Food, Pregnancy & An Egg-Free Potato Salad Recipe

One of my biggest struggles with being pregnant (apart from the varicose veins and HUGE tummy) is knowing what to eat.

Before I get to generalising about what you can and can't eat during pregnancy I just wanted to say that what is deemed safe and unsafe during pregnancy, I have found varies between Doctors, states and certainly countries. Please see your Doctor and follow their advice, today I'm just sharing what I've been advised and what restrictions I've put on myself knowing the risks.

If you are in Queensland here is the Healthy Eating and Food Safety document provided by the State Government (to be reviewed in June 2012).

And here is my bible to eating cheese while pregnant. What I love about this document by Babycenter Australia is that it includes SAFE cheeses. When I'm unsure if a cheese is safe it's nice to be able to check a list, without it I never would have eaten cream cheese or mascarpone and would have had to do more research into sour cream (which is safe).

Generally the things you need to avoid come in three major groups and relate to avoiding food poising:

• Listeria - Dairy products should be pasteurised, avoid certain uncooked cheeses (soft, feta, etc.) and don't eat ready-to-serve chickens from delis. Don't eat soft serve icecream and beware that thickshakes and some milkshakes are made with soft serve icecream.
• Salmonella - Eat only thoroughly cooked egg. Avoid mayonnaise and other products that use raw egg as an ingredient.
• Toxoplasmosis - Avoid meat that is not completely cooked. Don't eat rare or bleeding steaks. Don't eat raw, cured meat such as Parma ham. Toxoplasmosis can also be present in soil so wash all fruit and vegetables well.

I also avoid:

• alcohol - I generally don't drink (and enjoy having the big belly that says "no wine thank you") but I do have about a tablespoon full of Moose Milk at Christmas time. It's a highly alcoholic drink and while pregnant I just mix melted (egg-free) icecream and nutmeg for my yearly fix.
• caffeine - no cola drinks, tea or coffee.
• eating out - when eating out I don't eat salads or fruit of any kind, I only eat fully cooked hot meals.
• anything from the deli - I eat ham (off the bone) only once at Christmas and I heat it to steaming in the microwave.
• sushi - I don't eat any rice that hasn't been cooked right then and there and served to me steaming hot.

Generally I find when I'm pregnant that my food choices widen as I progress with the pregnancy, only because I become more aware of what I can eat. The hardest thing for me is not being able to go out and enjoy a healthy fresh meal. Obviously you can do this, for example a Thai stir fry but I can't just go out and buy a salad sandwich or a salad and that kills me (other's do but I'm not taking that risk). Sometimes having to prepare everything is just too much and I need a break, and my body needs that break to be a nutritional one!

So my reason for telling you all this? So I can share some pregnancy friendly recipes to help with those cravings! A few weeks back I had a craving for a burger, and when I say craving, I mean CRAVING!!

So here's the changes I made:

• pure and simple I switched mayonnaise for hommus.

In recent weeks I've actually contacted Kraft Foods Australia and found out:

"Our Mayonnaise and salad dressing product range, contain pasteurised egg and are suitable to consume whilst pregnant."

I guess it's reasonable to assume that packaged mass produced products don't contain raw egg as that would effect their shelf life, but I'm always one to err on the side of caution. At least now I can feel confident using up those jars I have in the fridge!

What was in the burger?

• toasted bun
• hommus
• lettuce
• tomato
• tasty cheese
• chicken breast fillet (which was butterflied and roasted in peri peri sauce)

And my egg free potato salad recipe?

• approx 1.7kg potatoes (peeled, cubed and boiled)
• 300ml sour cream
• roughly 2 tablespoons mustard (I use a hot German mustard, but any is good)
• some chopped shallots

Mix sour cream with mustard. Place your cooked potatoes into a bowl and sprinkle with shallots, add sour cream mixture and stir. Refrigerate and serve cold. I made this for my family recently and it served 5 adults and one child with heaps of left overs and most of us having huge double servings.

Finely chopped snow peas work really well instead of shallots too. Adds a yummy crunch.