Today I put my appliances to good use. I toasted up some macadamia nuts slightly, and chopped them up then put them in my soymilk maker. It results in a nice creamy milk, a bit like coconut milk, though not really, more like creamy almond milk.

This was my second attempt at ice cream. The first time I used the custard method with egg yolks, but this was easier and turned out just as good. Think of it as a creamy sorbet and you're all set.

Peach Ice Cream

3 semi-ripe peaches

1/2 cup agave nectar (use less to taste if peaches are riper)

3 cups macadamia milk (cold)

1/2 tsp lemon extract

puree peaches in processor, add agave and blend, mix in milk (use a bigger pitcher for this), turn on ice cream maker, pour in, chill for 15-20 minutes. Place in freezer-safe container, harden 1 hour in freezer, stir (best eaten at this stage) and return to freezer.

New Orem HFS

For those in Utah County, there is another new health food store in town. Should work out pretty well for those of us that avoid processed foods and additives. http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/55893 They were just stocking the shelves when I dropped in, but I noticed some good brands (Shelton's, Lakewood Organic and Grasslands Beef) and basic ingredients like large bottles of Agave nectar, interesting nut oils, etc. Looks like it really has potential.

Went out on a nice date this week (with my husband, of course;-), but I forgot to tell them to leave the cheese off my steak. It tasted good so I forgot to not eat it, but I thought I'd gotten away with something until a few hours after bedtime. I woke up with the worst acid reflux possible, this was like battery acid (not that I've ever eaten that to know!). It's normal to have a bit of heartburn and reflux during pregnancy, but I know better than to eat any dairy as it makes it much worse. My first pregnancy I'd suck on a sugar-free tums at night, but that's not an option as they have corn derivatives and often gluten in them, not to mention other junk. So I try to take my phytocal at bedtime, and only eat early in the evening. I still would like to find a corn-free sugar-free gluten-free tums some nights, if it existed.

My husband thinks my son and I need to get out more, and I agree. I take him out with me on errands, though he is a handful, but when it comes to taking him out for fun, daddy is king of that domain. Lately however, he's been busy supporting his family with a couple hard issues they've been going through, and my son was getting stir crazy.

I'm feeling better than I did my first trimester, and not so tired all the time. So, I finally bit the credit card bullet and got a membership to a wonderful local garden/museum and activity area. Now I don't have to feel like I'm wasting money if my son only has a 10 minute attention span at some of the exhibits or gardens, because we can go back as many times as we want for as long or short a time as we want. Today my son woke up early enough to beat the midday sun, so I took him there in the morning, and he got to ride a pony as a train went by (heaven for a 2 yo boy!), and see lots of cool things in the museum. (I'm dreadfully allergic to horses, but I walked next to him and his pony, and washed our hands right away afterward, so no problem.) We stayed a couple hours then he fell asleep on the way home. After dinner we went back and he got to play in a fountain and run around one of the gardens. I got thirsty in the garden, but found some bottled water, so other than sore feet I did well and got plenty of exercise over about 5 hours of going around with him.

It feels good to be able to be active, and actually do so. My little personal trainer and I will sleep well tonight.

Speaking of allergies, I have to again recommend a Neti Pot or Sinucleanse to anybody with allergies. I cleaned off our air conditioner yesterday, as it gets clogged with cottonwood cotton and pollen every year. Afterwards, I showered, changed and used my neti pot...wonderful solution to a potentially sneezy problem! (I would have had my husband do it, but he doesn't use a neti pot, so I was afraid he'd be sneezing for a week afterward)

Foodwise...eh...not so organized lately. I eat compliant foods but don't plan ahead enough to really eat enough of the beneficial ones. So lucky to have the option of eating eggs when nothing else is ready (they're beneficial during pregnancy...hooray!). Back to meat and veggies!

I've been trying Brighid's Quinoa Tortilla recipe over the last couple weeks, and they are as fun to make as they are to eat:

The recipe can be found it RecipeBase at the following link:



http://www.dadamo.com/typebase4/recipedepictor.cgi?544

I have a tortilla press that I hadn't used in more than 5 years, so I got it out of storage and gave it a thorough cleaning. I was skimping on the flour too much when I tried rolling them out, so I started just shaping them in my hands, that way I can feel when they're about to get sticky and need more flour. I use rice flour for that step, as it's cheaper than quinoa, and that also helps be to avoid the skimping. I get them as thin as I can that way, they're pretty malleable, though not at all stretchable, then I gently press them in a hot tortilla press, turn them around 180 degrees and press from the other side, then cook on both sides with the press open. They turn out quite lovely, like a cross between wheat and corn tortillas, but no offending grains involved. On their own, they're a little plain, as a tortilla should, but with fillings and toppings they're amazing. I double the salt in the recipe, b/c most of my fillings don't have enough salt in them to begin with. (I tend toward low blood pressure and low minerals, so I never skimp on the sea salt, though with having cut out virtually all processed food, I'm probably still getting less sodium than the average American.)

On these tortillas I discovered a nice and beneficial way to make refried black beans. In a small saucepan add 1 can of black beans, after draining off about half the liquid. Add a tablespoon or two of ghee (who needs lard?), then squish up with spoon or potato masher. Add a dash of garlic powder, onion powder, sea salt to taste, and a couple tablespoons of Nutritional Yeast. Yum! You could avoid the shortcuts and saute garlic and onion in the ghee before adding the beans and other ingredients. I was too hungry to delay, especially since my son was being a real handful. Add ground beef or buffalo with compliant taco seasoning, avocados, onions, tomatoes, nutritional yeast and salsa...behold a great taco.

Another recent kick I've been on is all kinds of berries and their juice. I just feel the need for them during this pregnancy and time of year. Here's my grape soda: approx. 4 oz. pure blueberry juice, 4 oz. sparkling water, and 1-2 Tablespoons vegetable glycerine or agave nectar to taste. Tastes like a grape soda!

I also finally made some gluten free play dough for my son's nursery class. I also cleaned all the authentic glutinous Play-Doh off all the toys and cookie cutters. It just wasn't effective enough to stay with him and clean his hands and table every few minutes. For once, he this week he came home with no hint of gluten trouble.

Sorry it takes me so long to reply to all your comments, but thank you for your thoughts, ideas, questions, introductions, etc...

Ok, here's the scoop. My husband was right, he and his brothers, so far, only have boys and our second child is no exception. He's pretty obviously all boy. So, the difference I've suspected between my first and second is not gender. We're happy though, we know how to care for and raise and entertain boys, and I'm not sure how great I'd be at all the girly stuff. This does mean though, that I'll most likely go for a third child. We'd probably get a third boy but hey, you gotta try. We're also happy that everything looks great, right on track with nothing unusual. My husband was born with a slight congenital defect (most likely due to something environmental rather than genetic) though we weren't particularly worried about it as our first son turned out fine.

So much else to think about now that we don't have to guess the gender and such. Names names names...where was that list we had for my first? We won't settle on a name until he's born though we'll have a top 5 list. I had some cute girl's names picked out, just like with my first pregnancy, I had pretty much settled on one. My first boy would have been Ivy, this one would have been Dana (which would work for a boy, I suppose, though I don't go for androgenous boy names). Oh well, time to start over!

Then there are questions as to which immunizations are a good idea and which are unnecessary. When or how to introduce gluten...they're now saying between 4-6 months is best, though if he's an O I'll never give him wheat (I'm sticking to my guns on that one this time). Cream of rye, anyone? And will the hospital test his blood type? Probably not, that will probably be up to me after 3 months or so. I hate doing that, but they usually can't get enough extra blood when they do the PKU test anyway, so either way it'll mean an extra stick.

He looks a bit more broad-boned like my side of the family, in my opinion. Though it's hard to tell from an ultrasound at this point, and he is right on target size-wise, just like my first was. He's starting to be quite a wiggler and kicker just like my first, though if he's comfortable he'll just relax and squirm a bit, it's not the constant kick-boxing just for fun that my first son did. I suspect he'll enjoy being swaddled, my first son hated it because he always has to be able to kick. I also suspect he's an O... more easily annoyed, but less easily wound-up.

Oops I better go without spell checking this. The sugar I ate and the sleep I missed on vacation is catching up with me and I see a migraine coming on. Time for some beneficial foods and no more laptop screen for a while here. Oh well, mine usually aren't too painful, just annoying sight-wise.