Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Since I'm being all domesticated today, I'll share something else that I made today for poor Todd since he's sick still.

This recipe was the search result one night for a pregnancy craving. Boy oh boy it did NOT disappoint. Todd ate "lots" from that first batch and immediately requested them on a weekly basis. They take a little extra prep time because you have to slice, peel, and then dice the apples, but they are SO SO worth it!! Here's the original recipe. I've only tweaked it a tiny bit. Oh and the listed prep time is 5 minutes. HA. More like 20. :)

What you need:

2 cups flour (+2 tsp for coating apples)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon (+1/2 for coating apples)
2 cups peeled and diced apples (I found this takes about 1 & 1/2 apples, but I used 2 for more bits!)
1/2 cup butter, softened (+ enough to brush the tops after baking)
1 cup sugar*
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk

What you do:

1.  Preheat oven to 375. Grease and flour bottoms and sides of a standard muffin tin (12 muffins), making sure to discard any excess flour.

2.  Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside.

3.  Toss together diced apples, 2 tsp of flour, and 1/2 tsp cinnamon in a separate bowl. Set aside.

4. Cream together butter and sugar until lightened in color, about 3 minutes. Add an egg, one at a time, taking care to fully incorporate before adding the other. Mix in vanilla.

5.  Gently fold in flour mixture, alternating with milk. Stir until just combined. Fold in apple mixture.

6. Scoop (I use a small metal ice cream scoop that is SO handy, especially for portioning cookies! Like this one.) into prepared muffin tins. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

7. Once muffins have baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly in the muffin tin on a wire rack. This is where I start to deviate from the original recipe. Her topping calls for using 1/2 a CUP of cinnamon!!! That seemed a little much for me, and all the reviews said the same. So I just brushed butter onto the tops and then sprinkled a cinnamon/sugar (equal parts of each to your liking) mix on top. Place onto a plate to finish cooling.

8. Enjoy warm if you can!




*My second batch began my foray into using agave nectar instead of sugar. All you have to do is use 3/4 cup agave instead of the 1 cup of sugar, reduce the milk by a little (it says to use 1/3 less, but who has time for fraction division?!), reduce the oven temp by 25 degrees (so 350 here), and reduce the baking time by 10 minutes. I already reduce what the original called for (30 minutes) to 20, and that seemed perfect for the agave batch as well (so no change in time). They were just as good and we could not tell the difference! My next variation will be to use honey.

Potato Cheese Soup

This recipe came to us right after Rylin was born. Todd's Mom came and stayed with us to help out around the house and make delicious meals!

One day, sometime around noon, I woke up out of my first-child-newborn-nursing haze to the smell of bacooooon. By the time I pulled some sort of clothing on and stumbled out of my room, I was too late! It was not meant for breakfast, but soup?! Grumble, grumble... it better be worth it.

It. Was.


What you need:

1 pound of bacon, cooked extra crispy and chopped
2 Tbsp (or so) of the bacon drippings
1 bunch green onions, chopped
4 celery stalks, chopped
4 carrots, peeled and chopped
6-8 potatoes, scrubbed and diced
1-2 cups corn
2 cans chicken broth
4 Tbsp flour
Salt
Pepper
Milk
Heavy cream
Grated cheddar cheese (I know you're using Tillamook. Right? RIGHT?!)


What you do:

1. In a small saucepan, sauté the onions in the bacon drippings. I guess you can use butter if you're not awesome. ;)

2. Add the celery, carrots, potatoes, corn, bacon, and chicken broth to your large stockpot on medium heat.

3. Once the onions are done, add the flour to them to make a roux. You'll have to add some broth from your stockpot to avoid using a ton of fat here. Sorry. Once the flour is completely dissolved, add the mixture to your stockpot. Add salt and pepper.

4. Add milk or water if needed to make sure your veggies are nice and covered.

5. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for about 25 minutes. When your carrots and potatoes are soft enough to be cut easily, it's ready.

6. Add enough (about a cup) heavy cream to give the soup a nice creamy consistency.

7. Add enough grated cheese to your liking. I use about 2 cups.

8. Serve and enjoy. If you're Todd or Evan, go back for seconds. :)

Homemade Mac and Cheese

Maybe it's because I am tired of trying to find the tiny piece of paper I have this written down on even though I have it memorized, or maybe it's because it's too good not to share with you all, but here is my favorite recipe for mac and cheese EVAR. I don't even have a picture to share with you because I eat it too quickly.

Trust me when I say I searched far and wide for something that would hit the exact spot I was looking for. It had to be creamy (without using Velveeta [gross!] or cream cheese [who regularly has this on hand??]), and salty (but not too much), not bland (using the right brand [Tillamook] of cheese really helps), and easy to make (only 5 ingredients that you are sure to have!). I have one or two others that are really good, but take longer or need more ingredients. This is by far the easiest!

I'm a little biased about Tillamook cheese because it's all we ever had while growing up in Washington. I have completely converted Todd over and let's just say the love of good cheese runs in my family. If you take anything from my Blog, take this: SWITCH TO TILLAMOOK CHEESE NOW AND FOREVER. You're life will never be the same and you'll thank me later.

They're seriously not kidding with the World's Best claim.

At any rate, now that you know what kind of cheese to buy next time at the store, you are ready to make the featured dish of this post!

What you need:

2 Tbsp salted butter (yes, you can use unsalted but it will be bland)

2 Tbsp flour (yes, can use whole wheat or a combination, it just makes it more grainy and... chewy?)

1 tsp salt (NOT optional unless you want it bland)

1 cup milk (the lowest you should go is 1% or it won't be creamy)

1 cup (or more!) medium cheddar cheese, shredded (yes you can use mild and it will be bland, yes you can use sharp and it will be... tangy??)

What you do:

1. Cook your pasta. I'm pretty sure you know how to do this already. Use any kind you like, but I highly recommend rotini (spirals), conchiglie (shells), or anything that has a lot of texture and grooves that can hold more cheese sauce! Drain it (do not rinse) and set aside. Oh, and make any amount you want because having cooked pasta on hand is really never a bad idea.

2. In the same pot (less dishes!), melt the butter completely over medium heat.

3. Add the flour and stir until well-blended. It will look like a paste at this point.

4. Add the salt and stir until well-blended. Still paste here.

5. Add the milk and keep over medium heat, stirring until paste dissolves/mixes with the milk well.

6. Add the cheese and stir until completely melted.

7. Keep over medium heat and stir until the sauce thickens. Don't walk away! You might burn the bottom of your sauce and then you'd be very sad. So would I. You will know when the sauce is thickened because it will not be runny/milky/thin anymore.

8. Remove from heat and pour whatever amount you desire over dished pasta.

9. Enjoy and go back for seconds. And thirds if there's any left...

OPTIONAL (I have never been patient enough to wait for this but it's still way good):

8. Remove from heat and pour over pasta that you have placed in a casserole baking dish. Either your square brownie pan or a small rectangle pan will work great.

9. Sprinkle the top with even more grated cheese (as much as you want!). Do not cover!

10. Bake at 350 for 1/2 hour.

Scary

*This entry contains information regarding blood and other pregnancy related details. Read at your own discretion.*



I've written before that it's hard to be overly excited when you're pregnant after a loss. Every twinge or odd sensation sends me off into a spin of, "What was that?! Am I losing the baby?!"

It's especially bad because I know the stress is not good for myself or the baby. Telling yourself to calm down just doesn't seem to work. Distraction sometimes does.

I've been having a few episodes of what is called "spotting" or otherwise seeing blood when you're not supposed to. I called the Midwife and been directed twice now within the last month to come in and get checked out. Both times they have determined everything is "OK" and I might just have to deal with this throughout my entire pregnancy.


Awesome.


At least part of the making-sure-everything-is-fine process meant I got another ultrasound and saw the tiny little heart beating away. I also got to hear the heartbeat for the first time. It's "high" at about 160 which in old wives' tales means it's a girl. I'm OK with that. :) I hope we can wait to find out. Maybe. Part of me is worried the tech might blurt it out or not have us look away at the right time.

The nausea hasn't let up as much as I hoped. I am officially at the start of my 2nd trimester when everything is "supposed" to ease up. Meh. It's for sure not as frequent (meaning all day every day), but it's still often enough and severe enough to take me out of commission.

All that being said, I am so so so so so SO grateful that I am pregnant again, even with all the grossness. I continue to have friends and family members that are struggling with infertility and my heart aches for them. Infertility sucks, and there's really nothing that can be said to ease that pain.

So I will put my big-girl pants on and deal with the heartburn and the nausea and the bloating and the cravings and the exhaustion, because I know it is all. So. Worth. It.

Beanie

This is my first (I swear) knitted project. What you can't really see are the multiple dropped and added stitches. I just found a clever way to hide them. :) I even made the pom pom at the top!

 

I really enjoyed the process though and am looking forward to trying new stitches and maybe even making some fun things for the kids! 

Bow holder

I am not what I would call a creative person. I can do things, but I don't really ever come up with the original idea.

I saw a version of this with no back so you just saw through to the wall. I thought that was kinda blah, so I decided to add a cute print as the backdrop to match Rylin's other decor in her room.

This was SO easy and it gave me an excuse to get a mini glue gun. All I did was cut and glue the fabric to the back of the picture frame. I bought a cheap white one for no more than a few dollars. Then I cut and glued the ribbon at intervals that I just eyeballed. Then I put the frame together, threw away the glass, and added the bows. Voilà!

I am...

... a Time Lady. I have two hearts.

... spaghetti sauce. Not Ragu. The other one.

... embarazada. No, not embarrassed.

... a baker. Specializing in buns right now.

... sick. I have the Egyptian Flu.

OK, if you haven't guessed it by now, I am pregnant!! Due July 29th.

We found out while we were in California (I was 5 weeks along) over Thanksgiving break, but I had a feeling I was. Not just because of the nausea, or the cravings, or the sore boobs. I just had a feeling.

We told Todd's Mom we needed to go to the dollar store. She got confused as to why, so we told her we needed to buy some pregnancy tests. Her eyes got really big, she clapped her hands together and said, "Oh! Really?! I can drive you there and buy them for you!"

She was so excited to wait with us for the result. I wasn't given the option of waiting until the morning (hormones are higher then). The second line came up immediately, before I could even walk out of the bathroom. It was faint, but it was there. And that's all that matters.

We waited to announce it to the world because of the miscarriage. My midwife said it best, "Once you have a miscarriage, your innocence is gone." It's true. We both (even still) have that little dark corner in our minds that is terrified of losing the baby at any time. We aren't focusing on that though. Making it past week 7 is the first milestone. Hearing the heartbeat is the next. Because of insurance, I had to wait longer than I'd like for that to happen. It did today so here we are!

The head is on the left and the funny squiggly lines are arms and legs. We got to see the baby wiggling all around and even what looked like a bounce. AMAZING.

We aren't finding out the gender this time (if we can be that patient!). We already have one of each, and this will be our only chance of having that "It's a ....!" moment.

We wanted a girl first. Check. We wanted a boy second. Check.

We want a girl next, but both think it's another boy. We shall see.

We want four total with two of each. Lately though, it feels more like "We just want a healthy baby. Period." It took us 9 months this time. It finally happened the month I stopped planning everything. As I've said before, trying to make a baby takes all the fun out of trying to make a baby.

My age of 35 automatically puts me into the "advanced maternal age" group.

Blah.

Basically it means a bunch of extra genetics testing because of the higher possibility of birth defects. Oh and there's an increased risk of stillbirths for some unknown reason.

I'm also choosing not to focus on any of that.

I am focusing on a healthy, positive pregnancy. I have a midwife that I like. I'll get to labor in the jacuzzi again. I might (fingers crossed) get to have the water birth I've been wanting.

For now though? Hand me the saltines and the ginger ale.