Breakfast sandwiches similar to Starbucks turkey bacon

So these are super easy to make and taste really yummy!

Ingredients:
Whole wheat (or whatever is on sale) english muffins (I usually make 24)
Sharp white cheddar cheese slices
1 egg for each english muffin you plan to make
Turkey bacon (I usually use 1 slice per muffin)

Directions:
Toast each english muffin and set aside on a plate

I use only the egg whites for the egg portion of the sandwich and put them in a large muffin tin pan.  I've found that the large muffin tin pan is the perfect size for the english muffins.  Add a touch of salt and pepper and bake at 350 degrees for 7-8 min

Bake your turkey bacon according to direction on the package.  It's usually at either 350-375 for 8-11 min.

Once everything has cooled it's time to assemble.  We like the sharp white cheddar for this but you can you whatever you want.  Assembly is one egg white, one piece of bacon torn in half, one piece of cheese, and one english muffin.  I like to wrap in tin foil because I think it keeps the freezer burn off.  After I wrap in the tin foil I put them in gallon size freezer bags. 

These keep for 1-2 months in the deep freezer.

Croissants with chicken and spinach

I had a friend ask me for my recipe for this a long time ago and I've just never gotten around to making a post about it.  I promised to blog about it and well...this last year has been a bit busy.  Going through two rounds of IVF, moving across the country, new job, new house, new baby soon...

Anyway now that I'm on 'bed rest' I have a bit of time and thought I would blog so my friend could see it :)

This is for croissants with chicken and spinach

First: decide how many you want to make.  There are 6 croissants that come in a tube thing (or you can make homemade if you have the time and expertise).  I made about 24 I believe.

Ingredient:
Croissants (I made 24)
Chicken (about 4 cups shredded)
Cream cheese (plan on 2-3 packages)
Bread crumbs (either Italian or regular...dealers choice)
Parmesan cheese (about 1/2c or more to taste, I like to use the shredded in my mixture and the powdered with the breadcrumbs)
Garlic powder (2-3tsp more or less to taste)
Parsley (2-3T more or less)
Onion powder (1-2tsp more or less to taste)
Frozen spinach (use as much as you like)

Directions:
Mix chicken, cream cheese 1/2 of the parmesan cheese, spices, and spinach is a bowl.  You want to add more cream cheese than you think because it will dry out as it bakes.

 

Open up your croissants and put about 1-2T of the mixture inside.  Wrap them up and dip them in the butter and then the bread crumbs (with the other half of the parmesan cheese).

Bake croissants according to directions on the package.  

After you take them out of the oven let them cool.  Wrap in tin foil, I like to put everything in gallon size freezer bags and depending on what size croissants you use depends on how many you can fit in a bag.  If you use the giant ones 4 in a gallon size bag and if you use the smaller ones usually 6.  These will last about two months in the deep freezer but for me they are usually gone in about 3 weeks!

I like to pack these in my lunch for work.  I usually take 2 out of the freezer and put them in my lunch bag in the fridge the night before.  By lunch time they are usually thawed and take between 1-2 minutes to re-heat depending on your microwave.

 

 

36 weeks and we hit a small snag

How far along: 36 weeks!

Baby is the size of an: Coconut

Total weight gain:  29lbs eek!

 

Maternity clothes: Yes, having trouble finding shirts that are long enough to cover my belly

 

Stretch marks: Yes but I prefer to think of them as tiger strips and my marks for fighting as hard as we did to get pregnant

 

Sleep: I'm so sleepy almost all the time but sleep only comes in spurts.  We finally got our bedroom to be cool enough for me to sleep at night so that's been more helpful!

 

Best moment of this week: Working on your baby blanket since I have more time now

 

Miss anything: Not having swollen feet, being able to do any sort of activity without getting tired, and wearing my wedding rings.

 

Movement: Yes, we have stretches and rolls!

 

Food cravings: Cookies

 

Anything making you queasy or sick: getting too warm

 

Have you started to show yet: Yes, I'm feeling quite large too

 

Gender: It's a secret

 

Labor signs: I have braxton hicks fairly often but so far no labor

 

Belly button in or out: In

 

Wedding rings on or off: Still off

 

Happy or moody most of the time: Annoyed with the whole bed rest thing and the swollen ankles and the swollen hands and face.  I'm also annoyed that I'm retaining so much fluid!  I seriously gained almost 15lbs in the last month.

 

Looking forward to: Getting to meet you hopefully in the next week or two.

Bedrest is for the birds!

Well I ended up in the hospital last Thursday with lots of swelling and high BP.  I got to the ER around 1030 and I guess since I'm past 20 weeks all pregnant women go to L&D triage.  So up I went to L&D triage in a wheelchair.  Apparently if you are in labor or have high blood pressure you aren't supposed to walk...go figure.  I walked all the way from the parking garage (where I normally park for work since I was supposed to work that day) to the ER with no issues.

So I get taken up to L&D which was just weird.  I'm not a huge fan of being the 'patient' especially since I'm usually the caregiver/caretaker not the care receiver.  They waited about a half hour before finally taking my BP which was 150/90.  Yay!  No wonder I had a headache.  They put the monitors on the baby to make sure that everything was fine and it turns out that I was having contractions (probably braxton hicks).  Baby looked great and responded appropriately to contractions. 

After some blood work I was told that I would no longer be working.  When I made a sour face about that the midwife amended that I would have to be off until Monday when I saw my midwife and then we would go from there.  I got to do a 24 hour urine test (super exciting).  I also get to be on modified bed rest which pretty much means I'm supposed to resting the majority of the time but I can get up and make a 'simple' meal (whatever that means), use the restroom when I want, shower when I want, and make short trips to and from places.  The crazy thing is the more I rest and then get up the more contractions I have.  The more I'm up the more swelling I have but the less contractions.

Last night I had some fairly regular contractions but they fizzled out and I went to sleep.  I'm having trouble sleeping in my bed so I've started sleeping in the extra bedroom the last couple of nights because I'm just uncomfortable and I toss and turn most of the night.  At least Matt can get some sleep if I'm not tossing or turning!

At least I rocked the hospital gown :)

After a rough night

There is flowers!  I had a fairly rough night with a small child's feet in my ribs.  I wasn't able to get comfortable most of the night and tossed and turned.  Finally at 6:30 this morning I was able to sleep for a few hours.  Thankfully I was only having a few braxton hicks contractions throughout the night.  I even woke up to way less swelling than I've had over the last week!

My poor Matt went to work this morning even though he didn't get much rest last night either.  When he came home he brought flowers and a card!  It totally makes up for a small child keeping me awake last night.