WIAW: Meal time

Okay this week is dragging.  Maybe it’s because one week from today will mark the last day before maternity leave.  Wheeeeeee  

And if you haven’t already, I highly encourage you to check out the giveaway for the glass pendant necklace.  If not for you, then as a gift for your fave fab friend for Christmas

Oh and thank you from the bottom of my heart for your sweet comments on yesterday’s maternity shoot post.  If you’re interested I’m happy to post more, just let me know. 

Today, is of course, What I Ate Wednesday (see here to join the party) and my focus is on meals – sounds obvious huh, but I’m much more a snacker than a meal person so here are a few ‘meals’ I’ve been snarfin’ down.

Tis the season of the spaghetti squash – one of my favorite gourds to eat.  I tend to go with a marinara sauce or even a Mexi salsa mixture, but this time around, I went with pesto, and baked tofu (smothered in garlic powder and ground black peppa)

Seeing how I’m still trying to eat as much protein as possible, I do make an effort to actually eat some meat now and then.  We made this dish up on Sunday night: hickory smoked pork tenderloin, purple & green asparagus, and sweet potato.  Not too shabby eh?

Okay okay this may not constitute a meal per se, but while the hubby is away, I go for convenience: blueberry chobani, 1 scoop protein powder, spash of skim milk, and 1/3 cup Raisin Bran Crunch.  Oh and you see that popcorn on the side..yeah that came later

And not to be left  out: PIZZA!  I’m obsessed with pizza lately.   We’ve ordered from Pizza Hut twice in two weeks and are in love with the pan crust and extra sauce.  So freakin’ good.  I think Zach is loving my pregnant food habits. 

Are you more of a snacker or a meal person?

What’s your favorite pizza delivery place?

WIAW: Baby Shower Edition

Have you entered my Popchips giveaway?  You have until tonight!

For this WIAW, I figured I’d highlight all the delicious food we had at my Baby Shower on Saturday.  Head over to Jenn at Peas and Crayons to join the party in the way you see fit!

Speaking of parties, who doesn’t love one that’s all about them?

Um, this girl.

I have to say, I had some trepidation about the shower, mainly because I always hear that people think they are boring and also because I don’t like to be the center of attention.  It’s one thing to be in the limelight for a moment at a dinner party or be the focus at the front of the room while giving a technical presentation.  It’s quite another when the whole party is about you, and opening up presents.  I’m glad I only had a Bachelorette party and not a Bridal Shower on top of that.  Too much attention!

That being said, the day went wonderfully and I do think everyone had a really nice time (yay!).  I also think alcohol helped   Mimosas anyone?

Because the shower started at 1p, we weren’t serving a formal lunch, but certainly plenty of snacks along with some more substantial foods like Butternut Squash Cranberry Quinoa.  We loosely followed this recipe and made adjustments here and there: Added 2 cups dried cranberries, roasted squash in olive oil and s&P (vs lemon), used green onions instead of shallots, and omitted the chives, and upped the thyme to taste.  So um yeah,  I guess a lot of changes.

This is a great Fall quinoa salad, but is more on the subtle blander side.  This was probably best for a big group, but if I were to make it again, I’d probably use yellow onions, some rosemary, and tons more ground peppa

My MIL also whipped up some Palmiers (using puff pastry).  She made two kinds: Ham, Gruyere, and Rosemary; and Pesto, Roasted red pepper.  I only had the veggie and thought they were fab. They were a big hit at the shower too.

Of course we had tons of cheese (WI Sharp cheddar, Havarti Dill, and, Gouda) and TJ’s crackers.  Served alongside veggies (peppers, carrots, and cucumbers) with TJ’s spicy hummus. 

What’s a shower without the treats!?!

Since I spent a good deal of money on the custom favors (through Etsy Lori’s Place – she was fab, btw).  We really wanted to keep the angel theme going and worked to develop this design in a tasty shortbread cookie:

Cupcakes also make such a great shower treat, but I didn’t want to spend too much money on anything fancy, so I brushed up (err, learned) my decorating skills and came up with these:

Maple cupcakes!  Yum, yum, and yum.  I followed the recipe to a “T” except for using extra large eggs to add more moisture (previous reviewers said there’s were dry); I doubled the recipe and tripled the icing recipe.  Well, though the icing was beyond delicious, I had to nix it at the end because it was way too runny to use with a frosting tip.  Fail.  Luckily I was prepared and had plain vanilla frosting on hand to which I added 1+ tsp of maple extract before using my decorating bag/tip.  They turned out great!

And being Fall and also pumpkin obsessed, I whipped together pumpkin spice cookies (1 box spice cake, 1 15oz can pumpkin, and 1+ cups chocolate chips; bake at 350 deg for 12 minutes), which also went over extremely well.

Of course there was present opening:

And games:

It was such a lovely time and I am so grateful for my friends and family that attended (I had a couple people from LA, FL, VA, and MA!!!) – such love

What foods do you like to see at parties (and yes, dessert items are considered food)?

Edible favors or usable favors?

Dad’s and Denver

This weekend was far better than the last   Definite WIN!

Thanks for weighing in on my choices of what to eat Friday – it’s nice to know I’m not the only neurotic menu stalker out there   I ended up getting the Chicken Parmesan because I wanted protein and also pasta.  Overall quite good, but then I remembered, that I’m not a huge fan of chicken parmesan or chicken for that matter (as of late), so I did my best to shove half in.  Dinner was followed by Sweet Treat Fro-yo, which the hubby and I agreed was only ‘meh’.’

Hopefully you all go to spend time with your dad for Father’s Day yesterday.  As you know, I live in Cali and my dads all live at least 2000 miles away.  Sigh.  But that doesn’t mean I can’t still give a shoutout! 

Happy Father’s Day to my Dad, Gregorio, and Gary!

And Dad, I can’t wait to see you in September!  Here’s a couple fave pics from my Dad and I on my wedding day:

And in case you haven’t guessed by the title of the post, I’m off to Denver again this week.  I’ve got some big meetings on deck as well as a “graduation” from my rotation program.  However, I think I’m most looking forward to the pedis I’m getting with some coworker friends tonight!

To keep up with my healthy eating while on travel, I’ve packed snacks:

 

I’ve packed some raw almonds, Nugo Darks (good god, I love these things) and Love Grown pecan-cran granola (—my last bag of Love )

Did you do something special for Father’s Day?

What are your favorite snacks to pack on the go?