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Strawberry-Lime 7-up Pound Cake
May 16th, 2011
Even though it feels like fall today it is sunny and gorgeous and I do not care. As long as it is not cloudy and dreary, I am happy. I am also happy because I am feeling better as of today. Praise to God, that depite it being almost 3 weeks of being in this pain, He hears my prayers.
Let me tell you something. This has truly been a test for me. Have I been a whiny baby and been obnoxious to be around? I have tried really hard to be a good sport about how I am feeling but there were days I was in tears because the pain was excrutiating. Yes. I have really never been in this type of pain before. I really was not convinced yet to take Vicodin because I was not thrilled at ALL to be giving that to my baby even if the doctor says it is safe.
A test of how I have been feeling is when my husband tells me today that he has not seen me as happy as I have been today in 2 weeks. Is that not sad? Even my appetite seems a little back to normal.
Either way, back to testing. I really realized that my reliance on self is futile. If I proclaim to be a Christian and do not depend on my Creator to be my sustainer even in my pain, what is the point? Hopelessness sets in and then depression and self-pity. I questioned God why I needed to go through this because I was definitely not enjoying being pregnant. I find it healthy to question God just as long as I know that my dependence is still for Him.
Ironic enough, this time has really been teaching me to continually stay in prayer and to remember my first love, the God who has given me the gift of life in my womb even if it means going through pain just for a little bit. I can’t explain why it appeared but I know it has made me stronger and continually makes me stronger.
My husband’s patience is also a test of love, the love God has for me. Ryan has truly been patient and has been such an amazing husband through this time. We sure have not been tested as much as now, especially when it comes to our characters.
Our 3rd anniversary is tomorrow and I can only continue to thank God for such a loving and supporting husband. It is really worth the wait for the man God has ready for you all out there!
I did promise you a recipe. Before I left for Houston almost a week and a half ago, we were invited to a BBQ at one of Ryan’s professors’ home. Even in a bit of pain, I decided to bring a baked good because that is what I enjoy preparing the most.
I grew up making 7-up pound cakes all the time. I also remember the countless of sticks of butter it took too. *shudder* but somehow, eating one slice was not such a guilty pleasure because it was going to be shared with others.
I took a favorite and added some summer fruits and spruced it up with a yummy icing. It is delicious and it will keep people guessing with all the flavors it has. Noone really believes it has 7-up but it makes this bundt look nice and special. Make it this summer!
Bake in the preheated oven for 70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool on a cake rack for 30 minutes before removing from the pan.
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Back for a little bit……
May 16th, 2011HI everyone. It has been almost 2 weeks and I am super shocked with even myself at how quickly time flies.
Since my last post alot has happened. True be told, I have not been able to sit comfortably for almost 3 weeks now and really have not had a desire to stay on the computer except for my day job. 🙁
My pain is not yet over. I went for my 17-week pre-natal visit and a check-up to see what else could be said of my lower back pain. The health of the baby is perfect, it just happens to be that the mother’s well-being is not well at all. I found out that I lost 7 pounds as well! I was shocked to realize that it could be but I have not been able to keep many dinners in my tummy and the pain has also made me lose my appetite.
Not a great combination. The doctor gave me Vicodin for the pain and an antibiotic. I know that I am sounding pretty evasive but it is rather unknown what I have. It is not muscular and it is not bone related, all I know that is is somehow related to my pregnancy.
The only pain meds I take are Tylenol but even that I am tired of using because it only numbs the pain and then returns in full force not fixing anything. I hate that. In general, I have had many friends and family continually pray for me since I have upcoming trips happening that require lots of sitting which would mean I woudl be in pain very often. Walking had also been exacerbating the issue but after taking a long walk with Ryan today I think things are looking up.
I do have a recipe to share but it will have to wait for later. I only wanted to check in with folks and let you know I was not all together gone.
Smoothies are happening in the morning, with light lunches consisting of sandwiches and snacks, and dinners have mostly been at restaurants. It is a sad situation for now since I can’t really cook but I did cook today! We will be leaving for vacation so there won’t be a lot of cooking happening. I hope to report a bit from North Carolina!
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Pain in the Right Butt
May 2nd, 2011Do you like how specific I am? I am 15 weeks pregnant and a bot frustrated since the end of the week last week. I know my blog has primarily been about my life and then some recipes, but somehow, lately, I realized I need to journal and vent a bit.
After a nice breakfast of oatmeal and a berry salad I started on a new routine.
I have been praying lately asking God why I am dealing with silly painful difficulties when all I want is to have a happy and wonderful pregnancy. This might seem so naive of me, but let me share a little of what has been going on.
I worked out twice last week, Monday and Tuesday, and then by Thursday I started getting this tightness in my buttocks. I wondered if it was a digestion things, since my nausea and eating habits have been a little skewed lately. There was tightness, soreness and the painful jabbing that was not going away. What could I have possibly done?
I had a friend suggest for me to look up “”Piriformis Syndrome.” Here is a picture:
Apparently the Piriformus muscle is pressing on my sciatic nerve and causing a pain everytime I sit for long periods of time or even sit for little periods of time. I already sleep on my side at nights so that had been helping.
The crazy thing is that I had been stretching every morning when I woke up but that was not enough to cause this. Apprently my day job (which is working from home, practically sitting all day) plus pregnacy is finally taking a toll on my glutes. They have decided to set it with amnsesia, not knowing how to work.
I have a lump of nerves on my crack that brings alot of pain. I know this is ALOT of information but I somehow find it relazing being able to write it out. Changes to my uterus and having a baby growing inside of me is definitely setting a lot of changes on my body that I did not expect.
What have I have been doing to offset this pain? I have already been to the chiropractor last month to fix some lower back pain and I found out that I do have a shorter right leg and that my pelvis is not quite set in place. I figure these things caused what I now had that the chiropractor did not tell me to anticipate.
I found some exercises to be useful here at Baby Bump Fitness where they show me how I can use a foam roller in addition to a map to work on my butt muscles. I have to say that the foam roller is SUPER painful but once I get up and start moving and walking I feel so much better so I can’t wait to get on that every 2 hours. I also used several YouTube videos that showed me different exercises. Having the internet is great especially when you find forums that state that chiropractors and physical therapies are just a waste of time. Doing my own exercises save me money.
I am getting up MORE periodically from working on the computer and taking walks or stretching out more often. Please pray that this pain goes away. I am extremely frustrated at being in pain and being irritated by the fact that I do not feel comfort.
Thanks for hearing me out!
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Chocolate Coconut-Cashew Truffles
April 28th, 2011
Wednesday is almost over even though I feel like it should be Friday already. It has been terribly rainy here but hopefully after April showers are over May will bring us sunny days. We walked around the house to realize that mowing season is finally here. Once it stops raining the whole task of mowing will start by Ryan.
I have really not cooked this week yet…my post-nasal drip has really been quite annoying and has caused no desire to cook. Either way, I had excuses not to cook. 😀 I met with a friend for dinner on Monday and I had a giant dish of pasta that I promptly added half to a doggie bag. Those leftovers were then consumed on Tuesday with a green salad.
What did I cook yesterday? I DID make a vegan coffeecake that was delicious! I will be posting about that sometime this week.
In about a week I will be leaving for a quick trip to Houston. My sister is getting married and I will be the matron of honor! Thank God my dress still fits and that the weather will be perfectly hot while in Texas. I can’t believe it has been in the 70s and 80s while we have been keeping bundled in our rainy 30s and 40s weather. It sounds like many people have been dealing with weather changes all over the US.
I also found out that my mother is putting an impromptu baby shower while I am in town so Ryan and I quickly put some stuff on Amazon and Target to get things started. Boy, was I a tad bit stressed. I was reading up on different carriers, strollers and pack ‘n plays. Let’s just say that even though we do not know the sex of the baby there was enough for us to place on our registries.
Since I was busy doing that today we decided to go out for dinner. A nice dinner consisting of burgers and beer-battered fries was perfect before going to zap some items to our Target registry. Have I told you I have been enjoying Arnold Palmers lately? They are so soothing and yummy! Although I need to remember not to down them so quickly before dinner because I then feel gross. During dinner Ryan mentioned that his dad had asked whether I was still getting nauseous over certain foods and he told him about my hummus disaster from last week. As soon as Ryan told me that, I remembered how I felt sick and I almost lost my dinner tonight. Ryan immediately told me to think about something else, QUICKLY!
Sigh…on another note, I finally purchased my first pair of maternity pants!
It took me a long time trying on clothing and making sure these would last me throughout my pregnancy but I finally decided to buy them especially since they were on sale. SCORE! Yes, I bought maternity skinny jeans. Even before I was pregnant I never owned a pair but somehow these were super comfortable and cute.
I am not usually a big online shopper when it comes to clothing but does anyone have GO-TO stores they like buying from for matenity clothes or bras? Any help would be great!
Anyway, down to what I am featuring today. Remember the Coconut-Cashew Cream Tarts?
Well, I had a 1/2 cup left of this cream left and I decided to make some truffles. I froze 20-1 Tablespoon balls of the cream on a parchment-lined baking sheets and I froze them for an hour.
Meanwhile I prepared a hot water bath and melted half dark chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate. I removed the frozen cashew-coconut cream and dipped each ball into the chocolate, placing each of them back on the baking sheet. I then just placed them back in the freezer for quick solidifcation. These were delicious once they sat out from the freezer for about 10 minutes.
These are stored perfectly in the refrigerator for later consumption. Enjoy!
Chocolate Coconut-Cashew Truffles
makes 20 truffles
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chocolate chips
1/2 cup coconut-cashew cream (see recipe)
Cover a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Add 1 Tablespoon of coconut-cashew cream on the sheet 1/2 inch apart, trying to create a ball. Place in the freezer for an hour until solid.
Meanwhile, in the top of a double boiler over hot water, not boiling water (don’t let the bottom of the bowl touch the water, melt chocolate; stirring until smooth. NOTE: Be careful boiling water may cause steam droplets to get into chocolate which can result in “seizing,” when the chocolate becomes stiff and grainy.
If you don’t have a double boiler you can improvise one by placing a glass or stainless steel bowl over a pot of simmering water (don’t let the bottom of the bowl touch the water). Thanks to whatscookingamerica for note)
Remove the coconut-cashew balls from the freezer. Using a fork place the ball in the chocolate, covering the entire thing. Use a spoon as well to help cover the cream ball. Place each of them back on the baking sheet and place them in the freezer to complete solidification.
Enjoy them at room temperature. Remove from the freezer for 10 minutes before consuming.
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Pretzel Rolls
April 25th, 2011
A new week! A new week! I pray that everyone had a beautiful Easter. It was wonderful having breakfast with our church family and then coming together to worship our risen Savior. The day was gorgeous and the company was pleasant.
The weekend went by so quickly, because I still had to work on Friday. I hope everyone had a beautiful and restful weekend too! I know I said I would be blogging but I see that I posted last Monday and I wondered where the whole week went by. It is amazing the amount of work that can get done when one not on the computer, go figure, but I also think that nursing a cough and cold also did not make me feel like blogging about it either.
Out went the first trimester and in came the second trimester. Thank God for helping me because the 24/7 nausea has disappeared. Don’t get me wrong. The nausea and vomiting has not disappeared. I am still sensitive to the smells and my tummy is now deciding what it wants and what it will reject.
Remember when I was sick back in February? Yeah, it seems like I relapsed. I don’t know where it came from or how I got it but it was REALLY frustrating not being able to take medications. I mean, the doctor’s office gives you a list of “Approved” medications a pregnant woman can take but in reality, who wants to give that to the baby?
I spent the whole week drinking hot teas made of fresh lemon juice, fresh grated ginger, cardamon, cayenne pepper, and honey. I really really think it helped me fight this cold because this is the shortest it has ever been. I also did some steam inhalation therapy with peppermint and eucalytus oils and I also rubbed the oils on my chest, neck, and the bottom of my feet. I also had a humidifier too. I think these all saved me, for real! It is pretty amazing how quickly natural therapy can heal.
Well, despite being sick, I DID cook. I managed to really cook 15-30 minute meals this week which really made for light dish washing and more time for chores. Ha!
One of the most exciting recipes was making pretzel rolls. Last Monday I read Jessica’s step-by-step post on Tasty Kitchen on making pretzel rolls and I was sold on making them. I am finding my fear of making bread is quickly subsiding because the more I make homemade bread, the quicker I find how easy it is to make and prepare.
We had friends visit and when I realized I was all out of bread and all out of budget money I turned to making my own rolls for lunch. I planned making egg salad sandwiches witht the rolls hopeing the combination would proves successful.
The step-by-step process is EASY and fun. Once the dough is prepared and it has been given time to rise, the dough is placed in a baking soda bath before baking, causing the dough to expand. Ryan was REALLY impressed by the rolls because I surprised him with sandwiches and he took one look at them and said “You made these????” I like impressing my husband, don’t you?
I made a spread consisting of egg salad sandwiches, fresh carrots, lettuce for the sandwiches, celery, and a nice fruit salad. It was a great lunch and a quick one too! I really hope you make these because they are perfect for everyday and even for company or as dinner rolls.
Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in bulk. Punch down and turn out onto a lightly floured surface.
Cut the dough into 18 pieces (2 ounces each). To shape, take a piece of dough and start forming a round, smooth ball by pulling the sides to the center and pinching to seal. Place, pinched side down, on a counter and lightly cupping your hand around the dough ball, rotate your hand in small circles lightly rolling the ball around the palm of your hand.
