Freezer Meals

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m currently in full-on “prep for baby” mode , and since I’m getting tired of cleaning, for the next several weeks I am going to be turning my attention to meal planning.

I’ve always been a little bit weird about meal plans.  I’ll make a neat little calender with our meal plan for the week, and no matter how prepared I am, it never goes exactly as I planned it.  Typically, I’ll wake up in the morning, look at my menu for the day and decide promptly that I don’t feel like eating that and swap it out for something else.  Somehow it still usually works out, even though I only go grocery shopping once every week or ten days.  Still, that being said, as I’m attempting to “plan” meals for after our little Wigglebutt joins us, I’m planning with a grain of salt.

Anyways, long story short, several days ago I sat down and started my master list.  I love lists.  Even when I don’t stick to them, I just like having lists for everything.  Several things I quickly realized were that traditional casseroles weren’t going to cut it for several reasons.  Firstly, our freezer is not that big.  If I try to stuff it full of casserole pans it will just be a mess, and I’ll only be able to fit a couple meals in.  Secondly, since we try to maintain a very low-carb diet, the tried and true casserole/slow-cooker meals that I was most familiar with growing up just wouldn’t cut it without some serious tweaking.

Most of the meals that we eat consist of large amounts of vegetables plus some kind of meat.  We like using the grill, and even though the slowcooker isn’t something I have used very much for meals to this point, I definitely intend to start using it more.   My basic plan is to stock up on veggies and meat, separate them into meal size portions, bag them and freeze them.  The main idea I’m going with here is that the less preparation necessary to assemble a meal the better.  I’m really only trying to have enough easy meals to get us through the first ten days.  My Superman will have some time off for those days, and even though he is an awesome cook, I don’t want either of us to have to be spending big amounts of time cooking.  That just doesn’t sound like the best way to enjoy the first days with a new member in the family, especially when I can have meals ready to throw into the crockpot or on the grill with a teeny tiny bit of extra planning.

My main-dish meal choices so far are: BBQ pork (slowcooker), Chicken/Sausage Gumbo (stove-top or maybe slowcooker.  more research required on the effects of slowcookers on gumbo) Beef&Veggie Kabobs (grill), Cheeseburgers&some veggie or salad (grill), Beef stew (slow cooker), Chicken Taco soup (slow cooker), Beef Roast w/ veggies (slow cooker).

Side-dishes: seasoned green beans for the grill, cheesy broccoli, stuffed peppers, bacon&broccoli salad, cauliflower a la mashed potatoes (low-carb heavenly goodness if you don’t know), cucumber salad, fresh salad, tomato salad

I will have the sauces/marinades for things like the BBQ pork or the Kabobs made up and added to the bags before they go in the freezer.  The important thing about these recipes is that their components can all be prepared by simply chopping vegetables and adding some seasoning.  Everything is dumped into a labeled gallon size freezer bag,  frozen until the day of use, and then presto!  Dinner is served.

34 weeks looks a lot like a whale

Here we are.  Right at 34 weeks, which means there are only three weeks until I go into ‘actively try to get this baby out of my body’ mode.  Don’t take this personally, little Wigglebutt, but you’re cramping my style, and if I’m being quite honest, turning into quite a literal pain.  Take today for example.  I was just chilling out on the couch for a few minutes, and you kicked my ribs so very hard that I’m a  little afraid you broke something.  I guess it’s to be expected, when you’re supposedly almost 5 pounds and stuck inside what might as well be a bowling ball, but honestly, if you hang out in there for 6 more weeks kicking all the way I may or may not be entirely sane when you get here.

This coming week I’m going to start working on putting some meals together that I can stash in the freezer to make things a little bit easier after the Wigglebutt gets here.  Our freezer isn’t that large, however, so unless I figure out some really, REALLY creative way to package the meals it’s not going to be a very large selection.  I do have some ideas for space saver ideas from the wonderful world of Pinterest and I’m planning on doing a series of posts about which ideas I’m using, the meals I’m making, and how they are turning out.

Naturally, the first step in even considering the start of a large baking/cooking project was cleaning.  I spent the last several hours cleaning the refrigerator/freezer and mopping the floor, and believe when I say they’re as glistening and clean as the day we moved in.  Okay, maybe not quite.  I couldn’t remove one of the crisper drawers because the refrigerator door wouldn’t open wide enough against the wall.  Of course, moving the refrigerator could have probably been an option, but it seemed like it might be a little bit too much to maneuver with my very pregnant belly.  If you just ignore that one drawer, the refrigerator is positively pristine.

At any rate, I’m off to clean the closets upstairs.  I think today I actually have a couple hours of work left in me before I’m completely worn out and ready to renew my relationship with the couch for one more evening, and I intend to make very good use of them!

I’ll SMTYL! (Scribble More To You Later.  What do you think?  I think I may have just created a revolutionary new acronym for blogging, since we all know how the world needs more acronyms)

(The last part about the world needing more acronyms was a joke.  I know.  I’m hilarious.  😀 )

10 Thoughts From My Week

1.  Real Mexican food is nonexistent in Hawaii, which is really sad.  I’ve been dying for any form of Mexican food that isn’t Taco Bell or burritos, lately, and today I decided that if there was Mexican food to be had on the island I would find it.  I searched a bunch of restaurants online, and found a couple that looked like they were close.  Unfortunately, whether it was my GPS, the ridiculous setup of virtually everything in Hawaii, or maybe the possibility of the restaurants just not existing anymore, I couldn’t find them.  Maybe I’ll have better luck when my Superman is home to help… hmmm.

2. Cooking for one is a diet-killer.  Even when I try to make small amounts of stuff, I end up with way too much and have to eat it for days.  That’s fine if it’s healthy, but the bad food is what seems to stick around most obnoxiously.

3.  There are less than 10 days left in February, hopefully less than 7 weeks until we meet the Wigglebutt, and my Superman will hopefully be home in just a few more weeks!

4. After some time off from the gym last week, I’m headed back tomorrow.  Yay for stationary bikes and treadmills!  Go until you drop, and then simply walk out to the car and drive home.  So simple, so easy… *sigh*

5. I found a pattern for crocheted Mary-Janes and have been crocheting my heart out for the little chica.

6. People at Presidents Day Sales can be nasty.  Today I was in a store, pulling a completely empty basket (because I quite naturally stepped inside the store and realized I had to use the bathroom that very moment before I looked at a single item) beside an extremely long checkout line in a desperate attempt to get to the bathroom before my child karate-chopped my bladder again, and some grouchy old Asian lady shouted at me and gave me the look of death because she thought I was cutting line. I returned her glare, apologized sweetly and told her I was just trying to get to the bathroom–all the while wishing I could hold it for three seconds longer so I could throw my basket at her head and call her a bad-word. Nasty old lady didn’t even look the teeniest bit sorry for yelling at me.  Jerk.

7. Along the same lines, but on a slightly more-funny-less-mean note, the last time I went to the commissary, the self-checkout supervisor lady took my cart away as soon as I had all the groceries out of it.  Apparently it was one of the carts that aren’t supposed to leave the store, which is all fine and good… I can understand that.  Of course, that policy makes more sense if the cart is small enough that you could probably carry the bags out to your car by yourself, but you know… I can roll with it if I know it’s happening.  The real kicker is that she didn’t tell me she was taking my cart, or give me a new one.  There were more bags than one person can reasonably carry, too.  Is it just the pregnancy talking or does that seem a teeny bit crazy?

8.  I don’t know what mochi is made out of–and at this point I’m a little scared to find out–but the little balls of mochi at the frozen yogurt bar are completely awesome, and I could eat them by the bucketload.  Forget the frozen yogurt.

9. The Wigglebutt’s room/spare room is pretty much finished, except for a little organizing that I want to do with the changing table and closet–and assembling the cradle, but I’m planning on leaving that for when my Superman is back.  He’ll love doing it, plus he’s way better at putting stuff together than I am.  I’ll just put the sheets on the mattress, color coordinate the closet, and be ready to hand him the screwdriver! 🙂

10.  It’s really late, and I’m getting tired, and I’m having trouble coming up with another slightly interesting thought, so I’ll leave you all for this evening.  Good night, sleep tight, and don’t let the bedbugs bite!

Red Velvet Bloodbath

Today I am finally making something off of Pinterest.  I’ve pinned a million (slight exaggeration) projects that I would like to do someday, but for the most part, Pinterest is a fantasy world where I dream about all the things I’m going to do someday and very rarely actually accomplish anything.  Until today.  I’ve been drooling over this recipe for Red Velvet Brownies for weeks now, but always putting off making them.  I am home alone right now, and so having a pan of brownies… especially brownies like these brownies, with white chocolate frosting… would be disastrous for my diet.  I did an excellent job of talking myself out of making them for the past three weeks, but I finally have my excuse.  Some of my friends are coming over this evening for a girls night. And girls night is the perfect time to have a pan of ridiculous brownies.  First, because who doesn’t like brownies; and secondly because there will be people to send them home with if we happen to not eat them all.

I’ve never made anything “red velvet” before, so it was kind of a new experience.  I vacillated between skepticism that all the red food coloring in the house would be enough to turn brownies red, and disbelief when I started mixing and it was not only red, but a ridiculously lethal red that seemed more than ready to stain everything in it’s path.  Fingers, towels, the stove… it was like a bloodbath.

I can’t complain too much though.  The brownies made it out of the oven and I’m well on my way to having the luscious red velvet brownie dessert I’ve been dreaming about.  To all you pinners out there like myself let this encourage you–you can actually make the awesome stuff on Pinterest.  Good luck!

Childbirth Class aka 1 Million and One Things You Would Probably Really Rather Not Know

In a few minutes I have to go to the second part of our childbirth class. My superman should be glad he’s getting out of it for now (even though I plan on showing him the online version of the class just so I don’t have to be the only one who’s been scarred for life by it). Oh yes, I’ve read all the articles and heard everybody say, “It will be a good preparation for you. Now you’ll know what it’s going to be like.”
I just have to say here and now, long and loud for everybody to hear–I didn’t know it, but I didn’t want to know what it’s going to be like. This is one of the rare cases where ignorance actually IS bliss. Sure, I knew in the back of my head that giving birth was going to be gory and messy, but knowing that and actually having to SEE somebody else give birth on camera…. I’m still shuddering.
And now I’m pretty much completely terrified. Before the class, I was feeling pretty okay with the whole idea. Ya know–sure, it’ll be really painful, but she’s been in there long enough, and I’m ready to have my body back, and not have to use the bathroom every fifteen minutes, and not wake up when I need to roll over in the night because it’s like moving a mountain and of course, I can’t wait to meet the little wigglebutt after 9 months… Yeah, that’s a thing of the past. I still want all of those things to happen, (or quit happening as the case may be) but I don’t want to go anywhere near labor and delivery to make it happen.
I’ve learned in this class that as soon as you go in, they’re going to stick you with needles (I always get a creepy falling feeling in my stomach when they stick me with needles–I can’t imagine having to look at an IV port in my arm), limit your mobility unless you scream and fuss and carry on about it (Don’t worry, I will), and only let you chew on ice chips. Still, I could handle all of that really easily if it wasn’t for the videos. The videos. Oh.my.gosh. Seriously. After I got over the shock that there were people in the world who let themselves be videotaped in labor and giving birth, I was 110% disgusted. I’ll spare my readers the graphic details, but believe me–the videos showed EVERYTHING.
Maybe that works for some people. Maybe seeing the event helps them plan for it and be prepared. I just don’t think I’m that type of person. I’m perfectly happy reading everything I can about labor and delivery, and knowing that I won’t have any idea what it’s going to be like until I actually do it. That works for me. It’s called crossing bridges when you come to them.
That’s all I have time for right now. If I’m not too scarred by the rest of this class I may try and wrap up this post in a neater fashion.
For now, I’ll leave you with this thought: If any of the nurses even TRY to bring in a mirror when I’m giving birth, I may kill them. On the spot. Dead. That is all.

Please, Skinny Jeans, go away already!

Is anybody else out there sick to death of the skinny jeans trend?  It feels like skinny jeans have been popular for the last five years in one variation or another, and I just don’t see what the deal is. Maybe I’m way behind the times (very possible–I’ve admitted more than one place that I think I was born in the wrong decade) but the whole skinny jeans/leggings/jeggings fad has never impressed me, and I’ve been wondering for the past 3 or 5 years–or however long it’s been–what the deal is.

Why exactly do people like skinny jeans?  I’m serious.  If you like them, tell me why. I honestly want to know.

I know, I know, they’re popular. But what does that mean?  The Hollywood stars wear them?  The Hollywood peeps wear lots of things that look genuinely horrible, and the only reason they get away with it is because we all assume they’re somehow above the common standards of what looks good because they shell out thousands of dollars for ugly clothes.  That’s fine.  I really don’t care what they wear, one way or the other–as long as their psychotic “normal” doesn’t become something we all have to mimic.

My main problem with skinny jeans is that they just don’t look good.  On anybody.  Period.  On overweight chicas, they highlight all the wrong places, serving only to create an excessively unflattering silhouette.  Skinny girls avoid the problem of butt and thigh magnification, but they can come off looking really scarily thin.  Like emaciated 3rd world skinny.  Then again, that might be the idea too–heaven only knows 99.9% of the models on the runway look like they were just dragged out of a third world country in famine and dropped onto the runway in a million dollar dress before anybody gave them a square meal.  Then you have the average size girls, and the skinny jeans don’t do them any favors either, although I guess if you really want to highlight your muscular legs, skinny jeans could be the perfect solution.  Basically, you have to have really long legs and be nicely balanced between super skinny and just average weight for skinny jeans to look okay.  That’s just it though.  They only look okay.

I guess it probably just comes down to a matter of personal opinion.  I really, really hope that women are wearing skinny jeans because they genuinely like how they look or feel or something, and not just because celebrity’s wear them.

I understand that we all get a kind of morbid satisfaction out of cyber-stalking the celebs in Hollywood, but just because they’re constantly in the public spotlight doesn’t mean we have to follow their fashion choices.  As average people, I think we might need to just face the facts and accept that there are certain styles nobody should be allowed to get away with unless they have several grand to spend on a dress they’ll wear once.  There’s no real reason we have to pander to the celebrities and pretend that they look amazing absolutely every time they step out of the house.  They don’t make the laws, tax us, or have anything to do with us in general.  Why should we feel obligated to try to recreate style looks that should have died after one use?

Standards of beauty in clothing haven’t really changed that much, if you think about it.  There are the trends, which come and go, but every once in a while some celebrity somewhere will step out in a gorgeous dress or outfit and the world will stop turning for a second while people remember ohhh, that’s what real fashion looks like.  (Think Princess Kate Middleton, everybody.  She has never appeared in anything less than 150% classy and everybody raves every time she sets foot outside).  I just want to know why we can’t focus more on the styles that last and look gorgeous no matter what decade you wear them in.  Most of the classic styles look great on all shapes and sizes too.  Yeah, you can wear them and look amazing even if you aren’t as thin as all the famous people who spend multiple hours every day working out and counting calories.  What an idea!  Versatile fashion!  Who would have thought?!

So please, whoever is in charge of what is on trend right now–can we lose the skinny jean trend?  Thanks.  That was just my rant about skinny jeans for women.  You do not want to get me started on the million and one reasons why skinny jeans for men should be a crime worthy of jail time.

31 weeks

Today we’ve made it to 31 weeks! Only 9 weeks left until we get to meet the wigglebutt! Nothing really new as far as the pregnancy goes. I’ve started feeling the Braxton-hicks contractions every once in a while, which is interesting. I think this child’s favorite things include jumping on my bladder, and seeing how far up into my lungs she can wedge herself! She’s starting to make it really hard to breathe. Also, I think I’m doing the nesting thing, which COULD mean I’ll have her on the earlier side of the duedate (please,God!) The weeks are definitely taking longer and longer. However that MIGHT have something to do with my superman being gone! In the words of a cartoon character though, I just have to “just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming…”

According to the omniscient baby app, our little bundle of joy is nearly 4 pounds, 16 or 17 inches long and looking more and more like a newborn as she packs on the baby fat! She might be head down by now (i think she is, because I can feel when she has hiccups and it’s definitely not in my ribs) and that position is stimulating blood flow to the brain to finish all the nervous system developments.
It’s pretty exciting to watch her move around inside my belly now. We can see wide shapes and skinny shapes, and shapes that just look weird! Come on, last 9 weeks!!!

I’ve seen the future

I was just backing the car out of my driveway when I saw them. Two tiny girls, riding little bicycles in front of their mother. They were very small– the oldest being 6 or 7 if I had to guess ages. I smiled to myself and kept driving. I was at the pool, reading my book on a lounge chair when they trailed in, and after a few minutes the father showed up with an even younger child. They all looked alike. Children in swimsuits, with water wings on their arms.
They didn’t stay long, but when they were leaving I just had to smile. That will be us in a while. Following pink swimsuits and bicycles to the pool, and fixing pigtails tied with ribbons. It’s bizarre to think about, but it’s happening. And it kind of makes me smile.

(Disclaimer: I don’t regularly stalk people at the pool. I should probably be a little bit more embarrassed about the fact that I even noticed this, but whatever… I notice things. Someday I may solve murder mysteries. Until then, we’ll just pretend it’s not weird at all.)

Tired Much?

It’s a fact. I have never been so tired in all my life. Not from hours upon hours of practicing and studying for finals and staying up all hours of the night. Not from baling fields of hay. Not from hiking all day. The sad thing is that I’m not doing any of those things. Oh, I keep myself busy, never fear, but not THAT busy. Yesterday I picked up paint samples, spent an hour browsing in a local thrift store, went to the commissary, and made myself a fairly nice dinner. And then I was exhausted. It’s not that I’m failing to sleep either. I easily sleep for 8-9 hours a night, even on the nights when I stay up until the wee hours of the morning to talk to my superman (I think I’m functioning on the time zone he’s in. Seriously. I go to bed when he goes to bed, regardless of what time it is here, and then I sleep really late. It’s working so far.) The wigglebutt doesn’t keep me up at night yet. I just don’t get it. I should be able to go nonstop all.day.long and then trim it back to easy, relaxing activities for the evening hours. It is just not happening. I have between 2 and 5 hours of prime functioning, and any time after that, if I sit down on the couch for a single minute I never want to move again. I just hope the little energy leech inside me realizes that she’s jeopardizing how clean the house will be when she gets here, how much food will be prepared and in the freezer, AND how cute her stuff will be. You were warned, Wigglebutt.