Aliesha, Author at Feathers in Our Nest

Summer Recipes to Beat the Heat

June 17, 2015 by Aliesha

This week we’re experiencing hot, hot weather in North Carolina! I’m doing everything I can to keep the oven off… but of course I still want to feed my family healthy, delicious meals!

I got a little help from my facebook friends last week in order to come up with some creative meal ideas and summer recipes to beat the heat! I also found a really awesome YouTube channel: The Domestic Geek, which provided several recipes and lots of inspiration.

I cooked about 5.5 lbs. of boneless, skinless chicken breasts (on sale at Aldi this week for $1.89/lb.) in two different ways: pan-seared thyme chicken and marinated Greek chicken. This did require turning on the oven, but because I cooked it all on Monday, I won’t have to worry about heating up the kitchen the rest of the week!

If you really don’t want to turn your oven on even to cook the big batch of chicken, you could easily pick up a rotisserie chicken or two!

Last night for dinner, we had Greek chicken (served cold… delicious!)…

…hummus (made the day before) and veggies…

…quinoa salad (with zucchini, peppers, and feta)…

…and for dessert, Greek yogurt topped with raspberries and blueberries with a drizzle of honey!

This meal came together in about 15 minutes because I had already done the prep work ahead of time. The girls helped me plate everything on serving platters and carry it to the table. They loved this meal!

On Sunday I also made a broccoli salad, so I’ve been enjoying that on the side with a few other meals.

We ate chicken salad sandwiches for lunch yesterday (again, with previously cooked chicken) with pickles and strawberries on the side.

Other things that are on the menu this week (lunches and dinners are on this list):

– Greek chicken wraps with Greek hummus

– Caesar salads with chicken and croutons (I need to blog the Caesar dressing recipe… it’s amazing!)

– tuna salad wraps or sandwiches with hard boiled eggs and fresh veggies and fruit

– tacos with corn salsa and black bean dip (I will have to cook the taco meat on the stovetop, but I plan on making it the night before)

– nitrite/nitrate-free deli meat, crackers, cheese, veggies, and fruit

– leftover chicken and pasta salad (and whatever other yummy leftovers we have!)

– peanut butter sandwiches

– taco salads and tortilla chips

We’re also enjoying raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and watermelon! I love summer produce!

What do you like to eat in the summertime when it’s too hot to cook?

Week Twenty-Nine

June 15, 2015 by Aliesha

So let’s talk about these pants. I don’t care that they’re crazy… they are a pregnant woman’s dream! They are soooo cool and comfortable! I got them from Target for around $8 (clearance) and since they aren’t maternity, I bought a size up. With the elastic waist line, they fit perfectly! They even have pockets. They are super long on me, but I wear them with wedges and I feel glamorous.

Back to our regularly scheduled pregnancy update!

Last week I had a bit of a scare when I got a call on Monday afternoon telling me I had failed my glucose screening test. Yikes! I knew in my head that between 15 and 20% of women fail the first test while only 2-5% actually have gestational diabetes, but I was still really worried! I took the longer test the very next morning. It was not fun at all to have to fast 10 hours, drink 100mg of dextrose in a 5 minute period, then have my blood drawn every hour for the next three hours (oh, also while still not eating or drinking anything). But it was nice to sit and read by myself in a cool waiting room during that time! Tad was able to take a sick day so he could watch the kids that morning. Just a tip, if you have to do this test, try and get up and walk around every 10-15 minutes during each hour. I did that because I knew it would help my body metabolize the sugar better! Long story short, I passed the second test with no problems and I do not have gestational diabetes.

Baby Apricot has been very active lately, as is normal. Every time a stranger talks to me about this pregnancy, they tell me they think this baby is a boy. (For what it’s worth, I heard that a lot when I was pregnant with the girls too!)

I’ve been exercising for a few minutes every morning as well as doing back stretches, and I have not had any back pain this week! I also haven’t had any heartburn. I’m feeling great!

Thank you for following us on this journey to meeting our new baby! Thirteen weeks to go!

Iced Mocha

June 11, 2015 by Aliesha

I shared this iced mocha recipe on Instagram over the weekend, but I wanted to share it here as well! I loved making coffeehouse drinks at home, and for this one, you don’t even need an espresso machine! You do have to plan ahead and make some double-strength coffee and have it chilled. I made a 4-cup batch and I’ve been using it throughout the week to make drinks!

Fill a glass 2/3 full of ice (about a cup).

Add 1/4 cup of double-strength chilled coffee (I made mine the day before using twice as many grounds as normal, and just put it in the fridge overnight).