Monthly Archives: January 2012

Triple Chocolate Cookies

January 25, 2012

Sometimes, the cravings of a pregnant woman cannot be explained. They often defy logic and reason and will not relent until they are satisfied. Yet the reality is that we live in a world of limitations and responsibilities, and these longings cannot always be fulfilled directly. As I found out recently, however, circumstantial constraints can give birth to creativity and innovation, leaving in their wake an outcome that is far better than we first envisioned. I woke up from an afternoon nap this past Sunday with Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls on my mind. I don’t often have cravings of …

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Creamy Broccoli Soup

January 20, 2012

Here in the Seattle area, we experienced quite the winter storm this week. The snowfall began on Tuesday, and over the course of three days, about 6 inches accumulated at our home. This amount of snow is more than I’ve witnessed in my six years of living in the region, though, based on what I’ve heard from friends who live nearby, we didn’t get the worst of it. Surrounding areas had upwards of a foot of snow and freezing rain on top of that. Many people have had to cope with the challenges of power outages and falling trees, and …

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Rosemary Flatbread with Goat Cheese, Caramelized Onions, and Lavender Honey

January 17, 2012

Here we are, just two days shy of our little man’s estimated due date, and boy am I eager to get this show on the road! The last couple weeks have been littered with several bouts of false labor, insomnia, and an upsurge of food aversion. God bless my husband who braved the snowy roads tonight order to get take out for us all. Without the conveniences of drive thrus, Dream Dinners, and (don’t tell anyone) Hamburger Helper, we’d all have starved by now. Ya gotta do whatcha gotta do, right? As you might imagine, these present challenges make it difficult …

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Fresh Greek Pizza with Homemade Tzatziki

January 15, 2012

It’s hard to believe that it’s already been five years since Dan and I took our first trip over the Cascade Mountains to the Bavarian village of Leavenworth. It was the first autumn that we lived in Washington, just a few months after our wedding, and while we were curious to see what this little tourist town had to offer, we were mostly interested in seeing the beautiful fall foliage that lined the highway to our destination. The western side of the state is dominated by evergreen trees, and we were craving the reds, oranges, and yellows that we had …

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Beef Nachos with Homemade Pico de Gallo and Guacamole

January 11, 2012

It didn’t occur throughout the whole of my childhood, but there was a season during my middle school years that my family spent a lot of Friday and Saturday nights at home, watching movies and cooking up a variety of homemade treats. Sometimes it was my mom’s amazing caramel popcorn that made an appearance; other times, we would gather around the table for a glass of “Tropical Blood,” a smoothie concoction made with frozen berries and 7-Up and topped with Cool Whip. Still, on other occasions, we would make homemade nachos. Filling and delicious, there wasn’t anything earth-shattering about these …

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Ham and Potato Soup

January 5, 2012

At present, I find myself in one of my less preferred seasons of pregnancy: the period in which it would be perfectly normal for me to have my baby today or tomorrow or even several weeks from now. Like any woman (or human), I rather like being in control, and while the fact that I have so little of it regarding the timing of #2’s birth is not surprising, it’s also not my favorite. We’ve done what we can to prepare for Levi or Lincoln or whatever his name might wind up being (we’ve joked about making it Levi-Lincoln, hyphen …

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Clementine Smoothie with Bananas and Spinach

January 2, 2012

Well, it’s here. 2012 has officially arrived, and with it, much anticipation for all that will be happening this year. Our family is gearing up for lots of changes in the coming months, the biggest being the birth of our son, which will be happening anytime in the next several weeks. For awhile I was feeling comfortable and content still being pregnant, happy to let this little guy come whenever he’s ready, but now I’m starting to get antsy. The car seat is installed, newborn diapers have been procured, and Eowyn is as ready as she’ll ever be to be …

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