Recipe Roundup - Weekday Lunch Ideas!

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My husband has been working from home since the last week of March and it's been so nice to have so much time together, especially now that we're expecting a baby in January. Luckily for me, he'll probably be home with me until spring 2021 at the earliest! While I'm not sure how much of a true paternity leave he'll decide to take, just having him around all the time is so wonderful. 

I love to cook and bake and make things, especially for the people I love. He's not a breakfast eater, but since he's been home for the past four or so months I've been having a lot of fun cooking his lunches and dinners! 

Especially in the first month or two, I had a blast trying out recipes from Food52. Interspersed through this post (plus a bunch a the end) are some of the highlights!

In the last while, between the busy-ness of being new parents-to-be (I have never had so many doctors appointments or such a frequency of phone calls in my life) and simply running out of recipes that sound like his kind of food, I've been repeating meals for the most part.

Help me break out of the rut, please!
He's not much of a carbs person and doesn't eat breakfast, so I'm just looking for meat/fish and vegetable heavy recipes.

As you can see, these photos are all pulled from my Instagram stories. I'm pretty active in stories, so if you want to follow along with my adventures live, culinary, pregnancy, and otherwise, follow me @danainygard !

Do you have any recipes or recipe sites to share with me?

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Baby Prep Update: Night Nurse!

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We hired a night nurse! 

I'm 15 weeks pregnant now and so relieved to start checking things off of our to-do list. I can't believe I'm already in my second trimester! There's so much to read, learn, and prepare before our little alien's arrival and I just know the time is going to fly.

We ended up hiring our night nurse through the Frances Stewart Agency (note: no one I shout out in this post is compensating me in any way for it, I'm just trying to leave helpful links for other moms-to-be and moms out there). A friend recommended them to us and we liked that they have a long record of great placements. We also liked having the extra insurance that if something does go wrong with the particular night nurse we hire (like she's suddenly unavailable, gets sick, etc.) they'll help us find a suitable replacement and we won't be left scrambling by ourselves.

When considering the pros and cons of hiring a night nurse, these were our thoughts. 

Night Nurse Disadvantages

First, the big con - it's just one more unfamiliar person in the house. I'm the sort who gets uncomfortable when the housekeeper is in, because there's a stranger in my home and it's not just family, so having someone who's there every single day (well, night) for months and months isn't something I'm too excited about. On the other hand, she's going to be a huge  help and we're going to need it.

Night Nurse Advantages

My husband has a stressful job and while I won't be going back to work full time after birth, I do plan to continue acting and writing. To manage those pursuits while trying to keep our (super fresh, we're newlyweds) marital bliss, we'll need to be well rested. I wanted someone to help me out at night, because I know my husband is going to need his sleep and won't be able to be a big help on weekdays/-nights. 

Another big pro for us was that our night nurse will help with sleep training. We're first time parents, so having someone who's been around the block a few times (or rather, been sleep training babies for the past 20+ years) will be really helpful. She'll come meet us at our place from the very first night that we bring our little alien home from the hospital and help us out for the next 4-6 months, though she anticipates that sleep training should be pretty much completed around the end of month 3. 

Questions to Ask Night Nurse Applicants

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Local Travel During Covid19 - A Weekend Away!

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I love traveling. Not being able to travel much at the moment, due to the pandemic, is one of my biggest not-actually-all-that-important complaints. 

My husband and I originally wanted to celebrate being newlyweds with ten days in Hawaii, but those plans are on hold until next year at the earliest. Boo. So we decided to take a little trip locally!

Where: Montauk (specifically Gurney's Montauk Resort and Seawater Spa)
How: Car service there and back (ca. 3.5 hour drive each way)
When: A 4 day weekend

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