Hubby is Home!

Erik got home last Saturday from a 3.5 week work trip in Asia. He goes usualy twice a year to many many countries in the Asia Pacific region, and I hear lots of cool stories about the people he meets and works with, as well as foods and places that he gets to see. Of course, he is doing work almost the entire time he is gone, so there really isn't much time for sight seeing. One really great thing from this trip was that Erik got to spend some time with our friend in India who was an exchange student of sorts here at the University of Minnesota. Thanks to our friend for showing him around the big city and taking him to lots of fun places, as well as a good traditional Indian lunch!

I'm so glad to have my man back home! We missed him a lot.

Cravings...

Pregnancy makes a person crave really bizarre things...like the traditional pickles & ice cream. Of those two, I have more often craved the pickles, probably because of the salt. And then there is my craving for grapefruit! I had that in my first pregnancy and I have it again this time. The iron craving happens to me at least once a week, if not twice, and I have to restrain myself from going through the Wendy's drive-thru lurking for a juicy cheeseburger. But I do give into that craving probably once every few weeks, the Wendy's burger craving that is. :) TONIGHT, I was craving chicken flavored ramen noodles! The bad for you, full of MSG, yummy tasting nooddles that I simply cannot get enough of lately. Once again, I think it is the salt that I'm craving. And it is precisely the salt which I should probably be monitering. My blood pressure is really great right now, but in my first pregnancy when I started to have some complications due to Preeclampsia, I had to virtually eliminate salt from my diet. It was SO hard! But I learned how to use really great herbs and spices in my cooking, and that helped. Seriously though, our nation is terrible with the salt consumption, and I'm one of those consumers! One of my friends who has to watch salt intake told me that we eat several times more salt, as a nation, than most of the rest of the world. No wonder we have so many health problems. Anyway, I need to make it my goal to make myself eat a healthier snack than chicken ramen noodles next time that craving calls! Apple, anyone?

English Muffin Pizzas!

YUM! I just made English Muffin Pizzas for lunch today and Kristi and I both gobbled them up! If you've never made these little wonders, I encourage you to try them sometime. They're a really easy and quick meal and can be quite nutritious if you choose for them to be that way.

I cut the muffins in half, spread them with pizza sauce or spaghetti sauce or tomato sauce with herbs & spices sprinkled on it, then put your toppings on. Mine usually include turkey pepperoni, mozzarella cheese and any variety of vegetables...some fun ideas are fresh spinach chopped up, shredded zucchini, shredded carrots, chopped tomatoes, chopped green peppers...whatever you like. Other toppings could be grilled or baked leftover chicken pieces, pineapple, mushrooms, olives...you get the idea.

Bake the pizza muffins at 350 degrees for approx. 15 minutes.

ENJOY!

Cleaning!

Today I really have felt the urge to clean and clean some more! I haven't been diligent about vacuuming and scrubbing floors since we've moved to this new house, but the time has come...dun dun dun (hear the music)...and I HAVE to clean or I'll go crazy!!!!! I get into these spurts sometimes and then I cannot stop cleaning. It was really funny tonight because Kristi said to me, "Thanks for vacuuming, Mama!" I had to giggle about that. She is normally terrified of the vacuum, but tonight she seemed to enjoy following me around and seeing the vacuum do job.

I hope to stay more on track with cleaning...now back to scrubbing floors, doing laundry & dishes!

Old House

Some days I really miss our old house, but I'm thankful for the new house too. We haven't taken pics of the new house, but here are some of the old house...