Ice Ice Baby

   I know it's so bad for your teeth, but I LOVE eating ice these days.  In the last couple months I guess you could say I've been craving ice, but I wouldn't necessarily consider it a food craving.  It's weird, but I now know which restaurants have the best ice cubes.  The winner is A&W :-)  It's like little rods of ice that have been broken into smaller bits.  Also it's not so hard as normal ice cubes, so...maybe not so hard on my teeth?

Jumping for Joy

  Either our little Baby H loves BWW as much as Mama or else she's practicing her gymnastics in there.  As soon as I started eating that glorious meal of garlic mushrooms with Southwestern sauce, boneless wings with Asian Zing sauce and buffalo chips, Baby H started moving all around.  I think she just wanted a taste... There is a wonderful feeling that comes from giving in to a craving.  I don't have many exciting ones, but every now and then....yum.  Give Mama what she craves ;-)

YUM!

I really, really, really want Red Robin's BLTA (bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado with mayo on a crossiant) and French Onion Soup.  YUM!  Zach and I just went there last weekend, but the craving is strong with me ;-)

New Cravings

   So, I guess it's not really a NEW craving, more like a revisit to previous cravings.  thanks to my Aunt Barb I've been wanting smoothies every day now.  The other night I wanted one so badly, but I had to find our blender amongst the boxes still packed from moving.  Let me tell you, I was one determined pregnant lady....I dug through those boxes until I found that darn blender :-)  I told Zach that I had put my mind to it and I was going to look until I found the blender to make my delicious smoothie, haha.  Ah the lengths we will go to for food when pregnant.
   I actually made my own individual servings of frozen fruit for smoothies...the prepackaged ones in the store were sooooo pricey.  I just chopped up some bananas and washed up some strawberries, then threw them in small freezer baggies.  I was too lazy to make orange juice so instead I added 1/2 cup frozen juice concentrate, 1/2 -1 cup water, and 1 cup of yogurt to the mix and blended 'er right up....very yummy.  I've had three in the past 3 days :-)
  Another craving: I want a big salad for lunch today...we shall see how far that takes me- probably just across the street to Subway for a sub or over to PickNSave for their huge salad bar (2nd one seems like a better option).  Heck, at least I'm craving good-for-us foods and not fries ALLLLL the time, just sometimes.  :-)

Cravings- MacN'Cheese

I'm not talking about the neon-sort that comes from a box.  i'm talking about homemade baked macaroni and cheese that uses real block cheese, like sharp cheddar and colby jack.  So delicious!  My family makes it for almost all holiday meals!  You just pre-cook the desired amount of macaroni pasta (make sure you don't cook it completely, because it will cook more in oven)...make sure to salt the water when boiling, because it's the only time to really get your pasta seasoned.  Cube at least 2 of your favorite kinds of cheese.  I almost always use a sharp with a more mild cheese, like colby.  The sharp gives it that real cheese flavor.  Drain your noodles.  Grease a baking dish (or else that crispy melted cheese can be a bear to get off).  Layer part of your cooked noodles in the bottom.  Cover with a layer of both cheeses.  Sprinkle some salt and pepper to season.  Add another layer of noodles and then cheese.  Continue until you reach the top, making sure the final layer is cheese.  Sometimes I add some white pepper for a little bite.  Preheat oven to 350.  Bake for about 20 mintues or until cheese is all melted completely throughout.  The top should be browned and crispy.  SO YUM!!!!!!!   

this pic is kind of what mine looks like, minus the top crumblies added- so not necessary.

Lunch

My wonderful husband met me at Taco Bell for lunch today...where I ordered a Beefy 5-Layer Burrito.   It. was. delicious.  I ate the entire thing, probably a good 1/2 pound or so.  I almost felt like I could eat another one...not really for hunger, maybe just because I wanted to taste it some more.  Thankfully this new craving only sets me back 99 cents.  Even better!  However, I did order a large cup for my water because that's just what I wanted...they charged me for a large soda $1.49 or so.  Crazy, since I'm pretty sure they DO NOT pay anywhere near that much to buy them.  Oh well.  I got what I wanted.   

Maxed out

I think I've finally exhausted my craving for egg rolls and soy sauce.  No more for me for a while...my checking account thanks me for that. 

Tonight we are cleaning and moving boxes and furniture into storage at home.  We moved out of our apartment Jan. 31st and everything is kind of everywhere.  I wish I could say we moved into a house of our own, but my bro-in-law so graciously allowed us to move in until Zach is done with school and finds a job- so we can make ends meet.  Living on one income and paying for most of college, plus all the normal bills and living expenses doesn't leave much wiggle room.  We're making it work, like we always do, by God's grace.  Oh, back to cleaning and moving...so I did all of our laundry a few weeks ago (has to be my LEAST favorite activity), but we never folded anything so we have baskets and piles of clean laundry now, plus dirty piles for washing this weekend.  It just never ends...and I'm sure it will only get worse once we have our baby clothes.  So for tonight's activities: putting on our "butler uniforms" and cleaning until we die. (or I fall asleep).

Cravings- Salt

I have been craving lots of different foods....like fruit and more fruit, egg rolls with soy sauce, chicken broth, and ginger dressing from Nakashima- but I still haven't been able to fulfill that last one :-(

The other day I was preparing to make noodles, so I made some chicken broth (2 chicken bullion cubes in 2 cups of water, easy), but before I could get it all in the pan I drank a whole cup of the chicken broth right out of the measuring cup...oops!

Last night I went to the grocery store right after work and I ended up with a cart full of fresh fruit...kiwis, bananas, apples, and strawberries.  When I got home I ate a ton of it too :-)  I was so full, but unfortunately fruit doesn't stick to your ribs.

Right across the street from the bank is a Chinese Buffet...not good if you're pregnant and craving egg rolls/soy sauce.  I finally gave in yesterday and headed across the way....I ate 3 egg rolls!!  I must be loving salt, because I could have put soy sauce on EVERYTHING.  When I got back from lunch, one of the girls at work said to me, "Well, I think we have soy sauce packets in the breakroom...you could just eat them."  Gross, but then again maybe not. 

Speaking of salt, I made mashed potatoes (yet another craving) the other night to go with the noodles and I just kept adding more and more salt...and after all that, I still couldn't even taste it enough- but I stopped adding because Zach isn't pregnant and probably wouldn't have enjoyed the salt block in our taters. 

I've heard that an excess of salt can lead to greater water retention....am I going to blow up like a whale if I love the salt while preggers?!