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.

OGTT day.

OGTT stands for oral glucose tolerance test.  it's a test that pregnant woman have to do between 24-28 weeks to check if they have gestational diabetes.  today i had it done.  it was more annoying than anything.  i also didn't particularly like the idea of drinking 75...yes 75 GRAMS of SUGAR, but for baby gabriella, of course i'll do it ;-)

the whole test takes 3 hours because they take your fasting glucose, then you drink the orange drink with 75 GRAMS of SUGAR, wait an hour, take your blood glucose level again, wait an hour, then finally take your last blood glucose level.  you may be wondering (or not) what i did for those hours in between my blood draws...errands of course!  one of the hours i even rushed to costco.  big mistake.  costco the day before thanksgiving was a mad house.  i barely made it back to the lab within an hour.  i think that's why i was so exhausted and hungry.  i chowed down a caesar salad when i got home and took a 3 hour nap.  hopefully my results come back good.  i'll let you guys know next week when i see my doctor.

tomorrow is thanksgiving, and unfortunately i have to work.  but that won't stop me from counting my blessings sans turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce.  till next time dear friends and happy thanksgiving in case i don't get to post tomorrow.

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!

Weeks or months?

before i was pregnant, i never understood why women would say 24 weeks.  why not say 6 months?!  or 28 weeks.  why not just say 7 months?!  it almost annoyed me.  but i think i get it now.  our bodies change so quickly each week that we, or at least i, track my own pregnancy journey week by week.  actually, sometimes day by day.  i swear there's always somethin' new happening to my body that's foreign/weird/kinda gross/amazing...you get the picture.  anyways, i just thought i'd shed some light on this ever so important subject of stating a woman's pregnancy progress in weeks vs months ;-)

i'm thinking that's why when you ask a mom how old her child is she'll say 14 months, or 18 months, or whatever their child's age is in months.  this puzzled me as well, before i became pregnant.  but i'm thinking now about it, and it's probably because babies grow so fast and are developing and changing so quickly that from 12 months, their child can be totally different at 14 months.  am i right moms?

and now, because it's my blog and i can post whatever i want...even if it's totally unrelated...i'll leave you with a few no a lot of photos of my 2 lovable rugrats at the park.

even if this photo of bubba is overexposed, i had to include it b/c
he's too stinkin' cute. 

again, i don't care about bubba practically glowing.  he's too adorable.

while bubba takes the cake for being cute.  my joey biscuit is just so handsome.

he's blind, so he's constantly sniffing the ground.

my jojo in action.

aah yes, a shot with both of them together. 

hehe, you get to see jojo's white booty.

handsome i tell you.  handsome.

don't let bubba fool you.  he's no puppy, even tho he looks like one.

anyone who has walked my dogs knows this about jojo.  at any given
notice, he will just sit.

it can be a bit annoying and embarrassing if others are around.  it sometimes
comes to the point where i have to carry him home.
oh well...i'll do it, because i love him.

all 3 of us were just trying to enjoy our last few days of fall before it starts to rain.  and as a closure, i'll leave you with this photo.

thank goodness i can still see my toes!

26 week baby bump.

shall we recap first?

24 weeks

and now for this week's photo.

26 weeks

yesterday, john, my mom, and i took a tour of the maternity unit at the hospital i plan on delivering at.  it's pretty swanky!  seeing where we are going to deliver made it seem that much closer.  baby gabriella, we can't wait!!!

To my mom, happy birthday.

happy 64th birthday to the most beautiful, gracious, stylish, smart, strong, funny, and loving woman i know.  knowing what i know now, this woman is one of a kind.  she worked full time, had a home cooked, delicious meal on the table every single night, dressed like no other mom i knew, and would do anything for my dad, my brother, and myself.  she is a woman that i certainly admire and strive to be like.  she's going to make the best grandmother to baby gabriella, and i know i'm going to be a good mom because i was raised by her.  love you forever mom.  happy birthday.  i can't thank you enough for everything you do for me.

if you're wondering what we did to celebrate her birthday...we ate...yummy korean food at mom's tofu house.  you know me, i just had to take some photos ;-)

i was so excited to dig into this bi bim bop that i forgot to take a picture of it.
trust me, it was delicious.

Camera strap...big deal.

that's what you think.  i've been eyeing a certain black and white camera strap and i finally took the plunge and purchased it a few weeks ago.  low and behold, on a day when john and i are recuperating from a bad cold, a package arrives on my doorstep!  and if i do say so myself, i think this camera strap is cooler than i thought it would be. now i just have to take the plunge and by my nikon 18-200 mm f3.5-5.6 zoom super wide angle lens.

and just in case you were wondering, this is what i do when i'm bored...sit on the floor in my room, in front of my mirror, surrounded by my dogs, and take pictures.  yes, sad but true.