25 Weeks

Life in general has been moving along like normal for the most part. I have been keeping busy with work as usual and trying my best to prepare for this transition period that is about to happen. There has definitely been some major changes taking place around our neck of the woods lately.

My pregnancy has been pretty easy, which Im extremely thankful for. I really cant complain about too much. I am amazed with how much body is changing. Right now our June Bug is the size of an ear of corn and weighing in at about 1 1/2 lbs. However, my uterus is the size of a soccer ball which is a little freaky. My cravings are all over the place... from fast food one week to all veggies the next. Im just going with the flow.

I have been wearing maternity pants for probably over a month now. When I finally switched over to them all I could think about was why didnt I do this a LONG time ago. It is so nice to actually feel like I can breathe! Also, my cousin, Leslie, gave me all her maternity clothes since she just had a baby recently. How sweet of her to do and a true blessing. I feel like I may make it through this pregnancy without spending hardly any money on clothes Ill only wear for a few months. YAY!

Remington has definitely been realizing that changes are happening and I have tried to make it very clear to him that he is more than welcome to explore those changes. Any new baby stuff we purchase goes straight to the floor for a few days for him to sniff out and discover what they are all about. I have read that keeping your dog away from baby items only makes the transition harder when the baby comes, so he has had free reign of almost everything. He has also become very clingy to me lately... always following me around and during therapy dog visits leaning his head up against my belly. All my residents are amazed at the changes they have seen in him toward me lately.

Dan and I have been hard at work shuffling our house around and getting the nursery ready. I have felt a little badly because Dan has kind of lost his space in our house, but he has been a trooper during every minute and has done nothing but try to make me happy and do exactly what I want. Im definitely the stressed and anxious one about the baby coming and he is my rock as usual. I am so blessed to have him as my partner... so so blessed.

The most amazing thing I have seen and felt these past few weeks is the amount of movement happening! I am truly shocked at how strong this little human is at just 1 1/2 lbs! One night I was sitting watching TV and our little June Bug was kicking really hard so I decided to try to catch it on video to share with Dan. I cannot tell you how many times I have watched this over and over again in pure amazement!!!

Crazy right! And just FYI... I dont have three belly button holes... two of them are from when I use to have a belly button ring :)

Anyways... more updates to come in the following weeks. Time is flying by so fast that it is hard to keep up, but I will try my best!!!! Hopefully this was a nice little update to keep everyone in the loop!

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Chickpea Crepes With Smoked Salmon

Apparently Im on a bit of a crepe kick. Probably because they are the only vaguely bread like food I can have on this elimination diet. 

This time I went savory with chickpea flour crepes, pesto, and smoked salmon.  The fella and I were both really surprised by how delicious I was able to make these while still keeping them hypoallergenic.  The crepes themselves were ridiculously easy and a nice compliment to the salmon.  The pesto which I used pumpkin seeds in instead of pine nuts rounded out the flavors nicely.  Best of all this recipe is totally weight loss phase friendly for the French Diet.  Since it involves bean flour you can put whatever youre in the mood for in these.  So go crazy!

Since Im only cooking really simple foods that dont usually require any sort of recipe Im going to try to stop neglecting this blog so badly and just post pictures of my food to prove that I really am eating well while on such a restrictive diet.  Well see how long I can keep up that promise.

Chickpea Crepes 

1 cups chickpea flour (easily found in Indian groceries)

1 1/4 cups water

dash of salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

Whisk together all ingredients.  Heat a large non stick pan over medium heat.  When hot, spray with cooking spray and drop 1/4 cup of the crepe mix into the pan, quickly sliding around  the pan to spread out the crepe as thin as possible.  Cook for 30 seconds.  Flip and cook for 90 seconds on the other side.  Repeat with the rest of the crepe batter.

I topped my chickpea crepes with a handful of spinach, a slice of avocado, some sprouts, a drizzle of pesto, and a couple pieces of smoked salmon.  This would also be amazing with cream cheese or creme fraiche, smoked salmon, watercress, and cucumber.  (Someone eat that version and tell me all about it since I will never be able to.)

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Rice Flour Crepes with Blueberries and Coconut Whipped Cream

I havent been posting much lately because I havent been eating much of interest.  

See the ridiculous thing is Im a foodie with serious food sensitivities.  Figuring out that gluten was causing me problems helped out my digestive issues a lot.  Getting rid of dairy made me feel a lot better too.  However there were still things that seemed to be causing me problems and even after keeping a food diary, seeing a nutritionist, an allergist and a gastroentrologist I still couldnt figure out what was making me ill.  Unwilling to "just live with it" as all but one of my doctors advised I decided to take the next step and go on an elimintation diet.

The people over at Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen had one that seemed reasonable so Im giving it a try.  Eating nothing but green smoothies for a couple days, giving up chocolate, coffee and alcohol and eating only the simplest of unseasoned foods has not been easy.  But after my body got over the initial shock I felt better than I ever had before.  If eating green salads and brown rice with lentils and nothing else was going to get rid of my unending digestive woes I was willing to do it.

At this point Ive added in a few foods without any issues so I do have some variety in my diet.  So far I have sadly discovered citrus, cinnamon and parsnips are all problem foods for me.  So as this goes on Ill be healthier and feel great but my diet is getting more and more restricted.  In order to not let thoughts like that get me down I spent the afternoon plotting out a dessert that I could eat on this diet.  Something other than me peeling a mango and eating it like the crazy sweet-food starved person I am.  

Out of that I came up with this recipe for these vegan hypoallergenic rice crepes that fit with the strict parameters of the first phase of the elimination diet.  They are so amazing you would never guess they are missing things like eggs, dairy, wheat or sugar.  I went crazy and made some dairy free whipped cream as well since I was craving it but the crepes though simple are great without anything but your choice of fruit.  The fella and I enjoyed ours with blue berries while sitting out on the porch and enjoying the warm sunny evening.

Vegan Rice Flour Crepes 

1 tablespoon ground flax seed

2 tablespoons hot water

1/2 cup brown rice flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon agave nectar

1 1/4 cup homemade rice milk

In a very small bowl mix the ground flax seeds with the hot water and mix well.  Allow mixture to sit undisturbed until it becomes very sticky.

In a medium bowl mix together the remaining ingredients until well incorporated then add in the flax seed mixture.. Your mixture will be very a little runny and gritty. 

Heat a nonstick frying pan over medium heat and gently grease it with cooking spray. When the pan is at temperature add 1/4 a cup of the crepe mixture to the pan and agitate the pan to roll the mixture around the bottom making it as thin as possible. Cook the crepe for one minute then flip and cook for a 1 1/2 on the other side.

Repeat with the remaining mixture, being sure to stir the crepe batter before putting it in the pan as the heavy rice flour will quickly sink to the bottom of the bowl in the time it has taken you to make the preceding crepe.

Blueberry Filling

1 cup frozen blueberries

1 teaspoon agave nectar

Place both ingredients in a small sauce pan over medium heat and allow to simmer until the melting berries turn into a thin syrupy mixture.

Coconut Whipped Cream

1 14-can full fat coconut cream (the kind that separates out)

1 tablespoon melted coconut oil

1 teaspoon agave nectar

Place a metal bowl and the beaters for your electric mixer in the freezer.  Open the can of coconut milk and place in the refrigerator until the solid part of the coconut milk solidifies a bit more and is easier to skim out of the can.

After about 10 minutes remove the coconut milk from the fridge and place the solid mass floating on the top of the can in the frosty bowl that was in the freezer, leaving behind the liquid part of the coconut milk to use for other purposes.  Add the coconut oil and agave nectar to the coconut milk and return the bowl to the freezer until the mixture becomes mostly solid but not frozen through.  This will take awhile, probably between 30 to 90 minutes.  Check it often.

When the coconut mixture is stiff, begin beating the mixture with the cold electric beaters.  You will get both some soft peaks and some cold ice creamy textured bits during this process.  It wont exactly be "real" whipped cream but its so delicious it wont really matter.

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