Recipe update

Just thought I'd post some of the things we've been eating lately, since I feel like our lives are a bit on the low-key side these days…wake up, work/school, dinner + netflix show of choice (lately: mad men or arrested development), ryan goes back to school, emily plays around on the internet, reads a bit, then goes to bed with or without Ryan, usually right when he comes home and he's still got some things to do around the house before he goes to bed.

Boring, no?

Here are some recipes to spice your dinner up a bit:

Fish Tacos. No  real exact recipe here, just some tilapia (we get frozen fillets from Costco, then thaw them and use the george foreman + whatever spices float our boat, grill them and then chop the fillets into bite-sized pieces), red cabbage, monterey jack cheese, lime, and the best sauce ever (aka a 1:1 ratio of mayo and plain yogurt, with a little bit of lime juice and dried dill and cumin). I got the recipe from Jen, Ryan's cousin, and she just uses mayo-yogurt for the sauce but I liked it jazzed up a bit with some extra flavor. Really, you can do, as PW says, whatever makes your skirt fly up.

Tortillini Soup (from Annie's Eats). Holey moley this stuff was SO GOOD. So much flavor. So good. I didn't make any changes to her recipe other than using regular spinach instead of baby spinach, since that's all I could find. I highly recommend this stuff. So good and I can't wait to make more of it this fall/winter.

PW.

PW's Tomato-Cream Pasta. Simple and delicious. Also, there's cream in it. So it's tasty. How could it not be??

Honey Lime Enchiladas (Sister's Cafe). I cannot tell you enough how much I love love love these babies. If I had a weekly rotation of favorite meals these would be on there. Along with Broccoli, cheese casserole.

a weekend review

This weekend was suuuper lazy since I got a head cold that started on Wednesday evening and finally let up early this morning. Ryan went to CVS early Friday morning and got me some Robitussin and Tylenol and the fancy Kleenex with lotion before I went to work and I was ever-so-grateful. Also, it was a super chill day at the office, thank heavens.

 I actually didn't leave the house all day Saturday and only left on Sunday to give a talk at church. Ryan and I both talked in church about King Benjamin's address and even though I think I said "uh" or "um" more times than I or my mother would have liked, I think it was a success!

Ryan even made Sunday dinner, shepherd's pie, all by himself! What a guy! I went to bed to take a nap right after church ended, woke up for dinner, then promptly went back to sleep around 7:30 or so and didn't wake up until 7 this morning. Needless to say Ryan make dinner, did the dishes, talked to both his parents and even my mom all while I was sleeping. I did mention before I went to sleep that I wanted him to call my parents since I was feeling like a terrible child not having talked to them in a week or so, so I just told Ryan to be witty like me and chat it up for a bit and he totally did! What a doll.

Apple Crisp

I'm sure there are a ton of things you can make with apples. Come to think of it, I've made these amazing apple/caramel/cheesecake bars from Mel's Kitchen Cafe and I've always wanted to make PW's apple tart, an easy apple pie-like dish, but the first thing that came to mind was apple crisp so apple crisp it was! You can't go wrong with a topping of oats, brown sugar and butter. Mmmm.

all-recipes pic.

I used this all-recipes.com recipe and it was definitely a winner. We ate it sans ice cream since I usually vote popsicles>ice cream. I rely on good friends to provide us with ice cream every once in a while since my self control is zero. haha.

Have I mentioned I love fall? I think fall in the East is the best. I don't think I ever thought of fall as my favorite season, but I think it takes moving to the East to realize this. Friends and family, come join us, this is awesome.

apple-pickin

I just realized there are a billion pictures from when we first got here that I haven't posted. But no one really comments on new-but-old posts so I'm just going to pretend y'all are just shy and post them anyway because you want me to.

 In other news, we went to Smolak Farms this weekend, in North Andover, MA. It's about 45 minutes north and just a few miles from the New Hampshire border. Sometimes I forget how ridiculously far north we are until Ryan reminds me. I'm so excited for the fall in New England though and that we were able to go on a little Saturday morning date to go apple picking! Also, I hear you can go to the cranberry harvest on Columbus day somewhere in MA/NH and get a tour of the bogs. It'll be like living in an Ocean Spray commercial, I'm so excited!!

Back to the apples. It was a lot of fun and even though they weren't the cheapest (20 for a peck) we got to pick them ourselves and eat quite a few bites as we tried all the different varieties they had and see which ones we liked best. It was so fun to roam the rows and try to get the ones high on the tree. Johnny Appleseed was even there and the little kids listening to the songs and stories were absolutely adorable. Everyone had these sweet Red Ryder wagons they were pulling there kids in, too. That was even more adorable.

We also had some amazing apple cider donuts. They were cake donuts with a hint of apple cider and were oh so tasty. They also had some ice cream, but we were stuffed from munching on too many apples, so we'll have to come back for more amazingness. They also had some maple syrup, but I think we'll get some when we go to Vermont, whenever that is, just to make it even cooler.

We're loving the fall here in Boston and though I'm still nervous for the winter, we're excited to make a few more trips around Boston to see fall in New England and have happy thoughts as we're drowned in the NE snow.

A vote!

If you haven't noticed, I've put up a little poll on the right side of the page, near the top, so everyone could notice…

I'll find out if it's a girl or boy at the beginning of October, so I figure, let the votes begin! It's totally cheesy, I know, but I figured why not? Since we don't live in close proximity to my parents and didn't do one of those picture videos for our receptions (people had mixed reviews and I decided it was too much effort anywho) I don't have a picture of Ryan or I as a baby, or else I'd totally do a little post on that right now, but that'll just have to wait until Christmas, until I can get a picture (and, Ken, could you find/fax a picture of Ryan when he's a newborn/few months old by sometime in December too???? Please and thank you.). Come to think of it, I've never seen Ryan as a baby, just as a 3 or 4 year old toddler. Mind you, I look nothing like I do when I was a baby, but still. A girl has a right to know, right?

Well, I still have no clue what this baby's going to do and he/she keeps giving me mixed signals of "Hurray, no more sickness feelings for mom" and "Let's make mom throw-up her breakfast so she'll never want scrambled eggs with basil ever again."

This should be an interesting journey, but I journey I could not be more excited for. It's so crazy how a person's body can slowly change over 9 months and I'm so excited for all my friends to be able to experience this for themselves or through others, now or until the time is right for them. I am continually grateful for everything we're blessed with and so grateful for all my friends, and family, whom I love so much.

tunic love and winter inspiration

Ryan and I went shopping on Labor Day (I ate the best lunch of my life: Chik-fil-A) and I was in search of a shirt. I really don't have many flowy/loose-fitting shirts, which I've heard is all you really need for most of pregnancy, or at least when you first start showing but you don't really need 'maternity' clothes. Anyway, we finally found a button-down at AE of all places, it's blue and white vertical stripes, which I think is my favorite pattern on earth. I have a dress from Gap that I love love love and it's got the same design.

Anyway, before I found that gem I found this, and it's sister in a cute pink pattern, which I can't find online. We were in Sears and they had a Lands' End section with the most beautiful tunics I have ever seen. I fell in love. I put on a 6-8 or something and it fit like a gem, perfectly roomy for the next 6 months. Unfortunately it was 49 bucks (this one's only 45), and out of our price range, but oh, it was so cute and comfy, love it. Anyway, just thought you all should know of my shirt-envy. With Lands' End of all places. It makes me feel like I'm old, but whatev.

I'm in love, I'm in love, and I don't care who knows it. 

-name that movie

In other awesome news, I just read Cup of Jo's blog today about motherhood and I loved it. It's all about taking your kids outside, no matter what the weather, and just dressing them appropriately. I love the Scandinavian expression she says:

"No bad weather, just bad clothing"

Even though I won't be a mom until the end of the winter, I think it's a good expression to have if you're a mom or not. I'm scared to death I'm going to freeze and have a big belly and no clothes to fit and keep me warm, but if I prepare for the weather and I'll that jazz, I'll have nothing to worry about. Here's to keeping warm this fall/winter!

shakespeare in the park

There is a different Shakespeare play each summer in Boston and the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company performs in the Boston Common and it's free. This year they performed Alls Well That Ends Well and Ryan and I were able to see the last performance, about a month ago. Actually, they were supposed to have one or maybe two more, but it stormed the next two days so I don't think it happened. Lucky us!

 We got some Chipotle before we went (we were still furniture-less…let's not talk about those dark days) and headed there with our camping chairs in tow.

It was AWESOME. The play was a bit different. Neither of us had seen it before and I think it's a lesser known of the Shakespeare plays??, but man, Shakespeare humor cracks me up. It makes me feel like I'm a super mature adult when I can understand Shakespeare humor. Like I'm finally a grown-up.

Julie and Oliver came to the play and sat next to us and I felt like I was constantly laughing at the wild humor (it was a sarcastic kind of humor) and they weren't. I'm pretty sure watching 30 Rock and Parks and Rec has helped me learn to recognize this humor.

So maybe I'm not really an "adult" per say, I just think sarcastic/biting/witty humor is hilarious. And people being rude to each other is funny to me?

Thank you, NBC, for allowing me to understand Shakespeare and making me feel cultured. I don't care what anyone else says.

I can't wait for next summer.

Mango Quinoa Salad

via ourbestbites.com

Last night was one of our meatless dish nights and we had this AMAZING dish. Actually, I had a list up of all the dishes I was going to make this week and told him that he could pick whichever dish he wanted since it was his first day of school meal, and he picked this one. I'm pretty sure this one had the most produce in it out of them all. He even came grocery shopping with me yesterday (note, don't go grocery shopping on holidays, parking was redic) and with this dish, a few others that needed produce, and some things for school lunches, Ryan mentioned that he thought this was the most produce he'd ever seen in our cart. I take it as a compliment, especially since my number one goal with this whole being pregnant thing is for Ryan not to gain weight with me. Not that it's be a terrible, awful thing if he did, but hey, it's one less person who has to lose weight afterward.

I digress.

We had this salad and loved it. We just ate it meatless, but Our Best Bites put some grilled chicken with it, which looks divine as well. The nice part too is that I had a bowl full and Ryan had two but it's not super heavy and you feel the perfect amount of full-ness. The only bummer was that our mango wasn't super ripe, so I added a can of drained mandarin oranges to it to make it a bit sweeter. Also, I used a green bell pepper, cause sometimes I'm cheap like that, which I'm sure would have added to the sweetness a bit. Oh, and we added not as many green onions. So go with it and made additions/substitutions as you go, The dressing was fabulous and as Ryan was eating this he said to me, "We're making this again." Love when that happens.

Also, this was our first time eating quinoa. I know, you'd think we'd have eaten it ages ago, but really, couscous and arborio rice was as fancy as we had gone grain wise (other than white/brown rice). It was a cinch, so quick and easy. I just cooked it in water since there was a dressing on the salad, but i'm sure beg/chicken broth would be even better. Also, I didn't rinse the stuff, but go ahead and do that if you want. Mine came in a fancy little organic bag, so I didn't feel the need, but if I got the big container from Costco or something, I'd probably rinse them off just to be sure. Sara, from our best bites does a quinoa tutorial too, and cooking it takes 15 minutes, tops.

Ew, coconut. I hate coconut.

*We had found out we were expecting less than a week before we packed up and headed our to Boston. Also, we were at the All Star Game in Phx. I think that's why we're so happy in this picture…*

I keep wanting to have every title be "mangum update" or "baby m update". Those sound so lame though, so in keeping with all things Corrina, Corrina, I'd go with part of my fave Percy quote.

Because even though I actually really like coconut and feel totally bad for all the picky eaters there who are missing out (btw there's this great place in downtown/old town annapolis that has the best coconut ice cream I've ever eaten, I dream about that stuff)…but I digress.

The point is, pregnancy can really stink sometimes. And my heart just breaks a little bit when I get nauseous looking at the pintrest food section too long. Sometimes I get nauseous when I think about food too long as I plan our weekly menu.

I think I may just have a slight addiction to looking at food/buying food/making food that baby m apparently has a problem with. If he/she is even slightly picky, I just don't know what I'll do. At least like coconut, ok????

Other than the bit o nauseous-ness we're doing pretty great on the home front. I could sleep for hours and hours, which isn't too much different that my normal love for sleep is, and I've only barfed twice, so I'm feelin good. Oh, but now I have the bladder of a 6 year old and have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I guess I'm preparing to get up with an infant in the middle of the night anyway?

I'm not showing at all, and I think I lost a bit of weight on our road trip out here because I way less than I have in like a year or something. Don't get me wrong, I want to gain weight so our little one can grow, but seeing as it weighs an ounce or something, I'm glad I haven't gained quite yet. I'm sure my body will have no problem gaining weight in the next 6 mos, don't you worry.

Also, I'm not craving anything, who knows if I will, but you know how pregnant women are supposed to crave pickles and weird stuff? What if craving pickles is a totally normal thing? Like, even not being pregnant I wish we had 5 huge Costco containers of whole dill pickles so I wouldn't feel bad about eating almost the whole container in one day...

Anyway, there's an update. I'm off to eat an otter pop, because they rule.

btw.

nope, this is not a test. not a joke. it's totally real. and totally awesome. we're havin a baby! we feel so blessed and grateful to be able to add a little one to our family and become a family of 3!