I’ve been working the coupon thing for a while now, but lately I’ve been on the freebie boards, and have managed to snag quite a few free coupons.  Mostly offered by companies when you “Like” them on Facebook.

Went shopping at my local Kroger today and scored:

1 free bottle of Suave Professionals 2 in 1

1 free Philadelphia Cream Cheese Minis

1 free bag of Doritos Tortilla Chips

1 free can of Kroger brand cream of mushroom soup

1 free container of Chavrie goat cheese

Kroger sends me great coupons, often for free items. And since my mother doesn’t use her coupons, I take hers too.  I’ve gotten free eggs and bacon in the past.

We’re finally home and tired and adjusting, so I’ll try to post more later.  Including a picture!

My doctor suggested a C Section.  I’m not a good candidate for version due to my placenta placement.  And while I know it’s possible to do a breech deliver vaginally, I’m guessing that due to my age (AMA) and the fact that this is my first delivery, my doctor is taking no chances.  I’m ok with that.

So on Monday April 26th, barring me going into labor before that, I am going in for a C section delivery.  Islay should be here by 1 pm.

There are some upsides to the whole situation.

• She will now have an April birthday. We don’t have any immediate family birthdays in April yet,  but we already have 3 in May!
• I’ll have a longer recovery time at home, but my husband is self employed and works from home, so he’ll be with us every minute.
• There won’t be a mad dash to the hospital at the last minute, or me trying to figure out if that really is my water breaking, or labor for 20 hours before they decide to do ultimately do a C Section anyway (as happened to a good friend of mine).
• We get some extra time in the hospital together before coming home.
• And dude! I’m going to be a mommy for Mother’s Day!

Part of our remodeling is (finally!) getting our wood floors installed.  Those are going in all 4 bedrooms. So we’ve been sorting, purging, donating and storing our stuff.  It’s been crazy. We’re going to paint before the floors go in, so that’s on the plan for the next few weeks.  Luckily we’re only painting 2 rooms – Jonathan’s batcave and the nursery.

We still have more stuff to move temporarily to the garage, but we’re so tired from all the stuff we’ve done the last few weeks that we’re putting it off for a few days.  We’ve been helping my parents clean up their house and storage units – in part because my father is about to start dialysis and in part because we needed room to store our bed and desk.

I hope the nursery is finished by March.  That’s my unofficial goal. Wish me luck.

One other thing I want to do before my due date is get some meals stored in the freezer.  Which, since it’s just the two (soon to be three) of us, isn’t as hard as it sounds.  I can usually double a dinner recipe and freeze one.  I’ve got a longer list of ideas than I thought I’d have.  Meatloaf, meatballs, chili, hamburgers, greek meatballs, breakfast burritos, pancakes/waffles, baked ziti, lasagna, enchiladas, pot pies, shepherd’s pie.  Many choices!  Now I just need to get cooking.

For 2010, we’ll have many changes.  A baby! It’s still a shock. I think we’ll spend most of the first part of the year getting ready for her arrival, because we have a LOT to do. And the second part adjusting to having her in our lives.  It promises to be an interesting year.

Finding out I’m pregnant as also forced me to evaluate our lives again – take stock, weed the garden, etc.  I want Islay to be brought into a positive environment. I want us to have people around us we can count and depend on, and that she can depend on.

For myself, I’m going to stop feeling guilty for things I can’t control, try to give up a little of that control, but also change the things I can about my life.  I think all of that will make me a better mother for Islay in the long run.

I want less clutter in our lives, and I don’t necessarily mean less stuff.  For the physical stuff, we have started clearing out the house and selling items through amazon.  All the money we make is going towards our baby fund.  But most importantly, we are looking at the things in our house and our lives with a new eye, and clearing out things we don’t need anymore.   I feel very positive about it.

Single Serving Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (substitute 1 Tbsp. White Vinegar in 1 cup of milk)
• 1 teaspoons vegetable oil
• Butter and maple syrup

Directions:

• To make a buttermilk substitute, place a Tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup. Add enough milk to bring the liquid up to the one-cup line. Let stand for five minute. Then, use as much as your recipe calls for.
• Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add egg, buttermilk and oil. Stir until blended.
• Pour batter by 1/3 cupfuls onto a lightly greased hot pan; turn when bubbles form on top of pancakes. Cook until the second side is golden brown. Serve with butter and syrup. Yield: 1 serving (3 pancakes).

These were delicious.  They made big fluffy restaurant style pancakes and were so tasty with my pure maple syrup!  Definitely a keeper recipe, since my husband doesn’t like pancakes.  Just enough for me.  Though I left a few bites for J, and even he said they were good!

So Yummy!

So here’s the latest news from Casa Watmough. I’m pregnant. Yup, after 2 and 1/2 years of trying, and getting *this close* to accepting that I might not get pregnant, I get knocked up. It’s still kind of a shock. I’m 11 weeks so far. Here’s our first picture of our little Lima bean.

I’m due for another ultrasound next week.  So far, it’s been a pretty easy pregnant (knock wood). I’ve only had mild nausea. I feel tired, but generally pretty good.  All in all, aside from a slight set back this week from a cold, I’ve been good.  I’m turning my other blog into the baby blog. Though I’m not posting there anymore than I do here. *shrug*

I hope I finally get over this crap and start cooking again.  I’ve already started planning some goodies for Thanksgiving.

Ingredients:
Pot Roast
4 red potatoes
2 carrots
1 small can mushrooms
1 can Campbell’s Golden Mushroom soup
dried basil
salt
pepper

Directions:
1. Wash the potatoes, and cut into quarters
2. Wash & peel the carrots, slice into pieces.
3. Add potatoes & carrots to the crock pot.
4. Open and mostly drain the mushrooms, add to crock pot.
5. Top all of this with dried basil. I covered the ingredients pretty well and didn’t measure.
6. Brown the roast on all sides. Remove from skillet. Salt & pepper all sides. I used fresh ground pepper and sea salt. I also threw a little more basil on the roast. Add to crock pot.
7. Pour can of Golden Mushroom soup on top of roast.
8. Cook on low for 10 – 12 hours, stirring only occasionally.

We also made some asparagus as a side dish, since we trying to eat more green veggies. The meat just melted in your mouth. This is really easy to make. I threw it all together before I left for work this morning.

So I took a large tub, and just added to it with any leftover veggies we had from whatever dish we were cooking for dinner that night, and kept it in my freezer.  Since it is summer, I ended up with a lot of zucchini, celery and carrots.  I had leftover V8 and chicken broth from my latest batch of Almost La Madeleine Tomato Basil Soup.  So tonight I decided it was time to try making a vegetable soup.  It was amazing.  Really, some of the best vegetable soup I’ve had and far superior to any canned version we’ve been eating.

Meredith’s Frugal Vegetable Soup

3 cups V8
1 ¼ cup chicken broth
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can white kidney beans, rinsed
1 can black eyed peas, partially rinsed
1 parsnip, peeled and diced
2 red potatoes, peeled and diced
1 yellow squash, diced
1 zucchini, diced
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup corn
1 cup celery, thinly sliced
salt & pepper to taste
¼ teaspoon paprika

Combine all ingredients in a large pot.  Simmer for 2 hours, stirring periodically.  Enjoy.

Notes: In my frozen tub, I had shredded carrots, zucchini, celery, and corn.  I added fresh the parsnip, potatoes and yellow squash (which was on sale at Kroger this week).  The other ingredients are all pantry staples for me.  Jonathan deemed it “delicious!”  I ended up with probably 8-10 servings from the entire pot.  I put part of it away to freeze, and still have enough for us to have dinner again and for me for lunch tomorrow.

It will be wonderful with some warm crusty bread or cheese on top.  The best thing, is you can completely customize it for your tastes.  I’m really pleased with the result, and probably won’t ever buy canned vegetable soup again.

Today, I’m just going to share some of our meals.  It was truly a culinary experience.  We traveled on the Carnival Spirit.

Tomato & Fresh Mozzarella Appetizer in Dining Room

One Empire Dining Room dessert, which I could remember what it was!

We also took the opportunity, on the last night of our cruise to eat in the Supper Club.  It was an additional cost of $30 per person, but it was more than worth it. A masterpiece of a meal.

A Mushroom Cappucino as a "pre-starter"

Duck Confit also as a prestarter

My Crab Cake appetizer

Dad's French Onion Soup appetizer

My Lamb Chop Entree

Chocolate Tarte with Bitter Chocolate Pate, Pineapple Croquant and Tirimasu Notre Facon

I thought I’d be getting one chocolate tarte, but instead I ended up with 4 different desserts.  Just amazing.  I’ll be posting more pics as I sort through J’s pictures, but this was a cruise a foodie would love.