baby food anyone?  My sweet little niece certainly loves it.

The sun is rising onto a new year.  Here's to dreams coming true in 2012!

Chicken Milanese with Corn and Tomato Salad

Last post I mentioned we picked out new carpet.  It's here!  It is so much better than what we had.  The old carpet was blue, stained, and completely worn out.  I think it was original to the townhouse.

Before:

Yucky stained carpet.

After:

No more stains!

So fresh.

It really brightens the rooms too.  We love it.  Maddux took a few sniffs and offered his approval.  One home improvement can now be checked off the list.

Now here's a summer chicken dish which is similar to this chicken dish but whatever.  Good is good.

Chicken Milanese with Corn and Tomato Salad
From Every Day with Rachael Ray

1 cup flour
3 large egges, beaten
1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
1 lemon, zested and juiced
handlful fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
parmesean cheese
4 boneless chicken breasts, pounded thin
salt and pepper
extra virgin olive oil
2 ripe tomatoes, diced
2 ears of corn, kernels scraped from cob
1/2 small red onion
1/2 cup basil leaves, chopped

In 3 separate bowls, add the flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs.  Combine the lemon zest, parsley and garlic and finely chop on a cutting board.  Add this gremolata to the breadcrumbs along with the paremesean cheese and mix together.

Season the chicken with salt and pepper.  Coat in the flour, then the eggs, then the breadcrumbs.  Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat and add the chicken cutlets in batches.  Cook on each side for about 3-4 minutes.

In a bowl, combine the tomatoes, corn, onion, and basil.  Season with salt and pepper.

Serve the chicken with the corn and tomato salad on top.  Drizzle with lemon juice if desired.

Staycation 2011

Last week, M and I took a much needed week off from work.  It was glorious.

We did a lot of eating out. Here is a small recap in food:

We went to Maggiano's - where we had our first date

Mozzarella Marinara Appetizer

I got: Crab and Shrimp Tropheo.  The pasta was a little overcooked.

M got: Chicken and Truffle Tortellacci.  He at it all.

 Then on another day, we went to the best place on Earth - Richardson's.

Ah, Richardson's.  How I love you.

Gorgeous Day.  I sat outside while M hit golf balls.

Superior form

Then I got ice cream.  Look at all the delicious flavors.  It was a very hard decision.

I finally chose Black Raspberry with jimmies.  A nudge to my childhood.  So very good.

M didn't want any.  Crazy boy.

And then I had a Girl's Night Out.  It was such a blast.

Beef Tenderloin with an Orange Buerre Blanc and Whipped Potatoes.  Three of us got the same dish.  It was amazing.

Another girlfriend got this dish.  It was called Duck Duck Goose (awesome, right?).  It was duck breast, duck confit, and foie gras.  She let me taste the duck breast.  D-E-Licious.  She also let me taste the foie gras because I had never had it.  Don't think I much care to have it again.

And that concludes our Staycation: A Retrospect in Pictures

Yeah, I didn't end up taking many pictures.   I was relaxing.  We also picked out new carpet.  Thrilling, isn't it?

Crispy Tilapia with Creamed Corn

I'm in a horrendous class right now.  My group handed in a draft of a business plan the other day and nowhere did it say that we had to hand in a fully completed draft (it actually didn’t even say we had to hand in a draft at all).  So we just got the feedback from the Prof. and he was all like you didn’t complete this, I am surprised at the quality of your work, blah blah.  He also said he realizes that it’s a lot of work but the other group got it done.  I felt like going, really, you’re comparing groups?  Maybe their schedules offer more flexibility.

And then he says this is supposed to be a real life business plan.  Um, those usually take months if not years to write and he expects us to write a REAL one in 8 weeks along with work, life, and other homework assignments he gives us??  To me, that's unreasonable.  Oh and did I mention, it's due for real next week?  I think I used the word 'real' too much.

Grr.

I made a good dinner this week though.  Actually, I've made a couple so far.  This was the first.  It was crispy tilapia with fresh homemade creamed corn.

I don't have any other pictures of the creamed corn because really, the look of it is really off-putting. But it was tasty.

 

Crispy Tilapia with Creamed Corn

From Every Day with Rachael Ray

 

4 tilapia fillets

salt and pepper

grainy mustard

1 cup breadcrumbs (I used panko)

corn kernels from 7-8 ears of corn

4 tbsp butter

1/2 cup heavy cream

extra virgin olive oil

flat leaf parsley, chopped

 

Season the fish with salt and pepper.  Spread however much mustard you like over one side of the fish.  Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the mustard and press them into the fish to make them stick.  Refrigerate while you start the corn.

 

Puree about 3 cups of the corn kernels in a food processor.  Pour into a medium saucepan and add the remaining whole corn kernels.  Add the butter and cook over medium heat until hot.  Stir in the heavy cream and continue to cook.  Stir occasionally until thickened.  Season with salt and pepper.  Remove from heat and cover to keep warm.

 

Meanwhile, heat some olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add as many fillets of fish that can fit in the pan crumb side down.  Cook on first side for about 6 minutes, until golden brown.  Flip over and cook on the other side for another five minutes.  Repeat will remaining fish.

 

Serve the fish with the creamed corn.

Hello?

Guess I didn't make very good on my 'promise' that I would post more.  Oops.

Time just gets away so quickly, doesn't it?  In all honesty, I haven't been inspired to do much lately.  M and I have been in a total funk and way down in the dumps that there has been no energy to do anything.  It hasn't been very much fun lately.  Even Maddux has been blue.

Look at him laying in front of the stove.  Please, cook something, he says.

Job hunting sucks.  Straight up; no other way to put it.  Thank goodness neither one of us is out of a job but the searching, applying, and rejection is tough.  I have never seen someone work so hard at trying to find a new job and have nothing come out of it.  I feel so bad for M.  And for me really.  Certain life plans rely on this new job.  So come on already, Economy!  Show us some love.  Please?

This blog may be a good release for me.  Don't get me wrong, I have amazing girlfriends.  The best ever.  And they've listened to me (probably too much) and they're probably sick of hearing the same woe is me story over and over again.  But listen they do.  And they're always good to give me the boost and the laugh I need.  But sometimes it's good to write things down.  Although you may not want to hear my drivel either.  Heh.

I haven't been very inspired to cook either.  Really most things I have once enjoyed in the past didn't even bring a spark to me lately.  So depressing.  Time to pull myself up and enjoy the things I do have.  Everything else will fall into place when it's meant to.  Doesn't mean I have the patience for that because Lord knows I don't.  But I have been blessed in my life.  Time to get back to remembering the things I have and not focusing on what I don't.

Chicken Baked Ziti

Hello!  How've you been?  Me?  I've been busy.  There was a birthday.  Sadly, no photos.

Then there was a wedding.

Wedding Cake

Then there was a baby shower.

Diaper Cake

Then there was life.

I'm back.  I hope.  I do have a lot of recipes to share and hopefully I can remember how I did them.  I typically don't write down what I have done right after I have done it and I really should.  I see a picture of a dish I made and I think "What was that?"  I can never remember.  Or then I do and think "oh yeah, that was good.  How did I make that?"  That's happened a lot.  I have lots of pictures of dishes and have no idea how I made them so I can't share.  Bummer. 

This one I had to write down immediately.  M made it last night and it was so stinkin' good that I had to share it.  M and I stuffed ourselves.  It was such a warm hearty meal - much more appropriate for a winter's evening but good is good no matter what time of year.  There are so many layers of flavor with this dish with the different cheeses and who doesn't love some cheesey goodness?

Chicken Baked Ziti
A recipe by M for A Homemade Kitchen

1lb ziti, cooked to almost al dente
1 whole round of Boursin herbed cheese
2 tbsp olive oil
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 jar prepared tomato sauce, any flavor
1 14oz canned diced tomatoes
1 cup chicken stock
handful of fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 ball fresh mozzarella, sliced
4 slices of sharp provolone
grated parmesean cheese, however much you like

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Bring a pot of water to boil.  Salt the water generously and drop the pasta in. Cook until the pasta is almost al dente.  Don't over cook as it will continue to cook in the oven.  Add the boursin cheese to the hot pasta and let the cheese melt.  Stir it all together so all of the pasta is coated with the cheese.

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the chicken breasts.  Cook on each side for about about 7 minutes.  Remove from skillet.  Add the garlic and onion to the skillet and cook until fragrant, about 4 minutes.  Chop the chicken into 1 inch cubes and add back to the pan.  Add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and chicken stock.  Bring to a bubble and let simmer for about 10 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.  Stir in the parsley.

Add the pasta to the skillet with the sauce and stir to combine.  Add the pasta mixture to a casserole dish.  Top with the mozzarella, provolone, and parmesean cheese.  Bake in the oven for about ten minutes until the cheese is all brown and bubbly.  Serve immediately.