Mole recipe (adapted from my mother-in-law's recipe, SHOUT OUT!)

This recipe was adapted from my mother-in-law's, Mary Contreras (shout out), recipe for mole which is outstanding and amazing on its own but I found it a little bit difficult to replicate hers so I made my own tweaks to it. :) Mary is an UH-MAZING cook and we keep telling her to open her own restaurant. She still thinks we're crazy. ha

Ingredients:
Serves 6 (if serve only 3 oz of meat---can make more meat because mole sauce alone can serve a lot more)
-3 Shredded and boiled chicken breasts-with skin and bone in (mary uses an entire chicken and leaves the pieces as a whole--you can totally do this but we only eat lean cuts of meat in our house)
Note: I hate dry chicken so I make sure to only gently boil my chicken breasts for an hour with the lid on and that's why bone-in, skin on works so well here but you're also welcome to use any kind of chicken you like and will tolerate :)

-Broth from boiled chicken breasts (at least 4 cups)
-Doña Maria mole in a jar (can be found in Mexican food aisle usually by the jalapeños...most other moles will suffice.) 2 tbs (I eyeball it and sometimes use a tbs more but that's up to you--adding more mole makes it spicier)
-1-2 tbs sugar (you can vary this--more sugar decreases spiciness but I like the sweet kick it adds)
-3/4 tsp of salt
-1 tsp-1 tbs of creamy peanut butter (optional-add as much as you like for flavor--mole already has peanuts in it)
-rous

Directions:

1. Before I start, I put 1 1/2 cups of the hot chicken broth into a measuring cup and add 2-3 tbs of Dona Maria mole and let it sit for AT LEAST 10 minutes to soften the mole
2. I then start the sauce by making a rous (note: Mary doesn't do this, she thickens hers by adding the flour alone to the pan before she adds the mole/broth combo and you are completely welcome to do that as well--it's easier to do this if you add sifted flour)--I use 2 tbs of butter, let it melt, then I add 2 tbs of flour and whisk to form a paste--let it cook a few mins to cook the flour taste out
3. Then I add the broth/mole mixture and follow it by adding another 2 1/2 cups of broth and whisk til all the lumps are gone (the broth should still be hot--at least very warm so that the lumps will cook out evenly and quickly)
4. Then add salt, sugar, and peanut butter
5. Simmer and reduce for 20 to 30 minutes (I sometimes go as long as 45 minutes depending on bath/feeding schedules but you just have to keep whisking it.)

This recipe allows for a mole that is not very thick. It's more of a light soupy gravy which sticks to the chicken just enough for my liking and it's got a nice mix of sweetness, saltiness, and spiciness. If you want it thicker, make a thicker rous (add equal parts butter and flour.) I hope you enjoy it as much as we do. Again, the sauce can serve more people and accommodate more chicken. Per weight watchers, I call it 8 servings for the sauce alone (and it is 3-4 weight watchers points depending on the amt of peanut butter you add.) I don't use very much sauce. Please let me know what you think and any changes, if any, you made to make it your own. :)

Updates and recipes

It's been a while since I last posted so my apologies. I have been promising a few friends some recipes so I'll try to post them on here when I get the rare chance to sit at my computer. By the grace of God, both of my children are taking a nap right now. Alex has almost completely forgone his nap although I really hate this transition time. He is super duper cranky in the evenings without one but he goes to bed at a decent hour. When he has one, he's in a great mood in the evenings, but he wants to party like a rock star past 10 p.m. What to do?! Despite what some parents (who don't know what it's like having a 3 year old) say, it's not a behavior issue. I choose to not make him nap and therefore we have a decent, peaceful bed time. :) Otherwise, Alex continues to be crazy and full of energy. Just the other day he told, "you're such a drama queen, mama." Thanks, Alex!

As for Nicolas, the helmet continues to bring lots of attention his way. I tend to forget because during the day when school is in session, the crowds aren't too large, and lately we've been meeting a lot of people who either had a child of their own or know of a child who was previously in one so that's been pretty cool to experience. During spring break, however, the stares and comments were crazy! It's like a part of him now so I don't notice it unless my face is being beaten with sweet kisses from my baby boy.

As for progress, at our last appointment 3 weeks ago, we didn't see any change or improvement. We go for another appointment with the orthotist tomorrow and I'm pretty sure we've seen some improvement but the numbers will tell us. It looks a lot better and I think that's because he had a growth spurt just before his 9 month birthday. (the head reshapes with growth.) As for his growth, he continues to be very tall and very thin with a large head. HA! :) 85th percentile height, 90th percentile head, and 12th percentile weight. Awesomeness! Doc said although his weight %s went down, he wasn't concerned because height %s went up and we all know the head went up too. heehee I'll post more about #s regarding his plagiocephaly improvement once we visit Mr. Robert tomorrow.

I got to meet sweet Alicia, my beautiful niece, on the day she was born, and I finally posted a picture on facebook. Here we are again.

I love that sweet little girl and so does Alex. Per the usual, he's convinced that we changed Nicolas' name to Alicia and now keeps referring to his baby brother as such. Fun times!

I'll post a recipe for mole next.

Alicia Renee, the helmet, and more

My sister in law, Marissa, was induced this morning, so I'm really excited about getting to meet my sweet niece, Alicia Renee. Alicia is going to get annoyed by her Tia always wanting to hang out with her but I'm hopeful that I will be to her what my Tia Lupita and my Tia Linda were to me: 2nd mothers who loved me just like a child of their own while I was growing up. I have so many wonderful aunts and uncles whom I love dearly. xoxoxo

As for the helmet, we visited the neurosurgeon today for our 6 weeks post helmet initiation. I keep getting confused every time we go because we allegedly have an appointment with one of the neurosurgeons and the other one sees us...it's very strange. Either way, we ended up seeing Dr. Gennuso today as opposed to Dr. Megahed, and that's always nice because Gennuso is a very concrete and quantitative kind of gal (almost Asperger's-eque.) I appreciate quantitative data. Dr. Megahed is pretty awesome too but he's more of a qualitative guy that relies more on his eye than numbers. Either way, they're both great physicians.

Anyway, Gennuso thinks after seeing Nicolas' head that he might be in the helmet another 2 months, maybe 2 1/2 months at most but again at the end of the day, it all depends on how quickly Nicolas' head grows which is when it reshapes.We have an appointment next Wednesday with Hanger (Mr. Robert) and we were instructed to get the #s related to Nicolas' head progress to give Dr. Gennuso next time we see her. I'm hopeful that maybe she's overestimating the time since she didn't have the #s in front of her. We're ready to give the little guy's head a break from this heat but Dr. Gennuso said today, "we might as well try and get it as close to perfect as we can since we've already gone this long." Point taken and I definitely agree.  I also worry that once we take the helmet off, if there's still some more growth, the head could get flat again since he sleeps on his back a lot of the time. So, that's that. I'll get more info on #s next week when we see Mr. Robert.

My weight loss is coming along wonderfully. I'm now between 130 and 131 which is close to around where I was before Nicolas although my abs still feel pretty beaten up from this 2nd c-section. I apparently had a lot of scar tissue so the healing was slower this time around which is why it was harder to workout my abs early in my recovery. I'm working on it, and they keep getting stronger every day and probably a lot stronger than I give myself credit for. I was doing back bends with Alex on my stomach yesterday without any difficulty. That's one of his new favorite games. :) I cannot sing the praises of Weight Watchers enough. I've managed to lose weight and still eat what I want including pizza twice a week...and TACOS! :) I still eat pan dulce too. Now, my problem with the weight loss I've had is dealing with anemia. I apparently lost too much weight (percentage wise) so my anemia starting flaring up. I went back to my old dose of iron and I'm feeling better. WOOHOO! For the record, I haven't lose more than 1-2 lbs a week but apparently given my previous weight, I should've lost a bit more slowly. I dunno. If you guys seriously have any questions about Weight Watchers, don't be afraid to ask. I'm totally an advocate now and if you hate diets, it's totally for you.