88 replies to this topic

[tammylc]

Hi everybody! Schneier has tagged me to be next up for foodblogging. I'm afraid my blog won't be nearly as "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" as his. More like "10 weeks pregnant and surrounded by boxes in our newly purchased house." 10 weeks pregnant being the reason for the "Schocking Amounts of Food" subtitle - I'm eating for two, and have to eat about every 2-3 hours or my tummy gets very unhappy.

Today I had my usual breakfast - frosted mini-wheats with skim milk. Then it was off to my first appointment with the midwife, where I got to hear my baby's heartbeat for the first time. (Insert gushing "awwww" noises here.) There's a baby in my tummy, and it goes "whumpa, whumpa, whumpa." Then they drew a whole bunch of blood from my arm, so clearly it was time to eat something to top it back up.

I was voting for a Chicken Fajita Salad from Red Robin, but Eric (my husband) wanted breakfast, so we ended up at Denny's. Here my blog moves rapidly away from anything you read last week - I don't think Bruce would be caught dead in a Denny's... I had a hamburger with lettuce, tomato and mayonaise, with hash browns instead of french fries. And a Coke. I rarely drink caffeine in any form, but I haven't been sleeping well lately, and needed a boost if I was going to be able to make it into work.

More later...

[hjshorter]

Congratulations! I'm looking forward to reading your blog. Is this your first baby?

[Alex]

And in another 7 months you could do a babyfoodblog:

"Well, it was milk again for me today. You'd think she'd at least throw in some chocolate pudding or strained peaches, or even one of those petrified cookie things...."

[Toliver]

I rarely drink caffeine in any form, but I haven't been sleeping well lately, and needed a boost if I was going to be able to make it into work.

Enjoy it while you can...I believe this becomes a no-no after awhile.

Eating every 2-3 hours, eh? This will be an interesting blog...let's see if you can outdo NeroW!

[tammylc]

Thanks for the welcome everyone.

hjshorter - Yes, this is my first baby.

alex - Brilliant idea, but probably better in a year and 7 months . There's someone over on LJ (www.livejournal.com) who's writing a journal from her baby's perspective. It's hysterical.

toliver - Up to 3 servings of caffeine per day is acceptable throughout pregnancy. I have at most one serving a week - my insomnia means that I really shouldn't have caffeine at all, but sometimes I need the pick me up. But my utter lack of a caffeine addiction means that it only takes half a Coke to get my going...

That reminds me - I'm only 10 weeks pregnant, and I've already received more unsolicited pregnancy advice than I want. So let's try to avoid doing that here, shall we? And in my conviction to be moderate in all things, including moderation, I'm being moderate about what I eat during my pregnancy as well. I've never been a huge sushi fan, but if Grant Achatz serves me raw fish when I go to Trio in December, I'm going to eat it. And when I am aware of and comfortable with their provenance, I eat soft unpasteurized cheeses - although I have been avoiding Epoisses and its kin as those have the highest likelihood of listeriosis. Rare steaks? Check (although I'm thinking I should at least switch my duck preference to medium or medium well). And gasp, shudder, call the pregnancy police - I've been known to drink as much as a half a glass of wine with a nice dinner.

Rant mode off, and not directed at you at all toliver - just attempting to preempt any unpleasantness.

[tammylc]

This will be an interesting blog...let's see if you can outdo NeroW!

Well, I certainly won't outdo NeroW in her consumption of vast quantities of alcohol! Impressive, that...

[tammylc]

Food from Denny's sticks with you for a long time, so for now I haven't needed to eat anything. I am, however, on my second or third glass of water since arriving in the office.

I'm planning to cook tonight and enjoy my shiny new kitchen. For reasons I'm not going to go into right now, I have a lovely Jenn-Air range, but can't use the oven, only the stove top. I'm looking for suggestions for an easy dinner for two. Assume an ample supply of all the basics, but no fresh produce or meat - I'll be stopping to pick that up after work. It's a new twist on foodblogging - you guys can tell me what to eat!!!

[hjshorter]

That reminds me - I'm only 10 weeks pregnant, and I've already received more unsolicited pregnancy advice than I want.  So let's try to avoid doing that here, shall we?

You won't get any from me.

My sister recently asked me "What is it about being pregnant that makes everyone assume you're a complete idiot?"

[tammylc]

That reminds me - I'm only 10 weeks pregnant, and I've already received more unsolicited pregnancy advice than I want.  So let's try to avoid doing that here, shall we?

You won't get any from me.

My sister recently asked me "What is it about being pregnant that makes everyone assume you're a complete idiot?"

Oh, I can _so_ relate to that one... :-)

[guajolote]

I'm looking for suggestions for an easy dinner for two.  Assume an ample supply of all the basics, but no fresh produce or meat - I'll be stopping to pick that up after work.  It's a new twist on foodblogging - you guys can tell me what to eat!!!

fritatta w/ a salad.

[tammylc]

fritatta w/ a salad.

Good idea, and works for me, but the husband thinks frittata is weird. I know, I know - what's up with that?

Anybody else got any ideas?

[sandra]

Paillards: chicken breasts, pounded very thin, olive oil, salt/pepper, either in a fry pan or a stove top grill pan - rice or orzo and salad...

[tammylc]

Still not particularly hungry, but the book I got at my exam this morning says I'm supposed to have 4 dairy servings a day (I thought it was only 3) so I'm going to squeeze in a yogurt. Yoplait Custard Style Lemon Supreme, to be precise.

Slight change in dinner requirements. Our soon to be housemate is over painting, and I need to include her in dinner plans. Which makes it a wee bit more challenging - now I'm looking for a quick dinner for 3 that's vegetarian and doesn't have mushrooms in it.

Barring any more interesting suggestions, I'll probably do a curried tofu and vegetables in tomato sauce thing, served with rice or couscous.

[jackal10]

Tortilla

[Schneier]

I don't think Bruce would be caught dead in a Denny's...

Not true. I once used the phone there.

Bruce

[torakris]

Congratulations on the pregnancy!
Children are wonderful

(in the background............

7 year old Mia is running around hysterical and will be late for school because her pink shirt is the wrong shade of pink to go with her pink hairbands and her favorite socks are in the washing machine
5 year old Julia is trying to make the world's largest pizza on my dining room table out of clay and real food
2 year old Hide has his pants off and is trying to pee out of the dining room window onto my garden
Mommy (me) just burned the toast while typing this)

Like I said, children are wonderful................
Congratulations!

[SobaAddict70]

hm, vegetarian.

Are eggs and dairy allowed?

I guess it depends on what you have in your pantry.

Broiled tofu topped with miso paste

Fried rice (rice, stir-fried with eggs, minced scallions, minced ginger and garlic, a little mushroom soy or light soy sauce and maybe a little toasted nori on top)

Green salad

OR

pasta with spicy tomato and olive sauce (crushed tomatoes, onions, olives, capers, EVOO, garlic, red pepper flakes)

steamed veggies with a little EVOO and maybe lemon zest or white pepper

fruit.

Of course, "quick" is also pretty subjective.

Soba

[torakris]

Sorry with all the chaos going on in the background I fogot to mention my dinner idea.

How about a risotto served with a salad.

[SethG]

That reminds me - I'm only 10 weeks pregnant, and I've already received more unsolicited pregnancy advice than I want.  So let's try to avoid doing that here, shall we?  And in my conviction to be moderate in all things, including moderation, I'm being moderate about what I eat during my pregnancy as well.  I've never been a huge sushi fan, but if Grant Achatz serves me raw fish when I go to Trio in December, I'm going to eat it.  And when I am aware of and comfortable with their provenance, I eat soft unpasteurized cheeses - although I have been avoiding Epoisses and its kin as those have the highest likelihood of listeriosis.  Rare steaks? Check (although I'm thinking I should at least switch my duck preference to medium or medium well).  And gasp, shudder, call the pregnancy police - I've been known to drink as much as a half a glass of wine with a nice dinner.

I've got two things to say here:

(1) Bravo.

(Although I'm sure Toliver meant well.)

(2) Just wait 'til you actually have the baby! I'm looking forward to your rant then.

[Toliver]

(Although I'm sure Toliver meant well.)

Of course I did. Wishing you nothing but the best.

And I think tammylc needs to be tagged to do another foodblog when the cravings hit in a couple months.
That should be interesting!

[tammylc]

Thanks for all the dinner suggestions. I ended up going with my original plan and making curried tofu and vegetables. Left work and went to the Produce Station for ingredients. Diced up a pound of extra firm tofu and fried it in canola oil so it got crispy. Meanwhile, I peeled a small butternut squash and cut it into fine dice. When the tofu was mostly done I threw in the squash and cooked that until the squash was mostly done and starting to carmelized. Turned down the heat and added 3 cloves of garlic and some ginger (I love the prepared ginger you buy in a jar - great stuff). Stirred that for a minute, then added a bunch of good quality curry powder (bought in bulk from my local Indian grocery). Toasted the spices for a bit, then poured in a can of organic crushed tomatoes and some water to make it sauce like. Added to that some broccoli florets cut small and some diced green pepper, and put the lid on. I stirred it a couple times to make sure all the broccoli was getting cooked, and added some extra curry powder and cumin to taste. To serve it, I reheated some leftover rice from Chinese food last night by putting it in a glass bowl, adding some water, and microwaving it for a few minutes. Ta-da - dinner!

It was my first time _really_ cooking in the new kitchen. I've made spaghetti, but that was just heating up a jar of prepared sauce and boiling some water. I love my stove, and my beautiful granite countertop, and it was a joy to cook. Especially since when I cook, my husband does the dishes!

Oh, in the spirit of full disclosure - I snacked on some havarti with dill samples while at the produce station, and had half a glass of Squirt before dinner. With dinner I had some milk. Now I'm going to drink some ginger tea.

[tammylc]

(Although I'm sure Toliver meant well.)

Of course I did. Wishing you nothing but the best.

And I think tammylc needs to be tagged to do another foodblog when the cravings hit in a couple months.
That should be interesting!

Thanks Toliver! Your post really didn't bother me, but it did remind me that I should post the disclaimer sooner rather than later.

Surprisingly, I haven't had any food cravings or aversions to speak of. Aside from eating a little more often than before, my habits have mostly remained the same. Spicy food tends to bother my stomach a little more, and it's essential that I eat a nice fibre-heavy cereal for breakfast, but other than that I'm still eating like I always have. Thank goodness - it would have been awful if I'd ended up with viscious morning sickness and unable to eat!

The only thing I've craved so far have been hot fudge sundaes, but I craved those before I got pregnant...

[snowangel]

So, just what did you do for dinner?

As to caffine -- I lived on it when I was pregnant with Peter, to no ill effects, other than an extremely bright, inquisitive kids. In fact, I never liked coffee -- until I was pregnant with Peter. I remember clearly walking by Dunn Brothers one morning, smelling the smell, and saying to myself "I need coffee. Strong and dark." I've been an addict ever since.

With two of my pregnancies, I craved "clean" food -- nothing goopy, nothing articifical. With the other one, it was extreme morning sickness for the 8 months I was pg; I think I lived on Cherry Garcia, grapefruit and parmesean goldfish. I remember being thirsty, as well.

Unsolicitied pregnancy advice? My crowning moment was in an elevator with strangers, and having someone question and give me advice me on bowel habits.

Eat often, have a 1/2 glass of wine every so often, drink the coffee you need to function, and eat just what you want to. This is indeed a most miraculous time. Had I not been almost 39 when #3 came along, I'd have done it again. The best is yet to come.

[fifi]

With both of mine, I really didn't have morning sickness. With my first, I was working for FDA and we were always munching on pecans after testing them for aflatoxin and E. coli. (Noooo... We weren't supposed to do that! ) The doctor's theory was that that is why I never had that problem... Lot's of B6. I did have to control my weight and I did that by counting calories. (Still my most succcessful strategy.) That meant that my lunch bags were huge. Lots of salad and yummy leftovers as I was a pretty good cook at the time and knew how to cook healthy. I did go through some cravings... watermelon and amaretto and anisette snowballs. (New Orleans version of shave ice.) I brought one to the lab melted down so we could test it and determine the sugar content and therefore the calories.

At about 4 months, I developed an aversion to handling raw meat. I could NOT do it.

Eating healthy is somehow more fun when you know you are also doing it for the little bugger.

[Schneier]

The only thing I've craved so far have been hot fudge sundaes, but I craved those before I got pregnant...

Premonitions, probably.

(Hi from Brussels Airport. WiFi everywhere is a good thing.)

Bruce

[tammylc]

Frosted mini-wheats and skim milk for breakfast. Mornings are pretty dull around here.

[tammylc]

Today should be a good foodblogging day, if sheer quantity counts for anything. After I posted about breakfast, I puttered around doing some things before leaving for work. And before I even left the house I was hungry again! But short on time, so I just had some OJ. While I was drinking it I noticed two deer walking along the edge of the wetlands that I can see from my back window. How cool! I'm going to miss being able to walk to the grocery store, but the wildlife has something of a counterbalancing effect...

Now that I'm at work, I'm munching trail mix to make the hungries go away. Peanuts, sunflower seeds, raisins - and lest you think I'm being too healthy - candy covered chocolate pieces. I brought a bunch of food to work with me - let's see how much of it I manage to go through.

[tammylc]

Well - this is certainly topical...

A Pregnant Mother's Diet May Turn the Genes Around

http://www.nytimes.c...nce/07GENE.html

[tammylc]

I held out as long as I could - eating lunch at 11 seemed a bit excessive. I only made it to about 11:20 before my body screamed MUST EAT RIGHT NOW, so I did. Leftovers from last night - curried tofu, veggies and rice. I only ate about half of what I brought, so I'll probably eat the rest later today. I'm still kinda feeling hungry, but I'm going to drink some more water and see if that helps.

[tammylc]

Unbelievably, I was still hungry, so I just ate a chocolate pudding cup and a piece of baklava left out for the taking on the kitchen table in the office. I am happy to report that at least for now, I've actually managed to eat enough...