20 Week Update- What's New?

Hello out there!

As much as I want to sit down and savor our time together, this is going to be a very quick update because there are 25 different things going on in our lives right now that are almost literally demanding my immediate attention. (Insert head spinning emoticon here). Let's do some bullet points, shall we?

SO, WHATS NEW?

• I am officially 20 weeks pregnant today and loving every second of it. 
• Morning sickness has all but vanished and my appetite is back with the vengeance
• Prenatal migraines suck,  but I am finding that a small cup of half caff coffee helps tremendously
• I feel enormous and honestly eat from the moment I wake up until bed time, somehow I've managed to only put on 3 pounds in 5 months. OB warns this will catch up with me in the next 4 months!
• My best friends are planning an absolutely adorable co-ed baby shower for me in June, I am excited to share the photos and the menus with you soon!
• Last Sunday I was taken into the ER with horrible abdominal pain- the ovulation induction meds I was on to get pregnant have caused a large cyst to form on my right ovary. We found it a few months ago. OB said not to worry, but then the sucker started bleeding into my abdomen. Sounds scarier than it actually us and it appears the cyst has resolved itself. 
• We got a sneak peak as to what the baby might be from the ER ultrasound tech. Still waiting for our anatomy scan on the 15th to confirm so we will share that as soon as we are certain!
• Baby D is a very active baby. I started feeling small flutters around 17 weeks, now there are obvious thumps a few times a day. I am so in love with our little bean, and feeling him/her move around in there makes me a whole new kind of happy I've never felt before. 

  

  17 Weeks.

  
  

• Work is absolutely nuts at the moment, both in my teaching job and the catering company, trying to balance the demands of my career and being 5 months pregnant has been...challenging. 
• DH has been incredible these last 20 weeks. I am experiencing some gnarly hormonal mood swings (crying and nostalgia mostly) and he has taken on so much extra work around the house to help me "take it easy." I feel so lucky to have a husband who's as intuitive and accommodating as he's been. I wasn't an easy wife to deal with before, I have no clue how he's handling me now! 
• We have officially settled on names for a BOY or a GIRL. (No, I'm not telling!)
• Last, but not least, we are MOVING! Our home was listed for about a week before we got our first offer, it was a few days later that we found our new dream home! I know, I know...who in the world get's pregnant, starts a new job, sells their home and moves to a new city all in 5 months? Apparently, I do.  Our new home is 8 miles into the country, not too far from the city, but far enough that the dogs will have plenty of room to play and be puppies and our baby will need a tiny cowboy/cowgirl boots! 

20 Weeks.

So, that's what's new! Whoa...right? Escrow closes on both homes on the SAME DAY and I've got about 12 days left to pack up what I can before the big day. Being pregnant certainly makes it difficult for me to help out with the move as much as I'd like to. Luckily we have some amazing friends who've offered to help us! I'll have to think of something wonderful and naughty to bake up and reward them for their hard work. Like these carmelitas from LuLu The Baker. I've found a few variations for caramel chocolate chip cookie bars, but these are the hands down winner. They are dangerously easy to throw together and they are even more addicting. Perfect to bribe your friends with and perfect for satisfying those stubborn pregnancy cravings!

Giant Cheat Day Cookie: Double Peanut Butter Chip Cookie (And Then Some!)

You may not know this yet, but my husband Mike is a big fan of peanut butter. He eat's it right out of the container, in his lunches with celery sticks, on top of puddings and yogurt and of course in peanut butter cup form, he is a fiend! So when I was experimenting with Giant Cheat Day Cookie flavors it seemed obvious that I would make this Double Peanut Butter Chip Cookie just for him.

I like to share recipes with you that are versatile and easy to play with. This is certainly one of them, you can change it up as much as you like. For this particular cookie, you can throw in dark chocolate chips or chopped candies, I love to dip my peanut butter cookies in chocolate and let the choclate harden. Oh. My.  Adapted from this post at Sally's Baking Addiction, Jessica and I came up with a few different flavors and dubbed them the ultimate Giant Cheat Day Cookie. The Double Peanut Butter Chip Cookie get's a double dose of peanut buttery goodness in the form of two heaping tbsp's of crunchy peanut butter and a generous 1/4 cup of peanut butter morsels. 

This is the recipe you reach for (after your yoga pants) when you come home at the end of a long work week and want a break from all the low-fat, sugar free desserts you've been sticking to. If you're like me and currently trying to shed some pounds, you're not going to be making these every day. It's a treat, cuddle up with one of these huge sweet, salty cookies with a hot cup of coffee or an equally giant glass of milk, because...seriously, how are you gonna dunk it? It's as big as a plate! 

We played with different flavors from classic chocolate chip, to cinnamon chip oatmeal raisin, but the peanut butter cookie was my favorite. That is saying a lot because typically I don't even recognize a cookie as a cookie unless it has chocolate in it! Do you blame me? I encourage you to try some of the other flavors as well, and also to try your own variations- limit your mix in's to about a 1/4 cup. I added a little too much to my cinnamon chip oatmeal cookies and they turned into an expansive gooey mess. Delicious...but a mess.
For a softer cookie take a minute or so off of the baking time and let the cookie cool a little before
attempting to move. Enjoy!

Giant Cheat Day Cookie: Double Peanut Butter Chip


2 tbsp crunchy all natural, salt free peanut butter
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp egg  (scramble an egg in a cup really well take your 2tbsp of egg from here, reserve the remainder for another cookie or for egg wash on another baking project)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup peanut butter morsels
A pinch of salt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl or a mug mix the sugar, peanut butter and egg until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and scoop onto an ungreased cookie sheet or silicone baking mat. I flattened out the dough, just a little was all it needed. I also dotted the top of the dough before baking so there was a morsel in every bite. In my oven it took about 10-12 minutes. Bake a little longer for a crisp cookie (what I prefer) and around 10 mins for a softer cookie (what basically the rest of the world perfers)

All the makings for one giant double chocolate chip cookie! 

Variations:

Giant Cheat Day Chocolate Chip Cookie

Replace the peanut butter with 2 tbsp room temp butter and the 1/4 cup peanut butter morsels with semi sweet morsels. Mix ingredients and bake the same way.

Giant Cheat Day Cinnamon Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Replace the peanut butter with 2 tbsp room temp butter and the 1/4 cup peanut butter morsels with equal parts cinnamon chips and raisins and add 2 tbsp uncooked oats. Mix and bake for 12-14 minutes. This cookie spreads out a bit more, and is SUPER soft!

Giant Cheat Day Double Chocolate Chip Cookie

Replace peanut butter with tbsp room temp butter and the 1/4 cup morsels with semi sweet chocolate chips, add 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder. Mix and bake for 12-14 minutes.

Got Milk? 

   

993 all time blog views! And a free cookie give-away!

I literally BLINKED and we were on the brink of crossing the 1000 views mark. Holy Moly you guys (and gals).

I cannot tell you enough how humbled I am, this is amazing! To show my gratitude I will be offering a FREE box of my all time favorite cookies from The Brown Butter Cookie Company in Cayucos,CA to the next 7 people who start following Her Name Is Ed. Let's get those blog views over 1000!

All you need to do to win, is hit "Join This Site", it's that little blue button just to the right of this post, then you'll need to leave a comment on your favorite post so far! The first 7 people to do this will receive a box of amazingly delicious cookies from The Brown Butter Cookie Company. I will post up the winners next Thursday when I post the newest blog from guest blogger Sumi Kato.

Hmm, giving away free cookies on the same day our guest blogger will talk to us about diet and fitness? Oh dear..well, everything in moderation, right?

Mike and I fell in love with these salted brown butter morsels a few years ago, right around the time we moved to the Central Coast. Back then they only had their original flavor, mocha, chocolate chip, peanut butter and lemon sugar cookie. Since then they have added  espresso, bourbon, chocolate mint, key lime coconut (which were in Mikes stocking last Christmas!) citrus brown butter,  and many many more. Be careful though, if you do win, because these things are capital "A" Addictive! Now, I have tried and tried and tried to make these at home and in time I will likely share some of those recipes with you, but they have never come out like BBCC. I don't know what I am doing wrong and no matter how much I beg ask they will not tell me their secrets. They are delightfully crisp, a subtle crunch really, and they are the perfect balance of sweet and savory. That little sprinkling of sea salt over the top takes them, well...over the top. There is that warm nuttiness from the brown butter that is unlike any other flavor and I think that is the real secret, how they brown the butter. (Did I mention they SHIP?)

I cannot wait to see where you all leave your comments, I am curious to see which post has been your favorite! Alright ladies and gent's let the games begin!