Sharing Some Big News

It's time to share some big news with you all that I've been wanting to share for a while now. It's been pretty hard to keep it a secret considering all the lifestyle changes I've had over the last few months, which you may have noticed. There have been fewer paleo dinners and more carbs appearing in my meals on a regular basis; there have been fewer workouts and more early bedtimes; and there have been no Friday night glasses of wine or weekend beers, even during big football games. If you haven't guessed it by now...

We're expecting Baby Baratta #2!

I'm 5 months pregnant now and can hardly believe that on or around June 10 (so soon!) we'll become a family of four. Eek! We are so happy and really looking forward to this next stage of our lives. Even Riker is excited - he can't wait to become a big brother. He is always asking to see my belly and "kiss the baby". Every time we sit next to each other on the couch he protectively keeps his hand on my tummy. Guh cuteness overload.

The first trimester was pretty rough, as it was with Riker too, in that I was exhausted all the time and plagued by morning sickness non-stop. I had tons of food aversions and could really only bear to eat plain toast, pasta or other carby foods with little flavor. It also didn't help that I was sick with a bad cold and bronchitis for almost two months, which lingered on since I couldn't take medication. But thankfully as soon as the second trimester came on, everything cleared right up. No more sickness, my energy came back and I've been able to work out again, and I don't have food aversions anymore so I can eat seafood and veggies again (woo!). I still need to eat more carbs than I normally do when I'm not pregnant - they seem to be the only thing that keeps me full and not on the verge of nausea - but hey, my motto is to listen to your body. And if the body says, feed me grains, I'm not going to object. ;)

So at 20 weeks something exciting happens. We finally learned the sex of the baby this weekend!

The "gender reveal party" trend didn't exist when we had Riker, so with him we found out the regular way at the ultrasound office. I'm glad we experienced it that way our first time, since we could have a private moment just the two of us to get all emotional and teary eyed when we found out it was a boy. But with our second one, I wanted to do a gender reveal and share the experience and excitement with our whole family.

We decided to keep it small and just have our immediate family, so I was really happy that all my out-of-town family was able to come. My mom, stepdad and grandma came down from Vermont on Friday night, and my sister Amanda and her boyfriend Justyn came in from Philly on Saturday. All of Matt's family arrived to our house around 6:00 last night and the party kicked into gear.

We had a simple spread of appetizers to start off - spinach dip, crackers with some fun cheeses (peperoncini asiago seemed to be the big hit), olives and roasted red peppers. I didn't snap any pictures of dinner, but we made citrus rosemary whole roasted chickens (I buy free range organic chickens, which not only are more humane and healthier, but apparently taste a lot better too), green beans almondine, mashed potatoes, salad and garlic bread. I made a piece of cedar plank salmon for my protein since I don't eat chicken. We had a bit of a snafu with the chicken cooking (it was my first time making whole roasted chicken...thank goodness my mom was here to help me!), but everything came out great eventually.

After dinner it was finally time to cut the cake and see if there was pink or blue inside. The anticipation was killing me!

Matt, Riker and I cut the cake together, and I really, really, REALLY expected to see blue frosting on the inside. It was a boy for sure. Except when I made the first cut and pulled the knife out...

........

........

It was PINK! A little baby girl is on the way. :) I actually squealed and jumped up and down like a little kid. While I loved the idea of having "my boys" and two little brothers to play with and torture each other, Matt and I both secretly wanted one of each. We feel so lucky to be able to raise both a boy and a girl. And for months Riker has been insisting that he wants a baby sister, so he's pretty excited to have gotten his wish. ;) The whole family is ecstatic. Time to redecorate the nursery!

So there you have the big news. I'm hoping the next few months are a smooth ride and before we know it our new little bundle will be here.

And with that, I'm off to get ready for another baby celebration. My friend Lindsay's baby shower is today, which means I get to spend the whole afternoon with my best girls and dote on the new mom-to-be. Can't wait!

Enjoy your Sunday. :)

Chocolate for Breakfast

I woke up this morning itching to go for a run, but it's kind of drab outside right now so I'm going to hold off until a little later. I'll just tell you about breakfast instead, because it was delicious.

We finally have oats in the house again after shopping last night (remember we had to throw out all our grains a few weeks ago?), and the dreary weather had me craving a big bowl of hot oatmeal. Chocolate-peanut butter-banana oatmeal, that is.

Anything that contains those three ingredients has to be good! To make the oatmeal, I simply combined 1/2 cup of oats, 3/4 cup of water, half a sliced banana, a tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder and one packet of Truvia. Then I microwaved the whole thing for 5 minutes...and while that was cooking, I prepped my toppings.

 A little chocolate PB2 and the rest of my banana topped off the bowl. Good carbs + protein + fiber + antioxidants = one good breakfast.



Time to get some work done - I'm headed out later for a fun little afternoon.  Catch you later for dinner!

Out of the House

We're having some work done at the house today, so rather than sitting at home breathing in fumes, I decided to spend the day at my in-laws'. I got up bright and early, packed up Riker and Butters, and off we went! My parents don't live nearby, so I love spending time at Matt's parents' place, and sometimes it's nice just to get out of the house for the day.

...Especially since it gives me an excuse to buy my morning coffee rather than make it at home. A medium toasted almond please!

After getting settled, I raided the cabinets and made myself some breakfast - a bowl of Kashi Go Lean whole grain vanilla oatmeal. I added a cup of chopped strawberries halfway through the cooking time to make it "strawberries 'n cream" outmeal. Delicious!

Pink Oatmeal!

 After breakfast, I chatted with Matt's grandmother (we call her MomMom) for a few hours. She's 89 and has such great stories. Every time I go over, she makes me a cup of tea with milk and honey and tells me stories about what it was like when she was growing up or about family members who have since passed on. It's amazing how many changes in the world she has seen. Today she told me about visiting her mother-in-law's farm in North Carolina back when they had no electricity, and used to drink sweet tea and eat fresh peaches under the orchard trees during summer afternoons when it was too hot to work. Such a simple yet rewarding life.

Then it was lunch time! Matt's mom treated us all to paninis from my favorite sandwich spot. I opted for a grilled veggie panini with zucchini, eggplant and roasted red peppers with fresh mozzarella cheese. The side of pesto pasta salad was the star of the show, though. So good.

Now we're off for a brisk walk down to the creek with the dogs and the baby. It's chilly out there today, but the sun is shining so some fresh air sounds good. Whenever Riker gets fresh air during the day, he seems to sleep better - I'll take it!

Birthday Chicken Parmesan

Yesterday we had Matt's family over for his mom's birthday dinner. Her birthday was actually last week, but this was the first time we were able to get everyone together. His mom's favorite meal is chicken parmesan and we thought that would be a great thing to serve on a Sunday evening, so we decided to create our own version of the traditional Italian dish.

Since I'm a pescatarian and don't eat meat, I made my own mini "chicken" parmesan with a Morningstar Farms chik patty. Super tasty! Other changes included baking the chicken rather than frying it, using part-skim mozzarella cheese, and making our own marinara sauce, both because we think it tastes better than most jar sauces and also so we could control the sugar, salt and oil content. Homemade sauce is so easy to make and really doesn't take that long, so even though we went to the Poconos this weekend, we were still able to whip some up for the Sunday dinner - we just started it first and let it simmer on the stove while we were prepping everything else. We had a lot left over so we froze some to use another time.

A note about tomatoes for the sauce: We've recently become aware of how the food supply chain negatively impacts the environment (for example, shipping tomatoes from Italy to the U.S. consumes a lot of fuel and other forms of energy), so we try to be cognizant of this and choose local foods whenever possible. If we're buying jarred sauce, we try to buy brands that use Jersey tomatoes or that at least make and ship their sauces from New Jersey to minimize the travel distance. When making our own sauce, we try to use homemade canned tomatoes from our garden. Once our own canned tomatoes are gone though, we use Tuttorosso tomatoes; my mom always used them when I was growing up, and we just think they taste better than any other brand - and when you're making something that's basically all tomatoes, it definitely matters!

After some light appetizers, we enjoyed the chicken parm alongside whole string beans tossed with fresh garlic and sea salt, homemade garlic bread and a salad of mixed greens and veggies, gorgonzola cheese and dried cranberries dressed with Ariston balsamic vinegar. We topped it all off with a Baratta family birthday tradition - a Dairy Queen ice cream cake! It was a simple but delicious dinner, and it's always great spending the afternoon with family. :)

Note: We actually don't use recipes for making sauce or chicken parm and just "eyeball" amounts and adjust things as we go. I've done my best to recreate our methods in the recipes below, but feel free to add more or less of the seasonings and things to your own liking.

Homemade Marinara Sauce

Makes approx. 16 cups

Ingredients
3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 large cans (32 oz. each) whole peeled tomatoes
1 large can (32 oz.) crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp. tomato paste
2 large carrots, peeled and left whole
1 tsp. sugar
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. oregano
1 bunch fresh basil, torn
Dash of crushed red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large stockpot, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat. When warm, add the onions and garlic and allow to sweat for 5-7 minutes until translucent and fragrant (do not brown). Add tomato paste and stir; then add all canned tomatoes and stir mixture to fully combine. Add carrots, bay leaf, oregano and salt and pepper; bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat and simmer for at least one hour. Then add sugar, crushed red pepper and additional salt and pepper if needed. Let simmer for another hour or so (the longer the better, but two hours will work. If you aren't able to simmer for a long time, you may need to add more sugar since the natural sugars in the tomatoes and carrots will have less time to develop). When the sauce is done, turn off the heat and remove the carrots and bay leaf. Add the basil and stir it through.

Serve immediately, or can or freeze it for up to one year.

Nutrition Facts** (1/2 cup):  39 calories; 1.3 grams fat; 6 grams carbs; 1 gram fiber; less than 1 gram protein

Chicken Parmesan

Serves 6

Ingredients
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts (6 breasts, approx. 5 ounces each)
3 eggs, beaten
2 cups Italian bread crumbs
3 cups marinara sauce
12 ounces part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded (it's best to use a whole block of cheese and grate it fresh, rather than buying it pre-shredded. It melts better and has more flavor).

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread the chicken breasts on a large cutting board and cover with plastic wrap. With a meat mallet or rolling pin, pound the chicken out until it is about a half inch thick. Dip each breast in the eggs and then the bread crumbs; shake off excess crumbs and place chicken on a sheet pan sprayed with cooking spray. Bake the chicken approximately 30 minutes or until no longer pink inside. Remove from oven and increase heat to 400 degrees. Place the cooked chicken in a casserole pan and cover with warm marinara sauce, then top with cheese. Bake for 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted; then increase the oven temperature to broil and cook for 3 minutes more, until cheese is brown and bubbly (do not leave the chicken unattended at this stage, it can burn quickly).

Nutrition Facts** (1 breast with sauce and cheese): 519 calories; 16 grams fat; 22 grams carbs; 3.5 grams fiber; 55 grams protein