Happy New Year!!!
I hope this is what you and I can say together for 2013!!! Hubby and I started trying to have a baby in 2010 and since then two new year’s day have gone by where I’ve said “This will be the year we have a baby.” So….here I am again, on the precipice of another year, hopeful that 2013 will be the magical year. Hubby and I were reflecting last night and he so dearly reminded me of all of the blessings we truly have in our life, despite not having a baby yet. We have wonderful families, loving parents, amazing friends, great jobs, a beautiful home and a friendship that has only grown stronger with our struggles. And he is right, we have so much to be thankful for. I’m just hoping that a healthy baby will be that final part that makes life complete for us. We originally wanted three children, but now, we would be over the moon to have just one.
I’m 8 days away from my frozen embryo transfer. Our natural FET was cancelled since my body wasn’t cooperating, so now we are doing a HRT FET (hormone replacement therapy frozen embryo transfer). Compared to a fresh cycle the FET is much simpler. Each night I’ve been doing 5 units of Lupron and increasing my estrogen patches from 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 every other day. I had an ultrasound and estrogen blood test this past Friday and everything is looking to be on target for our transfer on January 8th. My lining was 9.8 and trilaminar and my estradiol levels are looking good for the transfer as well.
I definitely feel like I’m in a place so familiar…..a place full of excitement and fear. Excitement that this could be the cycle that works and of course, fearful that it’s not….once again. However, I must remind myself that this time is different, just like IVF #1 was different from IVF #2. But, maybe this FET is even more different from our first two cycles….I’m not coming off of a crazy amount of stimulation medications and perhaps our little embryo is stronger having gone through the freezing and thawing process. Hubby found this article and gave it to me to read last night promising that I wouldn’t start doing my own research on the internet only to send myself into an anxious frenzy.
My hope and prayer is that 2013 is the year. I hope this for myself but I also hope it for many of the other couples out there who are struggling with the same battle. I know many of you have the same challenges when I read the heartache in your posts. So, I’m raising a small glass of champagne to each of you….Cheers to a fabulous 2013!!!! xoxoxo
Bakin’ Friends
This is the first month that I joined Stephanie over at Steph’s Bite by Bite for Bakin’ Friends. Stephanie has organized a baking group where participants are given a secret ingredient to incorporate into a baked good and to send that baked good to another person/blogger that they are paired with.
“Bakin’ Friends is all about connecting bakers, bloggers, foodies, and people who just like sweets! We’re in the business of baking and making friends!”
This month’s secret ingredient was peppermint and I was lucky enough to get paired with Stephanie herself. Stephanie sent me an adorable card with the recipe for her Peppermint 7-Layer Bars along with a large batch of the bars. My box arrived just before Christmas and I was able to share these yummy bars with friends and family for the holidays. Peppermint was the perfect ingredient for December since it is reminiscent of the holiday season.
These yummy bars have about everything you could ask for in them-Oreos, white chocolate chips, peppermint M & M’s, white chocolate peppermint pretzels, marshmallows and sweetened condensed milk.
http://www.inlinkz.com/wpview.php?id=225599
I’m so glad I decided to join Bakin’ Friends. Below is a little more information if you are interested in joining in as well!
On the 6th of each month you will be paired up with a Bakin’ Friend. You’ll contact your newly appointed Bakin’ Friend to see if they have any allergies or dietary restrictions and you’ll also get their mailing address. Then you’ll bake your goody and have it in the mail and on its way to your new Bakin’ Friend by the 16th of each month. You’ll of course want to include the recipe for your baked goody so that your new friend can recreate the yummies at home! How cute would it be if we all did our recipes on vintage recipe cards, just sayin’!
Then, on the last day of the month we’ll post about who our new Bakin’ Friend is, what they baked, and how they used the secret ingredient. (This group right now is only open to US and Canadian residents. US residents will be paired with US residents, and Canadian residents with Canadian residents)
Are you ready to make some new friends? Then send an email to stephsbitebybite(at)gmail(dot)com with Bakin’ Friends in the subject. Emails MUST be received before the 2nd of each month so that I have time to get all the match ups done. Please make sure to include your full name, your email address, your blog name and URL (if applicable), and whether you live in the US or Canada.
I sent Peppermint Meltaways to Abby. Abby isn’t a blogger so I’ll be posting about the cookies I sent to her soon!
Merry Christmas
Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas!!! The cats got dressed up just for you!
Cookie Exchange
I love a homemade cookie! I can pass on an Oreo, Chips Ahoy or Pecan Sandie, but stick a homemade cookie (especially a good chocolate chip cookie) in front of my face and the next thing I know, I’m shoving it into my pie hole! That is why this time of year is a little rough on the waistline, but I’ve got January 1st around the corner where I can swear off sweets. Ha! Which is a joke, because it only lasts a week. Every year the ladies from my office do a cookie exchange, everyone brings a large batch (8-12 dozen) of cookies to share with everyone. We usually do a brunch with the cookie exchange but this year we did Happy Hour after we exchanged our cookies at the office. What could make me more happy than cookies and happy hour?!
Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (aka “Izzy” cookies-my friend Izzy first introduced me to these cookies!)
Makes 5 dozen (which was perfect since I had to make so many for the exchange!)
Ingredients:
- 1 cup butter (2 sticks)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1 cup smooth peanut butter
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (I substituted green/red M & M’s for the holidays)
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl with a hand or stand mixer on medium speed, cream butter and sugars until smooth. Add peanut butter and mix until combined; then add eggs and vanilla, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
2. In another medium bowl, whisk together oats, flour, and baking soda. Add to butter mixture and mix on low until well incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips with a wooden spoon.
3. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons 1 inch part onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, switching position of pans halfway through baking, or until lightly browned but still soft in the center. Transfer cookies to racks to cool.
Dough minus the M & M’s
Here is the dough, ready to go to roll into balls for the cookie sheet. But, seriously, how good would it be to sit down with your best girlfriend and two spoons??! I love cookie dough almost more than I love cookies themselves. Are you with me?!
Cooling on wire racks
Santa worthy
The recipe above makes approximately 5 dozen cookies. I made 1.5x’s the recipe and ended up with 108 baked cookies and another dozen rolled dough balls in the freezer. I love freezing balls of cookie dough, they are perfect to pull out of the freezer when you are craving a warm freshly baked cookie, who doesn’t love that?!
Here is a plateful of some of the cookies from the cookie exchange.
Cookies!
Hand-dipped ginger molasses cookies, spiced nuts, candy cane cookies, coconut chocolate ball, Rolo turtles, Rudolph’s cousin and homemade fudge. There were even more cookies that didn’t make it onto this plate! I’ll be happy to share these cookies and of course, eat some myself!
Happy Holidays to all of you!!! Safe travels and have a wonderful time with family and friends! xoxoxo
Spicy n’ Sweet Pecans
My kitchen has been filled with the aroma of baking…..my favorite! Every year, I like to make these spicy n’ sweet pecans. They are super easy to make, store easily and make perfect little gifts for the holidays. I usually share them with my hair stylist, massage therapist, friends and family. Also, these nuts are great on salads, they add a little kick of sweet and spice and add some crunchy texture. I love them with a salad of mixed greens, pears, gorgonzola, and a citrus vinaigrette.
Spicy n’ Sweet Pecans
Ingredients:
- 1 egg white
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 pound pecan halves
- 1 cup white sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Grease one baking sheet. (I usually use a jelly roll pan, the sides prevent the pecans from going all over.)
2. In a mixing bowl, whip together the egg white and water until frothy. In a separate bowl, mix together sugar, salt, cinnamon and cayenne.
3. Add pecans to egg whites, stir to coat the nuts evenly. Remove the nuts, and toss them in the sugar mixture until coated. Spread the nuts out on the prepared baking sheet.
4. Bake at 250 degrees for 1 hour. Stir every 15 minutes.
After first 15 minutes in the oven.
After full hour of baking
Wrapped up and ready to share
This week has finally been less busy with holiday events, but I’ve been doing all of my last-minute stuff around the house. Baking, wrapping gifts, getting stocking stuffers, preparing for our early Christmas gathering with my in-laws and packing to head out-of-town to visit my own parents for Christmas. I’ve definitely been getting into the spirit of the season, I’ve got my Pandora radio set to the holiday station and have been singing along while I work away!
I’m heading back to my clinic this Friday for my estrogen blood test. I started Vivelle dot patches a few days ago. I’ve dropped my dose of Lupron from 10 units to 5 units and have been wearing one Vivelle patch that I change every other day. I’m hoping my estrogen levels are where they need to be and that I don’t have to do further supplementation. So far this cycle has been nice, especially with the holidays coming up, we are able to visit family out-of-town without the interruption of office visits for ultrasounds and blood tests. I am really hoping 2013 is the year of the baby!!!
Tomorrow my office is doing our annual cookie exchange, I’ll be posting my recipe soon. I’m eager to see what yummy creations my co-workers have been busy baking!
Green Light and Christmas Cheer
I went to my fertility clinic today for my HRT FET suppression check. AF came a few days ago after I discontinued my birth control pills. The ultrasound technician said that AF coming was actually a good thing-meaning that my uterine lining is thin and this is a good way to start the FET cycle. Today’s appointment was quick, the ultrasound showed a thin lining (like she hoped), the only bad news is that my right side endometrioma is larger than it was last time, a little over 5 cm. Since the FET is only dependent on my uterine lining, it won’t be an issue right now, but may need to be addressed if we have to do IVF #3 and do another round of stimulations.
On another note, Hubby had a minor surgery today. Everything went well and he is resting at home now. I have my office Christmas party tonight, so hopefully he’ll feel up to attending. This year we are doing a cooking class and preparing our own meal. I love all of the wonderful people I work with, so it should be a fun and interactive evening!
Tomorrow will be our last holiday event besides spending time with family for Christmas. We are going to see Elf at the 5th Avenue Theater here in town with dear friends. Elf is one of my favorite Christmas movies and I can’t wait to see it on a theater stage.
Hope everyone is spending lots of time with friends and family in these next couple of weeks leading up to Christmas!
My prayers are with the families in Connecticut. I can’t even imagine what they are going through…..
Mint Brownies
And breathe…….I don’t know if your December has been anything like mine, but it has been crazy!!! I’m sad that my DVR is piling up with all of my favorite shows (um, hello…..Nashville!!) since I haven’t had any time to just sit and relax. Last week I was helping with my church’s annual Women’s Christmas Desserts (it’s a wonderful function for the women of the church to join together in fellowship), it turned out lovely, but was a lot of work. I spent 13 hours at church last Tuesday alone! And last night Hubby and I were out until 2:30 AM for his holiday party. (They are party animals…..I am not!)
So, what better way to decompress after a late night out and a couple of dessert events than to make more desserts. Winter and the holidays put me in the mood for peppermint, it must be the cool, crisp air. I love chocolate chip mint ice cream anytime of year, but around this time of year, I love peppermint ice cream (the pink colored kind which Hubby LOVES!), peppermint lattes, and a good chocolate/mint combo. I really think boxed brownies are excellent and love them a little under cooked, but I wanted to make a homemade brownie and capture the essence of the holidays.
Mint Brownies (adapted from Bon Appetit)
Ingredients:
For brownies:
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate chopped
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
For toppings:
- 1 cup sifted powdered sugar
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon whole milk (I used half and half)
- 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
- Candy cane pieces (optional)
Preparation:
Make brownies:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter 8x8x2 metal baking pan (I used a glass pan and had some trouble getting brownies out). Stir butter and chocolate in small saucepan over low heat until smooth. Set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add chocolate mixture, flour, peppermint extract and vanilla extracts and salt; stir until just blended. Mix in nuts.
Transfer batter to prepared pan.
Bake until toothpick comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 25 minutes. Cool slightly.
Make toppings:
Beat powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons butter, milk and extract in bowl until creamy.
Spread over warm brownies. Chill until set, about 1 hour.
Stir chocolate and 2 tablespoons butter in small saucepan over low heat until smooth. Cool slightly. Pour over mint topping, spread evenly. Add peppermint candy cane pieces on top if desired. Cover and chill until set, about 1 hour. Cut into 20 squares. Can be made 8 hours ahead. Cover with foil; store at room temperature.)
Chopped unsweetened chocolate
Enough to share with friends
In fact, I shared these with some of my dearest friends for our annual gingerbread house decorating party yesterday. We had a buffet of sweets and carbs (what us girls love) and enjoyed a fun afternoon together.
As you can probably guess, I’m off my gluten and dairy free diet right now and maybe indefinitely. There are just too many foods that I love this time of year to restrict my diet. And so far, it hasn’t miraculously made me pregnant. I’m taking my last birth control pill for my HRT FET (hormone replacement therapy, frozen embryo transfer) tonight and started my Lupron injections this past Wednesday. This coming Friday is my suppression check, my fingers are crossed that we get the green light to proceed ahead.
Hope you are all enjoying the holidays!!! If you are busy like I am, take a little time for yourself and make these brownies!!!
Well, hello there…..
Sorry I’ve been MIA. Thanksgiving, a sick husband, Christmas shopping (although the tree isn’t up yet), work, life, etc……
Hope you all had a wonderful Turkey day. We had a nice one with my in-laws, a small group of only 6 this year. We alternate Thanksgiving and Christmas between my family and Hubby’s family. This year we’ll be with my family for Christmas. Many people in Hubby’s family are vegetarians, so I was a little worried about having turkey and the traditional foods, but it all worked out and we had a delicious meal. I contributed a green bean dish from Jessica’s beautiful blog. And also a pumpkin pie, which was disastrous in the making, but turned out tasty in the end. I was going to photograph and document my first ever pie crust, but glad I didn’t, you would have discredited me for my “food” blog. I did my first “blind” bake of crust and it was a slumping mess and required some intervention.
The day after Thanksgiving, Hubby and I hosted an Apple Cup party. Apple Cup is the annual football game between state rival schools University of Washington (Go Dawgs!) and Washington State University. We had a fun day filled with friends and food, but the outcome of the game was sad. The Huskies “Coug’d” it! Eeek!
I’m currently in a holding pattern with the fertility treatments. We had to cancel the FET that we were hoping to do right after IVF #2 failed, but my follicles and lining weren’t progressing, so we called it off. I waited around for AF to show up and she showed her lovely face on Thanksgiving. I guess I was thankful that AF arrived and that I could begin a medicated FET. I have been in touch with my nurse at our clinic and she has been working to coordinate with the lab to do our FET. I was surprised how difficult it was to schedule. You are much more at the mercy of the lab for a FET than a fresh transfer, at least at our clinic. Originally they didn’t have my transfer scheduled until January 21st, but we would be out of the state, so I asked what could be done. My nurse is a miracle worker and just told me that she is working to get us a transfer on January 8th before we leave for vacation. Right now I’m on birth control and will start medications when directed. I had been feeling pretty indifferent until I actually sat and thought about it and then I felt scared, overwhelmed by the fear of the FET not working. I don’t want to feel like I did after IVF #2 failed. That was a dark place and one I hadn’t been to before. But, on the flip side, I’m trying to remind myself that this will be an entirely different scenario-no stimulation, no egg retrieval surgery, no waiting to see how the embryos develop. Hopeful……that is my mantra…..right??!
I’m planning on getting back to the kitchen and promise to post something yummy soon. Pictures of food are much more exciting than a bunch of words!
Also, I would like to thank Bree at Thought Provoking Moments for nominating me for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award. I promise to post more about that soon. xoxo
Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Birthday!!!!
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope you are surrounded by family and friends and enjoying a big, yummy dinner together and thinking of all the things you are thankful for.
One thing I am thankful for, especially today, is my bestie Alex. I am actually thankful for Alex everyday of the year, but today is not only Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday), but it is Alex’s birthday!!!! Alex and I have been best of friends since our freshman year of high school. We met in biology class and have been close ever since. We’ve shared many experiences-most of them wonderful and a few not-so-wonderful. High kicking on drill team, late night trips to Freddy’s, eating late night McDonald’s, sharing crushes (shirt alert), moving to the “big city”, laughter, book clubs, eating great meals together, cooking, yoga, running, marriages, and for Alex, the birth of her beautiful daughter Peyton.
Alex and beautiful daughter, Peyton
It was actually Alex who introduced me to the blogging world and has supported my idea of having a place to share my IVF journey. She doesn’t pretend to know what I’m going through, but offers her ear, her shoulder and her calmness. I don’t know how I would survive the emotional rollercoaster of IVF without friends like Alex.
She makes me laugh!
To celebrate Alex’s birthday we went to Trophy cupcake and had their seasonal pumpkin pie cupcakes. We both adore both cupcakes and pumpkin pie, so how could we go wrong!?
Birthday Girl at Trophy Cupcakes
Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Alex, Happy Birthday to you!!!
Thank you for the 20 years of friendship, here is to 20 more! I love you, you know! xoxoxox
Pumpkin Apple Muffins-Gluten and Dairy Free
It’s already into November and I can’t believe I haven’t shared a pumpkin recipe yet. I LOVE pumpkin-pumpkin pie, pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin bread……love it all! I said in my last post that I am not being so stringent on my gluten-free and dairy-free diet, but this recipe is actually both gluten and dairy free and is delicious. My Hubby’s brother’s wife…..does that make her my sister-in-law? Anyway, she is a registered dietician and she shared this recipe with me. I modified it a bit to include pumpkin, why not, it’s November and my favorite holiday is just a few weeks away.
Pumpkin Apple Muffins (adapted from my SIL’s recipe)
Yields 12 muffins
Ingredients:
For the batter:
- 2 cups chopped apple (Honeycrisp or other sweet apple), divided
- 3/4 cup raisins
- 1 cup canned pumpkin
- 1/4 cup almond milk
- 1 1/2 cups oat flour ***
- 1 1/2 cups almond flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, divided
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg white
Cinnamon/Sugar/Oat topping:
- 1/4 cup rolled oats
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons maple sugar
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and grease or line muffin tins. (I greased my muffin tins with coconut oil.)
2. In a blender or food processor, combine 1 cup apples, raisins, pumpkin and almond milk. Puree until smooth, set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together oat flour, almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, 2 teaspoons cinnamon and salt.
4. Toss the remaining 1 cup of chopped apples with 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon to coat. Add to dry ingredient mixture.
5. Beat the egg white to stiff peaks and add to the dry ingredients along with the apple/pumpkin/raisin puree. Fold the mixture together gently just until all of the ingredients are evenly combined. Divide the muffin batter between 12 muffin cups, each filled to the top.
6. Combine the oats, cinnamon and maple sugar to make the topping and sprinkle the mixture on top of the muffins.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 4 minutes then reduce to 375 degrees and bake an additional 12-15 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.
8. Let sit in pan after removing from oven for a few minutes, transfer to a wire cooling rack. Store in an airtight container.
***I make my own oat flour. I place rolled oats in my Magic Bullet (but food processor or blender will work as well) and mix until a flour-like consistency is achieved. This is both easy and inexpensive. I do, however, purchase my almond flour from Amazon.com. I buy this almond flour.
I was very pleased with how my modifications turned out. These aren’t overly sweet, the sprinkling of maple sugar on top adds just a little bit of extra sweetness to the natural sugar of the raisins and apples. These muffins are perfect for a wholesome breakfast or would go perfectly along with a Thanksgiving dinner.
As far as the fertility stuff goes-the nurse from the clinic called last week and said she spoke with my RE and that I don’t need to worry about being on birth control (and oversuppression) since it is not a fresh IVF cycle and we aren’t concerned with retrieving eggs. We have decided to move ahead with a medicated frozen IVF cycle and are just waiting for AF to show up to get moving. The nice thing is that we’ll be able to adjust the calendar as needed with the frozen cycle.
Hubby and I leave for Vegas this weekend, we are looking forward to a weekend away and to have a weekend to really enjoy ourselves. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas?!?! Right?
Blogs I Follow
Liebster Blog
Bakin’ Friends
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hopefulandhungry 