Thursday, April 30, 2015

The unexpected foods you crave during pregnancy


Turns out that potato salad was the source of the deadly botulism outbreak at that Ohio church potluck dinner (it was made with canned potatoes). I read that in the news the other day, and I felt badly for the victims. I also thought, Hmmm, I could go for some potato salad. This is because it has become my new essential food group; I pretty much want it all the time. I would it eat for breakfast. Actually, I have.

It's not just that I crave potato salad; it is the one food that quells the queasiness that occasionally strikes. When the guy behind the deli counter at the grocery near my office sees me approaching, he automatically pulls out a little container of the stuff and hands it to me. It's weird; potato salad is usually something I eat at barbecues, and certainly not in the vast quantities I've been consuming. I've never before craved potato salad during either of my other pregnancies.

Thankfully, it's not the only food I'm craving. My body is also begging for cottage cheese, sugar snap peas, orange juice, milk and half-sour pickles (which I always crave—pickles are one of my favorite foods). I don't want sweets, other than the occasional piece of chocolate; they just don't taste so good right now. When I tried to down a Samoa the other day, usually my favorite Girl Scout cookie, it wasn't as yummy as it usually is. Maybe the lack of sweet tooth is balancing out the potato salad carb overload. I hope.

So, yes, I'll have potato salad with that. And if any of you have a great recipe to share, please do! What foods did you crave during pregnancy?

Image: Flickr/Andrew.T@NN

18 comments:

  1. There are worse thing to crave I like potato salad (without mayo). Mom said she craved avocados while she was pregnant.

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    1. I don't crave avocados but I like them. They're a super-healthy pregnancy food!

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  2. Try it amish style! http://allrecipes.com/recipe/amish-potato-salad/

    I craved coleslaw when pregnant with my oldest. I don't even like coleslaw.

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    1. Y-u-m. In a pinch, I had coleslaw at a diner the other day because they (tragically) had no potato salad.

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  3. I think I'm due a couple weeks before you, but I'm totally craving protiens. Eggs, lunch meats (I know, I know). I actually had half of a Jimmy John's sandwich for breakfast last week, and it was amazing.

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    1. Dave keeps trying to get me to eat eggs; the choline in the yolks is really healthy for the baby.

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  4. I craved potato salad for a while too! I was so queasy all the time that I had to stick to cold foods that didn't have a distinct smell. Later, I craved apple pie - the cinnamon was soothing to my stomach.

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    1. Who knew, craving potato salad is a THING! Nora below, too, and several Facebook friends said the same.

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  5. I craved tomatoes with mozzarella cheese. Chili Cheese Fries from Krystal's. And just about anything spicy. I couldn't get my food hot enough.

    BTW: new follower here. My daughter is in the process of getting a diagnosis (most likely autism.) And I was looking for parent tips on raising special needs kids. I'm a first time mom and scared senseless. I love read about your family and how you seem to always be positive. It makes me a little less nervous. Congratulations on your pregnancy and happy family!

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    1. Hi! Welcome, Kara. And thank you. And now I am craving tomatoes with mozzarella cheese!

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  6. With my oldest, my obsession was mac and cheese. With my second, I wanted lightly toasted ciabatta with honey and chevre. Only Ciabatta. Not french bread. Not that he's a picky, exacting eater or anything, now.

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    1. I crave mac 'n cheese 365 days a year! I am getting very hungry reading these comments.

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  7. Before I knew I was pregnant with my son I stood in the kitchen lamenting to my husband the fact that we did not have vanilla ice cream. Or pickles. Oh sure we had SWEET pickles, but I wanted DILL pickles. And OMG wouldn't that be amazing TOGETHER???

    No seriously. I craved pickles and ice cream. How cliché is that?

    But seriously, potato salad was my downfall during that pregnancy. I ate potato salad sandwiches- potato salad between two pieces of bread. Ridiculously good. I was a little obsessed! :-)

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    1. I crave pickles and ice-cream but separately! Mostly, when pregnant I want vanilla milkshakes. And see above, potato salad cravings are common. Potato salad sandwiches? That's unique!!!

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  8. I could barely keep anything down for most of both my pregnancies. Nepalese butter tea (so gross if you aren't pregnant) and boiled white rice (not from the rice cooker!!) got me through!

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  9. With my oldest I remember standing in a store near work wanting to grab a snack on my lunch break and being drawn to the ice cream. OK, normal so far, but then the only thing I wanted was the COFFEE ice cream! Coffee ice cream?! I don't even like the taste of coffee, but all of a sudden I wanted, no,needed, coffee ice cream on a daily basis.

    The other odd one was with a different pregnancy. In that one, my morning sickness was so awful that the only thing I could handle eating (and totally craved) was tuna melt with grapefruit on the side. This went on for quite a while, but my doctor said at least it was a helpful thing to crave!

    Good luck to you and the family - Alyssa

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  10. I'm not a huge fan of potato salad, but this one I love!! We got it in the mail as part of a booklet of Passover recipes from a boys' yeshiva high school (Yeshiva Me'on HaTorah). My mom made it once, and from there it became a holiday menu staple! We're all obsessed with it! Nothing about it tastes Passover, it just doesn't have any leavened ingredients so we can eat it then. We've made some changes to the original recipe but it still tastes delicious. It's called Vanishing Potato Salad because everyone loves it so much it just vanishes!!

    Ingredients:
    4 potatoes (we like yukon gold or the equivalent amount of baby white or red potatoes)
    2-3 sour pickles
    4 scallions (I don't even think we put these in when we make it)
    2 carrots, grated

    Dressing:
    6 Tbsp mayo
    2 tsp vinegar (we've substituted this with pickle juice and it was even yummier)
    1 tsp salt
    Black pepper to taste

    Directions:
    Cook the potatoes in skins, in salted water until easily pierced with a fork (about 25 min). Pour off the water and let it sit until cool enough to handle. Peel and cut into cubes, or if using baby potatoes don't peel and cut in half.
    Dice sour pickles and cut scallions into 1/4" pieces. Combine with potatoes and grated carrots.
    In a separate bowl combine dressing ingredients. Use an immersion blender if you want a creamier dressing. Pour over salad and mix well.
    You get the best results if you dress the salad while the potatoes are still warm.
    Yields 8 servings [officially ;)]
    Hope you enjoy it!

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    1. JACKPOT!!!! PICKLES!!! AND PICKLE JUICE!!! With added health benefit of carrots! I can't wait to make this. I'm pretty sure 8 servings should satisfy me. He he. Thank you!!!

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Thanks for sharing!