Feeding the Preggo

Baked Pot

Highlighting some of the foods from this week:

All right, so I don't eat many potatoes, because they are nightshade vegetables and my joints do better without them, and when I read that potatoes were recommended by the Bradley natural birth method (three per week!), I thought to myself "Yeah right."  But, as you can tell by the picture, I've gone to the dark side a few times.  And yes, there's pastured, organic butter, organic cheddar cheese, and organic sour cream slathered all over it.  I've got my major pregnancy food groups in: fat and protein. 

I've been craving them bad lately, and I almost had to bake one while writing this blog post!  Kali keeps telling me that if you microwave the potato for 30 seconds or three minutes (whatever) and then put it in the oven for 30 minutes, that I could have my potato faster.  I tell her to get my potato away from that microwave!  Agh!

Gasp, I know there's a picture of Horizon sour cream, and I stopped buying Horizon ten years ago when the milk tasted as if it wasn't really organic.  There weren't any other organic sour cream options, and since it's now verified organic by an additional third-party organization, I took a chance.  And, it actually taste pretty good!  It doesn't taste like the chemicals the circa 2002 Horizon milk tasted like.  You can tell that a product is certified by another third-party if it lists another certifying company on the back.  Only the USDA certification goes on the front, and their has been some question as to their regulation or standards in recent years.  If there's another organic option, I would opt for that instead.

Chicken and stew in a crockpot.

On Friday night, Kali stuck a whole, organic, free-range chicken in a crock pot.  She had some organic vegetable broth that she threw in there with potatoes and carrots.  She salt and peppered that baby, because that's the only seasoning this pregnant lady can eat right now.  And, that green stuff is kombu, a seaweed that is a left over habit of mine from macrobiotic days.  Usually, I just pull that kombu out after the nutrients soak into the water of whatever I am cooking.  However, we slow cooked this dish so long that the kombu wasn't even noticeable.  I've been taking leftovers for lunch. 

Whole Grain Artisan Bre

I've been eating whole grain toast and using bread to create sandwiches and instead of buns on burgers.  So, Kali whipped out her cookbooks and whipped me up the bread of my choice.  I picked the first standard whole grain loaf that came up.  The recipe looked something like this one.  It is wonderful.  It is one of the healthy items that she can out-do me on.  Even though I can find a fresh-baked, organic, whole grain loaf at Whole Foods that doesn't have a lot of junk it it, it still comes with some ingredients that bread can do without.  So, since Kali loves to bake, she is overjoyed to have a hungry pregnant lady in the house who will gobble up her tasty creations.

Kali brought home some homemade elderberry jam from a friends' house the other night, and that goes wonderfully with this bread. 

Daily Fruit Bowl

Then, there's this wondrous monstrosity to the right.  It's one orange, a handful of grapes, half of a container of strawberries, and two carrots.  If I never have to eat another damn carrot after Lily is born, then I will be a happy woman.  I wish that I'd remember to buy the bananas, and when I do that, I wish I'd remember to take them to work, and then I wish I'd remember to eat them.  I start chowing on this bowl of fruit once I get to work and keep going throughout the whole day. 

Lily is getting bigger every week, so Kali and I are doing a good job of feeding her. Yay!

Baby Lily's Homemade Mac'N'Cheese

Food.  It's been a major issue during my pregnancy. From trying to find a few things my stomach would let me eat and trying not to use the microwave at work, to having little back up at home in regards to making sure that I got food I could eat, the times when Baby Daddy ate the food I had specially prepared for me, and then moving mid-pregnancy to a non-organic household, it has been a little bit of a struggle.  There were weeks in there that I was pounding down grass-fed cheeseburgers and milkshakes just trying to get down something I could eat that resembled proper nutrition for pregnant ladies.  That would be lots of protein, fat, calcium, and many other nutrients to build a healthy baby.  So, that is why macaroni and cheese is a good addition to any meal.

I'm living with good friend, Kali, and we decided to google how to make mac and cheese while at the store one day.  We found this recipe and adjusted it to suit our needs.  My needs include organic, grass-fed, whole wheat ingredients.  Kali's needs are lots of yummy cheeses that make her swoon.  The calories, fat, and protein this this sidedish are enough to make any growing baby happy.  Last night, we paired it with grass-fed rib eye steaks and salad.


1 pound whole grain, organic elbow pasta
1/2 cup pasture raised, organic butter
1/2 cup whole wheat, organic flour
4 cups grass-fed, organic, whole milk
8 ounces organic sharp cheddar
8 ounces gouda
8 ounces gruyere
1/2 t. sea salt (to taste)
Whole wheat breadcrumbs

The finished product is so good, one of Kali's coworker commented, "That's not just mac and cheese.  You have to give it its own name."  So, Kali donned it Baby Lily's Homemade Mac'N'Cheese.  It's is certainly Baby Approved.

Hot Lunch at Work

When the hormones reared up, I really had trouble finding foods that wouldn't upset my stomach, let alone foods that would feel good when I ate them.  After organizing a new event at the community center at which I volunteer, I craved a big plate of fettuccine alfredo, which was the first thing that felt good in my stomach in weeks.  I went to Whole Foods and bought organic, whole wheat pasta, and some wholesome alfredo and shredded parmesan.  That lead to Amy's shells and cheese in a box.  I was eating that once or twice per day to sooth my tummy.  But, it had to be hot and fresh.  I also discovered that my aversion was to most seasoning, save a little salt and pepper.  So, my other fall back was a hot and fresh hamburger with cheese. The baby wants good fatty foods that to grow a healthy brain!

I discovered that Panera's broccoli and cheddar cheese soup soothed my tummy the best!  But, I didn't want a staple food to be something that wasn't organic, where the broccoli (and likely the whole soup), had been frozen, and that I was sure had seen a microwave at some point.  So, I found a similar recipe online.  I use organic milk, organic butter from grass-fed cows, and organic cheddar cheese.  I shred organic carrots and use organic broccoli.  I also used an organic chicken bone stock that Sean made from a free-range, vegetarian-fed chicken.  If I could find everything for the recipe from grass-fed animals, that would be glorious!  Free range, veg/grass-fed animals that produce organic products are much more healthy than conventionally fed and treated animals.  And, because they are healthier, we eat healthier meats, eggs, and dairy products.

I don't believe in freezing foods, because I believe the process of freezing foods kills the food and depletes it of a life-giving force that keeps us healthy.  It's fresh or bust for me.

My aversion to microwaves stems from the intuitive sense that using radiation on a regular basis isn't a natural process.  I just feel like it messes with my food.  I haven't regularly used a microwave since 2008, and when I moved in with Sean, I found out that his microwave was in the basement storage.  We use them for convenience, because we live busy lives.  Could you imagine your life without a microwave?  Dinner takes about 20 minutes to reheat instead of 5 minutes.  It just takes a little extra time, but, there's no radiation in the equation.

Sometimes, I eat an early breakfast, and then eat an early lunch while driving to work, so that I don't have to answer the food question.  Some shells and cheese or soup in a cup has done the trick.  There was one day that I took a long lunch and make pasta at home.  But, there are a few yummy places that I've been able to get hot food without a microwave while at work or on the go. I know that I can't have food the way I want it all of the time, but I can try to make better choices when away from home.

Zpizza: There is a Zpizza in my office building!  They cook everything via oven!  "A passion for great food is why we start with dough made from 100% organic wheat flour prepared fresh every day, hand-thrown and fire-baked until uniquely crisp. Our zest for quality continues when the toppings go on. We combine select ingredients using award-winning skim mozzarella from Wisconsin, certified organic tomato sauce, MSG-free pepperoni, additive-free sausage, and fresh produce."

Silver Diner: Fresh and local food.  Their beef is grass fed, which is perfect for a burger!  And, they can put organic ketchup in a container to go!

Whole Foods hot bar: And, most of the Whole Foods around here have a pretty good hot bar.  But, because I cannot eat seasonings right now, I have to stick to the macaroni and cheese when they have it.

Eating on the Job

Well, eating, like most everything these past six weeks, has been difficult.  And, eating at work has been even worse.  First of all, my body was demanding hot food.  Secondly, I refuse to let microwaves be a part of my regular routine.  And, of course, I'm now in need of hot, organic food, I can only eat about three things for a meal (fresh alfredo pasta, fresh burgers, and fresh pancakes), and I no longer live a five-minute walk from work.  Oh yeah, we're not lucky enough to have a full kitchen here.  That would be wonderful!

I've usually packed a pretty good lunch since I moved away from work and in with Sean (before he was baby daddy).  But, since the preggers stomach is so finicky, and the organic preggers worman so particular about her food, my lunch box has become a full-on paper grocery bag.  Let's peak into today's stash:

What we've got here is an organic baby romaine salad with lemon olive oil dressing, organic carrot slices, organic raspberries, organic bananas, a smoothie, a glass water bottle filled from home, and a mason jar of raspberry leaf tea.  We eat different lettuces at home, usually an herb salad or spring mix, but my stomach would only take romaine.  Most romaine salads have a lot of hearts, but the baby romaine salad we found was a better alternative, being dark green and purple.  Though these carrots are from a five-pound bag, I usually prefer to grab the ones from Whole Foods with the tops on and a little dirt still on them.  I believe that the more processed my food is before I buy it, the more potential that process has to remove nutrients from my food before I get it.  Baby daddy and Green Babies Sage Moms both say that banana's are safe when they aren't organic, and Sean goes further to say that organic bananas are a waste of money, because they don't require any pesticides to grow.  I still like to buy the organic ones, but I'll just grab whatever is ripest, because I want to actually eat them this week!

My fruit smoothie is a blend of fresh-squeezed organic orange juice, organic raspberries, organice strawberries, and a banana.  My friend, Norma, dropped off some raspberry tea for this preggers girl, which I had just been reading about in Wise Woman's Herbal for the Childbearing Years, is good for strengthening the uterus before and during pregnancy.  So, I brew it before work to ensure that I will drink it!  The water at home has an Aquasana water filter.  I was an avid Brita user, but Sean did the research long before I arrived on scene, and he chose this one because it's the only one that filters out unnecessary chemicals, like fluoride.

You'll notice that my water bottle is glass (a VOSS water bottle you can pick up at Whole Foods), as is the mason jar and my salad container.  We try to minimize the plastic in our lives.  It's hard to do, because plastic is so convenient and cheap.  I don't have a good glass container for my smoothie yet, but I just started carting those into work yesterday.  Prior to that, I was drinking it in a glass on the way to work.  I just really don't trust plastic to not leech junk into my food, even though some plastics are better than others.  Stainless steel leeches a little bit, and it's certainly better than plastic.  The only thing that doesn't leech into your food is glass and silicone.

In my next blog post, I'm going to talk about the yummy places that I've been able to get hot food without a microwave while at work.