Apps for Baby

It seems that my iPod touch has grown into my hand. It spends as much, if not more time with me than Pax. Since I've been pregnant with him, it has found many uses. There are 4 pregnancy/baby apps that have been the most commonly used. In case anyone is in need of such resources, these are the most useful ones I've found so far :-)

Full Term Contraction Timer: First, when my contractions started and I was debating when to go to the hospital, I had an app that wasn't just a timer, but kept a log of all the contractions I had so I could see what the consistent pattern was. Exactly what I needed.

Then, when the baby was born, I was thrilled and wanted to tell everyone, but was too tired to do all the notifying work, the Bambinapp let me fill in the 3 relevant details and send it straight to Facebook so that everyone knew about our new bundle of joy :-) (And in a cute way, of course.)

Since Pax has joined us, and we've been at the pediatrician (and lactation consultants), they want to know how often he's eating, pooping, and sleeping. With the What to Expect Baby Tracker app, it lets you input all the information with very simple motions (no typing). (PS: I have found lots of useful information for first-time moms through their daily emails as well, which you can sign up for on the website.) Also, it helps reveal patterns. It's been most useful to me to help me remember when he last ate, which side he nursed on, and how long he ate for. Also, it's been super-useful as the weeks have passed to see when (if) there are sleep patterns. So it helped me see that he has slept for almost exactly the same amount of time the last 5 nights (though not necessarily at the same times). It also has a notes section for each category to note things like what strategies I used to get Pax to sleep (swaddled, not swaddled, lamp on/off, etc.) Anyway, great app, I'd highly recommend it.

Finally, we have been back and forth to Target, Home Depot and the grocery store on many occasions. (Okay, this isn't that different from any other day of my life :-) However, the new app that helps me keep these things organized in the palm of my hand is called Slide To Buy. It's just like many other list making apps, but my favorite part is that it lets you see your lists without unlocking your device. I always hated having to unlock the iPod and then swipe and click through to find and open the app and the appropriate screen. With this one, you can light up the device and your list(s) are all right there for you to see and cross things off. Definitely helpful in my world.



 And in case you were wondering, a number of these apps I've discovered using the Apps Gone Free app, which has a daily alert of 5 apps that are temporarily free. There's usually at least one game, most days there is a kid-friendly app like a story book, etc., and many times there is a productivity or photography app as well. And all free! :-)

Breakfast Soup

As I've been enjoying my lazy mornings at home with Pax (which mainly involve sleeping, eating, and going to the bathroom for both of us), I've gotten back to one of my favorite lazy breakfasts. I grew up eating this "breakfast soup" occasionally and it has since become one of those foods that I remember every once in a while and go, "Oh that's right, this is really good. I should eat this more often!" (I have the same experience with banana splits periodically.) It's the simplest thing. Hope you like!

Breakfast Soup (or Cinnamon Brown Rice Breakfast Chowder))

3/4 c. brown rice, cooked
1 c. milk (or as much as you'd like)
1/4 t. cinnamon
drizzle of honey
2 T. raisins (optional)

Heat in the microwave or on the stove until just warm.

The new guy is here!

Wow. It has been a busy, busy, busy time for us. I haven't posted for a long time because when I get stressed and/or busy, all non-critical things get dropped from my life. And as it turns out, for me, the last trimester of pregnancy was one of those times. For basically all of November and December, we spent tons of time doing things that needed to be done before the baby arrived, like birthing classes, getting the nursery ready, choosing names, baby showers, writing thank you notes, visiting family, doing "the last time before the baby comes" things, etc. (not to mention Christmas baking and shopping!) The first half of January was spent nervously awaiting baby.

Then, just 12 hours early, the little guy arrived! His name is Pax Jacob and he is amazing. :-D See the pictures for proof. Today he is two weeks old. Here are some of the things I adore about him:

• the super-cute baby noises he makes, (similar to the tired sounds you make as you go to bed at night)
• his long fingers that might be piano-playing fingers :-)
• the fleeting expressions that cross his face, lickety-split (from pure bliss, to rage, to horror, to peaceful sleeping--all in 3 seconds or less)
• how he can be totally asleep and nothing wakes him up. Sometimes. 
• the fact that the dogs barking doesn't startle him in the slightest
• no matter how many times he wakes me up at night, it still makes me smile when I see him
• how his arms operate totally independently of anything he wants them to do (sometimes an arm just pops up straight out in front of him and stays there until I move it :-))
• his Houdini-like quality of getting his arms out of the tightly swaddled blankets that Grandma made for him
• his wrinkly little bum!
• how cute he looks in Ben's arms (he looks even smaller when Ben is holding him)
• how cozy he is in the sling (he slept straight through his first hike last weekend at Deem Hills)
• his bright, blinking eyes when he's awake and alert in the mornings

Also, I'm attaching a link to the story of Pax's birth. I wrote it out in long form for my own sake, but also because I think it's something people don't hear very often. As Ben and I went through our birthing classes, we realized that we had absolutely zero knowledge of it, beyond what is seen in TV shows. Most people who have babies, the birth story for the general public goes something like this: "I was scheduled to be induced Tuesday morning. After 17 hours of labor, being induced twice and having an epidural, he was born." Or something like that. Hence, most of us go into the process of birthing a child with literally no idea of what happens in the mysterious intervening hours. That was definitely the biggest benefit to us in the birthing classes was simply knowing what to expect. Either way, for that reason, I wrote out the entire story of Pax's birth, in a fair amount of detail, mostly for people who have no idea what happens. Feel free to read it if you want, but consider yourself warned, it is most of 5 pages :-s 

I hope to post more regularly now that we are back at home and my brain is starting to unscramble. :-)

Around the house these days...

A few images from what's going on around the Shetler house these days...

First garden cucumber (Aremenian) 

First window I've ever broken. A pan fell out of my hands in some inexplicable manner. I would love to blame this on pregnancy, but alas, this type of thing is a daily occurrence in my everyday, non-pregnant life. 

One section of the (poorly-planned) garden right now. Giant bushy zucchini and cucumber bushes trying to overtake the climbing peas and green beans behind them. But, it looks like everything should produce, so that's good :-)

My one must-have Halloween treat :-) 

Ben "practicing" for baby (or harassing Nimbus, depending on who's side of the story you get). 

What 28 weeks pregnant looks like on me (and Rezzie). 

Self-portrait at 11 PM :-) 

Like Greased Caramel

Caramel Pretzel Bites. A caramel unwrapped and flattened, wrapped around a pretzel nugget and dipped in chocolate. Sounds (and looks) amazing, and not terribly difficult, right? Such was my optimistic mood on Saturday morning when I got ready to try these babies. 3 ingredients, you can't go wrong. (Cue ominous music.)

As per usual, I couldn't quite do it exactly according to plan. I initially wanted to make these because I had a bunch of caramel left over from supper group the previous week, which I had made to dip apples in. The reason more of the caramel didn't get eaten was because I evidently boiled it a touch too long, so it was a little too stiff to dip things in, and it ended up being more of an item you spent the next 2 hours picking out of your back teeth, in a very unflattering manner.

So, my thought was that I'd heat up the caramel to make it a bit more fluid (which worked), and then roll it out. I got started by smartly covering the counter in wax paper. I dumped the caramel on top of the wax paper and put another on top of it and squished everything down. Then, I decided I probably better double-check that it wasn't sticking. Of course it was. Like the dickens, as the say. So, I painstakingly scraped most of it off the wax paper and threw the paper away.

Silly me, I thought. I should have greased the wax paper. Still optimistic, I greased up another set of wax paper good and proper. This seemed like it'd be a great solution, until I realized that as I rolled, the newly exposed caramel carried the grease away with it. Or something. Either way, the long and short of it is that the exact same thing happened. Disastrous sticking. More scraping. More throwing away of wax paper. (And yes, I was definitely losing caramel mass AND brain mass at this point.)

Finally, out of exasperation, I just greased the entire counter area and the metal rolling pin. Nothing stuck anymore. However, that meant the rolling pin just spun on the caramel and the caramel was moving all over the counter. The final solution ended up being me patting and stretching it into some generally desirable shape. (And trying not to scream.)

The next step was to stick the pretzels to the caramel. Turns out, when the caramel is as well-greased as mine was, the pretzels don't stick too well, but I was DETERMINED to make this work, in some form or another at this point. I more or less got the pretzels to wedge into the caramel a bit, and then tried dipping them in the melted chocolate chips (which actually is what the recipe called for). Apparently, I had conveniently forgotten (as I do once or twice a year), that I DESPISE dipping things, or doing anything that requires me to touch every single serving of something. With this background, the dipping was less than ideal.

After dipping three caramel/pretzel pieces, and realizing they were coming out looking like a big gloppy mess, to put it politely, I re-engineered the process. The final product ended up going something like this on some of my leftover greased wax paper: dab of chocolate, square of hardened caramel, dab of chocolate, pretzel. Done. End of story. While this definitely worked, I was more and more infuriated with every dab at how awry this activity had gone. (I had also just realized that these items would have to stay in the fridge if I didn't want the caramel to melt into each other, but that then the caramel would practically break off in your teeth, again leaving me with a lose-lose situation. At that point though, I was in too deep, I just had to finish it as a matter of principle.)

I thankfully finished all of the pretzel caramel situations, with an entirely greased counter, the belly of my shirt with giant chocolatey streaks, and chocolate up to my elbows. But, I still had a bunch of chocolate left over. I knew I should just throw it out and be done with it, given my current level of frustration, but if I was that sort of person, I wouldn't be in the current mess in the first place, as I would have thrown out the caramel a week ago. So, since I still had 2/3 of a bag of pretzels left, I just dipped those half way into the chocolate. Turns out, that was the easiest, most attractive thing I did all afternoon (though still time-consuming).

When all was said and done, I was so frustrated with the whole episode, I had to wash every dish in eyesight, wash every ounce of chocolate off me in a long shower, and throw the recipe away to even begin to alleviate the aggravation. I have not had a total disaster like that in the kitchen for a while. I would like to blame it on being pregnant, but we all know that is something that could have happened to me any day of my life. And I'm sure it will happen again. Oh well, here's to staying humble, right?

Church Cookbook Love

I was recently asked by my dear husband if I'd cook breakfast for the board meetings our church was hosting this last weekend. I agreed, knowing I could use a similar menu to what I helped my friend Liz make last year for another event. The menu was as follows: Baked Oatmeal, Yogurt, Fruit, and Granola (for the yogurt). Added bonus: all gluten-free, as one of the board members is gluten-intolerant. (Though in case you're wondering, while oatmeal is gluten-free in theory, it's often processed in plants that process other gluten-y items, so you do still have to search out gluten-free oatmeal).  I made the same granola I usually make and cut up some apples, bananas, and oranges.

When I looked up the recipe for the Baked Oatmeal in our church cookbook, I remembered why it was so good :-) A whole lot of brown sugar and oil!! I did substitute half the oil for applesauce and then added extra cinnamon and a handful of chopped apples so I could pretend that it actually had the slightest bit of health to it :-) I think it turned out pretty well, and I'll definitely be making it again. Thank goodness for church cookbooks! [And my philosophy on church cookbook recipes still applies: fantastic person = fantastic recipe ;-)] The recipe, as I made it, is listed below. 

Apple Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal

1/2 c. vegetable oil

1/2 c. applesauce

1 1/2 c. brown sugar

4 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

1 t. cinnamon (optional)

4 eggs

2 c. milk

6 c. oatmeal

1 1/2 c. apples, peeled and chopped (optional)

Mix oil, applesauce, sugar and eggs. Beat until yellow and glossy. Add remaining ingredients and mix until well-blended. Bake in greased 9x13 pan at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Serves 10-12. 

Other optional add-ins: 1 c. raisins, 1/2 c. sunflower seeds, any kind of nuts, coconut, or fresh or dried fruit.

Side note: the "Planning the Menu" notepad I bought a while back came in super-handy the past 2 weeks. They let you specify the recipe, source, ingredients, and notes on the results. I used them for supper group, 2 meals for the board, and a meal I brought to a family at church. Given the proximity of all of these events piled on top of an already stacked week, I needed the extra organization!

Side side note: Thank goodness for church cookbooks, but not for church kitchens! Despite the coordinator's best effort, it is always amazing the sheer quantity of random items that show up (or more importantly, DON'T show up) in church kitchens. Items NOT found in our church kitchen as of Saturday: scissors, pen and paper, large ziploc bags, and most notably a cutting board. I ended up chopping everything on a plastic serving tray!

Improvisation

Last Friday, Ben wanted to stay home and do homework, but only after he saw the end of the Diamondbacks play-off game at his parents' house (who have cable). Since I knew this was going to be longer than he thought, I made supper there for all of us.

It was a supper of new and old things. The main dish was an improvisation of things that I had sitting around; specifically extra lasagna noodles and ricotta filling. I decided to use these to create broccoli lasagna roll-ups. Eventually, these ended up with the following: a lasagna noodle topped with ricotta, white sauce, broccoli, string cheese pieces (due to a lack of mozzarella) and then rolled up. All were placed in a dish and topped with more white sauce and a bit of cheddar cheese and then I baked the whole thing. It was a bit of an adventure, but it turned out pretty well :-) Also, yogurt dill sauce with roasted veggies was on the menu. I had bought strawberries this week and was waiting for a good reason to make strawberry shortcake and this was as good of a reason as any. (Who needs a reason for strawberry shortcake anyway??)

The very Greek yogurt dill sauce is from one of my favorite cookbooks, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and worked well on the random combination of veggies I had in the fridge (zucchini, red peppers, parsnips, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, and onions). The strawberry shortcake is my all-time favorite. It's fantastic on it's own, but is killer with strawberries. It comes from the Mennonite Fellowship Meals cookbook.

Broccoli Lasagna Roll-Ups


8-10 lasagna noodles, boiled
2 heads broccoli, chopped finely
2 c. ricotta
3/4 c. parmesan, shredded
1 3/4 c. mozzarella, divided
2 t. oregano, dried
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c. onion, chopped
2 1/2 c. milk
6 T. butter
6 T. flour
1 t. italian seasoning
1 t. parsley, diced
salt and pepper
2/3 c. shredded cheddar

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9x13 pan. Let noodles sit in a few inches of water to prevent sticking together. Chop broccoli finely and steam in microwave or on the stovetop.

2. Combine ricotta, parmesan, 1/2 c. mozzarella and oregano in separate bowl. Set aside.

3. Saute onion and garlic in butter. Add flour and stir till bubbly. Whisk in milk and stir until thickened. Add italian seasoning, salt and pepper, and parsley. Set aside half of the white sauce.


4. On each lasagna noodle, layer 2-3 T. ricotta mixture, 3 T. sauce, 3 T. broccoli, and a sprinkle of remaining mozzarella. Roll up noodle and toppings carefully, and place in pan, seam side down. Repeat with remaining noodles. Spread remaining white sauce over rolls in pan. Sprinkle with shredded cheddar. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Serves 6.



Yogurt Sauce with Cayenne & Dill


1 c. yogurt
1/2 c. sour cream
1 large garlic clove, crushed
Salt
2 t. dill, chopped
3/4 t. cayenne or hot paprika

Mix all ingredients and refrigerate before serving. Yield: 1 1/2 cups.

[This sauce, plus the roasted veggies, scrambled eggs and cheese made for a great breakfast burrito!]



Best Strawberry Shortcake


1 c. butter
1 1/2 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 c. flour
1/4 t. salt
1/8 t. baking soda
1/2 c. plain, fat-free yogurt
1/2 t. vanilla
strawberries, finely diced

1. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Sift dry ingredients.

2. Add the dry ingredients to the batter alternately with yogurt. Beat until smooth. Blend in vanilla. Pour into greased and floured 7x11 pan.

3. Bake at 325 for approximately an hour. After cooling for 5-10 minutes, cut into 10 servings. Top with strawberries.

[Note, the original recipe is doubled and baked in 3 loaf pans. It also uses sour cream instead of yogurt. I've tried it both ways and can't tell the difference. I'd also love to make this in jumbo muffin tins for individual servings, but I don't have any. I don't know why it wouldn't work though.]