Monday, September 20, 2010

17 Weeks...

Today marks 17 weeks. 17 weeks of our precious little baby growing inside of me. 17 weeks of my body slowly expanding. 17 weeks of a constant need for sleep and a changing appetite. 17 weeks of resisting the urge to inhale a 5 lb bag of starburst jellybeans in one sitting. Wow. I can't believe it's already been 17 weeks. Time flies when you are growing a baby.

This week we are getting ready to celebrate the first birthday of my adorable nephew, Brady. I imagine it will be a weekend of excitement. And shrieking. Mostly from Brady of course.

Happy Monday!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Lasagna and Week 16!

We made some delicious Pioneer Woman lasagna tonight:) Lasagna is one of those meals that is best prepared on weekends. This dish from start to finish takes close to 2 hours to complete. And it is so worth it! It also makes tons of food so you will have plenty of leftovers for the week. This recipe came from my Pioneer Woman cookbook.

PW Lasagna

10 oz lasagna noodles
1 tbsp olive oil
1.5 lbs ground beef
1 lb spicy ground sausage
4 cloves minced garlic
2 14.5 oz cans whole stewed tomatoes
2 6 oz cans tomato paste
salt and pepper
2 eggs, beaten
3 cups low fat cottage cheese
16 oz mozzerella cheese
1 cup parmesan cheese
10-12 basil leaves, chopped
1/4 cup parsley, chopped

And now we begin the long process of a delicious dinner. Cook the lasagna noodles according to the package. When they are done, lay them flat on a piece of foil.

Cook the ground beef, sausage, and garlic until the meat is cooked. Drain off the nasty fat. Add the cans of stewed tomatoes with their juice, the cans of tomato paste, and salt and pepper to taste. Allow this mixture to simmer for approx 45 minutes. Stir in herbs.

Combine eggs, cottage cheese, half of chopped herbs, and 1/2 cup parmesan cheese. So when I was buying cottage cheese, the measurements were stupid and I ended up with 2 containers that had 2 cups each in them. Since we don't eat cottage cheese ever...I just used all 4 cups in this mixture and it still tasted delicious.

Now to assemble this monster. Grease a deep 9x13 baking dish and line with half of the lasagna noodles. Cover the noodles in half of the cottage cheese mixture. Sprinkle on half of the mozzerella cheese. Add half of the meat mixture. Repeat the layers and top off with the remaining parmesan cheese. Bake for 35-45 at 350 or until bubbly. Try not to eat too much in one sitting:)

Now for pregnancy related matters:) I had an appointment this past week and I got to hear our little baby's heartbeat again! I think it's one of my most favorite sounds ever:) This week it was a strong 153 bpm. Everything else is looking good so far. I got some fun maternity clothes this weekend. This bump on my stomach has exploded the past two weeks and my tops just aren't fitting the way they should:) I will post pics soon..promise! The names are an ongoing debate and just might not be revealed until our baby's birthday. Who knew picking a name for a person to use for their entire life would be so difficult...

Now I must return my attention to the ridiculousness that is the VMAs. Goodnight!

Monday, September 6, 2010

Week 15!

My mother pointed out that I am not being very diligent with blog posts. Sorry mom:) This pregancy brain combined with fatigue does not result in much productive activity. I'm still waiting on that burst of energy in the second trimester...


So besides pregnancy brain and fatigue...life has been pretty easy so far. Ryan has been wonderful. He has no problem with my frequent naps...probably because it means uninterrupted ESPN time. One of my pregnancy websites told me that I have 175 days left. That doesn't seem like much time....


Still no baby name updates. We have our girl name picked out, but the boy name is giving us a hard time. Ryan has his favorite, I have mine, and we are having a hard time compromising. I told him tonight that our boy name might be decided the day we give birth to a boy:)


I have a little bit of a bump going on...although the general public probably thinks I'm just fluffy. I will post a belly pic soon for those of you who keep asking. I promise:)

This past weekend was fun. Dan, my brother-in-law, introduced me to an amazing new dip! Well...he told me about it, gave Ryan the recipe, and Ryan made it. My husband is the best! So, this dip calls for chicken, 1 cup ranch dressing, 1 block cream cheese, and 1 cup of Frank's red hot sauce, and 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese. I think you are actually supposed to bake this dip, but Ryan put it all in a crockpot on low and it was amazing! It was everything I was hoping it would be and more. I think it's our new tailgating dip.


Another fun thing happened this weekend....I am going to be Landen's godmother! For those of you who don't remember, Landen is my beautiful little niece who was born on August 6, 2010. This godparent adventure is new for me and I am so excited about it! I'm planning on being the best godmother ever....I'm sure Landen will think so:)


To finish up...a picture of Landen during her first Notre Dame game!

Good night from the McCormicks!