21 weeks & a recipe!

This week has been amazing! It officially feels like summer over here and we are totally ready to be outdoors all season long. The only thing missing is a pool!
It is so crazy to think that in about 18 weeks we will be holding our little baby girl! The bigger I get, the more real it feels. I know come October I will look back and say how fast it all went by, but right now I am still counting down the days!  
126 days until due date!
This weekend my sister came to visit, which is always fun. The three of us get along great and had lots of movie nights, hikes (which was great for my pregnant ass), and girl talk (sorry Aaron).
 Her visit even inspired me to make beef & mushroom stroganoff for the first time!

I made a healthier version using this vegetarian mushroom stroganoff recipe, and then added beef to half of it, so we had both the meat-eaters and vegetarian dishes. Everyone was happy.
Easy dinner if anyone wants to try. My spin on the recipe below, original is in the link above:

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb mushrooms, sliced (I used both portabella & crimini)
• 1/2 lb- 1 lb beef (I bought beef for stew that was cut in cubes and then sliced it smaller)
• 1/3 cup vegetable stock
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• Black pepper
• Garlic salt
• Flour
• Worcestershire sauce (I didn't measure, just added and taste it as I went)
• 3 tbsp sour cream (I used reduced fat)
• 3 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter in a large frying pan, and cook the onion, garlic and mushrooms over a medium heat for 5-10 minutes. Add smoked paprika, and season well with black pepper, Worcestershire sauce and a little garlic salt (only if needed, but use sparingly). Stir together, and then add the vegetable stock and sprinkle in flour to thicken. Cook for an additional 5 minutes.

In a separate pan, heat the other tbsp of butter and oil. Coat the beef in flour before adding it to the pan and cooking it, letting it brown. Add half of the mushroom mix to the beef mix (if you are having cooking for both vegetarian & meat eaters).

Just before serving, stir in the sour cream and half of the parsley (divide into each pan), and once heated through, serve topped with the remaining parsley. I served my dish over white rice, and along side arugula tossed with olive oil, white truffle oil & lemon pepper. 

 

Now for the weekly update!

Week:21

Weight gain: 10 pounds! Holy crap!

Symptoms:  I love feeling regular movements. And Aaron was able to feel her kick for the first time this week! What a milestone!

Changes: I can honestly say I look pregnant, which is great because most people now assume there’s a baby inside of my ever expanding belly, instead of two Chipotle burritos.

Clothes: I scored big this week when I found a cute pair of maternity shorts (that you non-pregnant girls would look twice at, and then laugh when you saw the stretchy belly band instead of a button) for only $12.99. I have already worn them twice.

Sleep: Hit or miss this week. Luckily more hits than miss, but even though our house stays cool, we’re going to need to invest in a fan for our room.

Missing: Red, red wine.

Cravings: Seafood & sweets

Best moment this week: So many great moments. First and foremost, having my sister come out and stay with us for the weekend was so much fun. She even went to my doctor’s appointment with me where we found out that everything looked great with our anatomy ultrasound & that baby girl and I are very healthy. Another great moment was while we were waiting to be seated for lunch on Sunday at a local restaurant, we told the hostess there were three of us. A lady at a nearby table commented, “And soon to be four!”

Looking forward to: Going down to Seal Beach in the upcoming weeks (we don’t have a set date yet). I need some beach in my life as it’s starting to get hot up here in the mountains!