I'm interrupting my belated holiday posting with a real-time update tonight on all things baby! As my bump keeps growing, the reality of baby #3 keeps increasing as well. I sort of made myself get through the holidays first before I began really planning and preparing for this little one. As January marches on however, this baby is making himself/herself known more and more!
First things first, I shared one of my major cravings on Facebook tonight and promised I'd post the recipe here. I made this for the first time when I was pregnant and waiting for Ava to make her appearance, but I've kind of forgotten about it for the last few years. Until this pregnancy! Suddenly the memories came flooding back and I dug through my blog archives to find this recipe again so I could resurrect it. Friends...oh. my. goodness. It didn't disappoint! I've made it several times now and I just love it more every time. So here it is, please put this in your rotation and let me know what you think!!
Crock-Pot Curried Chicken and Sweet Potatoes
Main Ingredients:
-chicken breasts (2-4, I used 3 large ones last night)
-sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed (I used 4)
-1 yellow onion, chopped
Sauce:
-3-4 tsp. curry (I used 3 tsp. last night with only 3 chicken breasts and it had great flavor without it being spicy at all, which I did on purpose to prevent heartburn. The good news is you can totally control the level of spiciness based on how much curry you like or don't like. Mine really was more of a sweet curry.)
-1 Cup orange juice (may want more or less depending on # of chicken breasts you use and how long you're cooking them in the crock pot. I used more than the 1/2 C they recommended because I let this cook for 6 hours. I always use more liquid so chicken is tender and doesn't burn.
***Edited to add, I didn't have orange juice on hand, it accidentally got used for breakfast that morning! So instead I had some Orange San Pellegrino and I used 2 cans, just a little over 2 cups because I cooked it for 8 hours on low.***
-2 tsp. chicken bouillon granules
-1 tsp. salt
-1/4 tsp. pepper
Toppings:
-green onion chopped
-shredded coconut
-honey roasted peanuts
-raisins
Place chicken, sweet potatoes and onion in crockpot. Combine the orange juice, chicken bouillon, salt and pepper and pour over ingredients in crock-pot. Cook for 6-8 hours on low, or until chicken is done and potatoes are soft. Serve over rice and top with toppings.
When you cook it all day on low, the flavor is amazing the chicken just falls apart when you look at it. SO, SO good!!! I hope you try it and love it too!!
I'm happy to report that I am finally done with the 24/7 nausea and a stomach that turns at the thought of many food choices. My cravings have come back but oddly I'm not giving in as much as I want to. Sometimes I really think I would like to eat something but I'm just so tired I don't have the energy to get up and get it! Being pregnant and having two preschoolers is not for the faint of heart. I can't believe how draining a normal day is right now and how much older I feel this time around. Ava and Carter are my little helpers though and they do love it when I'm in the kitchen looking for a snack because they've already figured out I'm a soft sell if they want one too! In general I crave Mexican food, which I'm trying to avoid after I got sick eating fajitas over Christmas (insert sad face here) and anything fresh and cold. Salads, veggies, fruit, yogurt and granola...those are some of my regular indulgences. I'm in a Chocolate Malt-O-Meal stage, which I can't explain, but I love me a bowl every morning with some cool-whip stirred into it! I become an 8 year old all over again but it just tastes so good to me. Coffee is still not part of my day yet, which kind of makes me sad. Every now and then I try a cup in the afternoon which usually goes well but I just can't bring myself to drink it in the morning yet. Something about the smell still makes me queasy. However, I have replaced my lack of coffee induced caffeine with a need for an ice-cold Coke in the afternoon. I don't know what it is about drinks that are ice-cold but I them, even though it's below zero! Occasionally my van just drives itself right on over to the nearest Fast Food drive-thru and I am powerless at the smell of french fries. My kids are also loving when that happens! Fortunately for Travis, with the absence of my constant nausea my desire to cook has returned again. I'm making dinner most nights again although a few things I typically love just aren't doing it for me, like spaghetti. I already can't imagine cooking for everyone with a newborn again, good thing I've got some time to get my head around that!
In other pregnancy related news, today I am 16 weeks already!
According to my bump.com app, at this week our baby is the size of an Avocado. Which is pretty amazing when I think back to the first week and he/she was just the size of an appleseed. Incredible.
Hard to believe I'm starting my 5th month now, time is starting to fly. We scheduled our next appointment on Valentine's Day, when we get to have our 20 week ultrasound to find out if this little person is girl or a boy!!! Isn't that fun?? I can hardly stand the wait, every day I'm trying to guess what this baby is and so are the kids.
Yes, I'm definitely showing now. Number 3 does not leave much mystery!
My only complaint at this stage is that the same lower back problems I had with Ava's pregnancy have come on with a vengeance lately. Thankfully I started some Physical Therapy today and pretty quickly my therapist could see just now much pain I've been in and how my sciatic nerve is causing all kinds of trouble in my hips and tailbone. I'm confident that this therapy will help, it did help when I carried Ava. It's made life a little tricky lately, normal things like laundry and getting on the floor with the kids or even just trying to sit down on a soft couch or chair are not so easy. My cute kiddos have been CHAMPS through this whole pregnancy, they are so great about doing what I ask them to or trying to help me when they can.
Ava has aged about 10 years recently and is already the classic first born. The other day while Carter was napping and I was hoping to, she followed me to my room telling me a million things and then suddenly said, "Ok Mom, I'm going to leave you now so you can take a nap. You get some rest and I'll check on you later, ok?" Ha ha!!! I did not argue with her!
And this big bro is also rising to the occasion. He is trying hard to keep up with his big sister and wants to be just like his Daddy. Mostly he wants me to know that he's NOT a baby anymore and he can do everything by himself. I am embracing his new confidence and indulging him on his requests. It helps me out to have him become more and more independent and I console myself with the thought of having another baby soon to start all over with!
Over all, this is a great stage of pregnancy and we are excited. I still can't believe the Lord has given us the privilege of doing this all over again but I am so, so thankful. From the minute we found out this was happening, we've been excited and with every week we are more and more grateful for another blessing in our brood.
You wouldn't waste a prayer on us as we try to figure out what our housing situation will be when this baby arrives. Much to consider, much to trust the Lord with, and much that keeps me up at night if I don't intentionally give this to the Lord to sort out. No matter where we live or how much space we do or do not have, the fact that we have three children and each other is a GIFT. We have much to praise the Lord for and we are doing just that!
Try the curried chicken and have a great weekend!!
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