I'm tired. Not "sleepy" tired, just physically worn out. I chalk it up to the pregnancy (hello, third trimester). My hips are throbby sore, my feet ache, and more significantly, I'm pretty sure my brain is atrophying. I'm usually a fairly competent person. I get most of my loose ends tied up. I'm pretty detail oriented. When pregnant however, it's a whole different story. When I was pregnant with Abby my signature oversight was my purse. I left it everywhere. Jeremy just ended up getting used to lugging it around for me to make sure it didn't get left at church, at restaurants, in shopping carts, etc. With this baby my main issue seems to be with turning off the stove. No big deal. I might just burn the house down around my toddler's and my ears! One time I put some oil in a pot to cook up some onions, wandered off on another errand, then went streaking back to the stove when the fire alarm went off. I ran into the kitchen to find open, roaring flame (and black smoke) billowing from a fantastic grease fire. I threw baking soda at the mess and put out the flames. I still haven't gotten the pan completely clean from the burnt-on oil. That is perhaps the most dramatic result of my forgetfulness (Thank God!) but I can't tell you how many times after dinner Jeremy goes into the kitchen and finds burners still on. I keep telling him I don't know why he still lets me in there. But I do know why... Because no matter how much Jeremy has learned about cooking and is growing to enjoy it, I'm still better at it than him. AND because every once in a while I surprise him with something like this:
Those are homemade, gluten-free thin mints. Jeremy kept making sad mewing sounds whenever he saw girl scouts selling cookies in a parking lot. Girl scout cookies have always been a major vice of his (ok, not just his) but now that he's figured out how much better he feels without gluten in his diet they are a pleasure he knew he would have to forego. But not without minor whining and sad, pouty eyes. Well, I can't stand for those gorgeous blue eyes to look sad, so homemade, gluten-free thin mints it was! I found the recipe at Gluten-Free on a Shoestring and I followed it exactly except that after I mixed my dough it seemed a bit dry so I added a tablespoon or two of water. The cookies turned out well. The taste is basically exactly like thin mints but they weren't as crisp as the girl scout version. Next time, I think I will bake them longer (probably at a lower temperature) to really dry them out. I wouldn't roll them any thinner as I had enough trouble with them breaking as it was. Jeremy was pleased though and his eyes were smiling again. If you need a thin mint fix, check out her recipe and maybe take a look around her site if you are looking for other gluten free ideas.
Needless to say, I forgot to turn the toaster oven off after I pulled out the cookies (thank goodness for an automatic timer that flipped it off after another 20 minutes). I also forgot to turn off the big oven where I have a batch of homemade yogurt culturing. I turned it on "just for a minute" to get the oven cozy for the yogurt and forgot about it until Jeremy came home. I had it set as low as possible so here's hoping I didn't kill my yogurt culture. The other thing that has been using up burner space today is some homemade chicken stock which fortunately does great if left on low heat all day long (as long as you remember to add water every few hours- so far so good). Still, it's probably a good thing that for dinner tonight I decided to make something that doesn't involve using the stove or oven at all. I present to you Vietnamese spring rolls. I'm not really sure how authentically Vietnamese these are but they're fresh and yummy and the perfect supper to eat outside eat inside with the windows open cause it got too dark on a lovely March evening in the south .
I used rice paper wrappers from a local Asian market. I soaked them in warm water for WAY too long. Apparently I should have only done it for a few seconds, one at a time. I thought they'd take a few minutes so I soaked all of them at once and by the time I started to wrap them they were pretty fragile and tore a good bit. I ended up using two wrappers for some of the spring rolls just to keep everything contained. It didn't affect the flavor or edibility at all though. I stuffed them with the following:
- lettuce leaves
- shredded cabbage
- rice
- shredded carrots
- cucumber
- minced leftover mint and culantro (they were getting kinda tired in my fridge so I threw them into the mix)
- basil leaves (note: if you buy basil or mint leaves at the store and they still have some stem left on them, put them in a glass or vase for several days, changing the water frequently, and they will sprout roots and can be planted in a pot- no more buying mint and basil! Another note: apparently you can also regrow some lettuces from the stem. It takes a while for them to fill out again but it's like a buy one get one free deal!)
- slices of egg tortilla/omelette (whatever you want to call it)- so I guess I did technically use the stove for about 5 minutes but I was under strict supervision.
- shredded chicken drizzled with peanut dipping sauce
- I would have used avocado except the ones I bought specifically for this meal were still hard as rocks so no go.
For the peanut sauce, I've drawn inspiration from Iowa Girl Eats and her Thai Chicken Burgers (which I made with some of my own variations like adding tofu to the chicken mixture and adding more spices because I'm notorious for never following a recipe exactly- it's well worth checking out her recipe though!)
For the Peanut sauce I mixed (approximately)
2 Tablespoons natural, chunky peanut butter
2 teaspoons vinegar (I used apple cider but would have preferred rice vinegar if I'd had it on hand)
a glug (that's a measurement, right?) of soy sauce (in our case, gluten-free)
1 Tablespoon of honey
a squirt (also totally a measurement) of sriracha
some garlic powder (I was feeling too lazy too peel and press a fresh garlic but it's awesome if you do)
a sprinkle of ginger powder
a few tablespoons of water to make the consistency pourable/dippable
I drizzled a batch of this sauce over the chicken that I stuffed inside the wrappers and also had a batch for dipping (so make double). YUM! I was a little worried Jeremy would still be hungry after dinner. I needn't have worried, he ate two and told me he was full. I, on the other hand, ate four (I'm eating for two here!).
I had big ambitions for today but, as usual these days, between pregnancy brain (and body) and a toddler I only got through about half. I really wanted to get another coat of paint on Abby's toddler bed and play kitchen while the weather was warm but it didn't happen. I guess the weather is just going to keep getting warmer from here but I'm also going to be getting bigger and more achy so I'm racing that clock. Tomorrow we go to the birthday party of one of Abby's friends, which is good because every time we leave the house to go grocery shopping or something she asks if we can go see friends. I'm really feeling like I need to work harder at giving both of us more of a social life instead of staying home all day. I'm introverted and even I'm started to feel the isolation!
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