The mother of invention

Necessity is the mother of invention.  At least that’s how the phrase goes.  Desperation is more like it…

The other night was just a typical night in the scheme of my pregnancy.  I wasn’t craving anything remotely healthy, but I also couldn’t figure out what I even wanted to eat.  Even though we had plenty of options in the fridge, I wasn’t feeling any of it.  Kyle made himself dinner, but I didn’t want what he was having either.  So I held out, waiting for my appetite to reveal itself.  Finally I decided I wanted Thai noodles of some kind.  Which is when I had to get crafty.

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I came up with rice noodles, spinach, and Amy’s Thai Coconut soup. 

I boiled water and made the rice noodles first, then added them to a bowl of spinach, followed by the can of soup.  The noodles made the spinach soft and semi-wilty and the soup flavored them both.

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The soup had veggies and tofu in it, and was really delicious.  And the coconut broth had the perfect Thai flavor profile I was after.

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Winner.

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It was so quick to make and so yummy that I’m pretty sure I’ll be adding this to my rotation. 

Other random semi-home-made eats include the following:

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Amy’s veggie burger with avo crème on top (greek yogurt and avocado). 

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Millet bowl with LightLife smoky tempeh and eggs.

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Field Roast sausage with spinach, avocado, and yam (only finished half the yam). 

But what can you do? 

After such an awesome time in Santa Barbara, I didn’t want Monday to come.  But (obviously) it did.  And after Kyle and I got home, we planned out our meals for the week and went grocery shopping.  Fridge stocked.  Meals set.  Bring on the work week. 

In spite of that, my interest in food has been (and remains) minimal.  I used to love trips to Whole Foods and browsing cookbooks and blogs for recipe inspiration and now I loathe it.  I have zero interest in cooking, and yet, I am desperate to maintaining both my standards and budget.  I want quality meals, not take-out.  So even if I throw together whatever, I guess it’s at least “made” by me.

My other issue is discomfort due to the crowding of my body parts (my son is taking over the space where my food usually goes).  I wake up starving, eat a few small breakfasts, and by lunch time I’m full and uncomfortable and out of room in my belly.  The meals that happen later in the day are way more annoying and I don’t even want them.  This is probably why I wake up starving and the cycle continues. 

But I digress.  The point of this post wasn’t to whine about my pregnant appetite.  It was to show how desperation is the mother of invention.  I’m trying!

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Comments (17)

  1. Jessie

    Even though you may not be enjoying cooking as much as you used too pre-pregnancy, all of your meals still look and sound fantastic girl!

  2. Wendy

    Eeeek!! I must have missed the post where you announced you were having a little boy! How exciting!!!

  3. Katie @ Peace Love & Oats

    That avocream looks delicious! At least your keeping your food healthy and budget friendly!

  4. sarah w

    Simple or not – your meals always look really good! And just remember, only a few more months and you will be breast feeding and able to consume much more! Believe me, you will have the appetite and have the advantage of burning lots of extra calories! Something to look forward to… 🙂

  5. ethel

    eclaire, let me know when you want me to cook for you and baby belly. and by cook, i can throw together three ingredients similar to above. hurray for new duplex!

    p.s. that shizz above looks bomb diggity!

  6. Elise (Post author)

    love you so much ate.
    gonna email you back today about when we can get together next. been on nights, so im all out of whack but im playing email catch up today. xxx.

  7. Elise (Post author)

    i know!! sooooo exciting!!

  8. Lou

    I feel your frustration, Elise -I was exactly the same…. it was really annoying, just feeling “blah” about all foods (especially salads for me, and I am a LOVER of all things salad – just not while preggo)

    I actually started craving all my childhood favourites that my Mum used to make for us… I had to ring my Mum and get all her recipes – feeding my “inner child” in more ways than one?!

    I just fell into the habit of lots of mini-meals rather than 3 big meals – I had no stomach room left!

  9. Elise (Post author)

    thanks for the reassuring comment. its just so odd to feel no draw to the kitchen…no desire to create. and this little boy is definitely starting to GROW in a major way. oof. i still have so far to go, too!!! haha.

  10. Lou

    Seriously, it feels like an AGE when you are pregnant, but you will look back afterwards and hardly be able to remember it! I can’t believe my “baby” is almost 2 – having kids is like speeding up time!

    Remember to enjoy these last few months of YOU time…. spend time doing everything YOU want to do, and relish being able to do whatever you want, whenever – once baby boy comes along, EVERYTHING changes – in a good way of course, but I never realised how much I took ME time for granted beforehand 🙂

  11. Chelsie @ Balance, Not Scale

    Does anyone have any advice on picking out good non-meat meat alternatives?? I feel as though every package I pick up at the grocery store has a whole bunch of strange chemicals or “smoke flavour” or something else weird .. any good brand suggestions?

  12. Beth

    You come up with such great quickie meal ideas. I’m so trying that three ingredient thai quickie dish. That looks like something you’d order in an upscale restaurant. So great. Keep the pregnancy craving meal ideas coming!

  13. Tt in nyc

    Would it help to make later in the day foods lower volume/easy to digest foods like a smoothie of stuff? I was having morning super starving problems ( like wake up from dead sleep hungry!) and discovered a greek yogurt with a peanut butter gob right before bed made a world of difference!

  14. Elise (Post author)

    well yeah, thats the idea, but its harder to execute due to my inability to figure out what i want. i hate to whine about it because i feel really blessed to have a normal pregnancy thats going well. this is such a small thing in the grand scheme. but often theres nothing that sounds good in the PM, even smaller, nutrient dense things. thanks for the idea though. ill keep on plugging along…

  15. Elise (Post author)

    hard to say because most faux products are processed. if you want to try to make your own seitan sausage try this recipe:

    http://www.hungryhungryhippie.com/log-seitan/

  16. Beth

    How much rice noodles, spinach, and tofu did you use along with the entire can of soup? How many servings did you get, if you remember!

  17. Elise (Post author)

    No idea. Old post.

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