Pregnancy Food Week!!

The main thing that makes the following foods “pregnancy” foods is basically the fact that I am pregnant and loved eating them while also feeling like they were nice and healthy for my growing baby too. But of course these are great foods for any one! The following are the meals Joel and I have enjoyed recently!!

Galligaskins Sandwich

There is a restaurant in Fort Worth called Galligaskin’s and I really like their turkey sandwich particularly because I like the mixed tomatoes and onion garnish that they put on top. So Joel & I went there just to see how they make the sandwich and we figured it out! (mostly) I was missing the ingredient: pepperoccinis. Luckily Joel knew about them, so he recognized them easily. This sandwich is fresh and very easy to make. You just take a tomato, onion and some pepperoccinis (those are pickled peppers) and you cut them into small square shapes then put them together in a bowl. Then get an Italian sub roll, put turkey, cheese and lettuce on it, then add the fresh mixture. At the restaurant they have some dressing, it must be oil and vinegar or something. I haven’t figured that out yet, so I have been going without dressing so far. But Joel and I love the sandwiches!

I also decided to cut it all up and make it this way too.

And this is a salad I call Galligaskin’s sandwich because I put the tomatoes, onions and pepperoccinis in the salad, with romaine lettuce, collard greens and spinach and sprinkles it with sunflower seeds.

Bagel Sandwich

There is another restaurant in Fort Worth called Yogi’s Bagel Café, and I like their sandwich called Turkey gobbler and having them put in on a wheat bagel with avocado. I didn’t try to recreate that exact sandwich yet, but I made this other bagel sandwich with inspiration from that place. This sandwich includes roasted red pepper hummus as the dressing, lettuce, tomato, turkey, pepper jack cheese, and sprouts in a bagel. It was good!

Brouschette Chicken

I also made a few chicken meals recently. The first I found the recipe online, it was called chicken brouschette. I didn’t follow the recipe exactly, but I basically took a chicken breast and put cut up tomatoes on top. Then added basil and garlic (spices) and then shredded mozzarella cheese. Then in the baking dish, I also used sun-dried tomato dressing to give it some more moisture. This was what Joel and I ate for our Valentine’s dinner.

Pineapple Chicken

Joel had made this meal a few years ago from a muscle and fitness magazine. It was better when he cooked it, but it is still pretty good. You basically soak the chicken in crushed pineapples, Chinese red pepper sauce, soy sauce and sesame sauce. It is like a sweet and sour thing. We liked it.

Chicken with Vegetables and Wheat Couscous

For this recipe, I just cooked the chicken on the stove with a little bit of water, onions and seasoning salt. Then I steamed the vegetables, squash and asparagus. Then I used the water from the chicken (which was basically a chicken broth by the end) to pour over the couscous to give it some flavor. We enjoyed this meal. Definitely tasted healthy but tasty too.

Side Dishes

We have also been eating carrots and broccoli.

And I have enjoyed lots of fruit lately, such as plums, pears, peaches, nectarines, pineapples, bananas, apples and oranges.

I made this Mediterranean couscous dish that I learned from a friend of mine in Pittsburgh. It is a tasty light snack with cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, green and white onions and couscous with olive oil.

Eggs & Hash Browns

Joel has been making eggs lately, and he makes them wonderfully! They are always perfect, light and fluffy. And I started trying to make hash browns. It is so easy!! I love it!

BANANA PUDDING

2 bags Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies
6 to 8 bananas, sliced
2 cups milk
1 (5-ounce) box instant French vanilla pudding
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping thawed, or equal amount sweetened whipped cream

Line the bottom of a 13 by 9 by 2-inch dish with 1 bag of cookies and layer bananas on top.
In a bowl, combine the milk and pudding mix and blend well using a handheld electric mixer. Using another bowl, combine the cream cheese and condensed milk together and mix until smooth. Fold the whipped topping into the cream cheese mixture. Add the cream cheese mixture to the pudding mixture and stir until well blended. Pour the mixture over the cookies and bananas and cover with the remaining cookies. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Hummus and Carrots

This hummus was very spicy due to the garlic, but we really liked it. And the carrots were great, I forgot how good steamed vegetables can be!

Mashed Potatoes

These are fairly normal mashed potatoes, but definitely tasty.

Deviled Eggs

Joel & I ate all of these within about 2 or 3 days! We loved them. They were quite successful.

Burritos

These are some fairly normal burritos, but this time I served it with sour cream mixed with taco seasoning and it was a great tasting side! As shown, I also included ice burg lettuce with some green onions.

Oatmeal with Honey and Goji Berries

I tried this out to mix things up. It tasted ok, but I think I am not crazy about oatmeal in general. I like cream of wheat better. But if you like oatmeal, then this is worth a try.

Cottage Cheese Omelet

I got this recipe from a pregnancy cookbook, and Joel & I really loved it! The cottage cheese gave it a great flavor. It included tomatoes and onions as well. This is certainly a tasty, healthy breakfast!

Buttermilk Pancakes

These pancakes are great and I would have called them my favorite pancake recipe, until I altered the recipe to make it even more to my liking. (I am referring to the white whole wheat buttermilk pancakes with berries). They have a great flavor and have always turned out delicious.

Smoothies

Joel drinks protein shakes pretty much every day, if not twice a day, so we always have a few different smoothie recipes at hand. Here are a few:

Black Berry Smoothie

Orange Julius Smoothie

Strawberry Smoothie

Banana Smoothie