Oatmeal chocolate chip lactation cookies?!

After the birth of our newest boy, I falsely made the assumption that my milk would come in sooner then it did with my first.  I mean, it hadn't been that long since I was still breastfeeding Zach, and my body had already done the process once before.  Surely it would come soon?  I was wrong. 

I was desperate to get things moving this time.  Elijah is so much smaller then his big brother was.  I was in a huge hurry because with each passing day, I looked at a tiny tiny little newborn (5lbs, 12 oz at one point) worried that he wasn't gaining enough weight.  I became desperate.  I drank half a beer (I got a bit tipsy from just half the beer- proof that it's been awhile) because rumor has it that yeast speeds things up.  I nursed, and nursed, and nursed, and, oh yeah... did I mention I nursed?  Nothing was working.  So I began researching online to see what else I could possibly do to get this poor boy milk.  Eventually I stumbled upon something that caught my eye... lactation cookies.  

No these cookies are not made with breastmilk.  And no, they aren't shaped like boobs.  Instead they are made with ingredients that have been shown to increase milk production in lactating mothers.  Just what are these wild ingredients?  Believe it or not, they were all things I happened to have in my pantry.... oats, yeast, and flax.  Not to mention the recipe called for chocolate chips.  How could I go wrong?  It wouldn't hurt to try right?  I ended up finding a LOT of recipes but eventually settled on one that looked super easy and was healthier then the rest.  I was shocked at how easy and wonderful they were.  They came out perfect.  Cooked just to perfection, moist, chocolatey, and perfect in every way.  Not to mention this recipe produced a TON!  I counted at least 50 cookies.  So many that I shared them with the other friends up here who are breastfeeding their little ones.  And before you ask, yes, these cookies are perfectly safe for anyone.  They won't suddenly make my 1 year old son start lactating.  They just happen to contain ingredients that will help support breastfeeding.  

And so the results... they worked!  The next morning, Elijah was eating and gaining weight!  Since, he has started to gain some weight in his cheeks and is developing perfectly.  I can't say for sure if the cookies helped me produce milk, but hey you can't go wrong with chocolate chip cookies can you?  

Lactation cookies

by The Humbled Homemaker

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour

1 3/4 c. rolled oats

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3/4 c. peanut butter (I used almond butter)

1/2 c. butter, softened

1 c. ground flax seed

3 T brewer’s yeast (I used regular active dry yeast)

1/3 c. water

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 large eggs

2 c. (12oz) chocolate chips (I recommend organic or chips made with non-GMO soy lethicin.)

1 c. chopped nuts of your choice (I skipped the nuts)

Directions: 

Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a bowl.

Gradually beat in flour mixture. Mix in nuts and chocolate chips. Slowly mix in oats. 

Place Tbsp.-sized balls of dough onto greased cookie sheets.

Press down each ball lightly with a fork.

Bake 12 minutes at 350F.

Allow to cool.

Enjoy! 

nesting- freezer meals

Can you believe we are already less than four weeks from meeting Baby Step #2?  Of course, I could always go into labor early and it could be sooner, too!  I am shocked with how quick this one has gone by compared to my past pregnancy.  Of course, I've got a bald toddler to keep up with these days!  In any case, I am spending these final weeks preparing and preparing for the craziness that is about to be my life.  Having two kids under 2 years old is not going to be a joke, and I can bet the next year will be tough.  I do not regret choosing to have my kiddos so close in age, but gosh am I terrified right now!

As we near my c-section date (Sept 10th in the early morning) I have done much to prepare.  I have almost finished the nursery (photos to come soon) and am very excited with how it has turned out.  I just have to finish decorating it and will show it off!  I am excited to share photos of it!  It looks so great!  I have also gotten all of Zach's old clothes and things out for his little brother.  Baby brother will be just as cute and stylish as Zach was as a baby.  I look forward to reminiscing on outfits Zach wore.  I have even partially packed my bags for the hospital.  I have just about everything packed up, but will have to add quite a lot last minute when it's time to go.  Luckily, even if I do go into labor, I have some time to throw it all together before making the 30 second drive to the hospital.  
I have even set up Zach's childcare for while we are gone.  We are lucky to have a great friend with a boy Zach's age.  She has already babyproofed her home (she also has an adorable 2 month old boy!  Her kids are the same age apart as my boys will be) so that's one less thing to worry about while he's there.  She also already has all of the necessary things that a baby may need, so no need to lug over tons of supplies.  We are very grateful for her help, and will be providing her with lots of food and snacks for the boys and her.  I think Zach will eat her out of house and home if we didn't!

One of the things I've worked hard on in the past few weeks of preparing is freezer meals.  This is a relatively new concept for many people.  Basically, it is a meal that is ready to throw together quickly.  Everything is already chopped and measured out (which always takes me the longest), all that needs to be done is to cook it.  Most of the meals are crock pot meals, that I will be able to just throw into the crockpot in the morning.  I know things will be crazy for awhile in our adjustment to having 2 boys, so this will be one less thing to worry about.  
In my research on freezer meals and arrangement of them all, i've learned a lot.  I've learned about the shelf life of freezer meals (most can last up to about 6 months!), and most importantly I've learned that I  LOVE freezer meals!  I haven't yet made any of these meals, but the idea behind them is genius.  I even found one woman who does this once a month, and lives off those foods for a month!  She cooks once a month and then has more time to spend with her family during the rest of the month!  What a great idea!  Unfortunately, with the kinds of foods we eat, that's a bit more difficult for us to do.  But for the most part, I plan on adopting this new style of cooking into my routine, even far away from now. 

And now, without further ado, I share with you my meals.  I will be making about 5-7 more of these in the next few weeks and hope to share them as well!  

The whole bottom shelf and part of the top have freezer meals!

That's a lot of meals!

And i'm not done yet!

Here's the round up:

Balsamic Chicken

Cilantro lime Shrimp

Mini turkey meatloaves

Chicken Nuggets (for the boy)

Chicken Soup (5 of them, you never know if someone is going to get sick!)

Chicken Enchilada Stew

Savory Chicken

Cilantro lime vinaigrette

Tuna Tomato Sauce
Greek Chicken
Cilantro lime Chicken

I will be focusing the next few weeks on more freezer meals.  I will be doubling my dinners for freezer meals, making waffles, and making a few marinade bags.  Did you know you can freeze chicken in a marinade and then just de-thaw it the day you're going to cook it?  As it de-thaws, it marinades!  We love marinading chicken.  Every Sunday night we have chicken and veggies and the left over chicken is used on salads and in sandwiches during the week.  I will try to post the finished product that is our freezer.  Boy do I wish I had a deep freezer right about now!  If we extend, I may have to buy one soon!

Comment/Message me if you want any of these recipes.  They are all gluten, grain, dairy, and sugar free.  They are also mostly organic.  Basically, they're Paleo and very healthy!  Only the healthiest ingredients for my family! 

Finger painting fun & cookies for a friend!

This morning there was a scheduled power outage at the gym.  Booo!  That means mommy can't get her much needed workout in, and Zach can't play with all the toys & friends at the co-op!  Instead, we decided to spend the day crossing a few things off of our summer to do list.  

First up- finger painting!  Who doesn't love finger painting?  I know I love getting my hands all dirty in the name of art!  A toddler and finger paint is just a fun disaster waiting to happen, so we grabbed our paper and paint, and headed out to the back to have fun.  As a person who's spent a lot of time with toddlers and finger paint, I stripped Z of his clothes except his diaper, threw an apron on him, and grabbed baby wipes before heading outside.  

You know your kid is talented when he can paint two masterpieces at once!

Adding my finishing touches mom!

Mom!  I'm dirty!

trying to grab the camera

Gotta give myself a kiss because I'm so good looking!

OK- done.  Now hose me down!

After our finger painting fun, we hosed the dirty boy off, got his clothes back on, and proceeded to bake some cookies for friends.  I couldn't bear the thought of a cookie loaded with sugar for a 17 month old, so we found a yummy healthy, raw, sugar free, and even vegan recipe for a coconut lemon cookie.  I love both lemons and coconut in the summer and a healthy cookie recipe was just what I was looking for!  Unfortunately, this did not make as many cookies as we'd have liked.  We had to have some for ourselves of course, but there was not enough to share after that for everyone.  Instead, we chose to share them with our very fit and healthy neighbor, Alicia.  She just loves unique recipes like this one!  Here is the recipe for those who would like to try these cookies!  

Lemon Coconut Meltaways (adapted from ADDICTED to VEGGIES)

1 1/2 cups almond flour

1 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut flakes

1/3 cup coconut flour

2 large pinches of salt

6 tablespoons agave

3 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp lemon zest

1.  Mix dry ingredients in your mixer.  

2.  Mix wet ingredients.  Slowly pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients with motor running.  

3.  Bake in oven at the lowest temperature for about 45-60 minutes with the door cracked open.  Put the cookies in the fridge when they are done to cool before eating!  

4. Consume, if you haven't already eaten all the dough (this dough is actually edible considering it's raw!)

Even though we couldn't share this recipe with everyone, we did enjoy making them.  There will be more cookies to come to the rest of our friends in Okinawa!

Stepanoff Summer Sixty Checkoff:

Finger Paint

Bake cookies for friends

Raw almost vegan strawberry cheesecake

I've recently adopted an almost raw vegan diet.  I started it out to test to see if it really did give you energy.  As many of you know, I've been struggling a lot lately with extreme exhaustion.  Not good timing with the hubby gone!  My house is an absolute disaster because I've been so tired I couldn't even stand long enough to dust! It's been a long month and a half- we are ready for Daddy to come home!  

Anyway, I tried this as a test and guess what?  It worked!  I have been up at 6:30 every morning since starting and have energy throughout the day!  I feel great and have been keeping active running, attending body sculpting class, and doing long yoga classes all week.  I've even brought Zach to the park 3 times this week and an indoor play place once.  I have had the energy to crawl through small tunnels, and chase after a walking baby (yes, he's walking now).  I haven't felt this good in a long time!

My diet has mostly consisted of TONS of fruit and vegetables, hummus, salad, baba gnash, juice, and lots and lots of nuts and seeds.  I havent felt hungry once as I'm eating a LOT.  I don't know if this is a lifestyle I will keep with.  I do enjoy some chicken and love eggs in the morning.  But for the time being, with the hubby still gone, it's working great for me.  I feel fantastic!

Awhile ago, my super healthy friend, Alicia, told me about this yummy paleo cheesecake she made.  I figured I'd look into it and guess what?  It also happens to be raw AND can be made vegan.  I was dying to give it a go, but making an entire cheesecake for one person?  Not fun.  So when my friend, Jess told me she was throwing a mini get together for her husband's birthday, I just knew this was my chance to dive into it!

The original recipe can be found on My New Roots.  I changed a few things and doubled the recipe because my pan was big and I like a tall cheesecake!  I found it extremely easy to make.  If you decide to try this though, be sure to read the recipe first and plan accordingly.  It takes some planning!  You have to start a day early!

And so, here is what I did:

Raw "vegan" strawberry cheesecake

Crust:

1 cup raw almonds (pecan or walnuts will also work)

1 cup soft Medjool dates

1/2 tsp. sea salt

Filling:

3 cups raw cashews, soaked for at least 5 hours, overnight is best

juice of 4 lemons

2 tsp. alcohol-free vanilla extract

2/3 cup raw coconut oil, melted

2/3 cup raw honey (This is what made it not vegan.  If you wish to make a vegan version, use agave nectar.  They don't sell it in Oki!)  (Also, I ran out of honey so used a little maple syrup to substitute) 

2 cups strawberries (thaw completely if using frozen)

Directions:

1. Place nuts and dates in a food processor with sea salt and pulse to chop until they are to your desired fineness. Test the crust by spooning out a small amount of mixture and rolling it in your hands. If the ingredients hold together, your crust is perfect. Scoop out crust mixture in a 10x10" pan lined with saran wrap, and press firmly, making sure that the edges are well packed and that the base is relatively even throughout. Rinse food processor well.

2. Warm coconut oil and honey in a small saucepan on low heat until liquid. Whisk to combine.

3. In the most powerful food processor / blender you own place all filling ingredients (except berries) and blend on high until very smooth (this make take a couple minutes so be patient).

4. Pour about 1 1/3 cups of the mixture out onto the crust and smooth with a spatula. Add the raspberries to the remaining filling and blend on high until smooth. Pour onto the first layer of filling. Place in freezer until solid.  This takes a few hours.  Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time between making this and serving it, so it wasn't nearly done!  

5. To serve, remove from freezer 30 minutes prior to eating. Run a smooth, sharp knife under hot water and cut into slices. Serve on its own, or with fresh fruit. Store leftovers in the freezer (what leftovers?). 

cheerios muffins

Every morning I start my day sitting down for breakfast with Zach.  He always indulges in some cheerios while I have my omlette.  Often I will bake a batch of muffins as well so on occasion he will have a muffin and cheerios.  Today while browsing pinterest, I stumbled upon a recipe for cheerios muffins.  I couldn't believe what i was reading.  Cheerios AND muffins?  I think Zach would be the happiest kid in the world if i made these for him.  And so... I baked.

I found this recipe on smashed peas and carrots but had to change a few things around to make it for an 11 month old.  Her recipe would be great for big kids though!

Here's my recipe:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup white sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp baking soda

5 cups of Cheerios

2 tablespoons flaxseed

6 tablespoons water

1 tsp vanilla

homemade buttermilk (2 tablespoons lemon juice+ breastmilk/formula to make 2 cups)

To make the buttermilk put 2 tablespoons lemon juice in a measuring cup and add milk to make 2 cups.  

Add the flax seed and water to a small bowl and let sit for a few minutes while you gather other ingredients.

In a large bowl, mix together your dry ingredients and set aside.  

Mix all wet ingredients.

Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients making sure to incorporate well.  

Cover your bowl with plastic wrap and wait about 30 minutes for the cereal to soften.  

Pour batter into a lined muffin tin and bake at 375 degrees for 15-18 minutes.  

This recipe should make about 2 dozen muffins.  

Enjoy!

paleo baby friendly "cornbread" muffins

As many of you know, I seriously watch my wheat intake.  I wouldn't go as far as to say that I'm Paleo, but I do eat similar to our primal ancestors.  Many of my recipes come from Paleo friendly websites.  When I was in the States, I stocked up on coconut flour, since they didn't sell it here.  When I returned... they started carrying it here! 

When Zach started eating solid foods, I told myself that I would limit his wheat intake too.  I've read too many articles about wheat being associated with a number of different childhood disorders.  I won't pinpoint wheat here, as I do eat it on occasion, and see no harm in doing so.  I just think that the amount of wheat type products Americans consume today is far more then our bodies need.  I simply limit both Zach and my intake of wheat.

When I stumbled upon a Paleo recipe for "cornbread" muffins, I knew I had to try them.  I of course had to alter the recipe a bit.  It originally called for 8 eggs, but since babies can't have egg whites, I substituted with flaxseed.  

Here's my Baby friendly recipe:

"Cornbread" muffins

8 Tablespoons flax seed

1 1/2 cup water

2/3 cup coconut flour

1/2 cup butter (or mix coconut butter and EVOO) (Next time, I will try this with Coconut oil)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Mix flax seed and water and allow to sit for 2 minutes.  Meanwhile, whisk together coconut flour, salt, and baking powder.  Whisk flax/water mixture with butter.  Add coconut flour mixture to the mixture and stir to combine.  I used a kitchen Aid to blend quickly until it formed a dough mixture.  Divide the batter among greased muffin tins.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden browned.  Take out of the oven and let cool.  

Enjoy!