Lovely Meals Lately + Life Update

Fam! How’s it hanging? I’m still over here pregnant as ever.

An interesting turn of events…

In case you missed my life update over on Instagram, I was unexpectedly discharged from the hospital on December 29th after being told I don’t actually have vasa previa.

Luckily, the OB who was supposed to deliver me via c-section on January 4th decided to do one final scan the week before. I learned that this is not standard practice, meaning if she hadn’t ordered the scan, I would’ve delivered him a month early for no reason.

How did this happen? Well, this experience has taught me that ultrasound is imperfect and so are doctors. There was a “perfect storm” of my low lying placenta, marginal cord insertion, and other factors on ultrasound that convinced the doctors there were fetal blood vessels exposed above my cervix, necessitating the hospital stay at 32 weeks and delivery at 36 weeks.

It was not an easy transition coming home from the hospital, thinking I was having the baby in a few days and then not. The unnecessary three week hospital stay paired with living in fear of a diagnosis that wasn’t accurate has been a challenge to wrap my brain around.

That said, I can’t wait to meet baby in a few weeks (or less!). I’m so grateful that he can come on his own time and be full term.

Friends, the end of the third trimester is no joke. The last couple weeks have been extremely uncomfortable both mentally and physically. It’s safe to say I’m more than ready for baby boy to be outside of my body!

How my diet has changed

Now that I’m no longer in the hospital, I’ve definitely been enjoying cooking more at home. My motivation to do pretty much anything else (like work or move my body) is at an all time low but cooking and setting up the nursery have felt fun!

I’m craving sweets like never before. I have dessert several times a day. Not mad about it.

I’m still eating a little bit of meat here and there. When I do eat it, it’s more like a condiment versus a main. I’m not sure how that’ll continue post pregnancy; but at this point I’m just listening to my body and not over-analyzing food at all.

If Jeff has bacon with his breakfast and it sounds good to me in that moment, I’ll eat it. Bacon and pepperoni have been very appealing in this pregnancy…

I have no intention of meat becoming the center of my diet. I say that confidently based on my personal health beliefs and for the health of the planet. This space will remain a plant-based food blog, just like my diet is still based in plants.

But whatever happens, it’s super important to me to be transparent with you as I evolve and not feel guilty or like I have to hide the fact that I ate bacon or had a turkey sandwich. Does that make sense? No food rules!

I hope food will continue to bring us together, not divide us. Ahhhh…so glad I got that off my chest. A weight has lifted!

Lovely Meals Lately

I’ve really been enjoying making new things. This cioppino seafood stew was so fun! We used new-to-me monkfish recommended by the fish guy at Whole Foods plus scallops, mussels and clams (almost none of the clams opened up, so we had to toss them).

I used an 8oz bottle of clam juice and 4 cups of veg broth instead of seafood stock. We served it over linguine and we also sopped up all the juice with ciabatta. Spinach salad with balsamic on the side!

This made a TON (legit filled my Dutch oven to the brim) so definitely cut it in half if you’re not feeding a crowd.

Enchiladas! I made homemade enchilada sauce using this recipe but cut the chili powder in half. I topped with a bit a freshly grated Tilamook cheddar before baking.

The best ginger molasses cookies.

Have you had these frozen Greek wraps? They taste like spanokopita…SO good. I had this for dinner one night with a couple bowls of Rice chex…#pregnancy.

I made these pancakes with blueberries and they were incredible. Went back for a third. I gotta admit…making them with all purpose flour is definitely a game changer. Enter the aforementioned bacon, LOL.

Iced oat milk latte that got kind of thick from being in the freezer. YUM.

I made a batch of my cookie dough protein bars to keep stashed in the freezer…I forgot how good they are!

Steel cut oatmeal with bananas, raspberries, sunflower seed butter, and scrambled eggs. My go-to weekday breakfast lately.

Lasagna night! We never tire of this recipe, and I love how much it makes. Unpictured garlic bread on the side.

My favorite combo from The Lox: rosemary and salt bagel with egg, beet thyme cream cheese, and lettuce. So chewy and amazing.

I made this coconut tikka masala with basmati rice for dinner and everyone loved it. I can’t wait to make it again with cauliflower and chickpeas. I also made this roasted cauliflower salad with creamy honey mustard that was amazing. All delish with naan!

Harvest pizza night! The Spicy Yuma is our jam. We usually get the chopped salad and buffalo cauliflower, too.

We tried some amazing pastries and sourdough breads from a new pastry chef for Alchemy and I was in heaven. 

I felt like I was on Great British Baking Show eating frangipane! Tastings are perhaps my favorite part of restaurant life.

I missed sharing the personal side of things with you all, so thanks as always for being here!