Working Out While Pregnant

I know that one of the best ways to have a good labor is to be in shape.  While I'm not quite in the shape I wanted to be when I got pregnant, I'm making the best of it.  I didn't work out at all in the first trimester, but starting January 1, I've been at it at least three times a week. 

In the mornings,  I use the Walk Away the Pounds videos:

 The first DVD I got when I was in college almost 10 years ago.  They still work just fine, but I've seen each version (1 mile, 2 miles, and 3 miles) a million times.

The second I bought last week because I was so bored with the first.  The videos weren't quite fulfilling all of my needs, so I went on a search through netflix and found Crunch's Yoga Mama video:

Right now, my exercise plan is 2-3 miles in the morning before work, and yoga in the evenings when *B* is at school.  While I may not be the sleekest pregnant woman out there, I'm determined to have enough stamina to get through my child's birth.  I just hope that it's not too little, too late.

Happy Birthday, Nephew!

Our nephew turned 3 today!  He's absolutely obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine and the movie Cars.  My mom had bought me a Lightning McQueen cake pan in advance of the celebration, and I tried my hand at making it this weekend.  Not bad if I say so myself!

I had to use a whole pot of red food coloring for the icing to turn out an actual red color.  Because there was so much, it stained everything!  This is *B*'s hand, which is usually the palest white, after doing the dishes:

 

All of our tongues turned bright pink, and our nephew had red all over his chin from the festivities.  Paired with the two black eyes he had from running into a cabinet in one instance and falling off a step in another, he looked like he was wearing clown makeup.

Happy birthday, nephew!

Prepping for Baby

I'm staying home with the baby for a school year starting in June.  We can't technically afford this, so we have to be very prepared before he or she comes.  We're saving as much as possible, making freezer meals ahead of time, and stocking our pantry.

Before I became pregnant, we were paying off some debt, but I didn't realize how much more we could be doing to better ourselves.  By limiting our meals out and carefully planning grocery trips, we've freed up a lot of money.  In two months alone, we've saved $3,000 of the $10,000 we need for me to be able to stay home.  And in those two months were both of our birthdays, a friend's wedding, our anniversary, and Christmas!  Where we were freaking out before, and I was convinced I'd need to work at least 20 hours a week, now I could probably stay home the whole time.

Recently, I've been doing research on freezer meals for when the baby comes.  I want to find things that are both healthy and easy to make.  Some of our favorite freezer meals are beef bourgignon, chili, mexican chicken casserole, lasagna, curried lentil soup, butternut squash soup, shepherd's pie, and marinated meats.  For breakfast, I'll have oatmeal pancakes and waffles.  These foods are good, but I need more options.  So in my research I've found these links so far:
Mama and Baby Love: Real Food
Make Ahead Meals
$130 for 100 meals

In order to have an efficient freezer, *B* and I spent all weekend last weekend going through the freezer and reorganizing it.  Rather than throwing food in randomly, we gave the shelves purposes.

The first shelf is prepared food.  Those are foods that we can just grab and heat.  The second is food we can cook with like beans, rice, pizza crusts, and frozen potatoes.  The third shelf and the basket are full of meat: a whole turkey, a whole chicken, shrimp, beef, venison, and bacon.  The door is all of our frozen fruits and veggies, as well as some bread and butter that had no better place to go.

Since I won't have an income for a year, we also need to stock the pantry as full as possible, just in case.  In our pantry, we've got canned veggies, oil, condiments, spices, canned fruits, pasta, and beans:




We have broth of different kinds, tea, panko, light bulbs, ziplocs and food saver bags, cream of wheat, cereal, and baking needs:





We have honey, pudding, and every type of canned tomato imaginable:



And of course, we have paper products, bulk flour, bulk rice, and bulk sugar:






So for the next few weeks, I'll be scrimping, looking up freezer meal recipes, and determining what we need in our pantry in order to maintain healthy diets.  Do you have any tips or freezer meal ideas?

Winter Comfort Food

One of the winter comfort foods that I always forget about is Beef Bourgignon.  I first had it on a field trip in a high school french class, and I fell in love.  I had a shoulder clod roast in the freezer that I didn't know what to do with, so I ended up making a favorite from Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions.

I started by cutting the roast into 2 inch chunks the night before I made this.  I marinated the beef in two cups of red wine and threw it in the refrigerator:



In the afternoon the next day, I pulled out all the beef with a slotted spoon and drained it on paper towels.  The drier the beef, the better.



After the beef is dried, I browned it in equal parts butter and olive oil in small batches.  Put the meat on an unlined plate.  You'll want the meat juices later.









Pour the juice/butter/oil mixture into a small bowl and set aside.  In the pot, melt butter and pour in 1/2 a cup of flour.  I used whole wheat without problems.  Cook and stir constantly for a few minutes.  Then, add the wine from the marinade and four cups of beef broth.  Whisk it all together until it boils and thickens.



After the sauce thickens, pour in the beef with all those good juices.  Stir well, add a bundle of thyme tied with kitchen twine, pepper, and a few slivers of orange peel.  Put it in a 300 degree oven for 3-5 hours or until the meat is tender.



About 20 minutes before the beef comes out of the oven, clean a pound of mushrooms and cut them into bite sized pieces.  Also, chop an onion into manageable pieces.  I used the reserved juice/butter/oil mixture from earlier to brown the mushrooms, and plain butter to cook the onions.








When the meat comes out of the onion, remove the thyme and add in the mushrooms and onions.  Stir them in well.



We tend to serve this over noodles, but it is perfectly tasty on its own.

Beef bourgignon also goes really well with homemade bread. 

In fact, when I emptied the pot into freezer containers, *B* took a piece of bread and wiped out the pot before washing it.  Why let good food go to waste?

Beef Bourgignon

Ingredients

3 pounds stew beef

2 cups red wine

4 cups beef stock

6 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons EVOO

1/2 cup flour

orange peel

fresh thyme

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 pound fresh mushrooms

2 pounds boiling onions or one large onion

salt (to taste)