Cookies, Hamburger Soup And More Gym Talk

Hello friends!

We made it through the second day of the work week. I had to take a nap about half way through today. Then, I got up and sweated my way through making soup and cookies for supper.

I know, I know ...why do I post the picture of the cookies before the main dish? Because at our house, if you know what dessert looks like first, then you're more likely to eat the main dish.

These, by the way, are called "Chewy peanut butter chocolate chip" cookies.

Warning...don't make these if you're on a diet.

Instead make this really, healthy home-made soup.

Since I use soups as part of the main dish, I make sure they are chock full of good food like carrots, celery, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, corn, green peppers, barley and hamburger.

I took a loaf of whole wheat bread and warmed it in the oven before serving it with the soup.

So...that the butter just melted onto it.

Here's a little close-up.

Our six-year-old ate a second helping of the soup and exclaimed to me how "good" it tasted.

The two-year-old...not so much.

I also served salad with this meal.

A bit later we cooked up these cookies for "cookie night".

Daddy Rainmaker picked out this recipe because he likes peanut butter.
Darling Rose made these cookies herself and then I cooked them up in the oven.

I would actually recommend this recipe. These cookies were really "chewy".

They didn't taste over-lly buttery.

And they baked up easily and look "pretty".

If anyone wants it, let me know.

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Otherwise, I did get to the gym today and got in a 60 minute biceps and back work-out.

I had a some good conversation with folks at the gym which centered mostly around the weather.

It's been in the 80s with tropical-like humidity.

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There was one gentleman, however, who wanted to talk about something else.

Last night and tonight...every time he walked by me he smiled and said "hi".

Meanwhile, I was trying to rack my brain with how I knew him.

Then, tonight...I remembered.

About three months ago...when I was doing an exercise and talking to some one else...he was smiling and pipes up with...

"I should probably tell you...that I've read that pregnant women should avoid getting their feet massaged because it could lead to miscarriage."

That's what he said to me...and that's what I finally remembered tonight when he came up to me to speak to me tonight...

This time, however, he says to me,

"I've heard that a woman's adrenaline is ten times higher when they are pregnant."

Pause...as I'm thinking to myself...do I have more adrenaline?

So, I said, "Well, a few pregnancies ago, I increased the weight on my bench press while pregnant..."

"Ahh...", he nods and then mentioned that I was "glowing"

I added, "and growing!" Ha! Ha!

Well, I'll have to check with my midwife the next time I see her about these little pregnancy factoids that I'm learning at the gym.

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In the meantime, I hope you're all doing well.

Don't worry, SunshineMeg, I will do some calculations for you on what it costs me to make bread and how much I'm saving by making it.

Have a good one!

Sincerely,

Sunshine Mama

Today Was Baking Day

Happy Monday friends!

If your comments are any indication, it looks like every one's coming over to my house for supper. Today would have been a good day if you like the taste of hot bread fresh out of the oven.

My husband lucked out and was able to grab a hot slice during lunch 15 minutes after they came out.

As you all know, I have been working towards making whole food meals for our family using simple grains. Part of that process includes baking our own bread. I don't think a bread maker would work in our situation since there are so many of us and we go through a loaf a day, easy. So, I have been working up to spending one day out of a two week period where I do a mass amount of cooking that involves bread making, noodle making, browning of meats that I freeze (like today I slow cooked 10 pounds of chicken quarters and then browned five pounds of hamburger meat). Later I can pull down this meat and quickly throw it into a soup or a dish.

It's a process that is taking some time. For example, I'm still trying to master the art of raising the dough to the point that it 1.) actually raises and 2.) doesn't raise too high so that the cell walls are stretched too thin and cause it to collapse. There was some collapsing going on today. But we're working on it. Around here, we get real excited when we see the bread raising high...

and then staying that way.

I didn't buy any wheat berries this week, so the whole wheat came from a 5 pound bag.

Then, we also made four loaves of white bread because my husband likes white.
As you can see, the white round loaf on the bottom right collapsed,

But then raised during baking (back left).
It's been an education for everyone to see what will cause a loaf of bread to collapse.

In this case, it got knocked when we moved things around to get all the loaves of bread to fit in the oven. I eventually want to make a twelve loaves of bread at a time. I know that sounds like a lot of bread, but think of it this way. If you already got all the ingredients out...why not make a boatload and be done with it for a few weeks?

Darling Rose is starting to roll some whole wheat dough for some more noodles.

With the four loaves of wheat bread and a few batches of whole wheat noodles, we emptied the 5 pound bag of whole wheat flour.

The two year old loves to help out with the noodles.

Tomorrow night will be "cookie baking" night.

We will be trying out a new cookie recipe.

Darling Rose snapped this picture.

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Well, I was so hot and tired out from all the baking today, that I didn't fix much for supper.

But it's nice to have all that bread in the freezer and all that food ready to be used to quickly make into a "home-made" meal.

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I did get in a 15 minute cardio work-out on the stair stepper today,

plus a 45 minute leg work-out at the gym.

How about you all?

Right now I am wishing I was in Germany where Sarah says it's already getting cooler.

It was 86 today and humid. It's suppose to be that way all week.

I've taking two cold showers today.

With this weather being so hot I average at least one cold shower a day.

I've never been so clean in my life. Ha, Ha!!
Oh, and for those of you who are waiting for this pregnant picture of me...

I picked out the outfit today!

Now I'm just waiting for that non-sweaty moment

when I can put on some make-up and go somewhere in it.

Keep it up folks, you can do it!

Sincerely,

Sunshine Mama

Chicken Noodle Soup With Home Made Noodles

Good Sunday folks!

Hope you all had a good day. Mine was pretty productive considering all the laundry and grocery shopping I got in. I also was able to make some chicken noodle soup tonight using those whole wheat noodles that our 15-year-old Darling Rose had made the other day.

We also made a few loaves of white bread on Friday because I was out of wheat flour. We consumed the last loaf today. Despite white flour not being good for you, this sure tasted good.

The firm texture resembles that of French bread you would buy at a bakery.

It works great for making a high calorie grilled cheese sandwhich.

But besides the unhealthy but very tasteful white bread, I did make something very healthy for the family.

I made a double batch of chicken noodles soup with three cups of chicken, about a cup and a half of hash browns because I was out of potatoes, a cup or so of carrots and a cup or so of celery, a cup of onions, some chicken broth from when used a crock pot to cook the chicken quarters, and about eight teaspoons of chicken boullion. I also used some spices. But this was all mixed in to ten cups of water. I will say, though, that I did not use the fat from the chicken drippings. I'm saving that to make gravy.

Here go the home made noodles into the pot.
The white is the flour that is still attached to them.

I love a chunky soup!

This was wonderful.

You know it tastes good when the six and four year old want seconds.

....and the husband, and the 15 year old...and me.

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So, what did you all cook up today?

I did about 15 minutes of cardio today on my in-home $15 stair stepper.

I'll have to take a picture of its loveliness.

I know you'll all be impressed.
Well, besides it being extremely humid and hot today, there wasn't much going on.

Tomorrow's a new week...

Time to get five days in at the gym combined with maybe a few days of cardio at home.

Take care!

Sincerely,

Sunshine Mama

Do You Know What Today Is (Saturday)?

Good evening friends!

Do you know what today is? It's Saturday, August 7th!!

Always on the seventh my husband and I acknowledge our monthly anniversary. For the past several months...heck, as long as I can recall, I have beaten my husband to the punch.
See...it's like this little game...whoever says "Happy (fill in the month) anniversary first...wins". Well, yesterday, I knew it was today. Even last week I knew it was today.

But there I was this morning...so engrossed in reading my latest Jack Reacher novel that I completely blanked it when my husband comes walking into the room...

he leans down and says to me, "Happy 106 month anniversary, honey!" followed it with a kiss...

then follows it with this huge "whoop" and "Halu" like he just got down watching the Nebraska Cornhuskers score a touchdown against Colorado State. "I got you!!" he says and walks out of the room.

Later he told me he thought of it while in the middle of making pancakes. And knew... at any moment I could remember too, so he quick dropped what he was doing and grabbed a calculator to quickly compute the number of months we've been married. It doesn't count if you don't know the months (ha, Ha) and yes, we've been married so long now we need a calculator to figure it up.

So, in honor of this momentous, blog worthy occasion..."drum roll please"

I've decided to post a few pictures of something that I hope symbolizes how long our love for each other will last...

... This 120 year old turtle that we saw at Reptile Gardens while on our trip to South Dakota last month.

See, isn't he cute?

And Daddy Rainmaker posed next to this turtle's head just for your benefit (kind of like he does next to food on Fantasy Food Friday) so that you could more fully appreciate the scale of the turtle's head.

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But, besides all that, we spent some time in the kitchen yesterday....

making some home-made whole wheat noodles. We started with wheat berries and ground it into flour.

This is our 15-year-old daughter hard at work.

Aided by our two-year old.

Ok, I'll admit it.

We patted their faces with flour for effect.

Homemade noodles need a few hours to dry on a rack like this

(It's actually the rack from our microwave oven).
I plan to use these noodles in a soup for tomorrow. I will share those pictures with you later.

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I love being back in blog world, folks!!

I made it to the gym again last night even though I didn't want to go.

I didn't make it there today, but I did manage to bike outside for about four miles.

So, I weight lifted four out of the five days that I had originally planned.

Thank you for all of your encouragement.
I think it helps me.

Now on to offer you all encouragement too!!

Have a good one!

Sincerely,

Sunshine Mama

Happy Thursday!! I'm 27 weeks, Two Days Along

Happy Thursday friends!

I'm 27 weeks and two days along. That means I have exactly 88 days until I'm due on November 2. Although, I don't think I want to start actually counting down single days until I hit 21 days out. But, I am excited to count single weeks once I hit ten weeks out.

A few days ago I went in for a check-up and had a glucose screening test where they make you drink this sugary orange drink to see if you body metabolizes sugar correctly, to then see if you are a concern for different things. I came through with flying colors on that score.

My abdomen measured slightly big at 28 centimeters instead of 27. Usually the abdomen measurement coincides with the number of weeks that you are. Being slightly big is really not that big of a concern.

I normally see midwives and had the unusual opportunity to meet with a male doctor. The whole time that I was talking to him I kept thinking to myself that there is no way he could really understand what I'm feeling or going through. I made a comment to him like, "I feel like I'm already big...and I know I'm just going to get bigger!"

And perceptive guy that he is, he says, "Uncomfortably so!"

Ha, Ha!! That struck me as funny. "Uncomfortably so" is such an understatement.

Well, this morning I began the the day, sometime after breakfast by whipping up some chewy chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. I didn't like the normal chocolate chip cookie recipe that I had made a few days ago. It seemed like all it had was sugar, brown sugar, white flour and a pound of butter. And then when you cooked it, it just spread out all flat and fatty.

So, I found an oatmeal cookie recipe and switched the raisins for some chocolate chips. Much better. And there was even some sugar and cinnamon in it, SunshineMeg.

Doesn't this look good?

I baked it with three cups of oatmeal and one cup of white flour.

I added some nuts in the last dozen cookies and I liked the extra crunch.

For supper, it was baked potato soup with summer sausage.

There's actually a few more ingredients than this.
Like 4 1/2 cups of chicken broth and some butter and milk.
I'm being lazy and not posting the recipe.

But I served it with some 100 percent whole wheat bread that we baked up the other week and froze. The bread is made from freshly ground wheat berries. It's very filling and very good for the family to be eating. We also had carrots.

I love how this potato soup recipe has a chunky texture to it.
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Did you guys get in a work-out tonight?

I did.

And it wasn't too bad.

I just may be getting back into the groove.

Some of the gym goers are starting to make comments

and ask questions of the "pregnant lady" working out.

Tonight someone asked, "So, how much longer?"

Me: "three months?"

I feel like I look more like I only have one month left.

I know, I know...I'm working on that picture for you all.

I guess I'm trying to figure out how to do it so I don't look huge.

Ha, Ha!!

Another guy, about 55-60 wanted to know if the baby started doing anything inside me while I was weight lifting.

Like moving around or something...

No.

I think I may just keep going just for all the interesting interaction I get.

Well, you know what tomorrow is?

Friday!!!

Have a good one!

Sincerely,

Sunshine Mama

Fresh Blueberries

Good evening everyone! Thanks for welcoming me back.

Is it just me or is it hot around here? Seems like everywhere I go, I sweat. Oh, sorry, must be this pregnancy thing.

Ahem...Guess how much I paid for these beautiful blueberries? There were about 12 to 13 ounce in a pack. I only bought two I should have bought wayyyy more.

These blueberries only cost $1.18 per pack!!

And they tasted great! So, I had blueberries on my oatmeal...

And had the two year old make blueberry muffins...

It was his first time...

But I think he got the hang of it.

I used half whole wheat and half white flour.

But this didn't count as a baking day around here...

Just you wait in a few days when we really get to baking...

And then I really get to sweating....

We made a double batch...24 muffins altogether on Tuesday...

And the last one got gobbled up this afternoon (Wednesday).
So that's 24 muffins in 24 hours.

Sounds about right.
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Well, I made it to the gym tonight and last night.

I'll admit, I didn't want to go.

I felt sweaty and uncomfortable...

But I did my work-out anyway.

How many more weeks of this?

I still have three days left to go this week yet.

I'll make you all a deal...

If you work out, I'll work out.

Or... if I work out, you work out...

Rah, Rah, Rah...

We can do it!!!

Have a good one!

Sincerely,

Sunshine Mama

P.S. I'm working on this next preggo picture. I'm in the planning stages right now. Ha! Ha!!

I'm Back!!

Good evening folks!

Long time no write...me that is! I took a little longer time off than I anticipated. We did indeed go on a trip to South Dakota July 7th for about a week and we all had a blast. And just to prove it, I have a few pictures here...in front of the corn palace and on top of a giant jackalope at Wall Drug. Although, I just realized I should also post the Mt. Rushmore shots too.

When we got back from the trip, the computer was still not hooking up to the Internet and I was unpacking and in the middle of a really good book.

Has anyone read any of the Jack Reacher novels written by Lee Child? My parents got me into them. Well, I've since read five of his books.

Oh, and I also have been doing a lot of cooking from scratch. Remember when I said I was trying to cook meals for the entire family with just what I had in the house? Well, that went on for another two weeks after I got back from the trip. Then I went shopping and have been baking my own bread, making foods from scratch like a lot of soups. Eventually I'll post pictures of all that. We even made home-made whole wheat noodles for chicken noodle soup. Yum, yum!

So, by the time I finally got around to calling our phone company to get the Internet working...that was last Friday. A tech came and all it was...was a cord somehow got unplugged. Oh, we also had this Malware virus embedded in our computer that was impersonating a malwar program to try to get us to download it. A computer friend came to visit us and got it "un-imbedded". Wheeww...so now it's like we have a whole new computer. Almost. Ha, Ha!!

In the meantime, remember my sister-in-law who was running all these races last winter while pregnant? Well, she had their son a few weeks ago and everyone is doing great! I haven't asked her yet when she's doing her next race. I'll wait a bit.

I'll be 27 weeks tomorrow on Tuesday. That means I'm entering my last tri-mester and will have 13 weeks left before the baby is due. I'm getting big. I'm sure you will all want to see a picture while I don't want you to. Ha! Ha!!

I'm feeling the need to go on a diet or at the very least eat less sugar-y stuff. I also took about three weeks off at the gym and started back last week for two days. This week I really need to get in three to five days.

So, that's my short little update. I do have a little surprise for you all that I have been sitting on for a long time...that I am waiting to spring on you all. Maybe I will when the time is right in a few weeks.

In the mean time, I need to do some catch up on everyone!

I hope you are all having a great summer!

Sincerely,

Sunshine Mama