Food

Being pregnant has completely changed the way I think about food... Imagine that :) I've been so lucky to not really experience any terrible nausea (just a tad bit from 7-12 weeks or so). Before pregnancy I liked to watch what I ate during the week, packing my lunches for work and cooking healthy meals for dinner, but would most definitely splurge a couple of times on the weekend. My meals during the week were predictable, and grocery shopping was not difficult at all.
Since I've been pregnant my tastebuds, aversions, and cravings are different weekly. There are weeks that I love food, and many different types of foods sound appealing. Then there are weeks where absolutely nothing sounds good and I have to force a bowl of cereal down because feeling sick from not eating is worse than eating something that doesn't sound so great. And grocery shopping... ha. There were weeks that I had to take Chris with me just so I'd actually be productive.
I still try to eat relatively healthy and now that I'm in my second trimester I definitely let myself have more calories throughout the day. My eating schedule lately has been something like this:
6:30 am- wake up starving, usually eat a bowl of cereal (cheerios or raisin bran crunch) or low sugar oatmeal
9:00- My students are in PE or music and I am starving by this time!! Lately I've been buying Owens breakfast burritos (per Chris's request) and eating one of those around this time.
11:40- Lunch at work- sometimes a Lean Cuisine or Amy's Organic meal, or leftovers from whatever I made for dinner the night before. I try to throw in an apple, and for dessert a chocolate covered granola bar. :)
3:00- Students are gone, once again starving! Pretzels and lowfat cheese stick are my go to snack.
5:00- Dinner is getting close, but of course I need another snack. These snacks vary depending on what's at home.
6:45ish- Dinner, finally! Sometimes I just eat without Chris if I'm too hungry and couldn't find anything for my 5 pm snack.
After dinner I usually have some sort of dessert. This week I baked brownies and they are so yummy.
All of this food talk to say that I want to start keeping track of dinners that I've made and really enjoyed eating, so I'm starting this week. Last night I made Taco Salad and loved every bite. It was a great meal because Chris was able to leave out the lettuce and tomatoes (all the healthy stuff) and make himself nachos.

Taco Salad
1 lb ground beef (the baby needs iron!)
1 can of charro or pinto beans, drained
1/2 c frozen corn
taco seasoning
Brown the meat and then add taco seasoning. Add drained beans and frozen corn, cover and cook for 20 minutes or so.
To assemble: Place tortilla chips on the bottom layer, add romaine lettuce and then meat mixture on top. Additional toppings: cheese, tomato, Catalina dressing (yum!)

I occasionally still have aversions, but now that I'm nearing the halfway mark I'd really love to enter the phase of pregnancy where all food sounds wonderful.