toddler smoothies

 As is tradition with many toddlers, mine refuses most green vegetables. This has required a touch of creativity on my part, as the preparer of most of his food. Seriously, though, hooray for daycare providing meals when he's there. We'd probably both lose it if I had to make him these smoothies for every meal.

For now though, he ABSOLUTELY LOVES these dang smoothies. See that grubby little toddler hand trying to get his smoothie off the counter?
He gets healthy nutrients and slurps those things down in mere minutes. I kid you not. As long as there are no chunks to clog the straw, he doesn't even take breaks. His smoothie is gone before I've made my own. I even step it up a notch and use my homemade coconut milk.

spinach & cottage cheese pancakes

Finding nutritious foods that a toddler likes has been a bit of a challenge for me. For the most part, he loves food in general, but certain green foods - broccoli, green beans, spinach, etc - he will taste and then reject. Every. Single. Time.
So, I've been finding ways to slip green food into my (as it turns out) picky todder's diet. He already downs homemade pouches every day, which is where he gets most of his green food, but I was looking for something different.

A girl from our Mommy & Me recommended a pancake recipe she makes for her son. Hers included blueberries and had no cottage cheese. It almost felt like a waste to blend blueberries up into pancakes when they're one of the few foods I can reliably count on him to eat raw every time he's handed some, so I opted for spinach only, and maybe I'd add a nut butter for flavor?

I ended up keeping it super simple. This recipe makes about 12 sand dollar size pancakes.

1/2 c. 4% milk fat cottage cheese
1/2 c. rolled oats
3 eggs
1 large handful of fresh (washed) spinach

Blend. I used a Nutribullet.
Pour a few dollops into the skillet of your choice on medium heat, wait until it starts to bubble, flip, give it another minute. Done.

The batter is on the thin side, so be careful pouring.

I ate these for breakfast too. They're pretty good. :)

zucchini banana toddler muffins

Hi there, blog! It's been a long time. My last post was after little dude turned 8 months (5 months ago), and since my last baking related post its been even longer still.

But y'all - I baked! I baked something new and it came out great and I'm excited to share it with you. 

lactation cookies

Yyyyyyep. This is the first recipe I'm posting since having a baby. These cookies are the only thing I've made, let alone baked, that didn't involve reheating frozen something I made in November.

As you know, I have a tiny one now. He eats breast milk only, so I'm very conscious of my supply, and working to maintain or even increase it a little. A friend of mine had a baby in 2013 Andi remembered she'd made special lactation cookies. I did a little research and found tons of recipes, all with a couple necessary 'supply-increasing' ingredients - oats, brewers yeast, and flax seed meal.

Good thing these cookies are yummy. Otherwise I'd have nothing to post about.

I baked the first batch of these on Monday, and by Friday it was time to bake the second.

Oh, something to keep in mind should you make these: this recipe is giant. I hope you have plastic wrap or parchment to roll up the dough and keep in in the freezer.


Lactation Cookies
Yields about 3 dozen cookies. (more if you make them smaller than I do)

1 cup of butter
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of firmly packed brown sugar
4 tablespoons of water
2 tablespoons of flax seed meal
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
3 cups of steel cut oats
1 cup of chocolate chips
4 tablespoons of brewer's yeast

Preheat oven to 350°.
Mix the flaxseed meal and water, set aside and let sit for 3-5 minutes.
Cream the butter, sugar, and brown sugar.
Add eggs and mix well.
Add flaxseed mix and vanilla, mix well.
Sift together flour, brewer’s yeast, baking soda, and sa
Add dry ingredients (flour, brewer’s yeast, baking soda, and salt), and mix.
Thoroughly stir in oats and chocolate chips.
Scoop onto baking sheet, approximately 1” balls.
Bake for 12-14 minutes
Allow cookies to set for a few minutes before removing from tray.

Enjoy!