Neapolitan Pizza and Pregnancy

They may not sound like they go together, but of course they do!  It’s comfort food, and who doesn’t want comfort when pregnant.  Actually, I would eat pizza multiple times per week, pregnant or not. 


Dan and I LOVE Punch pizza and I’ve always wanted to get that same taste at home. 


We’ve grilled pizza before and got the nice charred look that Punch’s Neapolitan pizza has but it wasn’t quite right.  I finally turned to Google (should have known) and found a few great recipes to put together and it was a success!

The crust didn’t turn out quite the same (too puffy!), but it turns out the key to getting that same flavor is the sauce.

 

Use a can of whole plum tomatoes, cut off the tops and chop.  Then add a pinch each of sugar, salt and crushed dried oregano (rub it between your hands to get the flavor out).  Finally, mash with a potato masher until it’s as squishy as you’d like it.  That’s it!

I think you could use any pizza crust, but I’ll probably be experimenting with a new one each time until I get the right thickness.  Oh, don’t forget to use fresh mozzarella and set your oven to bake as high as it will allow you.  I think these pizza’s would end up just right on an outside grill, but I guess we’ll have to wait a few more months for that.

Well, that’s pizza, now on to Pregnancy.

Wow – I forgot EVERYTHING about pregnancy!

I forgot about hormones (but I don’t think Dan did!), I forgot everything that happened last time, so even though, having been through it before, I should have a reference, I feel like I’m starting all over again.

I do remember enough to know that this time around, pregnancy is VERY different than last time.  The first time, it was ALL I thought about.  Obviously, with a toddler in the mix, that’s just not possible.  I don’t necessarily forget that I’m pregnant, but I’m not so focused on it, which actually makes the weeks go by much faster.

I think I was more nauseous last time, but it could be that I had more time to think about how bad I felt, while this time I have Sophia to distract me. 

Last time it seemed to take AGES to get to that first appointment and hear the heartbeat, and this time I can hardly believe that appointment came and went a week ago!

I also have a lot of fears of things being the same as last time.  To say I’m nervous about weight gain this time would be a gross understatement.  I’m TERRIFIED of gaining as much weight as I did with my first pregnancy.  I’m already on track for that not to be a problem (better eating habits, actually going to the gym this time, etc.), but some say that your body will gain what it will gain, no matter what you do.  Let’s hope not.  I know I have the ability to work it off, but I’d rather not, if I don’t have to!

Last time I just got to wait until delivery and see what would happen, this time we have all kinds of decisions to make about VBAC vs. C-Section and I keep going back and forth.  Ah!

There is my spotted belly (from the first time ‘round)  in all its glory.  I will say that I do like maternity clothes.  Well, I like maternity tops.  Pants, not so much, but it is fun to pull out a whole different wardrobe and feel like you just revamped your closet. 

And then there’s the whole idea of getting another one of these at the end of the pregnancy:

 
Absolutely worth it.

By the way, Baby is due on September 25th.  I got an estimated due date of the 23rd, but the midwife moved it back a few days.  My secret pregnancy fantasy is that I go into my appointment and they tell me they had the date wrong and I get to skip a few weeks.  She found the heartbeat SO fast at 9 weeks that she guessed I may be a few weeks further along than I thought – I’m crossing my fingers, but we’ll have to wait until the ultrasound to find out.

Now, if only I could think of a new name for our blog!