baby shower no. 2

Has it really been two weeks since I've last blogged? Yikes. I've been super busy lately, but baby is still in my belly. I have no idea how I'm going to balance everything once he's made his debut.

Grab your hot chocolate and a warm blanket and settle in. This may be a long post since I actually have the time this morning. After all, who else but us crazy Hobsons wakes up at 6 a.m. on a Saturday.

Last Sunday, some of my girlfriends threw me a brunch baby shower in Vinings the day after I turned 32 weeks--wowzer, 8 months! Brunch was a great idea, since I absolutely love breakfast foods. Those who know me well know that I eat bacon or sausage practically every morning for breakfast. My friend Sara even made a gluten-free breakfast casserole that was delicious!

My Atlanta girlfriends, gym friends, Gainesville friends and college friends showed up for the occasion.

My first shower was very elegant, and there was no time for games since I was busy opening gifts or catching up with ladies from my hometown. For my Vinings shower, my friends had some traditional baby shower games up their sleeves.

First up, thankfully after we had eaten, was the infamous "identify the melted candy bar in the diaper." I had heard of this game before, but didn't expect the candy bars to look so real when melted--except for the random sprinkling of peanuts in some of the diapers!

I was really bad at this game, only guessing one out of five candy bars. My mom, on the other hand, was the only one to guess all five correctly.

These faces are priceless!

After the diaper game, it was "guess the gift" game. Fortunately, I redeemed myself and managed to guess all the gifts by touch.

The last game involved guessing the circumference of my belly. Thankfully, we didn't use a measuring tape. Instead, the girls approximated my belly size by tearing off a section from a roll of blue streamer. Then, I went around to each girl to see who guessed closest. I'm not sure how my friends perceive me--apparently huge! Most had 5 or 6 inches extra in length, and some friends (not to be named) had more than 12 inches of extra streamer! Ha. It was a hilarious game.

After the games, it was time to open gifts. Once again, I was overwhelmed from the generosity of my friends. Here are some of the highlights!

I got a slew of super nice containers for storing homemade baby food.

A cheeky baby manual that James told me last night he has already read!

Diapers! Yippee!

A CrossFit-inspired onesie with a barbell on the front.

Santa booties! My friend Lauren thought I was due before Christmas. With my due date just a week after Christmas, who knows when this baby will make his debut. If it's after Christmas, I'll just save these for the next munchkin!

More workout apparel--we're starting him young!

An awesome designer diaper bag from the shower hostesses! Love love love it!

It was a wonderfully thoughtful shower. Baby Hobson is already so very loved!

chicken artichoke spaghetti

It's no question I love spaghetti squash. I recently bought one on sale, and wanted to do something else besides the typical meat sauce marinara. So I browsed the Internet and came across a recipe from The Pioneer Woman that I changed up a bit by adding chicken and subbing spaghetti squash for spaghetti noodles.

The subtle flavors were quite tasty, especially with some parmesan on top. I used the 'throw everything in a pot' and simmer approach. But the Pioneer Woman used a step-by-step method for her sauce, and it may have turned out better. I'll never know until I try it again. My biggest problem was I didn't have a large enough sautee pan, but I did use more of some ingredients than her, so maybe I'll chalk it up to that. I'm not saying it was perfect, but it was good and hot on a cold winter's day. At any rate, I'll definitely make this again, and work on tweaking the proportions, adding more herbs, trying coconut milk and maybe even subbing bacon bits and kielbasa for the chicken.

Chicken Artichoke Spaghetti
Ingredients

• Spaghetti squash
• 2 tbsp olive oil, divided
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 large onion
• 1 can quartered artichoke hearts (14.5 oz.)
• 1 can no salt added diced tomatoes (14.5 oz.)
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream (or you could try subbing coconut milk)
• 1 can chicken broth (14.5 oz.)
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• dash of salt
• dash of pepper
• Topping: parmesan

1. First, cut your spaghetti squash lengthwise and place face down on pan that is greased with olive oil (roughly 1 tbsp). Bake at 350 degree for roughly 45 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, dice onion and mince garlic, and sautee in pan with 1 tbsp olive oil for 3 minutes. 

3. Trim your chicken breasts and cut into cubes, then add to pan and continue to sautee.

At this point, I realized I should have been cooking in a dutch oven, because my sautee pan was almost full.

4. In dutch oven, combine artichoke hearts (drained), diced tomatoes, chicken broth, cream, nutmeg, salt, pepper and sautee mixture.

5. Simmer for 20 minutes. My new ladle I got for Christmas!

Serve and sprinkle with parmesan, if desired.

key lime muffins...such tangy goodness

James is camping in Helen with a buddy this weekend, so that leaves me with a weekend packed with girl time. Last night, my friend Lindsey and I went to Taverna Plaka and enjoyed Mango Orange Blue Tinis, Greek wine, Kefalograviera Saganaki (aged Greek sheep's milk cheese flamed in ouzo), Kalamarakia (calamari) and self-mashed hummus. We managed to leave before the belly dancers made their appearance, and decided upon our departure that despite still being in our twenties, we felt pretty old.

After a fitful night's rest of 10 hours of sleep!!!, I decided to try my hand at Key Lime Muffins. When you see this recipe, you may think it sounds more like Key Lime Cupcakes, but the name is solely based on the time of day that I sampled some of these delicious wonders. No one wants to be known as the girl who eats cupcakes for breakfast.

Key Lime Muffins (Cupcakes)

Ingredients

• 1 cup almond flour
• ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp celtic sea salt
• ¼ cup grapeseed oil
• ¼ cup agave nectar
• 1 tbsp pure maple syrup
• 1 lime, juiced
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla

Icing

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 7 tbsp agave nectar
• ½ a lime, juiced
• 1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In small mixing bowl, combine almond flour, coconut, soda and salt.

As a side note, when my husband grinds up almonds in our food processor, I think he throws in a handful or two of flax seeds.

3. Stir in oil, agave, syrup, lime juice, eggs and vanilla.

4. Spoon batter into mini muffin cups.

My batter perfectly filled 24 mini muffin cups...but you'll notice the spooning process got a little messy.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes, until just browned around the edges. Set aside and let cool.

6. While muffins/cupcakes are cooling, blend softened cream cheese, agave and lime juice in mixing bowl.

8. Once muffins/cupcakes have cooled, ice them and savory the tangy goodness.

After this breakfast, I'm ready for a day of estrogen-fueled debauchery.

chicken alfredo sans noodles

Personally, I think noodles are overrated. They lack flavor, and really just serve as the base of a dish. I'm sure pasta lovers see things a little differently. They probably perceive noodles as a blank canvas, on which numerous epicurean masterpieces are created.

But if an artist with a blank canvas takes that canvas away, he still has the crux of his calling--his paints. And what's to limit him from using those paints on an unending amount of surfaces, creating new works of art that push him beyond the ordinary constraints of a canvas.

Ok, enough with the analogy. In my opinion, if you take those noodles away, you're left with a dish that packs a lot of flavor and nutrients, but none of the gluten.

Chicken Alfredo

Ingredients

• 3 boneless chicken breasts
• 5 cups broccoli crowns
• 2 cups grape tomatoes
• salt
• ground black pepper
• 3 slices bacon
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup parmesan 

1. First, trim up your chicken and cut it into bit-sized pieces.

2. Season chicken with salt and pepper, and sauté until cooked.

 

3. Add broccoli to large pot of water and bring to boil. Then reduce heat to medium low and let simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat, drain water and set aside.

4. Cook bacon slices and tear or chop into bacon bits.

5. Cut grape tomatoes in half.

6. In dutch oven, combine cream, coconut milk and butter. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to low and let mixture simmer while you stir in parmesan.

7. Remove from heat and stir in tomatoes and bacon.

8. Add chicken and broccoli and coat with mixture.

9. Serve hot with non-slotted spoon.

And if you can't get enough cheese, like me, garnish with parmesan.