Carrot Cake Oatmeal

I stumbled upon this recipe the other day and quickly said "ewwww" haha Last night as I browsed online for recipes I stumbled upon it again so I decide to give it a try and I was pleasantly surprised! It is yummy!

serves 2

Ingredients

2/3 cups cooked steel cut oats
1/2 cup shredded carrots
2 cups unsweetened non dairy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
pinch ground cloves

Optional health boosts: ground flaxseed, chia seeds
Sweeten with agave or honey.

GARNISH

Diced fresh pineapple, toasted walnuts, or raisins. I only had raisins and almonds so thats what I added, but can't wait to try it with pineapples. 

Directions

In a medium saucepan, bring milk, carrots, vanilla, cinnamon, ground nutmeg and cloves to a boil. Add oats cook thoroughly, add desired garnish, sweeten if desired and enjoy!

Heres an option I found as an add on. I have not tried it though.

CREAM CHEESE TOPPING (CAN BE MADE WITH NON DAIRY CREAM CHEESE)

1/4 cup cream cheese at room temperature

2 tablespoons maple syrup

In a small bowl, stir cream cheese until smooth (use fork). Stir in maple syrup.


Hope you enjoy this as much as I did. Even my eight year old sister enjoyed this. 

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies!

We recently were on the hunt for whole wheat dairy free chocolate chip cookie recipe and were delighted when we found this. Yes WHOLE WHEAT and DAIRY FREE.  I guess it makes me feel less guilty we eating them haha. I actually use to hate chocolate until my pregnancy, I think Isaac flipped the chocolate switch while he was in there =D


On to the recipe. Adapted from Basic Whole Grain Cookies. I made my own variations to make this recipe dairy free.

Ingredients:

• 
  

1. 1/2 cup butter ( You could use earth balance or raw coconut oil, we tried both and prefer raw coconut oil)
2. 1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar ( organic cane sugar, sugar on the raw, sucanat or agave)
3. 1/3 cup brown sugar, light or dark, packed (we use sugar on the raw or sucanat)
4. 1/2 teaspoon salt (we always use sea salt)
5. 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
6. 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
7. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
8. 1 large egg (you probably could use egg replacer, have not tried it though flaxseed and water works well with many recipes)
9. 3/4 cup white whole wheat or traditional whole wheat flour (we used white whole wheat)
10. 3/4 cup quick rolled oats, ground in a food processor or blender if desired
11. 1 cup chocolate chips (we love enjoy life dairy-free chocolate chips)

• 
  
• Directions:

1) Beat together the coconut oil, sugars, salt, baking soda, baking powder and vanilla till well combined.

2) Add the egg, beating till smooth. Scrape the sides of the bowl, and beat again till smooth.

3) Add the flour and oats, beating to combine.

4) Add chocolate chips

Optional:

Cover the cookie dough, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled; at least several hours, or overnight. (If you want a thicker cookie, we still have not done this) 

• When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.
• Drop the cookies onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 2" apart. A cookie scoop works well here (I use pampered chef medium scoop…love it!)
• If the cookie dough has been refrigerated, bake the cookies for 13 to 14 to 14 minutes, until they're a very light golden brown, and a bit darker around the edges. For unrefrigerated dough, bake for about 11 minutes.
• Remove them from the oven, and cool right on the baking sheets.

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did. You can also choose to not add anything at all and they are still super yummy.

Hello Again!

I have not blogged in quite a while. Its been busy around here not just with Isaac but with life in general. Its summer time so we've been going out of town more often. Getting a routine has been somewhat of a challenge but I think I am finally starting to get one going (crossing fingers)

Isaac is now three months old and I can't believe it. I am already missing that newborn stage and its giving me baby fever! I just want him to stop growing now. I dont mind holding, snuggling and nurturing him forever :-P He is such an awesome baby. He never woke me up more than once at night. He is now sleeping through the night, he has been since about a month ago. He is always laughing and cooing (if he is not gassy) It is such a joy being his mommy.

Now whats going on with us?

Breastfeeding

I am exclusively breastfeeding and its going great. He eats a lot, if I were to let him eat all the day long he probably would.  I will be honest in admitting that throughout my whole pregnancy what I feared the most was not the delivery but breastfeeding. I was so determined I would breastfeed but I was so nervous to not be able to do so, for whatever reason. I guess I had just heard too many stories of how bad it was for some and how they HAD to stop. I was scared, What if I can't do it?, What if no milk comes out?, What if it hurts too much? I read and read and was determined I WOULD BREASTFEED no matter what and so I did. After he came that was the first thing I did. There was after birth pains every time I fed him initially. Woah did they hurt but after a couple days they went away. I did feel some pain at every letdown for about the first month. None of it was enough to stop me. I didn't have any formula to fall back on either so in a way that helped and kept me motivated. There is also something almost magical about that time you get to bond with your baby while breastfeeding. At the age he is at now he will randomly stop, look at me and just smile…it melts my heart.

Now I do have a pump and I try to pump once every morning. I have a Medela Pump in Style and I like it very much. I introduced a bottle to him at two weeks and he gulped it down then again I gave him a bottle at six weeks. I am glad that he has not had any issues taking a bottle since we have been traveling so much. My hubby bought me a receptacle I can plug my pump to on the road so I dont get engorged. I love it! It definitely helps on long trips.

Cloth Diapering


I am part-time cloth diapering, if that makes any sense haha. We have not been able to in one bulk get our cloth diapers. There has been many new expenses on our budget with Isaac in the picture.  They are rather expensive but a great investment in the long run. There are cheaper alternatives to cloth but for now I am sticking with pockets (which you stuff) and all in ones (AIO) which are ready to go.

Brands I have tried so far is Bumgenius and Rumparooz. I plan on writing reviews based on my experience with them. I just ordered Bumgenius Flips with organic inserts, one Oh Katy pocket diaper and a few more Rumparooz which I am contemplating returning for more Bumgenius AIOs. Can you tell which kind I'm liking more already?

I did win a Envibum diaper so I can't wait to try that too.

I love cloth diapering! I am doing it about every other day and hopefully soon Ill be able to full time cloth diaper my baby.  It is not as hard as many imagine. You take it off and toss it in your wash bag. Now if its poop since I'm breast-feeding its water soluble so no worries. There are also liners you can use for when poop becomes solid so you just remove the liner and throw that away and toss it in your laundry bag. Not any messier than regular diapers in my opinion. Plus there are so many cute prints out there. It is quite addicting!

Plus I think Isaacs hinny is much happier, no rashes.

Diet and Exercise

Since I am exclusively breastfeeding it is not recommended you subject yourself to any diet or rigorous exercise routine it can release toxins into your bloodstream and milk. So I haven't exercised much, I started walking and well that didn't go so well. My left leg has given out on me for some unknown reason. Im still trying to figure it out.

As far as diet goes, making the right choices is about as much as I can do while breastfeeding. Its quite hard though with my pregnancy cravings seem to be lingering haha. NOT GOOD! I am constantly hungry it seems. I can't eat certain things that upset Isaacs belly.

We are back to eating white meat, still sticking away from dairy, but we mostly eat vegetarian diet at home. getting back on track is harder than I expected.

I have 15lbs lingering in my body from pregnancy and they seem to be happy and content to be where they are. :( My Isaac is worth every pound though.

Here is a few pictures of my growing baby:

At 1 month old with his Bumgenius print AIO

with Daddy at two months old

at 3 months such a cutie

My love and I just celebrated our third wedding anniversary and I couldn't be more in love!

I thank my Lord for the many blessings he has given me. 

I have new yummy recipes to post soon I hope :) I will try to keep up with my blogging. See you later loves.

Jeni