Despite the fact that I haven’t been actually blogging (and commenting on your blogs) for a bit, I have been reading blogs like it’s my job. And it’s not.

But wouldn’t that be a great job?

Since I am normally obsessed with all things food and cooking, pregnancy seems to have only exacerbated this condition. I still love food and cooking, but now I actually daydream about recipe creations, and I’m already planning tomorrows dinner while eating today’s breakfast. It’s a little distracting.

Last night, for instance, despite the fact that I am sick (again), and only wanted to lay on the sofa and watch Basketball Wives, I couldn’t stop thinking about baking Chana’s Almond Paste Cookies. I had to seriously resist the urge to drive to the grocery store for almond paste at 9PM.

Instead, I took 2 Benadryl and went to bed.

Benadryl makes us sleep instead of cough.

But then I dreamed of Almond Paste Cookies.

It’s a serious affliction, I tell you.

It’s only appropriate, given my preoccupation with food, that today’s Friday Five(r) is focused on food. Seriously. Just look at the recipes I’ve bookmarked in the past month.

Very. Serious. Problem.

1) Before I highlight some of these fab recipes, I need to first mention that I am absolutely, positively in love with Once A Month Mom. Have you ever considered the fact that you don’t have to cook every single day–that you can actually condense your monthly cooking down into just one (or three…five…whatever works for you) cooking sessions per month? You can’t do it without a plan, but Once A Month Mom gives you the plan for free. I said free. And I love free!

Every month, the website releases menus that suit every family.

I have now used the OAMM menus for 2 months, and I feel so relieved that I can come home after a full day of work and just take a home-cooked meal out of the freezer and pop it in the oven. This is especially handy for the nights when My Gazelle is home for dinner, but I want to mall walk. Priorities, ya know?

We tried the Whole Foods menu for October, and the Vegetarian menu for November (newsflash: My Gazelle is now totally vegetarian…more on this later), and we’ve loved both. I’m especially looking forward to having meals stockpiled in the freezer for when Baby Girl arrives and I don’t have the time (or the will) to cook. Next on the agenda: purchasing a stand-up freezer from Craigslist!

2) Speaking of Once A Month Mom, I have to share with you one of my new “forever” recipes, compliments of last month’s Vegetarian menu. I still have a pan of this beautiful Chickpea Pot Pie in my freezer, just begging to be eaten. In my own version, I made homemade pie crust (that refrigerated version is blasphemy), and I can’t even tell you how delicious it tastes. You absolutely won’t miss the chicken. I promise.

3) Besides food in general, this pregnancy has left me absolutely obsessed with soup. Normally, I’m not a soup kind of gal. I’d rather have something hearty like a stew. Or mashed potatoes. With mushroom gravy. Soup, normally not so much. Pregnancy, however, leaves me daydreaming about soup. Only making this “soup” problem more serious for me as of late is the addition of a local Jason’s Deli, which only has the most amazing vegetarian vegetable soup. Try as I might, I haven’t been able to recreate it just yet…but this recipe from We Live Once comes close.

4) Although I don’t follow the standard wives’ tale about how women who are pregnant with girls want to eat sweets all the time (quite the opposite, actually), I do still love me some pumpkin. I skipped the pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, so maybe this recipe sounds more delicious to me than to others who may have overdosed. I’ve never seen pumpkin presented in a “Pumpkin Dump Cake” fashion, but I think it’s a genius idea. And, if you’re not already reading Cookies And Cups, you really should. She has some of the most inventive, yet simple dessert recipes ever.

5) While in Scotland, on more than one occasion, I ordered something called a “meat pie”. Normally, this would not appeal to me because of the whole “meat” part, but I found it impossible to eat primarily plant-based while we were in Scotland. Although I haven’t really talked much about it (or anything else lately, for that matter), meat hasn’t appealed to me since I was around my 6th week of pregnancy. As soon as the morning-all-day-sickness set in, meat was basically off the table. However, Scottish Meat Pies were my exception. They quickly fell into step as one of my ultimate comfort foods, although I had no knowledge of them prior to our trip. I was pretty excited to find this vegan version, packaged as a Thanksgiving Mini Pot Pie With Mushroom Gravy from Vegan Dad. This, my friends, is basically a Scottish meat pie, minus the meat. And then, my life was complete.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! I’m off to Hershey, PA in a few hours, and I’m really looking forward to snagging some hand-stirred kettle corn. And several Hershey’s Minis.

Did you find a fantastic recipe online this week that you want to share with me? Link it up–I’d love to see it!

I’m leaving for vacation tomorrow morning. That means that you won’t hear much from me for at least a week, and updates will likely be limited to a picture of me eating fish & chips in a Scottish pub. Or a video of me spinning my umbrella in the rain. Won’t that be exciting? I’m sure you’ll just hold your breath and wait for that post!

Since my primary source of contentment right now (between bouts of heartburn, migraines, and asthma attacks) seems to be feeding my loved ones, I’m leaving you with yet another recipe. Are you sick of them yet? I would bet the answer is “yes”, since nobody seems to be commenting lately on my recipes.

But that won’t stop me. Ignore me all you want. I must still cook and share.

So, like Hansel & Gretel, and I’m leaving a trail of Honey Wheat bread crumbs all the way to Scotland.

If you think that you can’t make bread, you’re wrong. Try it. You won’t be sorry. This bread recipe in particular is nearly foul proof. It’s just so easy that you can’t screw it up. As long as your yeast is fresh and your water is the right temperature, you’re golden. So don’t tell me that you “can’t make bread”. I promise that it’ll be worth the 10 minutes of kneading.

Honey Wheat Bread

[printable recipe]

Yields 2 loaves

2 cups Warm water (110-120 degrees)

2 cups Whole wheat flour

1 T Active dry yeast

1 t Salt

1/3 C Honey

1/3 C Canola oil

5 C All purpose flour

2 T Honey (optional)

2 T Butter (optional)

1. Pour honey in to a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand-up mixer). In a measuring cup (or small bowl), dissolve yeast in water. Add yeast/water mixture to honey and stir gently to combine. Allow to rest for 3-5 minutes.
2. Mix (by hand or with the hook attachment on a stand-up mixer) in whole wheat flour, salt, and canola oil. Slowly add all-purpose flour.
3. If mixing by hand, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead for 10-15 minutes. If using a stand-up mixer, allow the dough to “knead” in the mixer for 10-15 minutes. The dough should be smooth and stretchy when you’ve finished kneading.
4. Place kneaded bowl into a well-oiled bowl (turning to coat), cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel, and place in a warm place to rise.
5. After the dough has doubled in size (about 45 minutes-1 hour), punch dough down and shape into 2 loaves. Place each loaf into a well-greased 9″ x 5″ loaf pan. Set aside again, and allow to rise until the loaf comes about 1″ above the edge of the pan.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes (the loaf will turn a nice golden brown color on top).
7. Remove from oven, and allow to cool slightly. Combine 2 T honey with 2 T butter (optional), and brush on top of each loaf. Cool completely before slicing.

Set aside a Saturday evening to make this bread, make French toast with it on Sunday morning, and feed it to everyone around you. I promise that they will love you for life.

———

Wasa Giveaway Winner!

As promised, the winner of Monday’s Wasa Giveaway is AshleyDawn!

AshleyDawn, just send me your full name and address, and I’ll make sure your prize is sent out ASAP! Congrats!

———-

On the agenda for Scotland is of course walking the Loch Ness 15K, eating authentic fish & chips, watching the “men” of the group eat haggis (gag me), and going on every possible ghostly or haunted walking tour in Edinburgh. And of course we have to hit the Guinness Storehouse while we’re in Dublin (even if I can’t partake in the adult beverages at the end of the tour), and a trip to Dublin would not be complete for me unless I tour the Kilmainham Goal, because I am thoroughly addicted to the spooky history of jails.

So, everyone, be sure to miss me tons! I’ll definitely miss the blog while I’m gone!

Be prepared when I get back–I’m sure I will become obsessed with some new food while traveling. And have at least one embarrassing tidbit to share.

I’d really like to be able to tell you that I made this recipe for unselfish reasons. That My Gazelle requested turkey meatballs randomly one day, or that he had a hankering for some zesty marinara sauce out of the blue. That would be a lie. He is a simple man, and he has only ever requested two things from me: tacos and pancakes. In five years.

Tacos (because they’re kind of like a religion in our house), and pancakes.

It’s actually kind of tragic for someone who loves to feed others as much as I do, that the love of my life only requests tacos and pancakes from me. I’ve learned to cope.

Prior to pregnancy, I would often try to cook things that I knew My Gazelle would want to eat. It was more like mind-reading than anything, since my question “what would you like for dinner?”, was always countered with “ehh…I don’t care”. But at least I tried to cook food with his desires in mind. These days, I cook for me. I have no choice–when I get the image of a particular food in my head, it will plague me until I cook it or procure it in some other fashion. It’s kind of disturbing, actually.

So, although my husband would probably sell his soul for a good taco, I’ve only made tacos once since I’ve been pregnant. And I only feel mildly guilty about this fact.

In a particularly self-serving fashion, I decided last week that turkey meatballs and marinara needed to be added to to the rotation this week. If not, I was convinced that I would die. I’m not kidding you guys. It’s really that bad. I’ve walked around since early last week daydreaming about turkey meatballs in marinara sauce. I really think I might need an intervention. And my husband needs tacos. There is a compromise in there somewhere.

I’m just not ready to find it.

The only thing that makes me feel a little bit better about my selfish menu selection this time is the fact that these freaking meatballs and this damn marinara sauce is so good. So good that even when I was completely full of meatballs, I was still dipping leftover noodles in sauce and eating them. Standing in front of the stove. While doing dishes.

I need an intervention for real.

Turkey Meatballs with Zesty Marinara Sauce

Yields ~40  1.5″ meatballs

[printable recipe]

For the Meatballs:

2 Pounds ground turkey (I’ve found that the best mix is 1.5 pounds of 93/7, and 1/2 pound of 85/15)

1/2 Cup breadcrumbs

1 Cup milk (dairy or non-dairy–any milk will do)

1 Small onion, chopped

2 T Dried basil

2 T Dried oregano

1 T Granulated garlic

1/2 T Crushed red pepper

1/4 t Salt

1/4 t Pepper

For the Marinara:

2-28 oz. cans of Diced tomatoes (I prefer the pre-seasoned ones for a little extra zip)

2 T Dried basil

2 T Dried oregano

2 T Granulated garlic

1 T Crushed red pepper (more or less, depending on your love for the ‘zest’)

6 oz. (1 small can) Tomato paste

12 oz. (2 tomato paste cans) Water

1 T Balsamic vinegar

1/3 C Bread crumbs

3 T Sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
2. Combine bread crumbs and milk in a small bowl and set aside for approximately 5 minutes. It should turn into a mushy-pasty substance. It looks kind of gross, but you need this–it makes your meatballs tender.
3. Combine remaining meatball ingredients in a large bowl, then add the breadcrumb/milk mixture, and mix with your hands until combined.
4. Roll meatball mixture into 1.5″ balls (I use a medium ice cream scoop to make it easier), and place on a baking sheet.
5. When you’ve filled your baking sheet, place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
6. In the meantime, you can put together the marinara. Combine tomatoes, basil, oregano, garlic, and crushed red pepper in a blender. Blend just long enough to combine the spices with the tomatoes. You just don’t want to turn it into tomato juice.
7. Place blended sauce in a pan, and bring to a simmer. Add balsamic vinegar, tomato paste, and water, and stir to combine. Bring back to a simmer, and add bread crumbs and sugar. Allow the sauce to simmer for 10-20 minutes.
8. When meatballs are finished baking (and sauce is finished simmering), place a small amount of sauce on the bottom of a baking dish, then place cooked meatballs on top. Pour remaining sauce over top of the meatballs, cover the baking dish (with a lid or foil), and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes.

You can serve these delicious meatballs with pasta, atop steamed veggies, or eat them all by themselves. If you want to be like me, you can serve them with egg noodles, garlic bread, and string beans. Even though egg noodles and zesty marinara don’t really ‘match’ from a culinary standpoint.

Why egg noodles, you ask?

Because that’s what this girl wanted. And these days, in a race between culinary sensibility and pregnancy cravings, sensibility loses every single time.

Luckily, this recipe makes enough to serve a small army. If you want to make yourself feel a little better about making selfish menu choices, just put a pan of them together for a friend. That’s what I did, and then I kind of felt like I redeemed myself.

Which means that I’ve now cleared the way for at least one more self-serving menu selection in the near future.

And it probably won’t be tacos.

Here we are again…another day, another sweet recipe that I may or may not feel inclined to eat. This time, rather than throw away 1/2 a dozen Banana Oatmeal Crunch Muffins, I smartened up and threw some chocolate up in the mix. My Gazelle will eat it if it includes chocolate.

Bananas, not so much.

But he’ll gladly drink a green smoothie. He’s an enigma, that man.

Another great way to convince him that something is worth eating is to show him that I’ve made it somehow healthier than the original, yet magically made it taste just as delicious. I happen to be involved in one of the few marriages where my husband is more concerned about the state of his waistline than I am about mine. And I’m concerned, so that tells you a lot about him and his waistline worries.

This recipe came about because Wasa reached out to me and asked me if I wanted to try their “Crispbread” products. With the knowledge that I already had several Wasa products in my pantry, and that I can often be seen lately slathering any number of Wasa products with peanut butter before my workout, of course I said yes. What I didn’t know is that the product that I frequently munch on before I work out is in fact called “Crispbread”.

[cue the collective "duh" please]

Then I wondered how I can eat a product so often, yet never know what it’s actually called. I thought this “Wasa Crispbread” was new. It’s not. I eat it all the time. Especially in the past 4 months.

Since I have been back on track with my workouts, I have been scheduling in my (usually) three mall walks per week in the evenings, as well as two weight-lifting sessions during the week. However, unlike before I was growing a baby, I just can’t work out on an empty stomach these days. I get Hangry, and I need to eat first.

This is what usually saves the day (and my blood sugar).

Wasa Fiber Crispbread (because really…what pregnant lady doesn’t need fiber?), with a smattering of natural peanut butter, and raisins tossed on top. It’s quick, easy, calorie-reasonable, and it keeps me full until I can eat my planned dinner. It works miracles, and keeps my Hangry in check so that I still have a friend to walk with.

Wasa offered me some free samples of their Crispbread, and I could have just told you about how I eat Crispbread to keep away the Hangry before my workouts, but that would be boring. So, I decided instead to remix one of my old-school recipes using Wasa Crispbread.

And then, it was fun again.

I must preface this recipe by first telling you that it’s not really a “healthy” recipe per se. These days, I’m not really a fan of cutting out fat, sugar, and butter just in the name of making a recipe “look” better. Treats are treats, and they’re to be eaten in moderation, so I would rather just eat the real thing if I’m going to eat it (which happens pretty infrequently these days, since Baby #1 would rather have me eat potato chips and french fries).

For this recipe remix, the only thing I did differently is substituted saltine crackers for Wasa Fiber Crispbread. However, just by making that one little change, I added an additional 2 grams of fiber per serving. Not to mention, the ingredient list is far less weirdish on the Wasa Crispbread than it is on a standard saltine, and that is a big deal to me.

Chocolate Caramel Cracker Crisps

www.joggerslife.com

[printable recipe]

14 Wasa Fiber Crispbread Slices (or any Wasa Crispbread)

1 C Salted Butter

1 C Packed Brown Sugar

2-3 C Semisweet Chocolate Chips

1 C Chopped Walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, and cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil (don’t use waxed paper–I learned this lesson the hard way. Don’t be like me).
2. Break Crispbreads in half, and line up side by side on the baking sheet, pushing them close together to avoid large gaps.
3. Combine butter and brown sugar in a small pan, and bring to a boil. Boil for 3 minutes, then pour the hot caramel mixture over top of the Crispbread. Using a rubber spatula, spread the caramel evenly across the Crispbread.
4. Place the cookie sheet in the oven for 5-6 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven, and sprinkle the chocolate chips on top. Wait 1-2 minutes for them to melt, then spread them evenly using a rubber spatula. Sprinkle chopped walnuts on top.
6. Cool completely, then put cookie sheet in the freezer or fridge before breaking apart (to make the chocolate less melty). Store in the fridge for the least messy eating experience.

And, it’s good. Really, really good. I know this because I actually tried some…and that says a lot these days.

Now, as if a chocolaty, fiber-rich recipe weren’t enough, here’s the really fun part. You can be the proud owner of your very own Wasa Crispbread.

All you have to do is:

1. Visit Wasa’s Facebook page. Check out the “Snackspiration” page, and then the “recipe gallery”. They have tons of ideas about how to eat your Wasa.
2. Come back here and leave me a comment letting me know how you would eat your Crispbread. With peanut butter and raisins? Would you dip it in Nutella? Spread Laughing Cow cheese on it? Melt some cheddar on it, then throw some apple slices on top?

Is this just me? Am I the only one who eats Crispbread with everything?

Tell me, and win some for yourself!

The winner will be chosen before I leave for vacation on Friday September 30th, so be quick!

Sometimes, I would rather do nothing except stand in my kitchen and bake. I’ve always been that way, even when I was young. Oftentimes, my Mom would come home on her lunch hour during the summer to find me in her kitchen, baking up a storm, making supreme messes everywhere.

I like to think that I’ve now mastered the art of cleaning as I go, but I still find the occasional splatter of crusty cupcake batter on the side of my fridge.

It happens.

Last weekend, all I wanted to do is bake. In fact, it seems like a symptom of my pregnancy. I want to bake every possible pie, tart, muffin and cupcake around, but I don’t really want to eat any of it. I’d much rather pass up a cupcake for a pretzel these days. So, I’m basically just baking treats for everyone around me. Kind of like nesting, only in the form of baked goods. Kind of strange, but I’m going with it.

Most recently, I had 2 bananas didn’t find their way into a smoothie or oatmeal on time, so I decided to reincarnate them into banana bread. Then I decided that banana muffins would be more portable, and that I might actually eat them for breakfast if they seemed more like a meal accompaniment than a treat.

Since baking them, I’ve eaten these cruncy-topped banana muffins three times for breakfast–once with a cold glass of milk, and twice with ice cold plain Greek yogurt. I like to dip the muffin in the yogurt (but that has nothing to do with this story). They are tasty without being too sweet, and the crunchy top makes them extra delicious.

Banana Oatmeal Crunch Muffins

www.joggerslife.com

Yield: 12 muffins

[printable recipe]

For the muffins:

1 1/4 C. Sugar

1/2 C. Margarine or Butter (1 stick)

2 Eggs

1 1/2 C. Bananas, Mashed

1/2 C. Buttermilk (or, 1/2 C milk with 1T vinegar added)

2 C. Flour

1/2 C. Quick Oats

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Vanilla

For the topping:

1/2 C. Butter or Margarine, slightly softened

1/2 C. Quick Oats

1/4 C. Brown Sugar

1/4 C. White Sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease bottom (only) of 12-cup muffin pan.
3. Cream together margarine/butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add eggs, bananas, buttermilk, and vanilla, and beat until smooth.
4. Slowly add in flour, baking soda, and salt.
5. In a separate bowl, combine together remaining butter, quick oats, white sugar, and brown sugar. Mix until it resembles the texture of sand (there will be some clumps, and that’s fine).
6. Place approximately 1/3 C of muffin batter for each muffin into the tin. Add enough of the oatmeal/brown sugar topping to fill the muffin cup, and gently press down to ensure it stays put.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Eat!

Once upon a time, there was a girl. A girl who loved to eat brunch at The Cheesecake Factory on Sunday morning. In fact, she loved this brunch so much that she ate Lemon Ricotta Pancakes at The Cheesecake Factory every Sunday morning for two months.

Then, she was broke.

So she made her own damn Lemon Ricotta Pancakes.

The end.

It turns out that these are the lightest, most delicious pancakes I’ve ever made in my life. I have honestly never made better pancakes. My Gazelle asked for seconds, and that never happens in our house (unless we’re speaking ‘taco’). I might actually have to modify this recipe to become my standard pancake recipe. They’re that good.

This morning, I even ate a leftover pancake naked. No syrup. No butter. I barely took the time to even heat the pancake. They’re that good.

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

www.joggerslife.com

[printable recipe]

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 1/4 cup coconut milk (any milk will do, really)
• 3 eggs, separated
• 1/4 cup sugar
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1 t Lemon extract (optional, but definitely gives an added punch of lemon)
• 1 3/4 cups cake flour
• 1 T baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Directions:

This has been a fairly uneventful week, and that is just fine with me.

Our baby is now the size of a peach, which I find really ironic, considering my recent obsession with peaches and nectarines.

Last night, I slept for eleven (11) hours. Yes, ELEVEN. Hours. And I only woke up to pee three (3) times. It was kind of blissful. Apparently, “we” were very sleepy.

Another note in the baby realm, yesterday I felt my very first “flutter”. Some people think that it’s crazy to think that one can feel any type of movement related to the baby this early, but believe me when I tell you that it’s possible. Given the fact that I’m still a little paranoid from my previous history of failed pregnancy, I am highly aware of every single twinge, poke, flip and flutter. Let’s just say that I’m kind of in tune at this point.

I can only really describe the feeling as if it were a little tickle inside my guts. Good description, right?

I’m still finding it amazing on a daily basis that there is a baby growing inside of me.

A baby which is the size of a medium shrimp.

Weird.

Moving along.

I like to use Fridays now to wrap things up, and show you five places on the Interwebs that I spent some time this week. I already told you about Rose’s Pigs In A Blanket yesterday, and here are five other links that I loved this week:

1) It’s no secret that I love The Bloggess. Last week’s Friday Five link to her post about Beyonce The Metal Chicken is proof of that. She cracks me up on a regular basis, and this post that she did for The Stir is no exception. It’s called Lesson 22: Body Acceptance for Kids, and she somehow manages to take a serious topic and make it funny. That’s her greatest talent, really.

2) I must admit that I love Tori Spelling. I’ve read all of her books, and I really admire her ability to have remained somewhat normal and well-adjusted despite her Hollywood upbringing. Well, now Tori blogs. Or, maybe someone blogs for Tori. In either case, she often features great recipes on her blog, and this recipe for Rhubarb and White Chocolate Buttermilk Muffins is no exception. Rhubarb isn’t particularly in-season anymore in Maryland, but I’m putting this one on the calendar for next May!

3) You didn’t think that I’d make it through this week’s Friday Five without a link to some baby-related stuff, right? Good, because that is just not possible. [It's called Baby Brain. Documented medical condition.] I was looking for baby announcement ideas–you know, those little cards that new parents send in the mail with the baby’s picture and all of their birth information? Well, I honestly think that some of them are tacky, and I don’t want to be that Mom. I found so many cute, non-tacky birth announcements at Minted that I’ve bookmarked it for March. I’d love to say that I’m going to make my own (like I did with our wedding invitations), but it’s not likely that I’ll find the time between nursing, burping, cleaning and napping.

4) I have recently rekindled my love affair with my CrockPot. It seems that we always become reacquainted around this time of year because I start envisioning hearty fall and winter foods, and for some reason that always involves the CrockPot for me. My main problem with the CrockPot is that I have to be prepared with the right produce and such in order to have a complete meal. This is an ongoing problem, especially since being pregnant, because grocery shopping is a challenge. If I want to eat it now, I probably won’t want to eat it tomorrow. I’ve been hitting the grocery store 3-4 times per week for this reason. It’s a fantastic waste of time. I came across a post by Stephanie from Mama and Baby Love that has a few recipes for CrockPot meals that you can make in advance. All you do is throw everything into a Ziploc bag, freeze it until you’re ready to eat it, then just throw it in the CrockPot as usual. This is actually where I got the idea to make a pan of Stuffed Cabbage Rolls in advance the other night. Stephanie’s post has opened up a whole new realm of dinner possibilities for me, and if I properly plan ahead, I think that this will come in very handy for the days when the medium shrimp is first home, when the last thing on my mind is what to cook for dinner.

5) What would the blog world be without pumpkin during the fall, right? Since I am a huge fan of pumpkin, I don’t really mind the constant influx of pumpkin recipes during the fall. I was especially excited about Jenna’s recipe for Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting. I’ve definitely printed this recipe, and I’ll be testing it out very soon. You know…when the little peach decides that s/he wants to eat a cupcake…but s/he only seems to want cheese and orange juice right now, so I’ll have to wait it out.

Did you read any great posts this week that can’t be missed?

Find a great recipe that you’re excited to try?

Link to it in the comments (there’s no shame in self-promotion either)!

Have a fantastic weekend everyone!

One of my least favorite meals growing up was stuffed cabbage rolls. Hated them. In fact, anything with cabbage in it was on my “no thank you” list. It didn’t take my Mom long to realize this fact. Eventually, rather than make my sister and I eat the “cabbage package” of the stuffed cabbage roll, she would lovingly shape only the filling into little rectangles for us so that we could avoid the cabbage.

Another one of my mom’s favorites was boiled ham and cabbage. Doesn’t that sound completely horrendous? Nothing about the name even sells it. Boiled. Ham. Cabbage. Maybe if she gave it a clever name I would’ve liked it better. The one and only time I ever found myself sitting at the table until I finished my dinner was on a boiled ham and cabbage night. It was a very lonely night at the dinner table.

You can imagine my surprise when I immediately started drooling upon seeing Rose’s recipe for Healthy Pigs In A Blanket (a.k.a Stuffed Cabbage Rolls). I get it. I’m extremely food-impressionable at the moment considering my current hormonal state. However, while reading the recipe, I honestly couldn’t believe that I was getting excited about a stuffed vegetable.

[although...stuffed mushrooms...mmm...those are good...]

What initially attracted me to this recipe was the fact that Rose used Swiss chard rather than cabbage. I don’t so much hate cabbage anymore, but it does still seem a little boring and blah-ish. I planned to stick to the recipe on this one and use Swiss chard and ground turkey.

However. The only grocery store that I felt like stopping by after work is kind of ‘inside the box’ when it comes to vegetables, so Swiss chard was not an option. Again considering my hormonal state, I decided I wasn’t driving across town to go to the natural market. I opted for cabbage instead.

You win, Mom.

I had also planned to make these on Tuesday evening while I was cooking Tuesday’s dinner [Shake -N- Bake chicken breasts, fried potatoes, and corn...in case you were wondering like I would've been...considering my current hormonal state], but I just ran out of energy. Rather than getting all of the completed rolls nestled into my CrockPot for the night, I ended up only cooking the rice and mixing up the filling, and that was all I had in me.

Last night, prior to going mall-walking (clearly another story for another day), I slapped together all of the cabbage rolls, put them in a baking dish, and baked them at 300 degrees for about 90 minutes while I was mall-walking.

Yes, I’ve gone from marathoner/triathlete to pregnant mall-walker. But I’m not ready…we’ll have to talk about it later.

When I came home from walking, the house smelled amazing. And I drooled.

I wasn’t sure if My Gazelle was going to like stuffed cabbage rolls, so I also sauteed some turkey kielbasa with Fuji apple slices for him…just in case cabbage was also on his “no thank you” list. It turns out that he liked both the cabbage rolls and the kielbasa, so that’s a win/win for the wife.

Although, he did ask for “more ground turkey” next time. Noted.

The great part about this recipe is that I had enough filling and cabbage leaves left over to be able to put together an entire second pan of rolls. I constructed all of the rolls, put them in a disposable baking tin, poured the sauce on top, popped the tin into a Ziploc bag, and now it’s in the freezer. Perfect solution for any future night in which I have another hankering for stuffed cabbage rolls.

Which is very likely, considering my current hormonal state.

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls (a.k.a. Pigs In A Blanket)

[Printable Recipe]

• 1.5-2 lb. ground turkey (or, cannellini beans would be a good veggie substitute)
• 1.5 cups of cooked rice
• 1T Basil
• 1-2 cloves garlic (or 1T garlic powder if you don’t have fresh)
• 1 small onion, chopped (or 1T onion powder if you don’t have fresh)
• Salt & pepper (to taste)
• 1 T Worcestershire sauce
• 20 cabbage leaves (or, swiss chard, purple cabbage, etc.)
• 2 small cans of tomato sauce (I used the ‘basil & garlic’ variety)
• 1 small can of tomato paste
• 2 cups water

1) Cook rice using slightly less water than normal (you’re going to be baking the cooked rice, so you don’t want it to start off soggy).

2) Mix together the cooked rice, ground turkey, basil, garlic, onion, salt & pepper, and Worcestershire sauce and set aside or refrigerate until needed.

3) Boil a large pot of water. Cut off the bottom “stem” of the cabbage, and place the head of cabbage in the water until the leaves begin to soften and come away from the head. As they peel off, set them aside. This took me about 10 minutes to get all of the leaves off (without ripping them).

4) To assemble the rolls, place a small amount of filling in the center of each cabbage leaf, then fold the sides around the filling to make a little “cabbage package”. Here’s a good video that explains how to do it: Cabbage Stuffing Video. If you watch the second video, she also explains that you can put the cabbage in the freezer overnight rather than boiling it. Interesting…maybe next time.

5) Place the tomato sauce, tomato paste, and water into a blender and combine all together (you can also do this by hand, but I’m lazy). Pour a small amount in the bottom of a 9″ x 13″ baking pan, then begin laying your completed cabbage rolls on top. This keeps the rolls from sticking to the pan.

6) After placing all of the rolls into the pan, cover them generously with the remaining tomato sauce.

7) Cover with foil, and bake rolls until the cabbage is very tender and the sauce is bubbling. For me, this was approximately 90 minutes in a 300 degree oven. Alternatively, you could bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

My Mom always served this with mashed potatoes, and the tomato sauce is so yummy on the potatoes. You can also serve this with pierogies, kielbasa, or a simple green salad and buttered rye bread.

Delicious!

What was your LEAST favorite meal that your parents made you as a child?

Today, friends, marks 4 years of this girl being purge-free.

And, it kind of makes me feel like this…

You know. With slightly less 9-year-old-appearing arms.

The funny part about this [besides that picture of course] is that I realized this fact at the exact moment when I needed to be reminded of the fact that I haven’t purged in 4 years.

Strange how life works that way.

I returned from lunch yesterday and bolted to the bathroom, passing 3 of my coworkers along the way. I had just eaten 1/2 of a veggie roll from the Italian joint across the street, and I thought to myself,

“Self, 5 years ago, you would’ve barfed up this lunch.”

This thought inevitably lead me to start trailing off into thoughts of remedying myself of the conflict I felt after having eaten a cheesy veggie roll from the Italian restaurant. Not that I necessarily wanted to purge, but sometimes I crave the emotional release that I used to feel after purging. It’s likely akin to the way that a recovered addict daydreams about the feeling that their drug of choice gave them during binges of past.

I always follow up that initial fleeting thought with reminders of how miserable life was before I sought treatment.

“Self, you’ve worked too damn hard to barf up this lunch.”

And in the midst of this coax back to reality, I remembered what April 7th means in my world. And I re-lived the previous 3 minutes, in which I bolted past 3 of my coworkers to get to the bathroom after lunch.

Not because I wanted to barf, but because I had to pee.

Even though I have been free of binging and purging for 4 years, I still worry that other people in my life might think that I’m binging and purging. Sometimes, I take too long in the bathroom. I’m inevitably just checking myself out in mirror for too long or fixing my hair, but the fear is always there.

If I have a coughing fit while I’m in the bathroom (thank you, asthma), I worry that My Gazelle will see my post-hack-fest reddened face and eyes, then jump to incorrect conclusions.

If I come back from lunch out with my coworker and immediately high tail it to the bathroom (not because I’m purging, but because I refuse to use strange toilets unless I absolutely have to–that’s another post for another day), I always worry that someone is suspecting me for a bulimic.

But I’m not.

It seems like this is another of my hurdles to jump over–getting over the idea that other people might think I’m still being self-abusive. This presents itself as a strange sort of guilt that I feel for ever having had an eating disorder. I’m not sure why I feel guilty since I’m not engaging in the behavior anymore.

This lingering guilt over giving anyone the impression that I’m still purging (or purging again), however, does not overshadow the fact that I am indeed purge free for 4 years.

FOUR YEARS. Wow! If someone had told me 5 years ago that I was going to be free of bulimia, I wouldn’t have believed them. It was such an all-encompassing, time-sucking part of my life.

Now, I blog, launch charities, and start bakeries instead. I think it’s a pretty good trade off.

It’s not always easy to keep my life eating-disorder-free, but I’ll never quit trying.

In conclusion, and since I am out of words, I’ll leave you with with the following text-versation between myself and My Gazelle. It pretty much sums up the way I feel about this momentous occasion.

And with that, I must go find a cupcake.

In the midst of all of my “activities” as of late (charity organizing, cupcake baking, race-skipping), I have become a little more lax in the cooking department than I would like to admit. While I still cook dinner 90% of the time, my dinner plate looks far less inspired than I would normally prefer.

Even more concerning is the fact that I have been eating take out for lunch approximately 99% of the time. This makes me cringe, because I know that these quick lunches are to blame for that squishy feeling I’m experiencing around my belly button region.

Making healthy choices at a restaurant is easy for me, but I’m sure that my version of chicken and brown rice has far less added junk in it than the restaurant version. If I had some great dinner leftovers to eat for lunch, I would be far less likely to eat lunch out 99% of the time.

I blame my lack of kitchen inspiration on three things: 1) busyness, 2) laziness, 3) I need ideas!

Yesterday, as I was contemplating this very dilemma that I have got myself into,  Jen (a PriorFatGirl…one of my favorite girls ever…) posted this Tweet:

And I immediately wanted to see every single response that she received!

I read a few cooking blogs, but honestly, The Pioneer Woman is not exactly healthy. Delicious, but not healthy. I love reading Mama Pea’s recipes (p.s…have you pre-ordered her cookbook yet?), but I’d like to read more blogs that focus most of their attention on healthy cooking.

Incidentally, I read a few days ago that many of the farmers markets in Maryland opened last weekend (nearly a month early), due to an abundance of spring crops. This is wonderful news! I have to go to the farmer’s market! I have to cook!

[I understand that was far too much exclamation for one paragraph, but really...vegetables are exciting business]

I need inspiration! Now, I ask you dear readers. Help Jen and I feel inspired to cook beautiful meals.

What are your favorite healthy cooking blogs?

Please do link and promote and let yourself be seen, lurkers! I need help!

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