For about 50 weeks out of the year, fresh blueberries are too expensive for me to consider buying in a grocery store. But there comes a time, every summer, when blueberries suddenly drop in price and you can snatch them up. And then… well, then you have to figure out how you’re going to use up all of those berries.
Yesterday, we spent the entire day tackling a really long “to-do” list I had crafted for us. We spent the biggest chunk of time putting together nursery furniture, and after all that work, we wanted a dinner that required very little effort.
Enter breakfast for dinner.
And given that we had multiple pints of blueberries sitting in the fridge, it just made sense to do blueberry pancakes.
These are light and fluffy and generally wonderful. Everything you’d expect out of a pancake. Of course, the blueberries give them the bulk of their flavor, so if you have good berries, it makes sense you’d have good pancakes!
The recipe is from Allrecipes.com, but as always, I adapted it to make more pancakes. Extra pancakes are just too good not to have around! (And I’ll mention again–the best way to reheat leftover pancakes is in the toaster.)
Blueberry Pancakes
(Source: Adapted from Allrecipes.com)
Ingredients:
– 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
– 1 tsp. salt
– 2 tbsp. baking powder
– 2 1/2 tsp. white sugar
– 2 eggs
– 2 cups milk
– 1 tbsp. butter, melted
– 1 to 1 1/2 cups blueberries (add more or less, depending on preference)
Directions:
1. In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking powder and sugar.
2. In a small bowl, beat together egg and milk. Stir milk and egg into flour mixture.
3. Mix in the butter and fold in the blueberries. Set aside for one hour (not necessary, but whatever floats your boat!).
4. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.
One of the things that women never tell you about pregnancy: It really, really sucks when you can’t take good drugs. (The legal ones, of course.)
I had a pretty bad cold after we got back from Florida, but I was really only miserable for a day or so before my body kicked it and it was gone. There was a 24-hour period where I really wished I could take drugs, but it wasn’t THAT bad.
My current cold (summer colds are the worst anyway, aren’t they?) has been a whole different story.
My mom called me on Monday or Tuesday to tell me that she had suddenly come down with a really bad cold, and that she hoped I wouldn’t get it (since I spent a good chunk of Sunday at her house with her, finishing the baby’s bedding). I wasn’t too worried, but sure enough, I woke up on Wednesday with the beginnings of a scratchy throat. Still, it wasn’t bad.
By the time we did all of our HOURS of prep work for the carpet on Thursday night and got into bed, my throat was feeling pretty horrific. Not sore, but scratchy, and it was awful. I really could’ve benefited from some Nyquil, but since I had to go without, I was up ALL.NIGHT.LONG.
I hoped that the scratchy throat would just hurry up and turn into congestion already, but unfortunately, I spent yesterday trying to nurse the scratchy throat, too. I can only consume so many cough drops, people! As we were eating dinner and starting to get the house back together last night, I felt the scratchy throat begin to subside little by little… the price for the relief, however, was that my nose got stuffier and stuffier. By the time we were climbing into bed, I had developed a lovely cough and was blowing my nose pretty constantly.
And this morning, I woke up with a full-fledged cold. Niiiice.
The thing about the drugs is–when you’re pregnant, you can take PLAIN Robitussin (no DM, or any of the good stuff) and PLAIN Sudafed (again, JUST pseudophedrine). And come on, we all know those don’t do shit!
I have been trying to avoid taking medicine during pregnancy, but today, I was miserable enough where I just HAD to take something. Anything.
So I started treating my cough with the plain Robitussin. But I didn’t have any plain Sudafed for my nasal congestion. Off to the pharmacy we went. Unable to find it on the shelves, I asked the pharmacist about it and he informed me that I’d have to buy it from behind the pharmacy counter. Since I used to work in a pharmacy years ago, I suspected this might be the case, but wasn’t sure. So I go up to the cashier at the pharmacy and say I need to buy some plain ol’ Sudafed. The kid says he needs my driver’s license.
Like, an ID. To buy Sudafed.
The kid says to me, “People use this to make meth.”
Suuuure. The meth-heads have to go and ruin it for all the miserable pregnant ladies out there. Figures.
And, pardon me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t it seem a little backwards that the ONLY drug I can take while pregnant is the same drug that people use to make METH??
I told you earlier this week (in my 27-week pregnancy post) how we were getting new carpet. Well, here we are at the end of the week, and we do, in fact, have new carpet.
And we are EXHAUSTED.
It was SO.MUCH.WORK. I’ve come to the conclusion that the carpet guys have the EASY job. It’s the preparation that is a complete and total bitch. From the minute we’ve gotten home from work to the minute we’ve gone to bed, every night this week, we’ve been subjected to hours of manual labor.
Moving every item we own off of the carpet was no small feat. Then there was ripping up all the old carpet, the padding, and staples in every room. And then there was massive cleaning. Then there was putting things back together. It was insane.
I worked from home yesterday and today so that we could get the carpet installed. Yesterday, they came and did the majority of the house, but they couldn’t do our master bedroom because we just didn’t have enough room to move the furniture out of there, too. So last night, we put the living room back together, then tore apart our bedroom. And then tonight, we got to move everything back into the bedroom.
The good news is that it is done, and it looks (and feels, AND smells) fabulous in here. The house is the cleanest it has been since we moved in, since we made sure to give everything a good scrubbing and/or vacuuming, including baseboards, all of the blinds, and all of the little things–books, DVDs, knick knacks, picture frames, etc.–have been dusted. For a nesting pregnant lady, it feels WONDERFUL.
So, before we officially crash… here are some photos! The living room is the only place I was consistent with taking photos, so they are the ones I’ll share. Photos don’t really do the project justice, but trust me when I say that new carpet is TOTALLY WORTH IT. If you’ve been thinking about it, DO IT.
Before:
The old carpet. It was really light in color, which made it difficult to keep clean. Throughout the past five years, it has started to show more dirt. It also felt really “worn” under your feet. Most frustrating were the really bad ripples that started popping up all over. You can see a few of them in these pictures, but here’s one pic from the bedroom where you can see a bad one, too:
(Don’t mind the random stuff in our room–this was after we had started to move things in there to get them out of the other areas of the house.)
During:
This is in the morning, before the guys came to install the first round of carpet. We ripped everything up down to the subfloors. (Don’t you love the spray painting marks from where the owners before us painted the kitchen cabinet doors yellow?)
It wasn’t long before the guys had the new padding down:
Then, they brought in the new carpet, which is more beige than white, so it’s several shades darker than the old stuff (might be hard to tell in pics):
After:
It is so nice to have our house back. Actually, it’s like it’s a whole new house… so it’s nice to have an even BETTER house back! Life can be normal again; YAY!
At one of our local farmer’s markets, there is a vendor that sells homemade pasta. They have a bunch of different “flavors” of pasta, including a cracked pepper variety. They also hand out recipes to go with the pastas, and this recipe is intended for the cracked pepper flavor. However, we’ve made it with both the specialty pasta and regular fettucine, and it’s delicious both ways, so I figured I’d share!
The lemon, parsley, and crushed red pepper mixture doesn’t seem like a lot, but it coats quite a bit of pasta, and the caramelized cauliflower helps give everything plenty of flavor. This is light and delicious, perfect for a summer evening.
Fettucine with Caramelized Cauliflower
(Source: Farmer’s Market Vendor!)
Ingredients:
– 1 lb. fettucine
– 4 tbsp. olive oil
– 1 small cauliflower, sliced into small pieces
– 1 cup fresh italian parsley
– 1 tbsp. grated lemon zest
– 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
– parmesan cheese, for topping
Directions:
1. Start pasta water and preheat oven to 475 degrees.
2. Toss cauliflower in 2 tbsp. olive oil and spread out on an olive oil greased baking sheet. Season with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper.
3. Roast cauliflower in oven on top rack for 16-20 minutes or until browned.
4. In food processor, combine parsley, lemon zest, and 2 tbsp. olive oil to make a chunky “sauce.”
5. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain. Toss the cooked pasta with the cauliflower, parsley mixture, and red pepper flakes in a serving bowl.
6. Top with grated parmesan cheese and serve.
Last weekend, Michael’s sister and the boys came up to visit us. We spent the afternoon running around the backyard with them, and laughing at their latest tricks.
A few pics of the growing boys:
For the record, Brendan now says that we’re having a boy, and that his name is going to be Larry. (Last time we saw him, he told us we’re having a girl and her name is Lily.) So much for children’s intuition. :) He is getting so big and smart these days. We went out for ice cream, and as we were sitting there eating, he turns to us and says, “So, where is your house, Uncle Mike and Aunt Heather?” It was so hilarious coming out of a little guy, and that was actually the first time I’d ever heard him use our names together like that.
Logan is getting big, too, but he is so much more quiet and easy-going than Brendan. He was, therefore, way easier to capture on camera this time around, which is why there are so many more photos of him than Brendan. Brendan is GO-GO-GO the entire time he’s here. Little guy was exhausted by the time they were loading into the car to go home.
It’ll be interesting when there are THREE cousins running around at every visit! :)
About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
