Lately, my nights and days.

i've been off work now for a little over a week.  my baby showers have come and gone (posts coming soon, i promise). nesting is in full throttle.  yesterday i took a break and headed to my in-laws for nanay and tatay's wedding anniversary.  this is what my night looked like =)

isn't she the cutest?  her and ella are going to best buds.

and this is what my morning looked like.  nowadays, sleep is more like a novelty for me.  i woke up at 4 am and started organizing and washing ella's clothes.  while jojo was fast asleep, bubba heard me and decided to join me and make himself comfortable.  oy vey, life is about to get interesting with 2 dogs and a newborn. 

Christmas decor circa 2012.

2 days ago, i had asked the husband to take out our christmas storage box from the garage so that i can evaluate if i needed to buy wrapping paper and gift tags with the intention of wrapping all my gifts that day.  being a good husband that he is, he gladly obliged and then off to work he went.   i started to rummage threw my old christmas decorations and ornaments of the past with no intention of actually decorating our house.  but as i sorted threw things, i had a sudden urge to whip them out and display a few christmas-y items around our abode.  no, we did not get a tree.  but i do have a humungo wreath on my stairs that can be 1/4 lit up!  does that count?

i used to hang this wreath on the outside of our previous house.
since we don't have an outside banister, i hung it inside.
it's several years old, hence only 1/4 of the lights work.
i think i'll be retiring this one after this year.

i also decided to use my old outdoor lights and wrap them around my stairs.

please don't mind my treadmill at the bottom
left hand corner.

next up, we have our stockings.  it just wouldn't be right without stockings hung on our fireplace.  to think, at this time, next year, our 2 stockings, will grow into 3 =)

here we have my 3 little angels that i bought on clearance post holiday season from pier 1 imports a long time ago.

and here is a photo, to keep things "real" of my christmas mess that i have accumulated which consists of boxes, gifts, wrapping paper, etc.  this is on my to-do list.

after all that decorating, hitting the gym, and running errands, i had the energy to whip up dinner!  i wanted something easy so i initially settled with chicken afritada made in my crock pot.  recipe adapted from here.  but, by the time i got home it was too late to wait 4 hours to finish cooking dinner.  so i just threw everything in my big, black pot and cooked it for 1 hour.

i added salt, more soy sauce, and some sugar to taste.  and since i love carrots because it adds sweetness to any dish, i dumped the whole trader joe's baby carrots bag into the pot.  husband loved it, brother loved it, and so did i.  i ate mine with quinoa since i'm trying to stay away from rice.  here is my plate:

 husband's contribution to our dinner, was a fresh strawberry and orange drink via our vitamix!  it was so yummy and refreshing!!

it does feel good to make a home cooked meal for my loved ones.  i'm trying to be more consistent and better at it.  once gabriella makes her grand entrance into this world and starts eating solids, cooking   nutritious meals for my family will be one of my top priorities.  what are your top go-to meals?

Pumpkin smoothie.

after OD-ing on all the carbs from thanksgiving, i made an attempt to eat a little healthier today.  half of my brain was determined to eat clean, but the other half was calling to eat the last piece of chocolate cream pie in my fridge.  luckily i had one can of pumpkin puree in my pantry and decided to make a pumpkin smoothie.  pumpkin smoothies have been popping up on pinterest ever since fall started and it always intrigued me.  so i whipped out my ipad and browsed pinterest until i found a healthy pumpkin smoothie recipe.  props to ms. martha stewart for coming up with the recipe.  i took her recipe and tweaked it just a bit.

here's what you'll need:

1.  1/2 cup of pumpkin puree..which is very low in calorie and fat btw

2. 1 cup of fat free greek yogurt.

3. 1/2 cup of almond milk

4.  cinnamon (i put a lot of cinnamon.  did you know 

cinnamon speeds up your metabolism?)

5.  stevia to taste

6.  ice cubes

directions:

just throw all your ingredients in your blender and enjoy!

this smoothie really hit the spot.  not only was it delicious, but it's the perfect low calorie, low fat, high in calcium and protein drink for a preggo mama-to-be.  try it!

PS

if you want to add an extra "oomf" to his drink, i think graham crackers would be the perfect addition.

PPS

i have filipino pork loin adobo (healthy version) cooking in my crock pot as i type this post.  stay tuned for the recipe ;-)

A low carb, but not necessarily low fat chicken recipe.

just in case you wanted to eat something besides turkey, here's a super quick and easy recipe i whipped up for john and myself.  i'm always looking for chicken recipes.  this one calls for only 4 ingredients that are low carb, but not necessarily low fat.  i used mayo for goodness sake!  but, i think it was the mayo that kept the chicken breast juicy.  don't you just hate overcooked, dry chicken breast??  i do...

so without further adieu here it is:

what you'll need:

chicken breasts

mayo

lipton onion soup packet

parmesan cheese (optional)

mix the mayo and onion soup mix together until you have enough to 

coat all your chicken breasts.  then sprinkle with

parmesan cheese.  bake at 375 degrees for 30 min.

i ate mine with cooked spinach.  husband ate his with brown rice.

3...count them, 3  ingredients + chicken breasts!

prior to the parmesan cheese 

with the cheese.  you can omit this ingredient.
i just wanted finish what i had in the fridge.

golden brown and juicy chicken that packs a nice flavor
punch.

Happy weekend.

i'll be super busy this weekend.  john's family from san diego is here for his cousin's wedding on saturday.  and sunday is my aunt's birthday.  we've been spoiled with pretty stellar weather these last couple of days, but the forecast is predicting rain...boo...

i'll leave you with a few photos i took this week of a dish i made: crock pot teriyaki chicken.  i got the recipe from lake lure cottage kitchen.  i used chicken breasts and omitted the cornstarch because i didn't have any in my pantry.  it was bangin'.  and super easy to make.  the husband ate 2 chicken breasts in 1 sitting!  since i've rediscovered my crock pot, stay tuned for more recipes that i'll be trying.

my trusty, red crock pot.  thanks cousin for buying me one =)

yes, that's raw chicken.

the ingredients.  the recipe called for ginger and garlic separately.
but i had a jar in my fridge that conveniently minced both ingredients
for me.

this is what the sauce looked like before i poured it over the chicken.

sauce + chicken

the recipe said to cook it on low for 4 hours.  but i knew we wouldn't
be able to wait that long for lunch.
so i cooked it on high for 3 hours and it turned out just fine.

i simmered the sauce for 15 minutes with the hope that it would get thicker.
no such luck.  the cornstarch would've been a nice addition. 

this is my plate. i ate mine with a little brown rice and some raw spinach.
totally healthy and delicious.

have a great weekend friends!

Nesting and minimalism.

lately these 2 words seem to be an oxymoron to me.  is it even possible to prepare for a baby and have a minimalistic mentality?  i've been determined to think so.  but john and i ventured into buy buy baby today and i instantly got overwhelmed.  there is just so much stuff out there!  and i know, deep down inside, most of the items that are available are not needed.  particularly during the newborn stage.  right?    

we've decided to forgo the usual accoutrements of a swing, a bouncer, and a jumper.  we've even decided to ditch a crib, for now, and simply use a pack 'n play in our room for baby gabriella.  of course there are the necessities, such as a car seat, a stroller, wipes, blankets, a breast pump, diapers, etc.  which we are more than willing to buy.  but in the hopes of being as cost efficient as we can, i am planning to breastfeed for at least 6 months (buy hopefully longer) and use cloth diapers.  yes, that's right...you read it right...cloth diapers.  after much research i've decided on the bumgenious elemental one-size cloth diapers.  i'll be writing more posts on our experiences with cloth diapering once that journey begins.  but for now, i'd love to hear from experienced parents, what were your registry favs/necessities and what were the items you could've done without.

as for all you non-cloth diapering folks out there, here is what they look like.  they have come a long way from the sterile, white, pinned cloth diapers of the past.  i don't know about you, but the thought of these diapers taking our baby gabriella from a newborn all the way to toddler hood sounds amazing to me.