Pregnancy Eats

Nine months of pregnancy has got me eating the following things which I haven't really posted anywhere on social media so I thought I'd summarize them here. These were not all cravings, they're just things I ate. Notice the increase in sweets especially given that I never had a sweet tooth before. Pastries are probably one thing I am not going to want to touch again for a few months. I'm so tired of that carby sugary taste which does nothing but leave me feeling very thirsty and fat.

In no particular order:

Healthy homemade granola. My husband loved this. It was a good way to divert him from snacking on Airheads candies.

Recipe link

I wanted brownies but I didn't want to buy or bake a big batch so I used this recipe for a small batch and replaced cocoa powder with protein powder because it's all I had. It still turned out great! 

Recipe link

Linguine with small scallops (which I overcooked - boo) in a browned butter sauce with capers, radish greens, and tomatoes. Served with a side of roasted organic heirloom carrots. It was excellent! No recipe, I just made it up.

Shrimps with their head and shells on dressed in oil, cajun seasoning, little bit of fish sauce, and brown sugar. Sauteed in a pan. The orange color and seasoning comes from it's head guts. I take out the shrimp and stir fry my rice in the pan with all the shrimp sauce to pick up the extra flavors. 

Sauteed ong choy greens with garlic, dried shrimp, tamarind and shrimp pastes. Served on ripe tomatoes. 

My favorite Korean honey toast and affogato from Big Mug Coffee Roaster.  

A huge portion of pancakes at Hash House in Campbell for brunch with my friends. Heavy carb foods gave me heartburn during pregnancy and this one gave me heart burn for 7 hours afterwards. 

I love this new place, Soyful Desserts. They specialize in soy based drinks and cold soy desserts with different sweet toppings like this red bean and sago one. 

Tried some new items at Veggie Grill like these crispy cauliflower bites. Twas good. 

Thai (fake) chicken salad bowl. It's not a new item. And it's not very good. Do not order. 

Their classic vegetarian buffalo chicken burger which is still good as always but somehow the portion size keeps shrinking. The side of quinoa and black bean chili is good. 

The new summer item is the glazed tofu banh mi which I thought was pretty good. 

Mentaiko pasta from Tanto which I ate there and then tried to replicate it again later that week. So I ate pasta 3 days that week and it was totally worth it. 

Tried my first cronut from Paris Baguette. It's sweet, oily, and stuffed with a custard. Glad I tried it but would not buy it again. 

I had a very strong craving for ice cream sandwiches specifically with chocolate chip cookies and vanilla ice cream. I didn't satisfy this craving often because I am super picky about the quality of cookie and ice cream and if I were to eat the calories, it had to be on something worth it. Well clearly this macaron ice cream sammy from Icebox is not what I wanted but Icebox is good enough for me to use my calorie quota on.  

Ordered a great healthy Jamaican jerk chicken from Farmhill for lunch at work one day. Their version of the sauce was excellent even if not authentic. Quality whole foods like this really kept me full for longer than processed foods. This has always been true for me (and for everyone) but during pregnancy the baby took up more of my energy but my stomach had less space than before so the quality of ingredients I consumed was immediately reflected in my energy level. In the first trimester, I resorted to instant noodles and fast food when I was too busy or too sick to cook and I'd be hungry again in an hour. As pregnancy progressed I learned to manage my time and eating and felt much better. I ate less frequently but each meal gave me more energy. So, don't give in to all the urges for fast food if you're pregnant, you'll pay the price later and not just in weight gain but in energy level. Those empty calories won't take you as far as you think it would.

Of course I wasn't always good. There was that sweet tooth to deal with. We had 2 baby showers back to back, one of which was ours and both of them had lots of delicious cakes. Like this red velvet, Warriors themed cake that Lydia from Macahhrun made for us. 

And Warriors and basketball themed macarons.

And cookies we baked from Its Its cookie dough. 

Here's an example of processed food I cooked on lazy days. Crescent rolls from Costco, with chopped up hot links, scrambled eggs, and roasted garlic inside. Notice there are no greens and everything came from a package except the eggs and garlic. But we all have those days when we come home from work late and are pregnant and tired. 

Treated ourselves to a special Easter Brunch at The Sea by Alexander's Steakhouse. This lobster scrambled egg was so good. Just parmesaney fluffy eggs underneath.

Everyone's been telling me about 85* Bakery, a Taiwanese chain with lines out the door. So when a new one opened near my work, I went to purchase a sampling of their stuff. That egg tart and chocolate cookie were the best. The rest is good but I wouldn't care to buy them again. 

Early in my ice cream sandwich craving phase, I settled for this really disappointing sandwich from Swich in San Francisco. Don't. Just don't go here. Not everything in SF is worth it's hype. 

Speaking of hype, a new restaurant and bar in Campbell just opened with alot of hype. I stopped by Willard and Hicks after dinner and wanted to just sample something to get a teaser for a possible future review. I tried this jalapeno honey cornbread and it was so good. I got my eye on this place for a future write up.