The Only Antidote to a Long Day Is … Steak

I’ve learned that having a baby — at least in the pregnancy and planning stages — is kind of like planning a wedding. Each weekend there are things to do, lists to check off, decisions to be made, and there is a serious looming timeline. Both events are filled with joy, some stress, lots of love and a pretty big ta-da at the end (A new union! A human!).
While I’ve been reading lots of books, started taking some classes, have been picking the brains of my experienced mom friends and planning, planning, planning, last weekend we embarked on perhaps the most stressful of all of the get-ready-for-baby tasks: registering. What will we need? What color? What’s safe? What’s best? Ahhh, the decisions!
And knowing that was our big task for the day, Ryan and I started the day with a quick bar on the way to the gym. This whole-food CredibleCravings bar was dang tasty and full of clean good-for-ya ingredients! Nothing like good eats and a good workout to get you going for a productive day.

After, we came home to shower and fuel up some more with a smoothie and a couple of scrambled eggs. Yep, I totally made my recent healthy obsession.

Before going in to Buy Buy Baby, we grabbed a chia seed kombucha for me (forgot to take a photo — doh!) and a coffee for Ryan. Shopping is always better with a beverage in hand.
Registering took us, oh, four hours. And we didn’t even get to everything we needed — and I’d done quite a bit of research before. But it was a great start. This kid is going to be so well set-up. Well, at least I hope. Hard to know until you do it!
As you might imagine, we were both starving when we left the store. And we had a Royals post-season game to get home and watch, so we ordered fajitas-for-two takeout from our fave Mexican spot. They were delicious, as usual.

And followed that up with a chocolate-chip zucchini Veggie Muffin. Cooked in just 35 seconds in the microwave, these have been my recent go-to sweet treat.

A Royals’ win under our belt (this city is going crazy over it — it’s so fun!), it was time to think dinner. And nothing says celebration — for both the win and the baby progress — like a steak dinner. Plus, I’ve been wicked steak cravings and the Beef Council recently sent us some Strassburger steaks. Coincidence? I think not. Heavily seasoned and cooked in our cast iron skillet, these steaks were ridiculously good.

We paired them with roasted Brussels sprouts and gluten-free bread. Before I went g-free, Ryan used to make bread all the time. And he loved it. And now the bread-baker is back! We recently were sent a copy of Gluten-Free Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (full review coming in the next few weeks!), and Ryan couldn’t wait to try it out. He used the original book years ago and was super pumped to see the gluten-free twist. 
While the loaves may not have come out the most picturesque (and, yes, a little wine was spilled on them shortly after this photo was taken — you can see it on the plate shot above), this bread was DELICIOUS. You seriously couldn’t tell it was gluten-free at all. Nice thick outside and a soft chewy inside.

I ate it with some butter.

And then, for dessert, some Barefoot & Chocolate Hazelnut Chocolate Spread liberally spread on top. HEAVEN.

After a long day with lots of excitement, it was exactly what we needed. Exactly.
Do you unwind and pamper yourself with a good meal, too? Any baby registering advice? Share it! —Jenn