Feedings

I feel like I need to share my experiences regarding the early feeding choices I have made with Thomas and JT.

With JT, I felt like I had my hands tied.  I did not get to see him much during the first 2 weeks of his life since he was in the NICU.  This was due in part to having to drive an hour both ways to get to the NICU and my very slow recovery from the emergency c-section.  I spent almost 4 days in the hospital.  The only thing that got stuck in my head was this bit of info from the nurses and lactation consultants - breastmilk will be the best thing for JT to get him big and healthy.  So to get my baby strong as quickly as possible, I made the decision to pump.  I had no problems producing - heck the NICU ended up sending a bunch of frozen milk back home with us.  When we got home, we got the green light to try breastfeeding.

And then the trouble began.  We tried for almost 4 weeks (and yes, I continued pumping this entire time).  I had no problem with any of the holds.  It just was not working.  Our breastfeeding experience ended with an excruciatingly painful bout of mastitis.  Once I got over that, I continued pumping for another 2 months.  The milk lasted through until JT was about 6 months old - when we made the switch to formula.

While pregnant with Thomas, I told myself that I would take another stab at breastfeeding again.  New baby, whole new start.  Again, I had no issues producing.  I guess I was an oddity because all the nurses just seemed so impressed.  But during early those days at the hospital, I could tell something was not right.  I think I must have called in every lactation consultant the hospital had on hand.  My holds were perfectly fine, latches were great!  (I had had quite a bit of practice, right?)  The nurses would come in and check my pain level from the c-section - no issues there.  What was totally painful was the breastfeeding - and it took me right back to my frustrations with JT.  I knew it was all wrong.

I told the nursing staff I could not continue this route - I've already done this once.  I knew what was in store.  Can we please get Thomas on formula?  Then I got read the riot act - well, why don't you pump?  It is so much more beneficial.  Yes, I know that it is.  I did it with my first son.  So why go formula?  Because I know the commitment of pumping and I know that the breastfeeding was not going the right way, but most importantly, I need to be able to be mom to both of my boys - not neglect one for the other.  I was a hot hormonal mess and that probably didn't come out quite as artfully.  After the hubby, stepped in to say this is what I want and is best for us, we got some formula.

You may ask yourself now that we are 3 weeks out - do I regret this decision?  No.  I am in such a better place mentally and physically than I was with JT.  Okay, I will not deny that I am exhausted.  Thankfully, we didn't have to wait near 3 months before some started sleeping for longer than 2 hours at a time overnight.  I can get about 5 hours of sleep at night and it feels glorious.  Not to mention, I have time between feedings to hang with JT and not be hooked up to my pump, or be cleaning pumping pieces.

So, I won't judge anyone about their baby feeding choices - so long as their baby and mom is happy and healthy - who cares!  Just my take on the formula vs breastfeeding wars.

Family Update

Well, family life has changed. "Rampage" decided to join us earlier than his scheduled extraction date but not by much. On August 9, 2013, we welcomed Thomas Jacob into our family.

We are now trying to settle into a new routine. Thankfully, Thomas has been sleeping from about midnight to 5 - 6 am. I still feel exhausted but not nearly the extreme that we dealt with getting JT settled. Not much more to report - I will try to post a bit more but no guarantee on new recipes.

Posted with Blogsy

Rosemary-Crusted Pork Tenderloin

Always on the look out for good pork tenderloin recipes, and this one fits the bill.  I did make some slight adjustments to the recipe marked in the link.

Rosemary-Crusted Pork Tenderloin

adapted slightly from Real Simple

Ingredients

1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon chopped rosemary
kosher salt and black pepper
1 1 1/4-pound pork tenderloin
1 teaspoon plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound green beans
1/4 cup pitted black olives, halved

Steps

1.  Heat oven to 425° F.
2.  On a large plate, combine the bread crumbs, garlic, paprika, rosemary, and ½ teaspoon salt.
3.  Rub the pork with 1 teaspoon of the oil, coat with the bread crumb mixture, then place on a rimmed baking sheet (I laid a sheet of aluminum foil down on the sheet to help contain some of the mess).
4.  Roast the pork until cooked through, 20 to 30 minutes (For some reason, pork never seems to cook that quickly for me - 40 to 45 minutes seemed an accurate cook time.). Let rest 5 minutes before slicing.
5.  Steam the green beans in a steamer bag in the microwave (approximately 4 minutes).
6.  In a heated pan, add remaining tablespoon of oil.  Add to it the steamed green beans, the olives, and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper.  Fry for 2 - 4 minutes and serve with the pork.

The Finished Product

The tenderloin had a good crunch and a nice light flavor to it.  The green beans and olives were a great combo - I would definitely pair that again as a side to almost any other meat.  A keeper!

Roasted Tilapia, Potatoes, and Lemon

Not that we do not try to eat healthy all the time but I really like to put an emphasis on it when the hubby has PT test coming up around the corner.  So last night I tried out a new recipe for tilapia, which I really enjoy as a nice light alternative to chicken.

Roasted Tilapia, Potatoes, and Lemons

adapted slightly from Real Simple

Ingredients

1 pound mini red potatoes (about 12), halved
upto 1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 tsp ground thyme
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon olive oil
kosher salt and black pepper
1/2 cup pitted black olives
4 6-ounce skinless tilapia fillets
1/2 teaspoon paprika

Steps

1.  Heat oven to 400° F.
2.  On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss the potatoes, lemon, thyme, 2 tablespoons oil, and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Arrange in a single layer.
3.  Roast, tossing once, until the potatoes begin to soften, about 20 minutes.
4.  Toss the olives with the potato mixture; nestle the fish in it. Drizzle the fish with the remaining oil and season with paprika and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper.
5.  Continue to roast until the potatoes are golden brown and crisp and the fish is opaque throughout, 12 to 15 minutes.

The Finished Product

The fish was nice and light with the paprika giving it a little kick.  The mini red potatoes helped fill our tummies with their starchiness.  The olives provided that little shot of tanginess to complete the meal.  This meal was pretty quick including prep time - we sat down within the hour.  Definitely keeping this recipe around for more fish nights.

Royal Baby

Never thought I would write about pop culture but in this instance it really hits home.  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge just welcomed their first baby boy into the world.

Congratulations to them!  It gets me excited for Rampage's arrival.  It also gets me riled up a bit.  I really hope they do not choose anything close to the name we have for Rampage.  It's taken months to come up with a name and coming up with JT's name was just as difficult.  I wouldn't want to be one of those people who names their kid because someone famous did it.  Silly nonsense, I know, but I feel strongly about this.  We have already chosen Rampage's name so don't you all think we named it after some royal kid if William and Kate choose the same name.

As a side note, I am pretty sure it is wishful thinking - but I would love to be up and walking (let alone looking that good) the day after Rampage arrives.  A girl can dream right?

Lemon-Thyme Orzo with Green Beans

I really like my go-to Orzo pilaf side with steaks but recently I felt like it needed a little update.  While we lived in Kansas, I took a couple of cooking classes at the local supermarket from this great down to earth chef - Chef Alli.  I recently noticed she had posted a few new recipes on her blog and one in particular using orzo.  So I said what the whooey and gave it a whirl.  Click on the link for her recipe, what I have provided are my adjustments.

Lemon-Thyme Orzo with Green Beans

by Chef Alli

Ingredients

2 cups chicken broth
1 clove garlic, minced
¼ - ½ tsp. red pepper flakes
1 cup water
1 cup orzo pasta
1 package frozen steamer green beans, prepared
splash of lemon juice
½ tsp. dried thyme
½ tsp. kosher salt
½ tsp. black pepper
Freshly shredded Parmesan or Romano cheese

Steps

1.  In a deep skillet, bring broth, garlic, red pepper flakes, and water to a boil over high heat; stir in pasta and reduce heat to medium-low.
2.  Simmer until nearly two-thirds of liquid is absorbed by pasta and orzo is beginning to look creamy, stirring occasionally, for approx. 10-12 minutes.
3.  Stir in green beans, lemon zest, thyme, salt, pepper, and cheese.  Take off heat, allowing mixture to thicken.

My apologies in not have a picture to end with.  The side really hit the spot for us.  Not to mention it added a quick veggie to our meal (since I am always bad about including the veggies).  JT liked it so much - he actually preferred to pick out the green beans to eat first.

Enjoy!

Chicken With Potatoes

We are settling into a routine, so my hubby thought it would be a good time to get back into the Indian food rhythm.  Since we are now in the "baby could arrive whenever he feels like" time frame, I requested something that would not be too spicy.  The hubby wanted to do a bread as well but one that was not so intensive as naan.  So we decided to make Chicken with Potatoes and Paratha.

Chicken with Potatoes

adapted slightly from An Invitation to Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey

Ingredients

3 medium potatoes
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
1 inch cube of fresh ginger
1 1/2 pounds of chicken (we used 1 pound of tenderloins)
5 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
4 whole cardamom pods
1 tsp of red pepper flakes (I can't remember the exact measurement but it was less than what Jaffrey calls for)
2 whole black peppercorns
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 cup tomato sauce
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp salt

Steps

1.  Clean the potatoes.  Place in steamer bag and cook in microwave.  Let cool completely.  (Jaffrey says to boil the potatoes, we just found this to be much more convenient)
2.  Blend onion, garlic, and ginger with 5 tbsp water to a smooth paste.
3.  Heat oil over medium-high heat.  Add cinnamon, bay leaf, cardamom, red pepper, peppercorns, and chicken.  (We use a mortar and pestle to break down the cinnamon, bay leaf, cardamom, and peppercorns prior to heatings.)  Fry chicken until golden brown on all sides.  Remove the chicken and set aside.
4.  Add the paste to the pot and then the turmeric.  Fry for about 3 minutes.
5.  Add the tomato sauce and chicken broth.  Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.
6.  Meanwhile, peel and quarter the potatoes.
7.  Add the salt, chicken, and potatoes to the sauce.  Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 20 - 25 minute or until chicken is tender.

Paratha

from An Invitation to Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbsp melted butter
1/2 cup whole wheat flour for dusting

Steps

1.  Combine the flour, oil, and salt in a bowl while slowly adding 1/2 cup of water until all the flour adheres together.
2.  Knead for 8 - 10 minutes.
3.  Form into a ball, cover with damp cloth and set aside for 30 minutes.
4.  Divide dough into 8 balls.
5.  For each ball: roll out until it is about 5 inch in diameter.  Brush lightly with the melted butter.  Fold in half.  Brush again with butter.  Fold in half one last time.  You should have a triangular shape.  Roll the triangle so that each side is 5 inch long.
6.  Add butter to a griddle that has been heated over a medium heat.  Place the paratha on the griddle.  Once it is golden brown, add more butter to griddle and flip.  Cook until golder brown.
7.  As each paratha finishes, place on an aluminum sheet and cover tightly.  When ready to eat, preheat oven to 300 and heat covered parathas for 10 minutes.

Finished Product

I really enjoyed this meal.  We served it over some basmati race.  The chicken and potatoes were not spicy at all but had a wonderful smell.  The sauce was nice and thick from the potatoes giving off their starchiness.  This recipe also seemed to move along a lot quicker than some of our other recipe attempts.  A definite keeper especially because I like "Aloo" - Hindi for potato.  We also liked that the bread was not nearly as time intensive as naan.  I enjoy naan a bit more but for the time - parathas are so much easier. I encourage you to try this one out.

Broccoli Concoction

So, last Wednesday evening I was planning on making some lemon pork chops and braised broccoli.  That morning I woke up, with an ugh, I don't want to make braised broccoli.  I really want something cheesey.  So, I came up with this little cheesey broccoli side dish.

Cheesey Broccoli

Ingredients

2 bunches of broccoli
4 oz Velveeta Cheese, cubed
1/4 tsp ground dry mustard
splash of milk
sprinkle of ground black pepper

Steps

1.  Preheat oven to 250 degrees (this will keep dish warm while I finished working on the pork chops).
2.  Cut the broccoli so that you just have the florets.
3.  Steam the florets (I love the Ziploc Zip and Steam bags - fill it up and put your broccoli in for 3 minutes in the microwave.  Perfect!)
4.  In a microwave safe bowl, place cheese, mustard, milk, and pepper.  Place in microwave for 30 second increments up to 3 minutes, stopping to stir and combine ingredients until smooth.
5.  Place steamed broccoli in a small casserole dish.  Pour the cheese mixture over top.  (I added some bread crumbs on top to give it a little crunch.)
6.  If the rest of dinner isn't ready, place in preheated oven to keep warm.

The Finished Product
My apologies in not taking a picture.  It turned out pretty yummy, plus it was quick and easy to make.  Next time, I would consider adding a bit of "heat" - either making an addition of chili powder, paprika, or red pepper flakes.  Pretty sure I can make almost any veggie side become cheesey now!

35 Weeks

Yes, we are in the home stretch!  I am ready to evict Rampage as early as possible.  Well, no, scratch that.  He can be evicted once I do a load or two of newborn clothes, get the bassinet ready, check/sterilize all the bottles and nipples (if breastfeeding doesn't go down so well), wrap up his birth plan, install the car seat base, and pack my hospital bag.

I definitely feel a bit easier this time around - probably because we have all of the stuff and know how to use it.  The only new things we got were a stroller, diaper bag, and an carrier.

Even more exciting, I walk in for my OB appointment to hear that the office just got a brand spanking new 3D Ultrasound machine.  After getting all my vitals done, the doctor comes in and says - do you want an ultrasound today?  I say sure, we haven't seen baby in while.  The doctor replied - you'll be the first baby that I get to do a 3D on - with a great big grin.  Happy doctors make for good appointments.  :o)

Here you see a face frontal - upper left is Rampage's eye, and the black spot in the center is his mouth all wide open.  He was just getting ready to stick his hand (yeah those are fingers to the right of black center) in his mouth.

I like this one even better!  Side view of his face and cute little nose.  Guess what - already sucking on his fingers.

We took a bunch of measurements as well.  To be honest, my biggest worry so far has been whether or not Rampage will have a low birth weight/size like JT did.  Well, he is measuring in between 35 and 36 weeks.  He is 50th percentile for head and femur.  Rampage is already weighing in at a whopping 5 lbs 9 oz.  Incredible!

So now I look forward to taking the next few weeks easy, with the exception of getting those things I mentioned at the top of the blog completed.  Plus, I am trying to get in all the sleep I can.  The pregnancy has been brutally hard on me with lack of sleep.  So I will continue to prioritize and only do the things that most desperately need to get done - you know like making dinner in the evenings.  Everything else can wait.

Hopefully it will continue this way until our scheduled eviction date - August 12, 2013.  8/12/13 seems a good birthday right?

Foreign Cultures and Languages

As you may recall, the reasoning behind our big move is for the hubby to attend language school.  In particular, he will be immersing himself in one of the harder languages - Hindi.

When we learned this, I decided that my gateway to India would be through food.  But low and behold Baby 2.0 made it impossible for me to handle any really strong spice smells.  So the hubby took over cooking the Indian food.  With all the moving, packing, and unpacking, I hope to get back into testing out some new Indian recipes in the near future.

So I have been trying to acclimate myself to Indian culture and Hindi through other means - history and learning the language.

We all know that history is not exactly my strong suit.  I have never really been able to make that sort of information stick in my head.  In support of this new job, I have taken the plunge into India After Ghandi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy.  It is a tome - weighing in at over 800 pages.  I began reading it nearly 6 months ago and I am still not done yet.  It discusses Indian history from Independence (1947, and a little earlier) onward.  While I have a difficult time with it (historical writing in general), I am making progress - I reading about the 1960's and am about halfway complete with the book.  I also purchased In Spite of the Gods at the same time - I am hoping that all this in depth reading will make this shorter book fly.

If we all thought my issues with history were rough, learning a language pales in comparison.  Sometimes I have a hard enough time with english (partially because I know these babies are taking all of my good-hardworking braincells).  I stayed away from spoken languages in high school and college, opting for the very dead Latin.  It served me well in avoiding having to provide conversational proficiency.  But here I am stuck.  I definitely need to obtain a working knowledge of Hindi.

So, we got Rosetta Stone.  Pregnancy and Rosetta Stone do not mix well.  After sitting through the first couple of lessons, I had an emotional breakdown.  My brain couldn't seem to keep straight the differences for boy, girl, man, woman, eat, and drink.  I was beyond frustrated and left a trail of tissues all around my computer.  So I have taken a break from Rosetta Stone for the time being.

In the meantime, I know I work well independently - just me and a textbook.  So I have picked up Elementary Hindi along with it's corresponding workbook.  I plan on cracking this open (yeah right - like I have time to crack any book open once Rampage arrives) on I complete my history reading (shouldn't take more than...6 more months right?).  I also picked up several workbooks geared towards children (cause that is my working level right now) on the alphabet, writing, vocabulary, and grammar.

For JT and Rampage, I picked up some children's books of which there do not seem to be many.  Bindi Baby covers numbers and animals in Hindi, as well as, several other linguistic states in India.  I also picked out Aamoo the Mango, which has stories with simple sentences that introduce colors, counting, food, shapes, etc.

But I am making the most progress with, of all things, Dino Lingo.  Oddly enough, my brain really seems to have taken to this language learning system for children.  After just a couple of viewings, I have my numbers through 10, colors, a bunch of animals, and some foods in my vocabulary. (As a mathematician, or well I used to be, it irks me that they do not provide the word for zero as it happens to be a construct attributed to the Indian number system.)  I also understand the short conversations and am starting to pick up on the grammar and genders of words (gender not being something I think they intend children to consciously pick up on).  There are 5 episodes - the last seeming to contain most of the information that Rosetta Stone throws at you in the first 10 lessons.  I did not walk away from the final episode teary-eyed, which made me feel a lot better.