Here’s the thing about this stage of pregnancy: I’m constantly nauseous, a feeling that goes away when I eat, but the thought of food makes me heave. This makes ingesting nutrition a little hard and I have found myself on more than one occasion scoffing some unoffensive HulaHoops which is the only thing that helps with the nausea. Generally I will get hungry at around 11pm but then only for something completely ridiculous (Hooter’s chicken wings, McDonald’s apple pie). I can’t win.
So when I come across a food that doesn’t make me want to puke my guts out I have to go for it. I have to eat like I’m never going to eat again, because if I don’t the feeling will go away and I’ll be left nauseously hungry. Which is gross.
Feta Cheese Recipes
Last week the only food I could stomach was feta cheese recipes. This week it’s Pringles. For ten minutes today it was griddled courgette. There is no method to this foetus’s madness.
The salad kick last week coincided nicely with the UK’s famous Indian summer so I went all-out and put together some interesting combinations. I have no idea if these salads will appeal to anyone else or if they’re just some weird pregnancy thing, but here they are for all the Feta cheese recipes lovers out there:
Watermelon, Feta and Griddled Courgette salad
I strongly believe there are few foods more majestical than griddled courgette. It’s a total ball-ache to slice so thinly and cook in batches but is so totally worth it.
Serves one for lunch.
¼ Watermelon
1/3 of a block of Feta
1 Courgette
Slice the courgette as thinly as possible using a mandolin or even the large gratey bit that comes on the side of a cheese grater (and looks like the bottom part of this!).
Brush the slices with Olive Oil and griddle in batches.
Chop the watermelon into small pieces and de-seed while you’re waiting for the courgette to cook (I often skip this step).
Chop the feta into pieces.
Mix together in a bowl and serve – the combination of watermelon and courgette will produce enough lovely juices so you won’t need a dressing.
Grape, Celery and Feta Salad
This recipe originated from raw food supremo Deb (I 100% recommend her amazing avocado chocolate mousse). I don’t like celery but I love this salad.
Serves one for lunch.
2 sticks celery
1 avocado
Large handful red grapes
1/3 block of feta
1 dessertspoon each of honey and balsamic vinegar
Chop the celery, feta and avocado into small pieces, and the grapes in half.
Mix in together.
Mix honey and balsamic together with a splash of olive oil and drizzle over.
Classic Greek Salad
So this salad isn’t completely ‘classic’ as it uses cheat’s olives from a jar. One of the things I love most about Greek salads in Greece is the way they serve their feta on top of their salads in one lump (and the way you buy Feta from huge buckets kept in fridges in the supermarket), but as I’m lazy and like to eat with one hand I chopped mine up.
Serves one for lunch.
1/4 small jar of black olives
1/4 cucumber
3 salad tomatoes
1/2 a small red onion
1/4 block of feta
Pinch dry herbs (preferably oregano)
Chop the cucumber, tomatoes, onion, olives and feta; mix together.
Drizzle with Olive oil and scatter with herbs.
Good looking salads but it is a bit too chilly for me to eat them, I need hot food in Autumn. Another way to slice courgettes thinly is to use a cheese slicer, same for strips of cucumber.
I agree – I normally don’t eat salads past August – but last week it was the only thing that would do!
Congratulations on your pregnancy!
Cheese is the one thing I crave while pregnant. Unfortunately it gives me dreadful reflux. And in Australia we’re told not to eat feta (or other soft cheeses) during pregnancy. It’s KILLING me. Feta and blue cheese are all I can think about.
The courgette and feta salad is going on my list of things to eat once this baby pops out…
Thanks Kitty! Weirdly, Feta seems to be OK over here in the UK, but I feel your pain with the blue cheese thing. After I gave birth last time one of the first things I ate was a block of stilton with a huuuge glass of red wine. So good!
Australia seems to have some of the strictest “rules” in the world regarding pregnancy and food. So odd. Apparently it’s “ok” to eat pre-packaged feta but I really prefer the stuff from the deli counter. I also miss sushi and pate. Only a few more weeks to go for me…
I miss Pate too! And I admit to indulging in Sushi whilst pregnant – apparently again it’s safe to do in the UK?
Grape, feta and celery. Yes. I need this.
When my friend B was pregnant, for the first 2 months she ate only Terry’s chocolate oranges and white bread.
Pretty much my dream diet tbh