Dogs and Children oh my...

As I type this Lennon is undergoing emergency surgery to fix a blockage in his intestines. I really don't know how much more I can take with this dog and all of the surgeries he has had to go under here recently. It breaks my heart that he is suffering and that there is nothing that I can do about it but try to support him as best as I can. I did realize tonight though while giving the surgeon the okay to perform the operation, I am not going to do good if and when my child ever get's sick. I am already dreading the round of shots he or she will have. Something tells me I will do the most crying. Lord help us all!!

My nephew to be...

See, my little sister really is pregnant, obviously she is a lot further along than what I am. We had a scare last night thinking that she was in pre-term labor, but she wasn't, hopefully Dylan continues baking for the next month as he is supposed to. Nikki's mother-in-law and I are throwing her her first baby shower this coming Sunday and part of my gift to her was a baby belly photo shoot. I am thrilled with how the pictures turned out and I thought in order to toot my own horn, I would share them with everyone. I am only posting a few but I hope you enjoy them.

By the way, sitting in the waiting room at the hospital in the maternity ward, watching all of the pregnant women come in and out, really helped the fact I will be one of those women in less than six months. It's officially sunk in that this is for real for us. I also bought the first few baby clothes that were gender related. I hit up a garage sale and spent $2.50 on 5 outfits for a little girl. I figured even if we do have a boy, I could always resell all of the girl clothing we have bought and received on e-bay and still make our money back on them since none of the outfits were purchased brand new.

Anyway, here are the pictures.

Almost there...

Wednesday I will officially be twelve weeks pregnant, which means only one more to go before I am officially knocking on my second trimesters door. I cannot believe how quickly these first twelve weeks have gone by. The morning sickness is still here...no where near what it was in the beginning though which is a good thing. I am finally able to eat things and Pringles have truly become my best friend. I am cooking more which I think my husband is excited about. This coming weekend is going to be a big cooking fest at my house. My sister Nikki's baby shower is this Sunday and I am bringing the majority of the food. I can't wait until it's time for my shower, mainly because it means that we will be that much closer to finally getting to meet this little one that is currently residing in my tummy. The baby clothes are already starting to pour in, mainly girl clothes as that is what everyone thinks we are having. My Dad's girlfriend Donna hit up Gymboree the other weekend and bought not only girl clothes but boys as well, just in case!! I am growing ever more anxious with this baby. I can't stand walking by the clothes and not stopping to just pick them up and give them a good wiff. I can't wait for the day when there will be someone inside of them. We have just a few more weeks until we can find out the sex of the baby but in the mean time I have been hitting up google for all of the old wives tales on how to determine the gender of your unborn child. So far the girls are winning, the only boy tales we have gotten is the wedding ring on the string thing and the fact I am craving salty foods instead of sweats as they say you do with girls.

I finally gave my five vials of blood for the pre-natal testing. To say it was a chore would be an understatement. We went ahead and waited until my next Remicade treatment in hopes that we could get it done with one stick at one sitting instead of two sticks during two sittings. Four sticks later they finally found gold in my left arm. The veins in my right arm have finally given up on us and no longer produce any blood. We can do the infusion in the them but they just don't share the precious red stuff. The fourth stick we moved to the left arm and we hit gold, the blood flowed freely and after having to assist the nurse in taking the blood I about hit the floor. The medical field is definitely not an option for this chicken. I am just glad to have it over and done with and I hope the results provide us with more good news when it comes to the health of this pregnancy. I also hope I don't have to do give up that much blood again during this pregnancy. As a reward for making it through another stressful treatment we went out to dinner and then registered for the baby at Babies R Us which was so exciting. We will register for more stuff once we know for sure what we are having but in the meantime we thought it would be ok to get the stuff we know we will need such as bottles and pacifiers out of the way.

Here's to hoping that the next six months fly by just like the first twelve weeks have done. I know I will need the time to get everything ready to go for the baby but I just can't wait until my snuggle buddy gets here.

Murphy's Spaghetti Sauce

I first learned how to make this sauce from my Grandma Murphy who I believe learned it from my Aunt Robin, who by the way, makes the best lasagna. It's simple and easy to make but boy is it yummy. The longer you allow it to simmer on the stove the better it gets. I have added my own touches along the way when it comes to seasonings but even without it's pretty tasty. Here's what you'll need!

Murphy's Spaghetti Sauce~

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef, browned and drained
1 lg. green pepper, finely diced
1 md. onion, finely diced
1 22 oz. tomato sauce
1 14.5 diced tomatoes
1 4.5 oz. jar sliced mushrooms, drained
1 tbsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. dried basil
1 tbsp. dried oregano
a few dashes of black pepper

Directions:

1.) In a large stock pot, begin browning your ground beef, add diced peppers and onions. Brown until no longer pink, drain any excess grease.
2.) Add tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, and mushrooms.
3.) Add seasonings. Simmer for about a 1/2 hour on medium heat. The longer it simmers the better it gets, you can start it several hours in advance and just add more tomato sauce to keep it from drying it up.

Serve over spaghetti, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

For any of the other pregnant women or working Mom's out there who occasionally stop by my blog, this sauce freezes really well. A suggestion is to store the sauce and save room in your freezer by adding to Ziploc bags after the sauce has cooled and then place flat on top of a baking sheet and then freeze. Once the bags of sauce have froze you can remove them from the baking sheet and store in a small stack.

Hope you enjoy, I know our family does!

Skyline Dip

The cravings have finally started to hit me which is a nice change from having to force feed myself because absolutely nothing sounded appetizing. For the past week I have been craving this recipe and Tuesday night I finally broke down and stopped at the store to purchase the ingredients. I first had this dip while growing up, my Aunt made it for almost every family function. Unfortunately due to heart issues that the family has been diagnosed with due to genetics she has stopped bringing the dip and now brings salads...lol. Fortunately for me this is my step-dad's side of the family so while I should be protective of my heart, now more so than ever, I don't have to worry about the problem quite as much. I do still find the urge to dip into this wonderful unhealthy goodness from time to time...obviously.

Skyline Dip~

Ingredients:

2 8oz. blocks cream cheese, softened

1 bowl of frozen Skyline Chili, thawed

3-4 cups shredded cheddar cheese

tortillas chips for dipping

Directions:

1.) Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.) In a 9x13 baking dish, evenly spread softened cream cheese.

3.) Pour chili over cream cheese. You may need to microwave the chili for about a minute to make it pourable.

4.) Sprinkle on shredded cheese, bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until cheese has melted and the sides are bubbly.

This dip never lasts long whenever I bring it to other family functions, not my step-dads. The sad thing is it just doesn't photograph well as you can see by the picture I took.

Cravings

I think it's safe to say that the cravings that most pregnant women experience has finally hit me. How do I know this you ask...the list below is what was purchased last night at the grocery. Please do not judge me, remember "what the baby wants, the baby gets."

• Regular Pringles
• Sour cream and onion pringles, which are sadly already gone.
• Microwave popcorn, extra butter
• Brownie mix
• Reese's minis to put in the brownie mix
• The ingredients needed to make Skyline dip, recipe will be shared on my food blog.
• Chocolate pop-tarts, the big box!
• 2 cans of vegetable beef soup, Campbell's edition
• Tortilla chips for the Skyline dip
• 2 slices of cheesecake
• The latest People magazine to read while stuffing my face full of these very unhealthy foods.
• I also bought some bananas so I wasn't completely bad.

The worse part of this list is that what is listed is all that was purchased. This trip to the store was purely to indulge the junk food cravings that I have been having. What isn't shown is the big box of Lucky Charms and Trix that was bought about two weeks ago.

The funny part about all of these cravings is that my hubby has also started to have them, please see below conversation.

Daniel: "Are you bringing home anything for lunch?"

Katie: " I hadn't planned on it, why?"

Daniel: " Just wondering"

Long Pause

Katie: "Would you like for me to bring home lunch?"

Daniel: "If you want...McDonald's sounds good."

Katie: "You want your usual?"

Daniel: "Yeah"

Daniel: " Man, last night I was cravings Wendy's so bad."

Katie: " Well there isn't really a Wendy's on my way home or else I would get you some."

Daniel: "Yeah, I know, McDonald's is fine."

Daniel: "The night before then I was craving Taco Bell, and then the other night I was craving me some fried chicken. I think I have your pregnancy cravings."

Katie: " Sounds like!" (Insert giggles)

I wonder which one of us is going to gain the most weight during these next 6 1/2 months?

Stuffed Pepper Rings

So last week I promised that I would be sharing a new recipe with everyone and low and behold it never happened. I didn't forget on purpose nor did I really forget I just never got around to it. The sad thing about buying fresh produce from Super Wal-Mart is that by the time you do get around to it, the produce needs tossed. We don't even want to discuss the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables that have been thrown away at our house because they haven't been used in time. I think with a little one on the way I really need to get out of the horrible, horrible habit and remember to slice and dice and then freeze for later use. I didn't get to make the recipe therefore there is no picture but I thought I would share it with you anyway. The original inspiration for this dish came from Sunny Anderson, one of the many chefs on Food Network. I improvised quite a bit and came up with this winner. My Dad and Uncle Dan love this dish so I hope that it is a hit with your family as well.

Stuffed Pepper Rings~

Ingredients:
6 Large Peppers- Red, Yellow, and Green
1 lb. ground chuck
1 lb. ground turkey
2 eggs
1 tbsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. onion powder
salt and pepper
hot sauce
worchestire sauce
1 C. Bread Crumbs
1 tbsp. dried oregano
1/2 tbsp. dried basil
olive oil
1 16oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 C. cooked white rice
Shredded mozzarella and mild cheddar cheese, optional

Directions:
1. In a large bowl mix together the ground chuck, ground sausage, and ground turkey.

2. Add the two eggs and mix well.

3. Add the dry ingredients consisting of bread crumbs, dried basil, dried oregano, salt and pepper to taste, garlic powder, and onion powder.

4. To that mixture add a dash or two of hot sauce, and about three dashes of the worchestire sauce. Depending on how spice you want the mix you may add or subtract the hot sauce. I find that it gives the mixture a nice little kick.

5. Lastly combine the cup of cooked rice.

6. I allow this mixture to sit off to the side while I am cleaning my peppers. I core the peppers and then cut them into horizontal slices so that they stay in nice little circles.

7. In a large saute pan drizzle a little olive oil and then set to medium high heat.

8. Begin taking your stuffing mixture and adding to your peppers making a nice little patty. It reminds me of hamburgers just surrounded by a pepper ring.

9. Add to your saute pan the stuffed rings and brown evenly on each side. After they have browned on each side add them to a 9x13 baking dish which has been lined with a thin layer of your crushed tomatoes. After adding your peppers top them off with the rest of your crushed tomato mix. Bake in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit or until meat is cooked all the way through.

10. During the last few minutes of the baking time I usually sprinkle on top some shredded mozzarella and mild cheddar cheese and allow to melt on top.