Party of three.

Well, the day we published our last blog Mr. Rutledge and I found out there was a baby Rutledge on the way! In August, we will be pulling up another chair to our beloved dining room table- yes, I realize our little one probably won’t sit at a table until it is 3 to 15 years old. We are so incredibly excited, scared, nervous, proud, overjoyed, ecstatic and afraid to become parents. We have had so many emotions about this little baby coming our way that one of us has sworn off vegetables in an effort to calm our (my) emotions (nausea).

Mr. Rutledge has been harassing me to get back to blogging, but I’ve really only wanted to talk about the baby, the nursery, cheese and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. However, we are successfully through the first trimester and it’s time to start writing and eating more than chips and queso. I cannot and will not pretend that a cheese and simple carb meal will not make its way to our table because it will and it might be the only night I eat.

Another thing I’d like to be incredibly honest about: I’m going to be playing with the format of this blog. Mr. Rutledge feels consistency in writing is most important so we’ve agreed to continue with a goal of weekly posts. However, I think I’ll be playing around with the number of recipes and the overall focus. So what am I really saying? This blog will pretty accurately reflect the realities of our situation: one, I want to eat healthy, two due to forces entirely out of my control the things I can stand to eat are becoming fewer in number and much more random! (I blame Mr. Rutledge for our baby being such a finicky eater!), nausea is a terrible thing for a food/nutrition blogger to have (imagine riding the Texas Giant backwards during a hurricane). So bear with me. We will be sharing some yummy goodness I really, really, REALLY want to eat and also some healthy foods I’m going to try my best to eat in the week. Sound fair enough? Good. Glad we agree.

White Cheddar & Chive Potato Soup  – If Mr. Rutledge gets his way, we will be having Chicken and Dumplings one more time before we start warming up for Spring. However, I’ve already shared that recipe with you guys so I think if you want a bowl to warm up with this week, you should give this recipe a try.

Pasta with Bacon, Shredded Brussels Sprouts and Lemon Zest – We have had macaroni and cheese with bacon every week since I found out we were expecting. Don’t judge me! Mr. Rutledge claimed that our dependence on Velveeta Shells and Cheese reminds him of college. I told him I’m just glad that he can remember any of that decade! This week, I’m going to try hard to eat a healthier version. This is another Cooking Light recipe (Thank you, Memaw, for renewing our subscription)!
***UPDATE: We tried this and really liked it, but it did finish a little dry. Consider adding a little vegetable broth and/or white wine and deglazing the pan. Also, we topped our's with a smidge of parmesan cheese!***

Gumbo – one of Mr. Rutledge’s co-workers gave him a boxed Gumbo she swears by. Since she is from Louisiana, we will give it a try, but I don’t know how to tell you to make it. Give this recipe a try and let me know what you think. We will probably add either shrimp or some lean venison sausage we already have on hand.

Grilled Flank Steak and Fiesta Salad – The only non-starchy vegetables I plan to attempt to eat this week are in this salad. I’ve shared it before, but it really cannot be beat! Mr. Rutledge is anxious to get out to the backyard and do some grilling, so this is our compromise. For the flank steak, we will use a quick McCormick’s marinade (I think they have a lime mojito one). You can always throw this grilled steak on some corn tortillas and top with a little queso fresco, as well.

Ingredients:
1 each: orange bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, red bell pepper, chopped
1 bunch of green onions, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
3 stalks of celery, chopped
2-3 jalapenos, chopped
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
1 can of kidney beans, drained
1 can of black beans, drained
1 package of frozen corn
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar.

Directions: Mix all but three ingredients in a large bowl. Combine last three ingredients in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Once sugar is dissolved, cool and pour over vegetables. Stir well. Then, marinate in the fridge until ready to be served.

Monster Cookies – several weeks ago, my Memaw, sister, best friend, her little boy and I went to visit my great-great-Aunt Nell. Being the smart alec that I am, I assured Aunt Nell I wasn’t coming to visit unless she had something sweet for this preggo to snack on. She just laughed and told Carli (my little sister) to bake me these cookies. She swears they are the best cookies she has ever made. She is right. They’re fantastic. Really the only whole grain (please note the oatmeal) I want to eat! Ha! This recipe makes 6 dozen. If you need our mailing address for your surplus, just let me know!

Carli & Anson making cookies!

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

3 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon corn syrup

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter

4 1/2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats

2 cups chocolate chips

2 cups plain M&Ms

Directions: Preheat oven to 350*. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars. Add the eggs, one at a time and mixing between each addition, and the vanilla, corn syrup, baking soda and peanut butter. Mix well until smooth. Add the oats and mix well, scraping the sides of the bowl. Add the chocolate chips and mix until they are evenly distributed throughout the dough. Then add the M&Ms and mix well. Drop the dough by the tablespoon (I like them a little bigger so please remember this for my dozen ;) ) 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Let cool on baking sheet about 3 minutes, then transfer to cooling racks.