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I'm not sure if I've mentioned it, but I am rather obsessed with coffee cake lately. And by lately I mean pretty much the whole time I have been knocked up.
I want to make one at home, but then again, I don't. I want to because it will be here at home with me and then I won't be forced to put on outside pants and drive to get some. I don't want to because then it will be here at home with me and I will eat the whole pan by myself before anyone can stop me, I swear I will.
For now Starbucks provides me with my fix. I love the reduced fat cinnamon swirl version...that and my grande half caff nonfat caramel macchiato and I'm in heaven. Luckily, I have an obscenely high balanced Sbux gift card, so that I am not spending $6.50 a day of my own money on my little habit.
The trouble is - and my fellow addicts out there can back me up on this - now that I allow myself to purchase something from the pastry case, my eye is beginning to wander. Coffee cake is a gateway drug that is going to lead me first to those little mini sparkle donuts and then probably on to cupcakes. Oh well.
Remember earlier this week, when I was worried about the size of my eggplant? Well, it turns out I didn't worry for nothing. My "Eggplant Lasagna" turned into more of a "Cheese Pie with Eggplant."
Not that I'm complaining.
How do you make such wonders in your own kitchen? I thought you'd never ask.
First, you must Lorena Bobbit your eggplant. Sorry, couldn't resist, done now, I promise.
Preheat your oven to 450. Cut the eggplant (or aubergine, if you want to pretend you are British and fancy) into 1/4" slices and spray or brush lightly with some olive oil. Roast for 5-10 minutes or until they smell eggplant-y and are soft and slightly brown.
Assemble the same ingredients you would for regular lasagna sans the noodles. In my case it was 1/2 a tub of ricotta mixed with one beaten egg, a jar of sauce and a buttload of mozz. Oh yeah, and the eggplant.
Assemble in layers like normal lasagna (I'm really not going to hold your hand, if you don't know, go look it up on some cooking website), cover and bake at 375 for about 1/2 an hour. Then uncover it and bake for another 15.
Put it under the broiler if you have to to get the top cheese all crusty and wonderful.You're going to want to let it sit for at least 15 minutes when it comes out of the oven, or else the cheese will just ooze like molten lava and it will be impossible to cut, let alone eat. If you want to end up with something that resembles lasagna and not just a big dish of saucy melted cheese, you are probably going to want to use two eggplants instead of just one. 
Serve with a nice little green salad, so you don't feel so guilty about all the cheese.
Today marks 20 weeks down, 20 to go. Halfway there! As you can see from the photo above, Chopita is starting to make herself known to the outside world. Maybe one of these days I'll get the Husband to take the belly picture instead of doing it self-portrait style.
Here's the take from my big foray into maternity clothes shopping today. Next time I'm a brat complaining about my mom driving me crazy, please feel free to slap me across the face with the Citizens of Humanity jeans she bought me.
I'm glad to have a couple of pairs of mom jeans and to be done with the whole rubber band/bella band nonsense. I never really cared much for the bella band, and my contempt only grew as I needed to pee more and more frequently. It seemed like I was spending half my life trying to re-establish all my jimmy-rigged undergarments. Now I can just wear my elastic waistband pants without accoutrement.
P.S. - the things on the right that look like prom gloves - those are leggings.
I don't expect any sympathy for feeling rather ho-hum after a whole day in my pajamas. But I must say that I'm ready to call it a day and move on to tomorrow. And it's like 8:15.
It took me until almost 10:30 this morning to bribe myself out of bed. I've been waking up with headaches lately which puts me in a really awesome mood first thing. I did manage to have one selfless, maternal moment though, in which I scarfed a bowl of cereal-even though it was nearly lunchtime already-for the baby's sake. Anyway, my whole day remained out of sorts. I shook the headache for a brief two hour window with the help of tylenol and seven or eight glasses of water, so basically I've spent most of the day peeing. When a Wife Swap rerun you've already seen is the most interesting part of your day, you know it's a good one.
I guess it's not really my fault I never got dressed - although I did shower and put my pajamas back on-I don't have any pants that fit me. I'm hoping to remedy that tomorrow with a big maternity pants shopping expedition...I'll let you know how that works out.
My inaugural Amazon Fresh delivery came today!! It was a lot like Christmas, except instead of Santa in the chimney with toys from the sleigh it was a couple of guys on the doorstep with food from a truck. Just like with Santa, I kept looking out the window in anticipation of their arrival - but they swept in and made their delivery while my back was turned. Tricky, Amazon Fresh!I have to say that overall I am very pleased with this operation. The tote boxes are a little heavy due to the inclusion of ice packs - which I have to store in the garage along with said totes until next time. There was also a little redundancy of packaging. If you dutifully pack along your little cloth totes when you grocery shop, you might be offended by the fact that a lot of things come in a plastic bag in a reusable insulated bag in a big plastic tote.
The upside of this, of course, is you get to open said bags like presents on Christmas morning - and what is more delightful than opening up a big bag of cheese?
Please try and be a grown up and ignore the obvious phallicity of this eggplant. Difficult I know, but I have a point here - the eggplant and the avocado were the two things I worried about most (well, except for the ice cream. The ice cream arrived packed with dry ice, so it was rock hard. Like the eggplant? Stop it.). Ahem.
The avocado I ordered was "large, ripe," and the one delivered seems apt. The eggplant I worried about because there were no such qualifiers in its description, so I really wasn't sure what I would get. But it is a fairly average sized eggplant (out of the gutter, geez) which will work for my eggplant parmesan/lasagna hybrid later this week.
We'll see how long the honeymoon lasts, but for now I think I will stick with Amazon Fresh for my grocery needs. The quality of produce and brands available are comparable to what I can get at my neighborhood (chain) store, and the prices are competitive. Orders over $75 get free delivery, and seeing as I spend about $100 a week, delivery charges shouldn't be an issue. Plus if you spend $300 a month you get free delivery with no minimums for the entire next month, which means I could order up some emergency ice cream and oreos and they would HAVE TO BRING IT TO ME FOR FREE. EVERY DAY.
It's not a time saver yet - between the time I spent ordering and unpacking, I don't think I saved any time over going to the grocery store myself. But that should improve as I set up an auto-list and generally learn the site better. By the time Chopita arrives I should be in the groove and avoid all the grocery-store-with-infant horror story scenarios I've heard so much about.
Amazon Fresh did not pay me for this post. But they probably should.
I love the occasional steakhouse meal - but I hate having leftover steak. I like my meat good and bloody, so bringing it home and reheating it is never an appetizing premise. This year, since drinking heavily was out of the question, we rang in the New Year with an extravagant meal, and I couldn't bear to waste the leftovers. Luckily I was struck with a brilliant idea: Steak and Eggs Benedict.
First things first - make the hollandaise sauce. Because nothing goes better with eggs than three raw egg yolks and a stick of butter. I realized a little late that I should not be eating homemade hollandaise sauce, precisely because of the raw egg factor. Too far committed to back down, I vowed to buy egg beaters for next time.
Then you have to slice the steak leftovers reeeeeaal thin-like. Swat away all husbands and cats trying to steal pieces.
Put the sliced steak in a Ziploc bag, and trying to ignore all fears about plastics and food safety, place in some simmering water to heat through. This only takes a minute and should probably be saved for the end.
Meanwhile, rinse leftover asparagus of all congealed sauce-goo from the restaurant (it wants a dip in the hollandaise pool, too).
If you don't have any english muffins around, but you do have some cheap white bread because it is your guilty pleasure, use a pint glass to cut little rounds and toast them.
Top the little toasties with warmed steak slices, poached eggs that you forgot to photograph poaching...
...And then with liberal amounts of the raw egg and melted butter delight. Inhale while holding the plate two inches from your face and don't speak or pause until finished.
A new year, a new look for the blog. You didn't think I was going to keep that garish pink color scheme around forever, did you? Pork Chop - or Chopita, as I've been calling her - will not be an all pink, all the time kind of girl. At least until she voices an opinion otherwise.
Now that the holidays are behind us, I am going full speed ahead with Baby Stuff. Hopefully that means that my blog posts will be less about the junk food I am cramming in my mouth and more about the decisions I'm making regarding gear, diapers, childbirth ... you know, all the controversial stuff.
BUT, of course, I will still regale you with tales of my meals. I am food obsessed, after all. Look for a post soon on the fabulous brunch I just completed.
Another topic sure to be explored very soon is my adventures in maternity clothes. At 19 weeks and 3 days I am running out of non-pajama clothing I can wear without popping out all over the place. If I want to leave the house ever again, I'm going to have to do some shopping.
Come back and see us sometime ... I promise to try and embarrass myself for your personal enjoyment.
