Monday, January 31, 2011

Pizza Rolls

It was a loooong week last week. My sister and her baby ended up having some complications that required a longer hospital stay. Then we had her shower on the Saturday after the baby was born (oops!).

I had a particularly bad weekend, part of which was me somehow getting the van stuck sideways, at the bottom of my driveway, in a snowbank - twice.

Things seem to be getting back to semi-normal now and even though I'm still battling some pregnancy fatigue I am feeling pretty well for the most part. I'm hoping to take advantage of this second trimester reprieve before the weight and exhaustion of the third trimester hits!

Aaaand I've been cooking again! yay! Well, sometimes anyway.

Not in the mood for a regular pizza we decided to try a variation and do a sort of pizza roll type dinner.

We used our favorite no fail bread dough (Suzanne McMinn's Grandmother Bread).

Once the dough has gone through it's first rise - we punch it down and shape into two balls and let go through the second rise. Then, roll it out into a rectangle (or best you can) fill it with deliciousness.



We did a spinach, broccoli, pesto, garlic and ricotta filling (with mozzarella) and a ground beef, onion and cheddar cheese filling.

So, spread your filling around your dough. Then let your husband take over, haha. Mine did. Something about eggs and sealing it. Basically he whisked some eggs in a bowl, folded the dough over it's self in half and around. Just seal it the best you can! He used egg on the non-filling side to help seal it together. Brush egg over the top and slice a couple of vent slits in the top.



Bake at 450 till browned. We did ours about 23 minutes and they could have used maybe another 10. They were starting to brown, so we pulled them - but the leftovers were way better (and less soggy-ish).

Nom, nom, nom. These also froze really well. I'm thinking about making several more variations to stock the freezer. But maybe in single serving size instead of giant rolls? Oh, so many options!


Sunday, January 30, 2011

quote for the week

I need to concentrate on these words this week. And next week. The week after too. And on and on.
My house, my life is driving me crazy lately. Too.much.clutter. Too many things in our space and in my head and filling my days. It's time to bare bones it.
We need to make room for the new baby. For the things we love. For ourselves. For breathing.

I really do (for real!) plan on coming to this space more. I've been spending too much useless time online. Playing games, chatting. These things are good (for me) in small doses, but sometimes they begin to take over way too much of my very precious time. I'm restricting my internet time starting this week, allowing myself a few minutes each day to touch base with people, to check blogs (because honestly, they are a wonderful way to start my day) to write in my own blog (to get a check on where I am, where I'm going). And that's it. Slow down on the mindless TV and internetting.
I've finally got most of my energy back, but very little motivation. I think I'm going to have to slowly force the motivation to return, and I can't very well do that while I'm wasting so much time accomplishing nothing.

Household decluttering starts this week too. In the most painful place. My books. Ouch. I just ordered several new ones - it's time to let go of the ones I don't love (and don't use!) to make room for more relevant and needed ones.

I don't know if it's nesting already kicking in, the urge for some early spring cleaning or my frustration at my total lack of motivation and progress. But I am ready for change. Now.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

i have got a sister

I was going to post yesterday about delicious pizza rolls. But instead I spent 15 hours with my sister.




While she did this.



And this




And we welcomed this sweet little one into the world.




"Well I have got a sister, and she has got a baby with brand new eyes"

Sunday, January 16, 2011

quote for the week.

"Procrastination isn't the problem. It's the solution. It's the universe's way of saying stop, slow down, you move too fast. "
                            - Ellen DeGeneres 



I like this view of it! This pregnancy is kicking my butt. I thought once I hit 12 weeks I'd be normal feeling again - ha! 

Though I might quite well be stuck in a cycle now of: I wasn't eating well or exercising because I was sick and tired. And now I feel sick and tired because I haven't been eating well or exercising. 

I keep thinking that I'll come back to this space, you know, tomorrow. Then of course it's tomorrow and tomorrow again - and again.

Quite honestly, I haven't been doing much at all. We did go to NYC to visit my sister in law just after Christmas for a couple of days (and got an inside tour of the google offices - amazing!). 


I was in bed by 9pm, go me! That seems to be my new routine. Only now I'm back working until 9 so we'll see how this goes! On NYE I was exhausted. I figured it was pregnancy and the trip home from NYC that morning. We had some friends over but just bummed around, low key. Didn't follow up on any of the hoped to be traditions from last year. Tree still hasn't been burned. Achievements and goals are still undocumented. Well, there's always next year. Turns out though - that my exhaustion that night was the beginning of a nasty head cold that almost 3 weeks later I'm just getting over.


Good news is I've been able to get up and cleaning a little bit. Cleaned our room, and almost caught back up on laundry. Gave the kitchen a good scrubbing. I've even been cooking a little again. 


So really, there hasn't been much to post about here. My life is pretty slow. Pretty quiet right now. I'm still working on not feeling guilty about it. Though I do think that quote is true. Like I said a few weeks ago (and I'm still trying to convince myself!) maybe it's a good thing. Clearly, my body needs the rest. Maybe my mind needs the rest. It's not like I've been utilizing all this down time reading books or anything that might be a little productive. 

However, I don't want this to turn into another 6 months of lazing about. I can rest and still be productive. Maybe I can't get done all the things I did before but I can do somethings. 

So. You all know how well I do at setting and keeping goals (stop laughing). I think I'm going to set itty bitty tiny goals for myself week by week. Little goals. And maybe I'll surprise myself and want to do more.

This week:
While I'm feeling lazy: pick up the darn knitting!, meal plan for next week
While I'm feeling motivated: do a load of laundry, vacuum, do at least one make-ahead cooking for the lazy days. 


See. Tiny goals. Notice I didn't say make progress on knitting. Or do all the laundry. Itty bitty.


And maybe I'll even see you again tomorrow! Happy Sunday!