Baby....

As I sit down and write tonight, I'm at a loss for words to describe how I am feeling right now. Adam and I are both ecstatic and can't believe that we are going to be parents soon! Yesterday we had our 2nd appointment with Dr. Davis. At today's visit we were able to hear our baby's heartbeat and finally get to see a picture of him/her! The baby is about 1 1/2 inches long and it's heart beat was 188 bpm. She said everything looks perfectly fine and we have nothing to worry about at this point. In 4 weeks we are going to go back and take a Jack and Jill genetics test. At 14 weeks, they are able to determine the sex of the baby through the mother's blood. I really don't think at this point we can wait until 20 weeks to find out! This test is 98% accurate, it's better than 50/50 right?!

Our due date is set at January 15th. Our baby will share a birthday very close to Trish and Jamie.

I couldn't ask for a more supportive and patient husband throughout this whole process. I am so lucky to have Adam as my husband!! I really can't imagine not havig him here with me to share the joy that I am experiencing:)

Here are 2 pictures from our visit yesterday:

Port Aransas

Friday after school, Adam called me and told me to pack my bags. He wouldn't tell me where we were going. I was thinking New Orleans or Lake Charles because we've been talking about going to those places for a weekend trip. We got in the car around 8:00 and ended up in Port Arasas around 11:00. Port Aransas is a small island close to Corpus Christi. We had to take a little ferry across the water to get there. It reminded me alot of the Outer Banks - alot of local restaurants and bars, old and new beach houses, and a nice wide beach to drive out on. Here are a few pictures of our weeked!

Chinese Pepper Steak

Wow. This recipe is a keeper. This will be a meal that in a year I'm sure we will get bored with because we cook it so much. It had such great flavor. We also cooked rice and a side side with Olive Garden dressing.

Chinese Pepper Steak
All Recipes

Ingredients

• 1 pound boneless beef sirloin or round steak
• 1 tablespoon Kikkoman Hoisin Sauce
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
• 2 medium bell peppers, cut into 1-inch squares
• 2 medium onions, cut into 1-inch squares
• 1/4 cup Kikkoman Hoisin Sauce

Directions

Cut steak across grain into thin strips, then into 1-inch squares; coat with 1 Tbsp. hoisin sauce.

Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in hot wok or large skillet over high heat. Add beef and stir-fry about 1 minute; remove.

Heat remaining 1 Tbsp. oil in the pan. Add peppers and onions; stir for 5 minutes.

Stir in beef and remaining 1/4 cup hoisin sauce; cook and stir just until beef and vegetables are coated with sauce.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Adam wanted this tonight and we have never made this. I found this recipe on All Recipes, and it was very very good. This recipe is a keeper!

Chicken Cordon Bleu
All Recipes

Ingredients:

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 6 slices Swiss cheese
• 4 slices cooked ham
• 1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat a 7x11 inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Pound chicken breasts to 1/4 inch thickness.

Sprinkle each piece of chicken on both sides with salt and pepper. Place 1 cheese slice and 1 ham slice on top of each breast. Roll up each breast, and secure with a toothpick. Place in baking dish, and sprinkle chicken evenly with bread crumbs.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink. Remove from oven, and place 1/2 cheese slice on top of each breast. Return to oven for 3 to 5 minutes, or until cheese has melted.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Next, we tried some of Stephanie's Chocolate Chip cookies. On her blog she suggested portioning out the cookies into your own - 100 Calorie Snack pack. These cookies are better than any 100 calorie pack that you can buy from the store. They were very easy to make and the results were yummy!

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Stephanie's Blog


Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp butter, softened


• 2 tsp canola oil


• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, dark-variety


• 1 tsp vanilla extract


• 1/8 tsp table salt


• 1 large egg white


• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour


• 1/4 tsp baking soda


• 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

In a medium bowl, cream together butter, oil and sugar. Add vanilla, salt and egg white; mix thoroughly to combine.

In a small bowl, mix together flour and baking soda; stir into batter. Add chocolate chips to batter; stir to distribute evenly throughout.

Drop rounded half-teaspoons of dough onto one or two large nonstick baking sheets, leaving a small amount of space between each cookie. Bake cookies until golden around edges, about 4 to 6 minutes; cool on a wire rack.

Once cooled, package 4 cookies per Ziploc. Freeze the bags inside a gallon sized freezer bag.

Banana Chips

Adam and I are in a recipe rut. We tend to cook the same meals for dinner and we are starting to get bored with dinner. I ran across this blog today and found a TON of great recipe's that all have simple ingredients and many of them have low calories. These are the recipes that I tried today.

I am going to start organizing our recipes on this blog. We have so many pieces of paper with recipes printed out on them, but they are not organized. This way, I will always have all of our recipes in one spot.

Banana Chips
Stephanie's Blog

These banana chips turned out pretty good! I'm sure they would be great mixed with peanuts and raisins. Our oven didn't get warm at the 170 degree temperature for some reason. What we had to do was cook them at 280 for about 20 minutes and then flip them for another 20 minutes. Next time, I think I will leave them in a little bit longer to crisp up! Here's what you need:

Ingredients:

• 2 bananas, ripe, unbruised, peeled

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 170.

Slice the bananas into thin slices.

Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray, lay them out on the sheet.

Bake for 2 hours with the oven door opened about 1 inch.

Flip. Bake an additional hour or so. They should be slightly firm.

And the winner is...

Sherwin Williams - Hearts of Palms!

7 paint samples later I finally made a decision.

It's the color all the way to the right.

I am hoping to finish the laundry room tomorrow before Adam gets back from Boston:)!