I must admit, for my first pregnancy, this has been wonderful so far!  Besides the queasiness, I haven't gotten sick once, and now that I'm 12 weeks along entering the 2nd trimester, the queasiness is now fading.  Baby has been good to mommy too, craving lots of fruits, salads and yogurt! I must have hit the jackpot for cravings!  Healthy for both mommy and baby. :-) I hope this is a sign of our baby's appetite to come - actually eating their veggies!

I've also been getting some energy back, and packing up our little 1 bedroom apartment, making ready for our move to a 2 bedroom closer to my husband's work.  I am so excited to start on the baby's nursery, I wish we could find out what we are having sooner!

Here is our little one's latest ultrasound.  We were so lucky to have such a cute picture of the baby facing us!  Baby was wiggling all around, and very healthy.  You can even see the little hands.

But let me tell you a little something about ultrasounds... they are exciting and so rewarding to see your baby, but having to drink 24 oz. of water 1 hour before and holding it is torture!  By the time I was called in, I had my mind on finding a restroom, but had to lay in the bed for 10-15 minutes while they pressed on my already too full bladder, measuring the baby.  After they took the measurements, they called my husband in to show us both the baby on the screen.  By this point, my bladder had been pressed on for at least 15-20 minutes.  I was clutching the side of the bed, breathing steady, trying to focus on the baby and not the bathroom around the corner.

Anyway, it's all worth it of course! But definitely uncomfortable!

I think it's safe to say that my morning sickness is finally starting to fade away! Yesterday I had the energy and appetite to make Pesto Stuffed Mushrooms!  Unfortunately I didn't take a picture (they didn't last long!), but I wanted to share the recipe since it is so easy!

Ingredients:

• 1 batch of whole mushrooms - about 14 (any variety is fine, I used white)
• 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese
• 2-3 Tbsp of pre-made pesto sauce
• 1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Wash mushroom caps and remove stems (center should be hallow).
3. Spray cooking spray on a baking dish, and place mushroom caps hallow-side down on the dish - spray cooking spray on top of the mushroom caps as well.
4. Cook in the oven for 5 minutes, and remove.
5. In a small bowl, mix parmesan cheese, pesto and bread crumbs.  Feel free to add more or less of these ingredients to obtain the flavor/texture you prefer.
6. Flip mushroom caps over in the dish (hallow side up), and stuff with the pesto mix.  (*optional: add pine nuts on top)
7. Place dish back in the oven and cook for 8-10 minutes, or until cooked through.
8. Enjoy!!

If I could add something to my previous post about "Working vs. Homemaking", I would add that a con to working is that I lack the time to write!  Actually, that's not really 100% true.  My husband and I have been busy travelling, attending events, preparing to move and beginning to make ready for a baby!


If there's one thing I probably will love more than being a housewife, it will be being a stay-at-home-mom!  I'm really excited to have new things to write about, although any new recipes may have to wait until I get through this period of morning sickness.  I can barely stand the sight and smell of most food right now. So sad!

I'm planning to continue working until we're close to having the baby, but am looking forward to homemaking again!

A few weeks ago I was given a wok, and let me tell you... it is my new best friend!  Last night, I made fried rice, and what a difference having the right pan made!  Last time I kept dumping rice out of my biggest pan.  Anyway, I think this was my best fried rice yet, and so of course, I have to share the recipe!

• 1 1/2 cups rice (or, two 6-ounce rice cups)
• 3 cups water (or, four 6-ounce rice cups)
• 2 Tbsp cooking oil
• 3 eggs
• 2-3 garlic cloves
• 1 Tbsp sesame seeds
• 3-5 green onions - diced
• Sliced carrots
• Broccoli
• Snow peas
• Soy sauce to taste
• Sesame oil to taste

1. In a rice cooker, place your rice and water, and turn on. 
2. While rice cooks, place cooking oil and crushed/minced garlic in a large pan or wok, and put on med-low heat.
3. Add carrots, peas, broccoli and green onions - coat with oil, and cook thoroughly to desired tenderness - add a little water if needed to keep from burning.  (To flash steam: add 1/4 cup water to the hot pan and cover.)
4. Add eggs to the veggies, stirring constantly to scramble the eggs throughout the pan and coat the veggies.
5. Add salt and sesame seeds - stir. 
6. Add cooked rice to the veggies/eggs, and mix.
7. Add soy sauce and sesame oil to taste.
8. Enjoy!

I never understood food obsessions, until this past year. I'm sure you've met people where specific foods are their weakness. They can eat it every day, any time, and never grow sick of it. One well known example is chocolate. I know people that absolutely love it! They get chocolate syrup in their coffee, they get chocolate ice cream, candy, cake, cookies, you name it! I'm not a big chocolate fan (which my blog may portray - I just like the design), but let me tell you, I have found my obsession: Thai Curry. Red, green, yellow, panang... I love it all!

First, a little history. My husband and I had found a local Thai restaurant not far from our home that delivers. We began ordering a couple of their dishes, and from that moment... I was hooked. Anytime I didn't have to cook, I wanted to order curry. Eventually, I decided that since I liked it so much, I should learn to make it. This ended up being months of trial and error before I mastered my recipes for each type of curry.

My first dish was a bit of a fiasco. I bought the wrong curry - I bought a powdered yellow Indian curry - which has a completely different taste. I tried putting it in sauces, including spaghetti, and was a bit disheartened. The second go-around, I found an Asian Supermarket not far from my home. I found the right curry pastes, and other needed ingredients.

The next few tries were better, but far from perfect. My green curry nearly melted my taste buds right off, my yellow curry tasted like someone dropped a pound of salt into it, and my red was encouraging... but not quite right. To see one of my beginner Yellow Curry recipes, you can see one of my previous posts, just click here.

Over time, I researched all kinds of recipes. I reduced my green curry to half the original paste requirement, added pork, peas, green onions, and nailed it! My red curry became a masterpiece as soon as I made it with salmon instead of chicken, and my yellow I finally nailed this week! Less of the salty ingredients, and a lot more brown sugar!

I can't tell you how much my poor husband must be sick of curry by this point. Not only did I make it a lot at home, but I made it for my parents, friends, and grandparents as well! He now lets me take ALL of the curry leftovers to work for lunch. We recently had a dinner party at our friends, where I taught my friend Kristen how to make each recipe (amazingly she shares my love for curry). By the end of the night, I ate so much, I thought I finally reached my breaking point... (I'm eating leftovers right now as I'm writing this).

I've realized that I gravitate towards Asian cuisine. If I had to choose something I really love besides curry, it would have to be sushi (I've learned how to make those as well). Although, I'm thinking that for my husband's sake, I'm going to cut back and expand my dinner options. :-)

Anyone else have food obsessions like this?

I have a confession...

I no longer am a full-time Housewife. This month I received the opportunity to take on a temporary position as an Executive Assistant for Bernards Builders & Management Service. The position lasts one month at the company's satellite office, and 3 months at one of their job sites. After that, an opportunity may or may not arise to continue working; however, this has provided me with the opportunity to really compare and contrast being a working woman vs. being a housewife.

Here are the Pros and Cons I found with being a housewife:
I loved having enough time to cook meals for my husband and me, do all our laundry, keep the apartment clean and orderly, garden in the backyard, complete projects I usually don't have time for (crocheting/scrap booking), grocery shopping, exercising, reading, and always getting a full 8 hours of sleep. I was always in a good mood for my husband when he got home, did my best to look nice for him, and made sure he got to relax once he was home.

On the down side, many times if everything was already done, I would find myself alone while everyone I know was working (sadly, in today's times, housewives seem to be scarce). I also can't lie... sometimes things simply got boring. Not bringing in money can play havoc with your feelings of worth as well, especially when people ask what you do for a living.

Now here are the Pros and Cons I have found with being a working woman:
I love the feeling that I'm helping make money. My feelings of worth have definitely increased now that my husband is not the sole provider. I like being around people, and constantly staying busy. When people ask what I do, I feel good knowing I have a job to answer with. I sense more respect.

On the down side, I have already started getting frustrated at home. I'm sometimes too tired to cook, resulting in my husband and me eating out more. We try to make time for working out, but many times we're both too tired. Laundry, dishes and cleaning are now responsibilities added onto my husband's plate to share with me. There's less time to do these things during the week, so many times they get pushed to the weekend, making it difficult to make fun/relaxing plans for us then. I feel like these things are my main responsibility, and so when chores get pushed off, I start feeling like a failure as a wife.

Conclusion:
Living in today's times, I think women feel guilty for taking care of the home, and not being at work. What's worse, is that women seem to have pressure to be everything at the same time. Work full-time, take care of the house, the kids, AND look good for her husband.

In America today, people define themselves according to what they do. Why is it not openly accepted for women to be housewives today? Before, women were encouraged to be home, and not go to work if they were married; however, wouldn't you think that now women should have the choice, and not feel frowned upon? This all being said with the husband's support of her decision.

While I was a full-time housewife, I found that my husband and I were more synchronized. We each played our part: him at work, and me at home. The result was getting to spend more quality time together without the burden of figuring out who would cook, clean, etc. We made up for the cut income, by simply cutting back on eating out and spending less.

Now don't get me wrong, there are plenty of couples, where both husband and wife work full-time, and they find their synchronization. I simply want to emphasize having the choice without the pressure from society.

As for myself, while I prefer taking care of the home, I also enjoy the benefits of working. My desire is to do what helps my husband out the most, whether it's helping at home, or helping bring in a paycheck. But with full understanding that I can't do both 100%. If given the opportunity, I would work until we have kids - to help build a good financial cushion (especially with the economy the way it is). Kids are a whole different arena... they ARE a full-time job, coupled with housework. That then brings up the whole debate on whether women should be working moms, or stay-at-home moms.

Maybe someday, I'll get to do a comparison of that as well. ;-)

This Christmas I discovered a new recipe to add to my family's holidays! Homemade Wassail!
For anyone that doesn't know what wassail is:  it is a hot mulled cider that was traditionally made as part of an old English tradition with the intention of ensuring a good crop of cider apples for the next year's harvest.  This usually involved singing, and drinking the cider, known as wassailing.  And so over time, the cider became known as wassail.

• 1 Gallon apple cider
• 2 Cups cranberry juice
• 1/2 Cup honey
• 1/2 Cup sugar
• 2 oranges
• Whole cloves
• 1 apple, peeled and diced
• 1 tsp. Allspice
• 1 tsp. Ginger
• 1 tsp. Nutmeg
• 3-4 cinnamon sticks (or 3 Tbs. ground cinnamon)
• 1/2 C - 1 C brandy (optional)