Rich and Creamy Tortellini

Rich and Creamy Tortellini
serves 6
recipe found in Taste of Home, June/July 2011

Yummy Italian goodness

My grandma had a ton of cooking magazines sitting on her couch when we were visiting earlier this month. There were a ton of awesome recipes so I'll be cooking lots!

• Cook a 9 oz package of refrigerated cheese tortellini according to package directions.
• I also cooked sweet Italian sausage and added to the recipe for more protein.
• In a saucepan, saute 2 minced garlic cloves in 4 tsp. butter for 1 minute.
• Stir in 4 1/2 tsp. flour; slowly add 1 cup of milk and bring to a boil.
• Add 15 oz. jar of marinara sauce, 4 oz. cubed cream cheese, 2 sliced green onions, salt and pepper.
• Cook and stir until cheese melts.
• Serve over tortellini.

Karl's reaction: "Nice and fluffy babe. I like."

My take: I know this isn't the healthiest but I really liked. I guess it's better than going to Olive Garden...

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Seared Skirt Steak with Balsamic Cherry Tomatoes

Easy Steak Salad
serves 4
recipe found in Women's Health January/February 2011

Yummy steak salad with loads of flavor!

2 cups cherry tomatoes
2 TBS balsamic vinegar
4 cups arugula
12 oz skirt or flank steak
1 1/2 tsp olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
salt and pepper, to taste
I added feta crumble too

1. Heat the oil in a cast-iron or stainless-steel pan (or grill pan) on medium high. When the pan is very hot, season the steak with a few pinches of salt and pepper and add it to the pan. Cook the steak for 3 to 4 minutes a side, until it's caramelized and slightly firm to the touch. Remove it to a cutting board.

2. While the steak rests, lower the heat to medium and add the tomatoes and garlic to the pan. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes until the garlic is lightly browned. Add the balsamic vinegar and cook for 2 more minutes, until the skins of the tomatoes start to split. Remove the pan from the heat; add salt and pepper.

3. Slice the steak thinly against its grain. Divide the arugula between two plates, top each pile with the steak slices, and pour on the tomatoes and pan drippings.

Karl's reaction: "It's OK. I just have a thing with cherry tomatoes..."

My take: I thought this was excellent. Easy. Tasty. HEALTHY!

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Baby Shower #3 - Month 8

32 weeks!
By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb.

Can you guess who got a hold of the camera? Picture taken by Karl...duh!

OK...this was one heck of cool, thoughtful baby shower. Karl's mom (my mother-in-law Judy) wanted to have a shower and invite all her neighbor ladies who are also in a book club together. They even read a book by Sophie Kinsella, Shopaholic & Baby in honor of me (this was seriously my kind of shower). Judy and her neighbor Angela decided to plan something for us on a weeknight that would be fun. Boy...did they ever. I'm still blown away by the awesomeness of this shower.

Judy and I walked over to Angela's house. Jim (father in law) and Karl soon followed. My mouth dropped when we walked in. Angela spends a lot of time in Amsterdam (she's a flight attendant) and her house shows this. Everything was so modern and put together. From the bottles of water glowing, to the wine (there was a special non-alcoholic wine from IKEA set up just for me) to the entire special Amsterdam cheese spread to the decor, I couldn't even believe it. I was blown away.

The appetizers were insane!!! All brought in from Amsterdam.

Yes, this glowed a really cool shade of blue! Way to make water interesting (and cool)!

A little wine station in the corner. That's my wine chilling on ice. WOW!

The table set up perfectly! Can't forget the tulips! Lots of fresh tulips!!!

Then Judy added her personal touch to the shower. These are the cutest things ever!

Me and Judy and her diaper cake!!! Look at all those diapers!

This awesome baby carriage is back! So yummy!!!!

Then we sat around and played some fun games. I still have yet to play the same two games at my showers. The first game I had to decide which traits I want baby to have... Either Karl's traits (hair color, driving skills, ears (duh!), chin, nose, sense of humor, etc.) or if I want baby to have mine. That was fun. Then everyone had to guess who I'd pick. Karl of course won AGAIN. He dominates at these baby shower games.

In the meantime it began to snow... a lot...

Snowing on February 20

The second game was a little like Scattegories (one of my fave games). We had three minutes to come up with boy names that began with a C and girl names that began with a K. Then we read them off. If anyone had the same, we had to cross off the names. There were some fun creative names like KeeKee. I actually liked a bunch of them and might have to use one or two.

As Angela and Judy put dinner together, I sat around and talked to a lot of the neighbors. They are the coolest women ever! I'm not kidding. I'm getting so used to everyone sharing their horror stories with me, but these woman kept telling me how awesome motherhood is going to be. I could just tell how much they LOVE being moms and how becoming a mother changed their lives for the better. I knew they were good moms! I SO needed a night like last night.

Listening to all the cool, fun stories of motherhood!

Can you guess how many gummy bears are in this bottle?

An amazing Greek salad. I'm telling you...dinner was awesome!

After dinner, Angela poured everyone an after dinner drink (from South Africa)

After eating a delicious meal of baked pasta, Greek salad, garlic bread and fruit. Angela opened a bottle of this awesome liquor we drank in South Africa!!!!!! I even had a sip! Then the dessert came out. Yeah, there was EVEN more food!!

awesome cheese cake and strawberries. Hellloooo!!!

Then it was time for the gifts! Angela first handed over a photo book covered in cute little African animals to match the nursery. In the photo book was an ultrasound pic of baby Koester and then all the women wrote a piece of advice for me, which was the BEST EVER!!!!!!! Next to their advice was a card full of money. Jeesh!!!!!!!!!

Everyone's advice was spot on! Love love love this!

Then Angela handed over a bag full of goodies. The first bag was a diaper bag full of baby items we'll be using. And then...the best part. BOOKS!!!!!!! Lots and lots of books!!! Like...The Giving Tree!!!

Cutest diaper bag with African finger puppets!!!

Then Judy gave me her gift! She's spent almost an entire year knitting a beautiful blanket for Baby Koester!!!!!!! The blanket is GORGEOUS!!!!!

A beautiful blanket made by my mother in law - Baby K is going to LOVE it!

I can't even thank these women enough for the fun evening, and my mother-in-law and Angela for all the work they did putting it together. The night was soooo meaningful and special. Made me wish Karl and I lived in a neighborhood with super cool people. But most importantly it made me see that I can't go into this alone - people WANT to help and I need to accept that help. Amazing friendships bloom that way! I am just getting so excited for everything!!!!!! Thank you! Thank you!!!!!

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Healthy Dinner in a Pinch

Christie's Concoction
serves 4
recipe found in Christie's head :)

Tasty little dish with lots of veggies

It was Saturday night. I wanted something healthy and didn't have a lot of energy, but thankfully after my morning workout with my trainer, I headed to the grocery store and bought a lot of healthy foods so I could whip something together - problem was I didn't know what I was going to whip together. Karl was ice fishing and it was just me, so I figured I could make something gross and not feel bad about it. Good thing this didn't end up tasting gross!


A pound of Chicken Italian sausage
Two small zucchinis
Baby Bella mushrooms
1 yellow squash
Fresh dill
1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
Handful of whole wheat spaghetti noodles
Parmesan cheese

1. Chop up Italian sausage into bite size pieces and cook in a skillet. Remove from skillet.

2. Add lemon juice, mushrooms, zucchini and squash. Cook until soft and sprinkle with dill.

3. Boil water and add spaghetti noodles.

4. Add spaghetti and meat to veggies in skillet. Mix together. Top with parmesan cheese and serve.



My take: This was great. Easy to make and tasted wonderful. My guess is Karl would want more salt.

Loved this easy dish!

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Tasty Banana Bread

Banana Bread
serves 12
recipe found on All Recipes.com

Nice and moist banana bread! Yummmy!

I had a few black bananas lying around the kitchen and a huge craving for banana bread. I spent Sunday morning Googling looking for the best recipe. This one had 4.5 stars out of 5 and over 6700 people commented how much they loved it. So why not try baking it, right?

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.               

3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.               

Karl's reaction: "This house smells SOOO good." Karl walked in from ice fishing. "Ohhh, this is good babe!"

My take: I liked this banana bread a lot. I probably put in more bananas than I needed, and I think I could have used more brown sugar, but still really good!!!

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Growing Belly - Month 8

31 weeks

This week, your baby measures over 16 inches long. He weighs about 3.3 pounds (try carrying four navel oranges) and is heading into a growth spurt. He can turn his head from side to side, and his arms, legs, and body are beginning to plump out as needed fat accumulates underneath his skin. He's probably moving a lot, too, so you may have trouble sleeping because your baby's kicks and somersaults keep you up. Take comfort: All this moving is a sign that your baby is active and healthy. (www.babycenter.com)

Belly is growing at a rapid speed

Sometimes I walk by a mirror and a catch a glimpse of myself and I freeze. Omigod. I have a belly. Like...that is a big belly...my belly. There's a baby in there. This is crazy!!! Is that really me? My body? Whoa...

I'm still wearing [some] non-maternity shirts, but I think that's going to be very short-lived as my skin is starting to show under some of my tops. Probably not the classiest look for work apparel. My stretchy work pants from New York & Company are finally getting tight around the waist too. I might have to hang them up soon and invest in some real maternity pants. Sigh.

I survived the evil stomach flu (barely) this past week. It was a rough bug - took about six days to completely feel better and eat again. Poor baby was probably thirsty and starving inside me, but there wasn't much I could do. Karl forced me to drink as many liquids as I could and asked for a temperature update every hour. I called the nurses line twice, which is something I've never done before. I truly thought I was going to die at one point, but all is well now. Thank God. Hopefully that means I won't be getting the flu bug for another ten or so years....

My leg cramps and charlie horses have gone away. Yay! But, instead, the baby is for sure sitting on my bladder. It even hurts to walk, which is the weirdest feeling for me. I did make it through 25 minutes of stair stepper last night and felt like a whole new person afterwards so I was glad I made myself push through. I wonder if I could exercise and deliver at the same time....seems like that would keep my mind preoccupied. All I know is exercise sure makes me sleep better at night.

I've noticed that stress completely knocks me out. I had a real rough day at work on Monday and I could barely keep my eyes open that evening. Trying to do what I can to prevent stress from occurring but sometimes it's out of my control.

Baby is moving quite a bit. I can see an arm or elbow move across my entire belly. Karl says when I'm sleeping, he'll put his hand on my belly and say goodnight to the baby and will get a swift kick. He loves that.

We finally started writing down names for baby, but we haven't settled on any. We feel we need to meet the baby first and see if there's a name that pops in our minds once baby is out in this big world. Not sure if it works that way, but I want to pick a name that fits baby's face and personality.

I wrote a blog for the Star Tribune about all the most recent thoughts I've been feeling. Here's a link to the latest post! A Different Kind of Love.

We spent all last weekend setting up all our new furniture and picking up all the picture frames and heavy objects and papers off the floors and tables in the family, dining room and kitchen. Our house looks like a different place. I'm not sure why we waited so long to do this? Our next focus is the baby's nursery. I was thinking of picking up the crib this week and getting that set up this weekend.

I can't believe there is less than nine weeks to go. I have a feeling these next two months are going to go fast - they will be uncomfortable - but still go fast. Life is about to change in a real big way, isn't it? I still can't fully accept this is happening. I'm going to be a mom. Wow.

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Tuna Noodle Casserole

Tuna Noodle Casserole
serves 4
recipe found in Better Homes and Garden (May 2008)

Can't forget the potato chips!

3 cups medium noodles (4 oz.)

1 cup chopped celery

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 - 3 tablespoons Dijon-style mustard

2 1/4 cups milk

1 12 ounce can chunk tuna, drained

1/2 cup bottled roasted red sweet peppers, chopped

Potato chips, optional

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In large saucepan cook noodles according to package directions. Drain; return noodles to pan.

2. For sauce, in medium saucepan cook celery and onion in hot butter until tender. Stir in flour, mustard, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Add milk all at once; cook and stir until slightly thickened and bubbly, whisking to remove any lumps.

3.  Gently fold sauce, tuna, and peppers into noodles. Transfer to lightly greased 1-1/2-quart baking dish. Top with chips. Bake, uncovered, 30 to 35 minutes or until heated through. Let stand 5 minutes.

I had to add cheese too!

Karl's reaction: "Could use juuuuust a little bit more salt babe."

My take: I felt like this needed a little bit of lemon and some dill or something. Otherwise it was pretty good!

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