That's right. Luke and I committed a multitude of sins last night. We left the house to buy fast food to bring home and eat. We ate at Taco Bell. It probably gets worse than that. 

But I had to try these new Dorito tacos! I'm not proud of it, just honest. As you can see, I tried to redeem myself by making rice and beans to go with it. 

The tacos were delicious, but they'd be even better if they were being made with Del Taco's mystery meat, instead of Taco Bell's. 

February has been a busy month. On the 10th, my mom, sisters, and 10-month old nephew came to visit for the weekend. We had a great time exploring Frederick, MD on Saturday and eating some incredible BBQ. And then on Sunday the plague hit the house. Luke was gone for the weekend (do you think he wanted to stick around to hang out with 4 talkative, strong-willed women?) and was mercifully spared the stomach virus that put me entirely out of commission as a hostess and sent my mom into supermom/grandma mode all at once. 

My mom and sister-in-law left Monday, but my sister and the kid stayed through Thursday morning. We had a great time visiting and I loved playing with my nephew, who I hadn't seen since he was 6 weeks old. He was walking all over the place, so I started to get an idea of just how non-baby proofed my house is. My sister had to keep assuring me that you grow with your baby. That's good, because you'd probably see a Charisa-shaped hole in the wall at the hospital if somebody told me I had to take a toddler home with me instead of the non-mobile infant I was expecting. 

Unfortunately I can't speak much to the cooking I did while my sister was here because Monday was spent sipping broth and rehydrating. Tuesday was Valentine's Day, which means quite little to Luke and I to begin with. Seeing as how I had vomited in front of him less than 48 hours before "the most romantic day of the year," and I work from home on Tuesday nights, Valentine's Day really just slipped through the cracks this year. My sister helped me make orange-glazed pork and mashed potatoes while I typed (work) and barked orders into the kitchen. But after work was done, I pretty much collapsed in bed while Luke tried to avoid touching me just in case I was still contagious. 

I spent a few days in recovery after my sister left, and then I came down with a cold that kept me down all of last week. It's been a rough couple of weeks for me, health-wise. I haven't worked out in over 2 weeks and I was too tired/contagious to cook much last week.

So I'm going to forget February. The "good" news is that I lost so much weight from the stomach virus that I'm right on track with my weight gain goal for pregnancy. (Note: I don't judge anybody's pregnancy weight gain as long as they're not using pregnancy as an excuse to exist on a diet of ice cream and fried food. Weight gain is healthy and I'm not overly concerned about the whole topic) The recommendation for a woman starting out in a healthy weight range is 25-35 lbs. I've also heard you're expected to gain approximately a pound a week starting around 20 weeks. So if you want to fall somewhere in the middle, that would mean gaining 10 lbs during the first 20 weeks, and a pound a week after that. I'm happy to report that, at 26 weeks, I have gained 17 lbs. Having been a chubbier girl for most of my adult life, I still haven't reached my highest weight from the end of college. I've got about 10 lbs to go before I approach that. My midwife is happy with my weight gain, and so am I.

I finally started to feel better by Saturday. So yesterday I decided to make enchiladas for lunch. I found myself just a tad ill-prepared for this, as I didn't have a great understanding of what fresh veggies I had on hand when I started. Therefore, I get to claim that I invented my enchilada recipe and count it as the new recipe I vowed to try every month this year. So here goes:

1/2 lb lean ground turkey

1/4 red onion

1 can Rotel tomatoes (you choose your preferred level of spiciness)

1 jalapeno, chopped

1 t chipotle powder

3 oz cream light cream cheese

6 oz fat free ricotta cheese

1 14 oz can green enchilada sauce

6 whole grain tortillas

6 oz cheese (I went with extra sharp white cheddar, because as I mentioned, this is what I had)

Brown the turkey over medium heat. Add onion, tomatoes, jalapeno, and chipotle powder. Turn heat to high and let simmer until most of the juice from the tomatoes has cooked off.

Combine cream cheese and ricotta in a small bowl and set aside. I microwaved them together for about 30 seconds to get them combined.

Spread 1/6 cheese mixture on each tortilla, along with approximately 2 T enchilada sauce. Add 1/6 meat mixture. Roll and place in a rectangular baking dish. 

Spread remaining enchilada sauce and cheese over the top of the enchiladas. Bake, uncovered, at 350, for 20 minutes. 

I served this with refried beans mixed with green chiles. I planned to put some tortilla chips on the plate, but forgot. 

So there you have it. I may have taken the month of February off from blogging (and at times cleaning, cooking, being a productive human being, etc.), but I did manage to pull off something redeeming toward the end. Tonight I may try this little gem (replacing the ketchup with a homemade substitute- we don't keep ketchup in this house) and serve it with sauteed asparagus and brown rice. If I do, I'll let you know how it goes.

Email conversation between Luke and I this morning:

Me: Would you ever like me to try my hand at meatloaf?

Luke: 

First answer: Nope.

Second answer: Well, maybe if we talk about what's in it.

But I would never never never never actually be thinking: "hope she
tries meatloaf someday"

This is why we're so right for each other.

I've been burned by a few As Seen on TV products in the past. The Super Slicer stands out as the greatest disappointment. But who doesn't love watching the infomercials? They make these products look amazing. 

The Magic Bullet is one TV product that's been around long enough at this point that I think the verdict is in. It looks amazing on TV. Will you really be able to make 10-second salsa? Probably not. But is it an awesome and convenient for blending small quantities? Most likely. But I still held out because I already have a blender and a food processor. 

A couple of days after my smoothie fail earlier this month Luke and I were wandering the aisles of Costco and saw that they were selling the Magic Bullet for a mere $35. This is a totally safe purchase, in our minds, because of the awesomeness of the Costco return policy. Basically, if it breaks 18 months from now, we can still return it! So we came home with our bell peppers, broccoli, greek yogurt, and a new appliance.

We bought some frozen strawberries and went to town. It didn't take long for us to perfect the breakfast smoothie:

5-6 frozen strawberries

1 banana

1/2 cup greek yogurt

a splash of milk

1 T almond butter

1 T honey

Toss everything in your amazing Magic Bullet cups and blend to perfection. Screw on the drinking ring in the color of your choice (red, green, blue, orange, or yellow), and enjoy. This is a super filling smoothie made of all good things. It doesn't get watery or separate because there's no ice. You get approximately 2 servings of fruit, a serving of dairy, and a hearty dose of protein. 

I haven't really used the Bullet for much other than smoothies yet. One day I needed to blend a chicken marinade and it was wonderful to be able to toss everything in the small cup and go to town with a lot less cleanup than pulling out the big blender. I'm definitely looking forward to making salsa this summer. Oh, and of course, I'll be using it to make a lot of baby food when the time comes. If you have a Magic Bullet, I'd love to hear all the little ways it's made your life more convenient. (Mom, if you're reading this, I don't need to hear about how amazing your Ninja is. I've made my choice.)

Between the smoothie mania going on in our house (we've gone through like 12 lbs of strawberries this month) and a recent obsession with steel cut oats, I've expanded my breakfast repertoire quite a bit since the new year. Luke and I are still enjoying our breakfast together nearly every morning and intend to keep it up as long as work schedules will allow.

If you have never heard of Michael Pollan, let me just tell you, the man makes sense. He's written several books about food where he takes a back-to-basics approach to eating. His mantra is, "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." 

Last year I read, and thoroughly enjoyed, his book, In Defense of Food, where he argues that much of what we consume is not real food. After reading this book I wanted to move to the hills, find some virgin land, buy a couple goats, and become an organic farmer. Obviously, that's food evangelism at work and I came down from that high the next time I walked into the grocery store and remembered how convenient it is to buy food that somebody else has farmed for me. I would have to say that the two main things I took away from the book were the following:

- If it contains ingredients your grandmother (or great-grandmother, depending on your age) had never heard of, you should skip it. 

- The fewer ingredients, the better.

I think next up on my reading list is going to have to be Pollan's newest book, Food Rules. The description of the book starts out with, "Eating doesn't have to be so complicated." In a culture of severe food snobbery, what's not to love about a man writing these words? I read an article today (actually, I watched a slideshow) outlining his food rules. I can't wait to dig into these (and the other 54 incuded in the book) in detail when I read the book, but for now, I wanted to look at the 10 rules put forth here and see how I'm doing. None of it is earth-shattering, so let's see if I pass.

1. Eat mostly plants, especially leaves. 

I will admit, I don't eat enough spinach. But, excluding first-trimester queasiness, I do include a ton of broccoli in dinner. My veggie drawer is full of good, fresh things like mushrooms, bell peppers, onions, zucchini, etc. I'd say I'm doing okay.

2. Eat animals that have themselves eaten well.

This rule is a challenge for me. Grass-fed beef is hard to find. And so is bison. When I can find them, I buy them. I don't buy a lot of red meat, so when I do it's usually for a special occasion and I can dedicate time/money to finding the right cut of meat. 

I'll admit I don't know enough about making the best choices when it comes to meat purchases, but that's why I have Mr. Pollan here to talk to me about it.

3. Eat your colors.

I've got this one down. Did I already mention the veggie drawer? Right now I have red, purple, green, orange, white, brown, and yellow covered. 

4. Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.

Pollan's theory behind this is that you're going to be unwilling to cook it often enough for it to be a real detriment to your diet. I think I do okay with this one. If we want french fries, I cut up potatoes, toss them with olive oil and spices and bake them. I usually make indulgent desserts, like cake and cookies, from scratch. I don't keep chips in the house for snacking purposes except on very special occasions, like a long birthday weekend. 

5. The whiter the bread, the sooner you'll be dead.

I'll take a B+ on this one. The reason I can't give myself an A is because I recently began eating bagel thins a couple of times a week and haven't found any that are whole grain yet. Other than that, all bread, pasta, and crackers that come into the house are whole grain.

6. Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle.

I'm a winner on this one! The idea is that your meat, produce, and dairy are on the walls and the more processed food is on the aisles. Of course, this can't be a hard and fast rule. I do buy some canned food, mainly beans and tomatoes, and these are a couple of aisles in.

7. Don't overlook the oily little fishes.

Sardines. Um, I fail at this. But it's not because I'm turned off by them. I just haven't had enough exposure to them to really know what to do with them. Suggestions would be welcome. 

8. Eat more like the French. Or the Japanese. Or the Italians. Or the Greeks.

Pollan explains that traditional food culture contains a lot more real food, and a lot fewer of the processed foods that are common in western culture. I do fairly well with this since most of my mexican, italian, and greek meals are made from scratch. 

9. Limit your snacks to unprocessed plant foods.

I would have to say I'm not perfect, but I also disagree with Pollan a bit. I do eat a lot of fruit and raw almonds as snacks. But I also like a little crunch and I don't like baby carrots. So I do include crackers or toast as a part of my snack repertoire. But if we're just rating my snacks, I'm doing well.

10. Avoid foods that have some form of sugar (or sweetener) listed as the top 3 ingredients.

None of these rules are too innovative, but this one has been around for a while. It's the rule that prompted our parents to suck all the fun out of breakfast when we were kids. I never got Cocoa Puffs, or Cap'n Crunch, or Fruity Pebbles. I got Chex and rice crispies. Somehow, in my family, the low-sugar cereal was a hard and fast rule, but we were allowed to put Nesquik chocolate poweder in our milk. On what planet did that make sense? I'm going to call my mom tomorrow and tell her how unfair she was.

But I digress. As much as I railed against this as a kid, I think it's a great rule. I follow it for myself and will follow it with the kid when she comes in June. Let me get up on my high horse for a second and tell you why I like this rule so much. You shouldn't need sweetener for a lot of your food. When my taste buds are accustomed to real, unprocessed food, I'm better able to taste the natural sweetness contained within them. It's the reason I believe candied yams are one of the most evil dishes in existence. (More on my child-feeding soapbox in a later post)

All in all, I think I'm doing well. I do allow quite a few pre-approved processed foods in the house, and so does Michael Pollan. He readily admits that he indulges in fast food and in no way sits in his ivory tower judging the rest of us. I think in our culture it would be pretty hard to resist the call of the salty, sugary, fatty western diet all the time. What I advocate is eating sensibly most of the time so that when you indulge you 1) don't feel as guilty, because it's not a frequent occurence, and 2) you can appreciate it more.

So how are you doing?

Today Fresh Foody turns 1! Which means I have to renew my domain today...

I looked over my year of food blogging today and concluded that it hasn't become the internet sensation I had hoped it would, and that's ok. I've had a lot of fun chronicling my adventures in the kitchen this year. 

I've learned that when I'm writing about food, I hold myself to a higher standard. When I slack on the writing, I also buy things like Hershey's chocolate syrup. I think it's a chicken or the egg kind of thing. Am I slacking on the writing because I'm embarrassed by what I'm eating? Or do I slack on what I'm eating because I know I'm not going to write about it?

Getting pregnant in September has certainly thrown me off. I can say I had a great first trimester, mild nausea and fatigue, nothing too serious. But any of my mommy friends can agree with me- even mild first trimester symptoms can really screw with your eating habits. It's hard to blog about fresh, healthy cooking when you can't stomach vegetables. I think between mid-October and Thanksgiving, I would have just eaten Trader Joe's organic shells and cheese every day if I could have. My second trimester has been a dream and I think I finally have my groove back in the kitchen! Hopefully this means I will start writing a little more consistently again too.

I don't make New Year's resolutions (because you never keep them!), but I think I'm going to borrow an idea from my sister-in-law, Nicole. She set a goal to make at least one new meal a month in order to add to her regular dinner repertoire. So far this month, I've made a new veggie lasagna recipe and thai chicken tacos. Both were pretty good, both need some tweaking before they'll be amazing. I'm happy to hear suggestions on what you think I should try out in February.

As far as making this the internet sensation I'd imagined, if it didn't happen last year, I doubt it's going to happen this year either. (With a baby coming... yeah, not gonna happen.) But I am going to sit down soon and set a few goals for myself to hopefully make this more interesting and add a few more people to my reader list. But for today (since I've been moving furniture, painting, and other things pregnant ladies aren't supposed to do) I'm going to take it easy and plan a simple Fresh Foody anniversary dessert to celebrate one year of amateur food blogging!

I'm not a big drinker, but anyone who knows me well knows I really enjoy a good hearty zinfandel every once in a while. Okay, basically every night. I like wine. And on occasion I splurge on a cocktail. 

But none of that is happening these days, of course. 

When your favorites alcoholic beverages are taken away from you for 9 months, you start to miss them. Right now I'd be willing to give up a lot for just one glass of Luke's homebrewed pumpkin ales (which I spiced). But that's not going to happen, so I've turned my attention away from the really good stuff and begun focusing on the mocktail.

At first it was fun. The week after I found out I was pregnant Luke and I were on vacation in Myrtle Beach. I enjoyed ordering virgin pina coladas because, hey, when do you actually order one of those with alcohol in it? I know I don't.

When we got home, I remembered fancy, sugary cocktails are only fun when somebody else makes them. So I went for simpler mixes. For a while I went with orange juice, mixed with something sparkly, like cider or flavored sparkling water. When I was feeling really frivolous I would go add a splash of grenadine and pretend it also had some rum. 

Then a few weeks ago I remembered something awesome. Margarita mix doesn't have any alcohol!! I went on a Mexican kick and started drinking the mix on ice. 

Luke discovered something wonderful recently. My understanding is that most non-alcoholic wines are pretty terrible excuses for grape juice. Luke did a little research and found that there is one, Fre, that is actually alcohol-removed wine. Which means that at one time, it was actually wine! We got a bottle of merlot and a premium white. Both were obviously not as satisfying as the real deal, but they are certainly good enough to keep me from having any of my now-famous-with-Luke crying jags over not being able to have any wine. 

As I get further on in my pregnancy, and the number on the scale creeps higher and higher, I'm looking for the best low calorie mocktails I can find. This week, it's been a large glass of flavored sparkling water mixed with a few ounces of pineapple juice. I find the pineapple juice has a strong enough flavor that you don't need much.

I have yet to try O'Douls, but I know a lot of pregnant women who find them enjoyable. If any of my pregnant/mommy friends have any suggestions for me, I'd welcome a new mocktail.

Even the best cooks have a few misses every now and then. It's January 2nd and I already have entries for both sides of my Hits and Misses of 2012. 

Hit:

Last night I made thai chicken tacos in the crock pot. I got the recipe from Clean Eating- my favorite magazine. Like all crock pot recipes, this one was really easy. I love taking the lid off the pot and announcing, "Dinner's ready!" I'll have to post a picture next time I make the recipe, which will be soon, I'm sure.

Miss:

Smoothies! Yesterday morning I felt a strong desire to make a smoothie. We had a ton of fruit in the house and an abundance of Greek yogurt. I thought it would be fun to serve with breakfast (we had a houseguest, so I wanted to feel fancy). I threw bananas, apples, clementines, Greek yogurt, and honey into the blender. You might be wondering how this could go wrong. It sounds delicious, right? If I had left it at that, it would have been awesome and successful. But then I remembered that some people like to throw spinach into their smoothies. Even that might have been okay, but I didn't have any spinach. I thought to myself, "Broccoli! That's a green vegetable. If you can do it with spinach, you can do it with broccoli." So I threw some in with the rest and hit puree. If broccoli actually pureed well, I might have gotten away with it. But broccoli leaves evidence wherever it goes, and my audience did not handle it very well. I proudly drank a large glass of smoothie myself, but I think I'll skip the green veggies next time.