The Final Countdown, Knitting Action, Quick Dinners

The Final Countdown
Here I have arrived nearly in week 37 of my second and probably last pregnancy.

Almost baby time!

I just found out at my 36 week appointment that this little stinker is head up! I don't know if he flipped or has just always been hanging out that way (honestly a little hard to tell what's a butt or a head or if what is jabbing you is a foot or a fist after a certain point). At any rate, it's not good at this late in the game! I have an External Cephalic Version set for one week from today, so he's got seven days to do it himself or some doctor in a hospital is going to try to MAKE him turn, which will make mommy quite uncomfortable and carries its own set of risks. Suffice to say, I'm not looking forward to it.

Knitting Action
So I'm trying a few weird baby spinning exercises and otherwise trying not to think about it too much. Part of my distraction has been in the form of a big knitting project that I've been hankering to do for a long time: The Melrose Peacoat. It's a chunky knit so it hasn't taken me too long, actually...about three weeks from start to finish. Well, almost finished, there's still buttons and snaps to be applied, but all the knitting is done. I had a sick day yesterday and applied myself to blocking, seaming and putting final touches on my pretty red coat.

And here she is! 

The coat turned out a little baggy, but it fits (as far as I can tell around the big ol' belly, of course!). I was proud of myself because I had to learn a few new techniques for this project and I'm just pretty chuffed at how it actually turned out. With buttons, it is supposed to look like this:


So it's not too bad, really! It's probably the last big knitting project I'll be able to accomplish on any sort of normal time line for a few YEARS, so I was happy to be able to finish it before this bebe makes his appearance.

Only problem with all this is that I spent my day hunched over on the floor in weird positions trying not to let the belly get in the way of my work, so today I feel like I just had leg day at the gym! My legs and butt are so sore...add onto that the late pregnancy "swag" (aka waddle) and I'm sure I'm a fairly comical sight to any onlookers. Ouch.

Quick Dinners
So for all intents and purposes, in a few weeks' time, my life will never be the same. How anyone manages two kids at a time is still a mystery to me in practice. In theory, I know I can do it, but I've never actually *tried*.

My drive for dinners that are quick and easy is at an all-time high. Usually, I don't mind a bit of prep for a delicious, healthy dinner. But nowadays...I'd love thirty minutes or less from start to finish. Besides good ol' Rachael Ray, I don't actually have a ton of ideas for this sort of thing.

Making dinners for a new mama is an age-old church tradition (or just community tradition), but God bless the dinner-cookers...it ends up being a LOT of pasta and/or casseroles to fit in with people's schedules and budgets. I will definitely want something quick and easy to take a break from all the carbs and comfort-foodiness. So far, stir fry is my best idea. But I need more!

Do you have a tried-and-true healthy dinner that you go to in times of need? I'd love to hear it!

Tonight I'm varying from "healthy" in favor of "nostalgic" with what my mama called Haystacks. Fritos, canned chili, cheese, lettuce, tomato, some yogurt (in favor of sour cream) and black olives. In our house, we call them "Food Towers" so my child will eat them. =) Healthy, it is NOT. Delicious and family-friendly, it is!

Food Tower Time! 

Thanks for any help you can give!

Brewing in the Kitchen - Kefir and Kvass

Hey y'all, I'm back with a few more treats for you. I've been having some good fun and adventures in the kitchen, and I'm eager to share!

Fun with Fermentation - Home-Brewed Kefir and Kvass

L to R: Just-mixed peach/apple/cinnamon kvass; fermenting kefir; a glass of mixed berry kvass

KVASS

Kefir and WHAT, I can hear you saying? I had vaguely heard of beet kvass from the crunchy-mama circles I run in, and the classic kvass is actually from fermented rye bread, originating in Russia and Eastern Europe. But I never actually knew there was a fruit version (which sounds so much more appealing, at least to me) OR that it could be so simple to brew at home! 

The basics of fruit kvass are fruit (fresh, frozen or dried), raw honey, filtered water, and whey (which is apparently optional, but I always use it). 

Process and equipment: You can brew your own in as little as 48 hours just by mixing that stuff together in a glass jar with a lid and leaving it on the kitchen counter! Yes, it really is that easy. But, if you're like me, you need a little more info. Please find a great explanation of the hows and whys of fruit kvass from the lovely Rebecca Wood here. Your kvass is done when it is fizzy, sweet to the taste, and the fruit inside looks cooked. You strain out the fruit and drink the kvass! 

So far, I tried to do a mixed berry one with fresh ginger from frozen Costco fruits (meh) and now there's an apple peach cinnamon (made from fresh organic fruit) on fermenting on my counter that seems quite promising! It's a light-tasting fruit drink with minimal alcohol (so minimal, it is still suitable for kiddos and preggos) and a fizzy finish. 

KEFIR

Then there's the KEFIR, which you have probably come across if you've ever been the dairy section at Whole Foods or similar. It's basically akin to a drinkable yogurt, but it more accurately is a fermented milk drink. My husband was a little leery of me leaving any kind of milk product out on the counter and then drinking it a couple days later, but I was up for the adventure because I really love commercial kefir and thought I could make it better and cheaper at home! 

The basics of kefir: It will cost you between $3 and $4 to buy a quart of commercially prepared kefir at Whole Foods. When you make it at home, it costs you whatever a quart of organic milk costs, plus the cost of any starter and add-ins you make, which is significantly less! I use Yogourmet freeze-dried kefir starter because I don't have a source for kefir "grains", which are traditionally used. The freeze-dried packets come in a box of six and each packet makes one quart. The box will usually cost anywhere from $5-$7 or more depending on where you buy it. I got mine from Whole Foods, but I saw it even for sale on Walmart.com, of all places!

Process and equipment: The basics of kefir-making at home include heating a quart of milk to about 180 degrees, then letting it cool to somewhere between 73-77 degrees Fahrenheit. You can help it along by putting it on ice or in the refrigerator. (I use mason jars to make mine in.) Once cooled, you mix the kefir starter to a bit of the milk before adding it all back together and mixing well. Then, you set it on the counter in a cool, dry place! The top of the jar needs to be covered somehow so that air can still get in, but not bugs or other particulates. I have found it easy to put a coffee filter over the top and secure it with a rubber band. I've heard you can do cheesecloth or a tea towel or something of the sort. Leave it out for about 24 hours, then stop the fermentation by putting it in the refrigerator for 8 hours. It is then ready to strain or stir and enjoy! 

It is summer here in Northern California, so I've found that it doesn't actually take a full 24 hours before mine is completely solid. Therefore, I've been giving it as little as 12-14 hours before sticking it in the fridge. I have so far tried mango, blueberry, chocolate, and peach/banana flavorings using my kefir and our Vitamix! The chocolate was my least favorite (oddly) and the peach banana that I made today has by far been the BEST! I'm eager to try a chai and a vanilla flavor. I'm also wondering if there's a coffee recipe out there so I can mix two of my favorite breakfast drinks together into one awesome power drink! (Maybe I'm dreaming on that one...)

I've found the book Delicious Probiotic Drinks by Julia Mueller to be fun for recipes for the kefir, and also for ideas for other fermented drinks to make at home! 

If you decide to try or have tried either of these fun drinks yourself, please leave me a note about how it went! 

What to Cook: Easy Summer Pasta

I was so at a loss for meal planning the other day that I dug up an oldie but goodie article from a bygone Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine. For awhile they had this great section called "One Grocery Bag, Three Great Meals". As far as I know, the one I love is the first one they ever did. I saw a few more installments but none ever looked as appetizing as this first one. (I gave you the link up there, and the first photo they show is the one I'm referring to, but for some reason, they don't have the recipes together with the shopping list?)

The premise is that they give you a shopping list of only 10 items and you are supposed to be able to get three delicious home-cooked meals out of it. As usual with these sorts of things, they assume you have some pantry items, such as salt and pepper, milk, butter, garlic, onions, etc... It was so easy for me to pop that list into my Instacart app and have it at my door in two hours! Woohoo for technology! (Sorry if you don't live in one of their zones...hopefully they get to you soon. It's one of my favorite things right now, but I'll post on it more extensively another day.)

Anyway, on to the recipe: Shells with Fresh Tomato-Tarragon Sauce! 

Some photos of my process: It really, truly only took about fifteen to twenty minutes from start to finish!!

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Never grated fresh tomatoes on a box grater before...so bizarre!

But here's what the finished product looks like: fresh tomato slurry!

Original recipe says to chop up onions and garlic fine and mix it in. Last time I made this it was just too intense a flavor to have all those raw aromatics in there. So this time: sauté!

A little goat cheese and fresh tarragon and voila!!
As you can see, I swapped shells for penne, as that is what I had on hand. 

There you go! It was such an easy and delicious way to use some fresh tomatoes on a warm summer evening! Tarragon is an herb we rarely use around here, which is a bit of shame because it is delicious. If I weren't pregnant, this dish would have been fabulous with a nice dry rosé...I really needed it after the afternoon I had, too. *sigh*

Once again, the link: Shells with Fresh Tomato-Tarragon Sauce. If you try it out, let me know what you think!