Hi Hat cupcakes (Dairy free)

Happy New Year! I know, I know I am a little late but better late than never. Heres a sweet way to start your new year. I was scrolling through pinterest and these lovely cupcakes caught my eye! How couldn't they? They looked like chocolate covered goodness. click here to see

They seriously looked amazing and as soon as my husbands eye got a hold of the image it was a done deal we were making these TONIGHT! I got a KitchenAid mixer for Christmas and my honey is literally sweet talking me into making  bad for my body but good for my taste buds treats. I will never lose my baby weight at this rate.

Well heres my take on them dairy free of course. The link above seriously only served as inspiration as we did not use their cupcake recipe or the meringue recipe listed either. After reading the BAD reviews the recipe had I decided to stick to stuff that has worked for me in the past. So here is the break down.

The finished product! 

Lets begin!

Amazingly easy and delicious dinner rolls

I found this lovely recipe while looking around pinterest. They are delicious! Dont be intimidated these are not hard to make at all. Aside from the rising time, everything else was pretty fast. You will not be disappointed.

The recipe is by howdoesshe.com Here is the basic list of ingredients and what I used to make it dairy free.

The ingredients you will need:

1 1/2 cups of milk (We used So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut milk)
3/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon Sugar (Used pure cane sugar)
1 egg
1 Tablespoon salt
2 Tablespoons yeast
2 cups of warm water
about 9-10 cups of all purpose flour
at least 1 cup of butter ( We used earth balance spread, soy free kind)

For full directions I will refer you her the original recipe site as she did an amazing job with the directions!

You can find it here: http://www.howdoesshe.com/delicious-dinner-rolls

Theres also a printable version. 

After letting dough rise about two hours 

Dont they look amazing?

Cant believe we did these ourselves.

 I dont have any pictures of my finished product because we were too busy eating them haha. I made these the night before thanksgiving they were still good the next morning but if you have time I would serve them fresh, nothing beats that!


Hope you enjoy these as well. Let me know if you try them.


Jeni 

Hola Lovelies

I can't believe its about to be 7 months since I gave birth to my beautiful baby boy. A lot has been happening here.

Sitting up like a big boy on Thanksgiving day!

Quick update on the cloth diapers:

Rumparooz I like them, they are very cute and well made. What I dont like is that Isaac is just about to be 7 months and is already wearing the largest setting! Not cool. I will be keeping them though because I suspect they would make an excellent diaper for when I have another and want to cloth my newborn.

Bumgenius I love them and everything I have tried from that brand is yet to disappoint me. I have 4.0s, Elementals and Flips. Love them all. You can't go wrong with this brand.

Oh Katy I like it but not my favorite, does its job but haven't bought any more.

Itti Bitti Ahh now theres a new found love. I have itti bitty tuttos and I love them got them at a steal from baby steals.com (love that site) I love that no matter how wet they are always dry to the touch. Minky soft outside. Very well made. I have a changing pad by them I won in a giveaway. Love it so soft. Give them a try, the fit is a bit tricky but you won't be disappointed.

Quick update on my bambino:

He is sitting up, scooting around but not yet crawling. I will begin to feed him right at 7 months. I will start with green veggies as recommended by my pediatrician then going on to orange vegetables. She advised me not to mix breast milk with it so he doesn't get used to everything tasting sweet. So I will have to update on how that goes.

We decided to sleep train him at 6 months and within a couple days Isaac was sleeping through the night 8+ hours. I will admit it was hard to begin with but very rewarding for both of us in my opinion. He gets a better night sleep which helps his health and immune system and I get to be a better mother and wife in the mornings. Win/win I say.

I have to share with you guys a roll recipe that I found on pinterest. I will upload pics and share with you guys soon.

Hope every one of you is great and blessed as I am

Jeni

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

A Home Birth Story: A Bradley Birth

I had a beautiful pregnancy lasting a total of 41 weeks. From before the time I knew I would ever be pregnant both Chris and I had decided we wanted to have a home birth. I was excited to learn on September 6, 2010 we were expecting. We got prenatal care from a wonderful midwife. She recommended we take a Bradley Class. I have to admit a first we really thought it over and even thought about not taking it. After all, most everyone says “You never remember anything from class/books anyway.” 

After a whole lot of thinking we decided to take the class to better prepare us for our home birth. I will say that I attribute much of the success of my birth to taking this class. Not only did we both feel educated, confident and prepared but most importantly I trusted my body to do what it was designed to do. I had no doubt in my mind...I COULD DO THIS. 

Towards the end of my pregnancy I kept positive. I read many of the books I had read earlier in my pregnancy to better prepare me mentally. I read blogs and articles that empowered natural childbirth. I went into labor with a positive state of mind. 

I maintained active and ate healthy throughout my pregnancy. It was an amazing pregnancy, I enjoyed every moment of it. Our baby was a total surprise. I had no ultrasounds by choice and I not once got checked for dilatation. 

Birth Story 

Thursday, May 5th I started my “show” all throughout that day until hours before the birth I kept losing bits and pieces. On Thursday throughout the day I exercised on the birthing ball. Towards the end of the night I began to feel light contractions. 

Friday, May 6th I woke up from contractions at around 2:30 a.m. but was able to go back to sleep. At 4:22 a.m. I started timing contractions after waking up from them they were about 7-8 minutes apart. I called my doula and midwife at around 6:30 a.m. to let them know what was going on. By then my contractions were down to 6 minutes apart lasting from 45 seconds to 1 minute. Chris decided to stay home from work in case this really was the “real deal” I continued to have contractions throughout the day. We ate a good breakfast to keep me fueled through the day. 

By 10 a.m. I took a warm shower in effort to better relax my body. I walked around my house and used the birthing ball on and off pausing for contractions. Chris and I spent most the morning chatting away in between contractions. Chris helped me by massaging me and talking me through each contraction. We took a break to eat lunch and I continued to pause between contractions as I ate. Chris made sure all throughout the day I kept hydrated making sure my cup of water was never empty. 

My doula arrived in between our lunch which was around 3 p.m. My family arrived shortly after at around 4 p.m. Contractions were down to 3-5 minutes apart varying in between lasting an average of a minute long. Our doula recommended Chris and I go out for a walk around my neighborhood so we did. 

As we were walking around the neighborhood contractions REALLY picked up towards the end of our walk we were having to stop every 30 seconds. We came back home and I continued using the birthing ball to rock and do hands and knees exercises. It was around 8 p.m. by then and we decided to call the midwife to come over. I took another hot shower and this time contractions were a lot stronger. I took another break to eat dinner.   

My doula and Chris helped me relax by massaging, providing water, and reminding me to breath correctly all throughout the day. Contractions started to last a minute to a minute and a half and some even coming back to back. 

One of the midwives came at around 9:30 p.m. Baby’s heart rate and position was checked, he was a lot lower than midwife had anticipated. She decided it was time to start filling the bathtub for me to get in. Around 10:00 p.m. was when contractions started getting stronger and longer. The other midwife arrived then. It was around 11:30 p.m. when I felt and actually saw my water break under the water. Everyone laughed when I said “Ohh, something came out!” in horror haha. It was clear and it all looked good. Then contractions really started picking up. I suddenly started feeling the urge to push.To be completely honest I thought I was about to poop on myself. There was no doubt in my mind I was going to poop in front of all my spectators   

Isaac’s head came out at 11:57 p.m. and his body came out at 11:59 p.m. it took 5 pushes all together to get him out.   All I remember towards the end was thinking I had no energy left to do this. I kept praying “God give me the strength, because I dont have it” . I ended up laying on my side when birthing. I practiced positions for months and I did not expect to labor in that position. In all reality I wanted to get up on my knees and do it but I had no energy to even try. 

When Isaac came out the first thing I did when they handed him to me was reach underneath his butt to see what sex the baby was haha. I wanted to make sure I was the first to know what my “surprise” baby was. I quickly told Chris it was a BOY. He wanted to know how I knew so fast, no one had said anything. (I explained to him what I had done later. He couldnt believe I had “groped” his child. Hahaha!) I held him and we waited until the cord stopped throbbing so Daddy could clamp it. Then we waited until I gave birth to the placenta. Good grief I felt so much relief after that like I had given birth all over again. 

My amazing husband Chris was by my side every step of the way I honestly could not have done it without him, his support made a huge difference. Having a doula definitely helped as well. They were such an important part of my strength to keep going. Towards the end I did not think I had the energy to push or hold myself up anymore their words of encouragement really made the difference. 

I not once doubted my body in its ability to guide me through the greatest task of my life. Surprisingly I never thought of any type of pain relief. I felt completely relaxed throughout the whole process and I felt in control. I had the birth I wanted, I entered the birth without fear in my mind and left fearless and empowered. 

I dazzled everyone! Chris said I made it look so easy. I did not feel as in control as everyone else thought I was. One of the midwives even said it looked like this was my fifth time around, about how great I did   

I did end up with a second degree tear even with months of prepping my perineum with exercises and such. He had a big noggin   

Isaac Daniel was born Friday, May 6, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. He was 8 lbs 1 oz. and 21 1/4 inches long.