Pregnancy Cravings

Every pregnancy is different but this time around I have a MAJOR sweet AND salty tooth! Last pregnancy I craved donuts. I would allow myself to have 4 donuts a week until the last few when a donut a day kept the pregnant lady at bay! This time around I crave home made chocolate chip cookies, fudge brownies and Chick fil a french fries. Clearly ALL healthy things! But I would like to not be a ginormous pregnant lady so I really try to limit my sweet and salty intake. We eat pretty healthy at the house due to Peter's dietary restrictions and because I am feeding a toddler and want her to only eat healthy whole foods. But this pregnant lady needs some sweets now and again! So I have found 2 recipes that are GREAT to fulfill both of my cravings but not have me chowing down thousands of calories. 

The first is a single serve chocolate chip cookie recipe. It actually makes 2 large cookies so I have one for the next day! Here is the recipe. 

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 2 firmly packed tablespoons of dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar
• Pinch of kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
• 1 egg yolk – discard or set aside egg white for a different use
• ¼ teaspoon of baking soda
• ¼ cup of all-purpose flour
• 3 heaping tablespoons of semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a microwave safe bowl, heat butter just until it starts to melt and is softened. Blend softened butter, sugars, salt, and vanilla together by hand.
3. Add egg yolk and stir again.
4. Add baking soda and flour and stir until combined.
5. Then stir in chocolate chips.
6. Form cookie dough into two balls and place on baking sheet.
7. The cookies will spread during baking, so make sure they are several inches apart.
8. Bake for about 8 minutes, or until edges are golden brown.
9. Remove baking sheet from oven and give the baking sheet a firm, but careful bang on the counter top. This will deflate the cookie and give it a perfect wrinkly appearance.

The second is a homemade french fry recipe. 

Ingredients

• 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
• sea salt
• pepper
• garlic powder

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray
2. Wash potatoes well 
3. Peel if you would like. I like to keep the peel because it's better for you
4. Cut the potatoes into wedges
5. Let the potatoes soak for 20 min in ice cold water. This helps remove some starch
6. Dry the potatoes as well as you can
7. In a bowl or large plastic bag mix all ingredients together. Garlic powder is optional 
8. Bake at 450 for 30-45 min depending on how thick you cut them and how crispy you want them

Now if you are craving sweet and salty I would recommend sweet potato fries! Same as above but I add a teaspoon of brown sugar to the mix. 

Bon Appetit! 

Babymoon

I have been an absentee blogger for a while... again... Basically I am 30 weeks pregnant and spend 99% of my day chasing around a 16 month old who DOES NOT STOP. So there is my excuse...

BUT I had to blog about our great BABYMOON we went on last month! Peter and I are FIRM believers in getting some alone time from the kiddos 1-3 times a year. I think it's healthy for Ava to be around other caregivers and also for Peter and I to reconnect and focus on each other for a few days instead of our sweet girl. Of course 70% of the trip we talk about how cute Ava is or about how excited we are for Alice's arrival but it's still nice to be able to not plan a day around nap time.

For our babymoon we chose the cute town of Carmel. Carmel/ Pebble Beach are about 1.5 hours from where we live and have great shopping, food, and beaches. We found the cutest little cottage to rent on airbnb.com. The house was along the 17 mile drive and about a 15 min walk to the city of Carmel.

We got there Friday evening and enjoyed a fabulous Sushi dinner in Carmel and picked up some chocolate cheesecake on the way home. We got into bed at 8:30 and watched Scandal and ate cheesecake. It was AMAZING! The next morning we both woke up at 7:45! We tried to sleep in but I guess Ava has ruined us from sleeping in! We decided to walk down to the city and grab some brunch. The walk down to the city was super nice. We stopped at the beach to relax a bit but it was a little too cold to hang out for a long time.

After brunch we hiked back up to the cottage.... literally. The walk down the hill was pleasant but hiking up a 40 degree hill 26 weeks pregnant was a bit tougher than expected! I tend to be a bit of a overachiever and never admit that I am over exerted or need help but luckily Peter noticed my HEAVY breathing and made me take several breaks on the way up. We saw several deer and SEVERAL multimillion dollar homes on the way up. It was fun but we did not attempt the hike again during the trip. 

After we rested for an hour or so we decided to drive down to Big Sur. The drive down was SPECTACULAR and we made several stops along the way. 

Peter had to climb down and up every hill/mountain along the way. I just looked away and prayed he didn't slip. Boys are so funny! We also spotted a whale from this look out. I spotted the blow spout and yelled down to Peter to look. We assume it was a gray whale and it's calf since they are in season to spot around here.

We finally arrived at Pfeiffer State Park but didn't realize they have limited parking and had to wait about 45 minutes to park and head to the beach. If you ever head down there on a weekend get there early or it can take 3+ hours to park. They don't let cars in if there aren't any spots so you have to wait until someone leaves for them to let any cars in. The wait was worth it! This beach was BEAUTIFUL! It was still way too cold for me to swim but it was great to hang on the beach.

The next day we decided to go whale watching in Monterey. We did this actually during our babymoon while I was pregnant with Ava but apparently spring is the best time to see Orcas and so we decided to go again. We did not see any orcas BUT we saw over 20 humpback whales, a family of gray whales, and lots of dolphins. We even saw 4 humpback whales bubble feeding while dolphins tried to jump all over/around them. The whales made this super annoyed trumpet sound from their blow hole to warn the dolphins. The dolphins did not listen and we saw a humpback whale lift up his/her fin and slap the dolphin! It was crazy and the marine biologist onboard said she has never seen that in her 20 years of whale watching. Let me just say I would not want to be on the other end of a 15 foot long fin slap! We also saw a whale in the distance tail flapping over and over. By the time the boat reached the area the whale had gone on it's way but it was very interesting to see in the distance. Sadly there were no orca sightings but it was so amazing to see so many whales and dolphins! We also saw a few cute little otters and a ton of seals! 

After the fun whale watching tour we headed home to see our sweet girl. I think she really missed us because she held on to us so tight that night and would not let go! She is not a big cuddler but she hugged each of us for 2+ minutes.

What a great trip! And a BIG thank you to Memei for watching Ava!!