The Name Game

"My Baby This Week" is the name of a newsletter I get from thebabycenter.com.  This email is full of information about the baby's development, what I should be feeling like for the week, and my favorite part, a comparison of the baby to produce.  We're up to the size of a 5 oz. onion this week! Well, after reading this week's update, I noticed this suggested activity:

"Start a baby name list. Make a list of ten names you like. Have your partner do the same. Trade lists and each cross out one name on the other's list that you dislike. Keep taking turns until you have a set of names you can both live with. Talk about why you like and dislike certain names. Many couples even create ground rules, such as no names of former girlfriends or boyfriends and no names that have ever been used for family pets." source

We already talked about names, but I thought it would be pretty hilarious to see the names Kyle came up with, so we started our lists.  The only rule being: there are no rules.   Kyle took FOREVER to come up with a list.  For the first ten minutes, he couldn't think of any names besides the two we'd talked about.  In the end (after 35 minutes of Kyle in deep thought and 15 minutes of Kyle on the computer looking at name lists), we had this:

                     Kyle's List                                       Brenda's List

Boys                               Girls                            Boys                         Girls

James                             Olivia                           James                         Olivia

Nathan                            Margaret                      Austin                         Cecilia

William                            Margarite (Rita)            Max                            Jane

Brady                              Ashley                        Jackson                       Victoria

Kenneth (Ken)                  Kate                            Barak                          Charlotte
                                                                         Guillermo                     Savannah
                                                                         Yadier                          Maya
                                                                         Dexter                          Annie
                                                                                                             Julie

As we went through the lists one at a time, I had to break the news to Kyle that we can't name our child after a sibling,  cousin, cousin's kid, or our favorite LOST character.  Although a little Desmond would be adorable with his Australian accent!  My list really wasn't much better as I obviously got a little "current event" happy towards the end of the boy column.  I thought my mom would appreciate a little Yaddy in the family!  Then there were the plethora of cities on the girls side. I love all of them; Kyle, not so much.  :  (  All in all we had fun sharing the lists;  I'll let you guess which names we kept and which were crossed right off.

Today was a big day for me!  After trying on about a half dozen pre-pregnancy shirts this morning and looking muffin-toppish, I put on a maternity shirt.  I felt so much better wearing it since it actually fit.  So today marks the first time I wore a maternity shirt to work!  Here I am showing it off; I'm totally smeyesing in this pic.

Dinner is also worth sharing tonight.  I made some roasted asparagus following this recipe.  It was so good; I actually ate it all (sorry Kyle) within four minutes of it coming out the oven.  Yum, yum, yum.  Will def. buy more tomorrow at the market!  Kyle whipped up Sesame Soy Chicken. It doesn't look beautiful and it's obviously just protein and carbs, but it was very tasty!  I'd type it up the recipe, but that seems like I'd be stealing from Tina.  So you can get the recipe here if you're interested! Along with the Sesame Soy Chicken, we enjoyed Cucumber, Tomato, and Red Onion Salad. 

Kyle and I are in for a big Friday night of watching Rules of Engagement Season 3 and probably going to bed by 9.  I can't believe we'll have to give up this wild lifestyle in October!

Oat-Crusted Chicken Tenders and Oven-Roasted Kale

When I first got mt pups, I felt guilty about leaving them home all day in their kennels.  They were missing out on so much activity during the 9+ hours I was at work.  All it took was one day off work for me to realize that all my dogs do all day is sleep, but at least outside of the kennels they can snuggle.

I was planning on making fancy pizza rolls for dinner tonight- the same ones I was going to make last night.  However, around 4:30-5:00, I was unable to view the webpage with the recipe.  Since the dough would take 1+ hours to rise, I decided to go with plan B: oat-crusted chicken tenders and oven-roasted kale.  The chicken tenders were crunchy and tasty.  I highly recommend trying them! The yellow blob is honey.  It's not as photogenic as one would think.

Oat-Crusted Chicken Tenders (From Better Homes and Gardens) 

 Quick-cooking oats

dried bread crumbs

salt

pepper

chicken strips

butter, melted

1.  Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.
2.  Combine equal parts oats and bread crumbs in a shallow dish.  Add a pinch of salt and pepper.
3. Dip chicken in melted butter, then oat mixture.  (Think assembly line)

 
4.  Place chicken tenders on a baking sheet that has been coated with cooking spray.
5.  Bake chicken tenders in oven for 15 minutes or until cooked through.  (It took us 20 minutes)
6.  Enjoy chicken tenders dipped in any or all of your favorite sauces!

As for the oven-roasted kale, we followed this recipe exactly.    The kale was super crunchy and delicious.  The only down side to cooking it was the prep time- about 25 minutes of cutting and washing.  The washing took the longest because of some little 'friends' I found.  By friends, I mean bugs.  This is par for the course when you eat organically*; sometimes you will come across a bug or two.  I pulled off all the bugs (about 6) I could see, then thoroughly (we're talking one tiny leaf at a time) rinsed each leaf.  Plus, I'm telling myself the 15 minutes at 375 would kill anything!   *Note: the last bug I found in my produce was in July when there was a caterpillar in my broccoli.   I do not think there is anything okay about bugs in food.  It grosses me out, and I am composting the remainder of the kale to not have to deal with the critters.

Have you ever found a 'friend' in your produce?  What did you do?