Nursery Reveal

I talked a little bit about my vision for Aimee's nursery back in the summer when I shared the trials and tribulations associated with the curtains I made (white furniture, gender neutral wall color, fun fabric, etc.), but I never got around to showing off the final product. So without further ado....the big reveal! We are pretty pleased with how it all turned out--sweet and girly without being over the top. And I especially like that both Jason and I contributed to Aimee's room (me with the curtains, Jason with the painted walls and refinished white cabinet). Although she doesn't spend that much time in there right now, I hope Aimee will enjoy it for years to come! Just like her, it was a labor of love.

(All pics except the last one are thanks to the fabulous Leigh Dameron)

Here are the details:

-Wall color: Benjamin Moore Wythe Blue (lattice pattern courtesy of Jason's awesome/meticulous taping skills)

-Curtains: Wavery Pom Pom Play Spa (fabric from Fabric.com, sewn by me)

-Crib: Baby Mod Olivia from WalMart 

-White cabinet: something we already owned and refinished

-Crib skirt: Etsy (seller BabyLove)

-Chair: our biggest splurge....Little Castle, ordered from Belfort Furniture

-Letter A: Craft Cuts

-Knit blocks: Dwell Studio (from Amazon)

-Dresser/nightstand: Ikea

-Somewhere over the rainbow picture: Etsy (seller sugarfresh, colors selected by me)

-Whale picture: Society 6

Two Months

I can't believe my baby is two months old already! And what a difference another month makes. Aimee is becoming a little person who does more than just eat, sleep, cry and poop....okay, those things still make up the bulk of her daily activities but now she smiles and coos and is beginning to really notice the world around her. It's pretty exciting to watch...I can't wait to see what the next month brings.

2 Month Stats: 8 lbs 6 ounces (staying strong on the 4th percentile growth curve) and 22.5 inches. 

Holy moly! She's grown 3 inches in the last two months-- newborn sized footie pjs are no longer possible and, as you can tell from the pic, even newborn size onesies are getting a little tight....which means we are officially into the 0-3 month clothes (or 3M in Carter's) although they are definitely a little big on her still.

She had her first round of vaccinations this week and did pretty well-- there was some intense crying but thankfully the nurse was really fast and had all three injections done in less than a minute. One of the keys to calming her down-- I nursed her for a few minutes before we got her dressed and headed home. She slept pretty much the entire afternoon but was pretty much back to normal by the next day.

Aimee at 1 month

From the Slow Cooker: Ratatouille and Orzo

I know I am overdue for a post on life with a newborn, but, in keeping with my blog's original theme, I thought I would first share one of the things I've learned about trying to cook dinner with a baby on hand so far.

I am on maternity leave until after the holidays, and aside from taking care of Aimee during the day, I try to make dinner most nights. Early on, I focused on frozen meals but we quickly got tired of our Trader Joe favorites and the baked pastas and casseroles that I had made prior to Aimee's birth. So I started trying to think about quick and easy dinners that I could get on the table with relative ease.

So far, I have found that the trick to cooking with an infant (for us anyway) is to either a) cook something all day (in a slow cooker/crock pot) or b) cook something really quickly right before you are going to eat (when Jason is home to keep an eye on the baby). Cooking all day has actually been the easier thing for me--I can get things ready to go during Aimee's morning snooze in her swing and then pretty much "set it and forget it" until Jason is home from work and we are ready to eat.

Aimee snoozing in her swing the day we brought her home from the hospital!

Unfortunately, I am short on good slow cooker recipes that aren't soups, stews or pot roasts. I have tried a few in the last 6 weeks but was only really happy with one of them -- ratatouille and orzo. This was insanely easy-- chop up some vegetables and throw them into the slow cooker with some olive oil and a can of diced tomatoes. Cook on low all day and add some orzo in at the end. Top with fresh basil, goat cheese, and a little balsamic vinegar and you've got a delicious and healthy meal. It's also easy to eat with one hand if you need to hold/calm a crying infant with the other!

Do you have any suggestions for good slow cooker recipes?

Ratatouille and Orzo
From Parents Need to Eat Too

Ingredients:
1 large eggplant, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1 red peppers, chopped into 1 inch pieces
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup olive oil
3 large zucchini, cut into 1 inch rounds
3 TBL chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup orzo
Goat cheese
Balsamic vinegar

1. Combine eggplant, onion, pepper, tomatoes and half of garlic in the slow cooker. Add olive oil and toss to coat. Cover and cook on low for 2-3 hours.

2. Stir in zucchini. Cover and continue to cook on low for another 2-2.5 hours.

3. During the last hour, add remaining garlic, 2 TBL of basil and salt and pepper to taste.

 4. In the last 15-20 minutes, add orzo. Before serving, top with crumbled goat cheese and remaining basil and drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

From the Freezer: Chicken Tamale Casserole

One of my third trimester goals was to fill our freezer full of delicious homemade meals that we could easily reheat once Aimee arrived. I had initially planned to make a few dishes each weekend in August until our little girl was born, but that did not end up working out exactly as planned thanks to the fact that Aimee decided to cozy up to my sciatic nerve and I was left with pretty terrible back pain when standing or walking the last few weeks of my pregnancy. I was able to suck it up long enough to make a few items the weekend before she was born and supplemented with some of our favorite frozen items from the neighborhood Trader Joe’s*.

I tried a couple of new recipes including one for a chicken tamale casserole that we really enjoyed. The recipe comes from one of my favorite “lifestyle” bloggers— Kate from Elefantitas Alegres. The original recipe includes making homemade enchilada sauce and roasting up fresh chiles—no doubt these extra steps would make the dish even more amazing, however I decided to go with her time-saving suggestions (since I was also trying to bang out a few other freezable meals the same day) and went with canned instead. It was a cinch to make and froze/reheated beautifully. I made it in two batches—we ate one on our first night home from the hospital and the second a few weeks later with chips and guacamole (from Trader Joe’s of course).

I would highly recommend this dish—whether you are making it ahead for yourself, for a friend, or simply planning to eat it the same day. Yum.

*In case you are interested, here are some of our favorite Trader Joe's frozen foods: meat lasagna, eggplant Parmesan, chicken tikka masala and naan, tamales (cheese and green chile and the chicken ones), and Mandarin chicken).

Chicken Tamale Casserole

Adapted (barely) from Kate at Elefantitas Alegres

Ingredients:

1.5 c. of corn muffin mix

2 eggs, beaten

kernels scrapped from 2 small ears of corn

½ c. milk

2 4oz. cans of chopped green chiles, drained

2 ½ c. cheese, grated (Kate suggests pepper jack-- I used a "mexican cheese" blend from the grocery store)

¼ T. chili powder

½ T. cumin

1 10oz can of your favorite red enchilada sauce

Meat from one natural rotisserie chicken, skin removed and shredded

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Fold eggs, corn kernels and milk into corn muffin mix. Add green chiles, 1/2 cup of grated cheese, chili powder and cumin and combine. Pour into a greased one 9×13 or two 8×8 inch baking dishes. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the middle of the mix is firm.

3. Pierce tamale base all over with a fork. Pour the majority of the enchilada sauce over the tamale base, then top with shredded chicken and remaining cheese. Drizzle the remaining sauce over the whole thing.

4. Casserole can either be baked immediately for 20 minutes at 400 degrees or wrapped and frozen. If you decide to freeze it, simply bake at 400 for 40 minutes or until hot.

One Month

It’s hard to believe that Aimee is one month old already! In many ways, it feels like barely a week has gone by since we brought her home from the hospital. And although we don’t tend to accomplish much in a given day (eat, sleep, cry, diaper change…repeat), somehow they pass rather quickly. The first few weeks were a little rough as we (Jason, me and Aimee) began to adjust to our new way of life, but I think we are starting to get into the swing of things.  I am hopeful that in the next month, I’ll be able to spend a little more time on the ol’ blog; in the meantime, however, I’m hoping you’ll enjoy a retrospective of Aimee’s little life thus far :) It’s amazing how much she’s changed in such a short amount of time!

Happy One Month Birthday Aimee!

What a Week!

A week ago today, our lives changed....

Welcome to the world, Aimee Katherine!


More to come :)

Mission Accomplished!

Now that is what I can a stocked freezer.....

In addition to the normal freezer fare we already had (bread, ice cream, chicken breasts, etc.) and the vast quantities of Omaha steaks that were given to Jason as a congratulatory gift when he got a promotion recently (which you can see on the top and third shelves) we now have 

-Homemade baked ziti
-Homemade chicken tamale casseroles
-Homemade vegetable strombolis

(Recipes coming once we've had a chance to sample them.)

As well as a variety of our favorite frozen selections from Trader Joe's.

Sadly, I know this won't last all that long but at least it will be there when we need it! Good thing to, since Baby's estimated due date is T-minus 3 days and counting!

The Final Countdown

Sorry I have been a little MIA lately. Between work and getting things ready for the arrival of the baby, I haven't had much time or motivation for things like trying new recipes or even blogging. The good news is that I think we're about as ready as we're going to be. And good thing too, since Baby Watch 2012 is officially on: at 38 and a half weeks, this baby could make her debut at any time!

 38 weeks and counting! Notice the pack and play set up in our bedroom too.

We have accomplished a lot in the last month or so. The nursery is pretty much done (although we are still waiting the delivery of a chair we ordered a couple of months ago-- I'm keeping my fingers crossed it finally comes in this week; once it does, I will do a nursery reveal :) ), car seats are installed, many loads of baby laundry have been done, an initial supply of diapers has been purchased, and, as Jason likes to say, we now have "baby-holding devices" on every floor of our multi-story townhome. We even took a childbirth class at the hospital where we will be delivering. The one thing I still have on my list to do is to stock the freezer with some homemade food so we can continue to eat well after the little one arrives. That will likely have to wait until next weekend, assuming the baby doesn't arrive before then. I had hoped to get to that today but I've been trying to stay off my feet given that I have been dealing with some pretty intense lower back pain. Apparently the baby has decided it's more comfortable to lean against my sciatic nerve which has made walking pretty fun the last few days. I keep hoping that she will move again, but am starting to prepare myself for the fact that his may last until she makes her debut.

Despite the recent sciatica, I continue to be pretty lucky with this pregnancy. I still feel pretty good although I have started taking more naps again on the weekends; perhaps my body is trying to tell me to rest up while I can! We're pretty excited though-- it'll all be worth it in the end :)

Curtains for the Nursery: Mission Impossible?

Not too long after we found out we were having a baby, I did what most moms-to-be do and started planning the nursery. By the time we found out we were having a girl, I had completed countless hours of “research” on the web (mostly on sites like project nursery, etsy and various blogs) and had a few basic ideas: 1) I wanted the room to pretty and girly without being over the top (i.e. not a ton of pink); 2) I wanted the room color to be something that could potentially be used with a boy in case future baby #2 is a boy; 3) I wanted white furniture; and 4) I wanted some fun curtains to liven up the space but that would also block out all of the early morning light we get given our East-facing house.

The first three things were not that difficult to address, but finding pre-made, fun and functional curtains that did not cost an arm and a leg (especially given that I needed four panels for the two windows in the nursery) proved to be a bit of a challenge. Pottery Barn Kids seemed to have the greatest variety of blackout curtains but I wasn’t in love with the fabrics and they were definitely not cheap. So I thought about doing something more custom made—I had pretty good luck with my no-sew fake roman shades and had seen several other blogs talk about making actual curtain panels using a similar technique. The problem there was that these were generally not lined, and in order to keep out all the light I was going to need some heavy duty blackout lining.

It was at this point that I came across a tutorial for making lined curtains on the web and an idea was born—maybe I could actually sew these things myself.  The tutorial made it look so easy—it was a lot of ironing, some pining, and sewing a few straight lines. Surely I could figure this out. And it would be really nice to make something for my future child. It was settled –I was going to learn to sew by making curtains. Now it was just a matter of finding a sewing machine. Fortunately, I knew someone who had one—my mom. Granted it was 30 years old and probably hadn’t been operated in 18 years (my mom is not much of a seamstress either), but it was easily accessible. So back in the spring I asked her if I could borrow it and she said ok. She even dug out her old Reader’s Digest sewing manual for me.

Cut to last weekend when I finally decided it was time to get to work on my little project. I had found and ordered a fabric that both Jason and I really liked (Waverly’s Pom Pom Play) as well as some inexpensive blackout lining a month or so before and had purchased what seemed like all the necessary sewing supplies—thread, better scissors for cutting the fabric, straight pins, hem gauge, long measuring tape, etc.  I was ready to go—feeling so confident, in fact, that I was sure I would get them all done on Saturday and be able to spend Sunday relaxing around the house.

Yeah, right.

Saturday was perilously close to being a total disaster. Everything just took way longer than I expected—which, in hindsight, isn’t that surprising. I was (and still am) a total novice when it comes to sewing….why I thought I’d be able to whip these things out in an afternoon, I am not sure. But clearly my expectations were way too high. And being 8 months pregnant, it was also a lot more tiring that it would have been for someone not in their third trimester. Seriously, after an hour crawling around the floor measuring and cutting the fabric, and then 2 hours standing on hardwood floors/leaning over an ironing board and/or our dining room table trying to get the first (!) panel pinned, I hurt all over and just wanted to take a nap. And I hadn’t even sewed a stitch!

So you can imagine that by the time I finally sat down to the sewing machine, I was already pretty tired and frustrated at how long the process was taking. And when the sewing machine then decided to jam and/or the thread decided to break every 30 seconds (and I’m not exaggerating that much I promise), I was close to my wits end.  After almost 2 hours, I was *this close* to having the first panel complete when the thread broke for the 500th time—and I totally lost it. I just started sobbing. So loud, in fact, that Jason heard me from two flights up and came downstairs to see if I was ok (he’d been a great sport about helping me figure the sewing machine out to begin with—he actually had some middle school home ec  experience to call upon). I looked up at him and said (between sobs) “I…don’t….think….I….can….do…this.” To which he of course replied “You don’t have to! We can buy curtains. There is no reason that you have to do this.” But there was no turning back at that point. I had the fabric and I had invested a lot of my precious free time on this already—I was GOING to do this. I dried my tears, re-threaded the machine (which I had become quite adept at doing) and finished the curtain which we promptly hung up.

Then I did something very smart…. I took a break.  A long hot shower helped my aching muscles and dinner out improved my mood. When we got home that evening I decided to see how far I would get on another panel. And miracle of miracles….this one only took half the time! The ironing/pining went a lot faster and I figured out that part of the reason the thread kept breaking was I had the tension set too high (I also probably needed heavier duty thread --despite the fact that the sales person at the local fabric store recommended what I had previously purchased-- but I was able to make it work with the tension adjustments).

Sunday went more smoothly as well…the remaining panels took only about an hour and a half each. And I took a long break in between so as not to wear myself out.  All in all, despite the rough start, I was pretty pleased with how the curtains turned out. And proud of myself for making something for my child.

But if future baby #2 is a boy—he is totally getting store-bought curtains!

A few tips on making your own blackout curtains:
-This tutorial was really helpful. I pretty much followed her instructions as-is with only a few exceptions: 1) I used blackout fabric instead of a sheet to line the curtains; and 2) rather than hand-stitching the bottom hem once the curtains were hung, I measured the length from the curtain clip to the floor before I cut the fabric so that I could be sure to have exactly the right length I needed.

-Blackout fabric has two sides—a shiny (or vinyl looking) side and a matte (or fabric looking) side. The shiny side is what should go against your curtain fabric—you want the nicer, matte side to be the side showing.

-Fabric.com is a great site for choosing fabrics (it’s also where I got the fabric for my no-sew shades). They have an amazing variety and you can order swatches if you want to see something in person before you buy. Once you sign up, it seems like they are always running sales. I got all of my fabric (12 yards each of the Waverly fabric and the blackout lining) at 30% off and free shipping during one of their sales which was great. I also really appreciated that they shipped the fabric on large spools rather than folding it up which meant I didn’t have to spend (even more) hours trying to iron the wrinkles out of my 100% cotton fabric!

Pancakes for Breakfast

As a child, I was a really big fan of the Tomie dePaola book Pancakes for Breakfast. Do you all know this book? It has no words, just illustrations, and depicts one woman's quest to make.... pancakes for breakfast. Her road to pancake paradise is not easy-- after she collects all of the ingredients (including tapping a maple tree for fresh maple syrup) they are ruined and her dreams are dashed. (Don't worry, though-- she finds a way to get those pancakes she's been dreaming of.) I don't what it is about that book that I loved so much-- maybe it was an early sign of my interest in cooking. Or maybe it's because I just happen to REALLY like pancakes. (And I do-- more on that in a second). Regardless, Pancakes for Breakfast was a must have on our baby registry-- I am really excited about sharing this book with our daughter (sounds so crazy to say)...who incidentally,  is "scheduled" (as much as due dates can be considered a schedule) to make her appearance in a little less than 8 weeks. Eek!

I always think of this book whenever we make pancakes at home, which is actually pretty often (most weekends in fact). After several years of trying various mixes and recipes, we've found a from scratch recipe that is now our go-to. I am pretty sure I've shown you pictures of the fruits of this recipe in the past, but never shared the recipe itself. And I thought this (very hot) Sunday morning would be a good time to let you in on our secret, so that you too can enjoy pancakes for breakfast.

Sorry for the repeat picture, I was sure I had taken pictures of pancakes in the past but can't seem to find them this morning!

The Best Buttermilk Pancakes
From The Kitchn

Note: The only update I've made to this recipe is to halve the original amount of butter-- from 5 TBL to 2.5-- and salt--from 1 teaspoon to just a half. If you decide you want your pancakes super buttery, add the full amount of salt. Other than that, it is all thanks to the The Kitchn. If you don't have buttermilk, you can substitute some yogurt per The Kitchn's suggestions; we've tried that to varying degrees of success. Instead, we pretty much buy buttermilk on a weekly basis. It really does make a huge difference! They say this serves 2-3 people. I'd say 2 hungry pancake lovers at best! They are great with blueberries too!

Ingredients:
2 1/2 TBL butter
1 1/4 cups flour
1 TBL sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg, white and yolk separated
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup milk

1. Melt the butter and set aside. Meanwhile, combine dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda) in a large bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together buttermilk and regular milk. Add egg yolk and butter, mix until everything is incorporated.
3. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir until all the dry ingredients are moist. Add egg white and mix until everything is just combined. DO NOT OVERMIX! Seriously-- this is an important secret to making good pancakes; it is ok if the batter is lumpy looking. If you overmix, you will end up with tough pancakes. And nobody wants that!
4. Heat a griddle (we like to use an electric griddle for even heating) over medium heat (325 if you are using an electric); coat with cooking spray. Cook pancakes per usual (or have your partner do it; in our house, I make the batter and Jason cooks the actual pancakes!).

Pregnancy Cravings and Blueberry Muffins

Of all the questions I get asked about my pregnancy, the most frequent (among my friends at least) tend to be around food preferences. People are just fascinated by the cravings for and/or aversions to various foods that often occurs as part of the whole baby-baking process. I have been pretty boring on this front for the most part-- I still eat pretty much everything that I am allowed to eat (with mushrooms the one exception-- my pre-pregnancy love for them has faded to ambivalence bordering on disinterest) and have not really had a strong craving for anything in particular (outside my short-lived pickle obsession in the first trimester). Until this week at least. I spent much of last week thinking about the perfect blueberry muffin, so much so that I actually went up to my cafeteria at work two mornings to see if they had any to offer. But, alas, their muffin selection was restricted to banana nut and chocolate chip. So I made up my mind to make some this weekend instead.

I decided to try out the classic blueberry muffin recipe from The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion. It was a pretty straightforward and easy recipe to whip up this morning. I was pretty happy with the results-- the blueberries did sink a little bit during the baking process (despite the fairly thick batter which I was hoping would help keep them afloat) but not so much that I would hesitate using this recipe again. Next time I might add a little lemon zest to the batter and perhaps sprinkle a little turbinado sugar on the top for some added crunch. On Jason's suggestion I decided to make these "bakery style" by baking them up in my jumbo muffin pans. And let me tell you, a jumbo muffin and half a grapefruit make a delicious and filling breakfast indeed!

Classic Blueberry Muffins
From The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion
(makes 12 normal size muffins or 6 jumbo muffins)

Ingredients:
1 stick butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups flour
1/2 cup milk
1 pint fresh blueberries
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 375. Grease a muffin tin or line with paper liners.
2. Cream butter, sugar and salt until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Mix in baking powder. Alternate flour and milk until everything is well incorporated.
4. Mash up 1/2 cup of the fresh blueberries and mix into the batter. Switch to a spatula or spoon and fold in vanilla and remaining blueberries.
5. Fill muffin tins 3/4 or so of the way full. Bake for 25-30 minutes (for regular muffins) or 30-35 minutes (for jumbo muffins) until a tester inserted into the middle of the muffin comes back clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes and then either remove from pan or tip the muffins on their sides (to avoid steaming the muffins). Eat and enjoy.

It's Time for Ice Cream!

Another summer holiday weekend, another post about homemade ice cream. It's becoming a little predictable, no?! But, hey...it's a post! I had really good intentions about hitting you (the 5 readers I have left) with a bunch of posts this weekend. Posts with breakfast ideas for the long weekend, our recent trip to Paris (!) and thoughts about pregnancy as I enter my third (!!!!) trimester.

Well, you know what they say about good intentions.

The truth is, after the craziness of the last month and the craziness that is to come in the next few months, I really needed a break-- a three day weekend with no feelings of obligation. Just rest, relaxation and doing things that I felt like doing. Things like making homemade ice cream.

Previous ice cream posts have focused on seasonal fruit, but this time around we decided to do something different. I was having a hard time making up my mind about what kind of ice cream to make, so I let Jason be in the driver's seat. We perused our ice cream bible, and he picked out a recipe for tin roof ice cream, a traditional custard-based vanilla ice cream with fudge ripple and a chocolate-covered peanut mix in. I was in! We ended up foregoing the chocolate-covered peanuts-- our local grocery store is "temporarily closed" (no word on why or when it will be reopening) and we were surprised to discover that the Trader Joe's near our house does not carry such confections. So we ended up with a fudge ripple ice cream which was just as delicious.

It's going to be a good summer!

Fudge Ripple Ice Cream
Adapted slightly from David Lebovitz

Ingredients
3/4 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
pinch of salt
1/2 vanilla bean
4 large egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
Fudge Ripple (recipe below)

1. Warm the milk, sugar, salt and 1/2 cup of cream in a medium saucepan. Add vanilla bean to hot milk mixture. Remove from heat, cover, and let steep for 30 minutes.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the 4 egg yolks and set aside. Pour remaining cream in a large bowl; place a metal strainer over top of the large bowl and set aside.
3. Rewarm the vanilla mixture. Once warm, slowly add to egg yolks whisking constantly (so as to avoid scrambled eggs). Pour mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pan, until mixture coats back of the spatula or spoon.
4. Pour through the metal strainer into the cream. Remove vanilla bean from the strainer, wipe off any bits of egg, and add back to mixture. Add vanilla extract. Chill over an ice bath. Refrigerate until cold (I let mine stay in there overnight but a few hours will probably do the trick).
5. Freeze in an ice cream freezer. When transferring to another container, alternate layers of fudge ripple and ice cream (don't stir together). Freeze until hard/ready to eat. Enjoy!

Fudge Ripple
From David Lebovitz

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
6 TBL cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1. Whisk together sugar, corn syrup, water and cocoa powder in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium and bring to a low boil, whisking often.
2. Boil for 1 minute, remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
3. Let cool. Refrigerate until ready for ice cream. Make sure it is cold when you mix it in to the ice cream.

Shrimp Salad Sandwiches

There is something about shrimp salad that says summer to me. Maybe it is because I associate it with the beach. Although we are still in April, yesterday's 80 degree weather (a far cry from the mid-50s we are expecting today) was the only excuse I needed to whip up an easy and delicious dinner: shrimp salad sandwiches.

Shrimp salad is one of those meals that is both ridiculously easy to make and delicious. It's also perfect for customizing-- want more texture, add more celery (or add in a little red onion). Want less dressing, cut back on the mayo. Next time I might through in some fresh dill for a little bit of extra flavor (although it was pretty good as it was). Seriously, the hardest part is peeling the shrimp.

Shrimp Salad Sandwiches

Ingredients:
1 pound shell-on shrimp
1/3 cup diced celery
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
Juice from half a lemon
1 tablespoon (or to taste) Old Bay seasoning OR as much of your favorite hot sauce as you'd like
Salt and pepper to taste
Sub rolls
lettuce

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add shrimp and cook for 5 minutes. Drain and set shrimp aside to cool.
2. Meanwhile, whisk mayo, mustard, vinegar, and lemon juice. Add Old Bay and/or hot sauce until you've got the right amount of kick. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. When shrimp are cool enough to handle, peel and add to dressing. Add celery and toss until combined. Check one last time for seasonings.
4. Toast sub rolls. Line with lettuce (it helps to keep the dressing from dripping through) and fill with shrimp salad. Serve with veggie chips or your favorite side and enjoy a taste of summer.

Chocolate Yogurt Snack Cakes

We interrupt the baby related posts for an actual recipe! Imagine that :)

I had my eye on a recipe for chocolate yogurt snack cakes from David Lebovitz (by way of SmittenKitchen) for awhile when I decided that last week's book club was the perfect time to try them out. I like chocolate but I am not a huge fan of super chocolatey things, so I was intrigued by these little cakes that promised to be light and airy with just a hint of chocolate.

They did not disappoint. Moist and delicious with a hint of almond, they were not overwhelmingly chocolatey but had that cocoa depth that was just right. They were also pretty easy to make--no mixer required! I went with mini-muffin sized cakes (you could also use regular sized muffins or even put it into a loaf pan) which was perfect for book club and after dinner treats the rest of the week!

(Note: I bet these would be amazing with some strawberries and whipped cream for a springy dessert!)

Chocolate Yogurt Snack Cakes
Adapted (barely) from David Lebovitz and SmittenKitchen

Ingredients:
7 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup plain, whole fat yogurt
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt (if you use regular table salt, cut it down to 1/4 teaspoon)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a mini-muffin tin, making sure you also grease the top.
2. Place chocolate chips and 1/4 cup of the vegetable oil in a heatproof bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir, and then microwave again in 15 second increments until chocolate is melted and smooth.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the remaining vegetable oil, yogurt, sugar, eggs, and extracts (vanilla and almond).
4. In a large bowl, mix together remaining ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt). Add yogurt mixture and stir lightly. Add melted chocolate and mix until just combined.
5. Scoop batter into muffin tins (I had a little extra left over and put into a small baking dish for a brownie-like treat). Bake for about 12-15 minutes until just done and toothpick comes out clean.
6. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes or so and then remove from the pan (if you let them cool too long in the pan, they become harder to get out--trust me!)

More Exciting News

Well, apparently my maternal instincts are still under development because I was 100% wrong about the sex of our child. We are having a girl!

First, I have to say the 20 week scan was pretty crazy-- heart, brain, kidneys, bones...you get to see it all. So I was already a little overwhelmed when half way through our ultrasound technician said (in a sing song voice) "I know what you're having!" Followed a few seconds later with "it's a girl!"

My first reaction was "It's a GIRL?! Are you sure??" And then I immediately started crying. Silent, happy tears, but tears nonetheless. I am pretty sure I would have cried regardless- hearing whether the baby was a boy or girl just made it all very real for the first time.

Jason's first reaction was "you were WRONG!" I think he was more excited about the fact that he was right and I was wrong than the news itself.

I am still a little in disbelief.

But we have a picture to prove it. Let's just say our little girl was not at all being modest and our technician printed out a picture with an arrow pointing to her lady parts to prove that she is not, in fact, a he.

Pretty exciting stuff!

Place Your Bets

Tomorrow is the big day! Time for our 20 week scan and, hopefully, an opportunity to see our little cantaloupe (according to thebump which seems WAY too big...I might have to go with BabyCenter's banana for this week) and find out of it is a he or a she.

Even since before we started considering whether or not to have a baby, I knew that I wanted to find out ahead of time whether we would be having a boy or girl. It's not hard to understand why. I am a planner by nature and the thought of not knowing something so huge ahead of time is pretty hard for me to fathom. I also get a kick of knowing things as soon as I can. I like spoilers. I have a hard time not skipping ahead to the end of the book so I can see what happens. I was the kid that actively sought out my Christmas presents because I just couldn't wait until Christmas Day to find out what was going to be in those pretty packages. And, for me, knowing ahead of time doesn't ruin the surprise; in some ways it actually increases my enjoyment of them. So not finding out was never really an option....

Which is why it would be so totally ironic if our little banana-cantaloupe decided to be a little prude and hide his/her goods from us.

But I am going to spend too much time thinking about that. Instead, I am going to indulge in my need to figure things out ahead of time and make a prediction about whether our future baby is a boy or a girl. Ready?

I think we are having a boy!

Here are my mostly unscientific reasons:
1. As everyone knows from biology class, sex is determined by the father's, um, genetic material. And there is a paucity of females born into the paternal side of Jason's family. Jason has a brother. His father has two brothers. His grandfather may have had a sister. But other than that-- no girls. So clearly we are having a boy.

2.  We have pretty much settled on a girl's name that we both like but are having less luck coming up with a boy's name that we like and can agree upon. Obviously that means we are having a boy.

3. Pretty much everyone I know that has had a baby in the last year or is having one in the next 3-5 months is having a girl. Which means we are definitely having a boy.

4. The Chinese gender predictor has predicted we are having a boy...need I say more.

5. And, finally, for reasons I can't explain....I just really and truly think we are having a boy.

Jason, on the other hand, thinks we are having a girl.

One of us is right! But who will it be....find out tomorrow :)