Milk and Cookies

My view several times per day. (Not easy to snap a picture of an easily distracted and very-interested-in-the-camera toddler while breastfeeding!)

Before having Bee, I wasn’t committed to breastfeeding. I’d heard stories of problems and pain. I thought “If it works, then good. If it doesn’t, oh well.”

Yet here I am with a 19-month old nursling, who shows no signs of giving up the boob. Nor do I have a need to stop nursing her for the time being. In fact, I’m happy to continue breastfeeding her for the health benefits to both her and myself until there is a compelling reason or circumstance for me to stop.

I feel lucky that I never had any breastfeeding problems, though the path was a bit rocky sometimes.

Like most new mothers who are feeding on demand, it started with having to get used to being in constant demand, coupled with uncertainty. The nagging question of “Am I doing it right?” despite the fact that Bee was gaining weight regularly. Then it was getting over my hang up of breastfeeding in public. Since I overcame that discomfort, it’s been smooth sailing.

I also feel lucky to live in a neighbourhood, and be part of a community, that is open and supportive of breastfeeding.  All of my closest momfriends are still breastfeeding their toddlers.

One of my momfriends decided that this extended breastfeeding was worthy of celebration. Last Sunday I was invited to a “boob celebration” along with another still-nursing mother. Of course, husbands (whose breastfeeding support is invaluable) and toddlers (the raison d’être of our breastfeeding) were invited too!

I’d heard of lactation cookies, but had never made any. This event became the perfect opportunity to bake some to share with these lactating ladies. The recipe is a mash-up of the ones I found on Peaceful Parenting and The Progressive Parent. Both sites do a good job of explaining what the key ingredients oats, flax and Brewer’s yeast do to boost milk production — not that we really need the extra help at this point. Aside from the main benefit, I really just wanted them to taste good.

I’m happy with the results, and think they are nourishing cookies for anyone. David and Bee certainly approve, and so do the lactating ladies!

Recipe: Lactation Cookies

This recipe makes approx. 5 dozen cookies. These cookies are not overly sweet; they taste “nutritious”. The chocolate chips and dried apricots add sweetness, but if you prefer sweeter cookies, increase the brown sugar to 1 cup.

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3 tbsp Brewer’s yeast
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp each cinnamon, ground ginger
3/4 cup ground/milled flax seed
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup almond butter
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 tbsp molasses
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick cook)
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1 cup chopped almonds (or cashews or macadamia nuts)
3/4 cup chopped dried apricots (or raisins, if you prefer)

Preheat oven to 375° F. Line or grease baking sheets.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, Brewer’s yeast, baking powder, salt and spices.

In a second (small) bowl, combine ground/milled flax seed and water. Mix with a spoon to make a thick paste. As the mixture sits, it will thicken into one lump.

In a third (large) bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy. Add almond butter and beat until combined. Beat in sugar, then eggs one at a time. Mix in flax seed mixture, molasses and vanilla.

Mix in flour mixture, then oats and finally the chocolate chips, chopped almonds and chopped dried apricots.

Make small balls of dough and place on cookie sheet. Press down balls with a spoon or fork. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

Sweet Spot and Banana Carrot Muffins (with no refined sugar)

Bee focusing on peeling onions. She managed to remove the outer skins.

I always knew I would enjoy motherhood. I felt it would give me the opportunity to do more of some of the things I love, cooking and baking in particular. While it’s taken 18+ months to get to this point — I didn’t necessarily expect to get there sooner — I’m totally loving it: cooking a fresh, interesting and tasty dinner on most nights; trying out new recipes; transforming ideas onto the plate; eating good food! I’m in a real sweet spot, and Bee is playing along.

A good part of our afternoons are spent cooking, and some mornings we bake together. She may spend some time with me at the counter, helping me or playing with food scraps or, her favourite, water. Or she may cook in her own mini kitchen, where I see her imitate what she sees me doing. Or she may simply occupy herself otherwise, checking in with me every so often. The process takes longer, with frequent pauses for various reasons, but the food gets on the table.

Although I sometimes feel guilty that I’m not spending the time playing with Bee, I figure she is seeing a good example of home cooking and learning some valuable skills. Over time, I should be able to involve her more and more.

Bee stirring (and tasting, of course) the wet ingredients for muffins.

Just the other day we tried a new muffin recipe together. It’s been a long time since I got excited about a muffin recipe (probably not since I came up with the date and cranberry muffins with oatmeal streusel topping), but these banana carrot muffins are stellar!

I’m always searching for recipes with low/no sugar or tweaking them to reduce the amount of sugar. Too often recipes have too much sugar, which is not only bad for us but also, in my opinion, masks the other flavours. This recipe gets just the right amount of sweetness from bananas, dates and a touch of maple syrup, and includes a lot of healthy ingredients. I can’t get enough of them, and Bee is a fan too. Another sweet spot!

Recipe: Banana Carrot Muffins

This recipe is adapted from Dr. Weil’s Carrot-Banana Muffin recipe. I made a combination of mini and regular size muffins; the recipe made 24 mini muffins and 9 regular-size muffins. 

Dry:
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup old fashioned oats
2/3 cup ground almonds/almond meal
1/4 cup ground flax seed
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 tsp each cinnamon, cardamom, ginger
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chopped pitted dates
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Wet:
3 eggs
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 tbsp maple syrup
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
2 medium carrots, finely grated

Preheat oven to 350° F. Line/grease 12 regular size muffin cups (or combination of mini and regular-size muffin cups).

In a bowl, combine all wet ingredients. Combine all dry ingredients in a second bowl. The chopped dates will tend to stick together. With your fingers separate them once they are in the flour mixture; coating each piece with the flour mixture will prevent them from sticking together.

Pour wet ingredients into dry, and blend until flour mixture is just moistened.

Fill muffin cups. Bake 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and tester comes out clean. (Mini muffins will be done sooner, in approx. 25 minutes.)

Spring Gardening: New Seeds, New Setup

Oh how lovely it was, digging my fingers into some potting soil this morning!

Bee was at her grandparents’. I covered the table and floor with plastic tablecloths, turned on some tunes and got out my gardening supplies and seeds.

This year, I’m starting my seeds with the help of a grow light for the first time. I opted for a simple three-foot grow bulb stand. Although I’m somewhat concerned that it will not provide as much light as I need — I think I’d need two bulbs for optimal coverage — I figure it will still give me better results than in previous years.

In previous years, I always ended up with tall scraggly seedlings with funny twisted stems. No surprise, since the seedlings would lean towards the window light. Then I’d rotate the flat and they’d lean in the other direction, growing spindly as they fought for light.

Despite their less than desirable appearance, they would always grow into strong, productive plants once in the garden. The tough part was the transplanting. They were fragile; the stems would easily break. And I’d be minus one or two plants. I’m hoping my new setup will give me strong plants from the start, which will make transplanting easier.

The new setup means I have less space for seedlings. That’s ok though. Last year, I started some seeds too early (zucchini, cucumbers, beans). They grew faster than I expected and in the end I couldn’t maintain them until it was warm enough to plant them.

This morning I planted only tomatoes (I’m excited about all the new varieties I got for this year: Sasha’s Pride, Cougar, Sunsugar, Black Krim, Amish Paste, and more!), eggplant, wild arugula (a non-bolting perennial I’m trying for the first time) and chives. For the other vegetables, I’ll either direct sow them when the earth is warm or start them early May, closer to transplanting time.

In the meantime, I’m eager for the remaining snow to melt, so David and I can whip the beds into shape and plant those cool earth-loving seeds like peas, snow peas, fava beans (trying again hoping to get it right this year), mesclun mix and other early lettuces.

A Crafty Homemade Gift For A One-Year Old

A friend’s daughter turned one today! I’m not in the habit of giving gifts to friends’ kids, but I think marking the day with something homemade is a nice touch. I hope Bee’s little friend will enjoy these nesting boxes with heart-shaped “coins.”

At my local thrift store – I’m a huge fan – I found two boxes that fit neatly one into the other, as well as some wood hearts. The total cost of the materials was not more than $1.50!

I cut a slot into the larger box and a heart-shaped opening in the smaller box, and finished the edges with some painter’s masking tape. Easy!

I think this homemade toy has a lot of potential. In addition to nesting the boxes and putting the heart-shaped “coins” in the openings (the slot opening is a bigger challenge than the heart-shaped opening), the boxes can be stacked, the lids can be removed and replaced, the “coins” can be dumped from one box into the other… And I’m sure Bee’s little friend will find many more things to do with it!

Carrot Ginger Food Processor Soup

The food processor is escaping the cupboard and seeing the light of day more often lately. First oatmeal raisin cookies, then carrot ginger soup.

I was starting the soup later than expected, and didn’t know if Bee would be patient enough to allow me to chop the carrots and prepare the other ingredients. Out came the food processor, and we grated all the vegetables, as well as the ginger and onion in a couple of minutes, together!

Another bonus: having the vegetables cut so finely sped up the cooking time and made the soup easier and quicker to blend before serving.

Recipe: Carrot Ginger Food Processor Soup

6 large carrots, peeled
1 small yam or sweet potato, peeled
1 2-inch piece of ginger, peeled
1 small onion, peeled
1 tsp coriander seed
1-2 tbsp oil
Approx. 2 litres water or vegetable broth
Vegetable bouillon cube (if using water)
3/4 cup cooked millet (optional, gives some body and added nutritional value to the soup)
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh cilantro for serving (optional)

Toast coriander seed until fragrant in pot intended to make soup. Remove from heat and grind using a mortar and pestle or spice grinder.

Grate carrots, sweet potato/yam, ginger and onion using food processor.

Heat oil in pot. Add grated vegetable, ginger and onion mixture and ground coriander. Cook for 5 minutes.

Add water or vegetable broth to cover generously. If using water, then add vegetable bouillon cube (I use a bit less than the recommended amount for the quantity of water). Add cooked millet. Stir to combine and bring soup to a simmer.

Simmer soup until vegetables are tender. Blend soup using an immersion blender or blender. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Sprinkle with chopped fresh cilantro to serve.

Oatmeal Raisin Food Processor Cookies and “Playdough”

Bee – that’s Baby’s new blog handle, since she isn’t really a baby anymore, and busy like a bee – and I made cookies recently. We used a food processor.

Using this kitchen appliance works well for us at this stage (17 months). Bee likes pouring things from one container into another and pushing buttons. She also likes putting together the different parts of the food processor (minus the blade of course). For me, the mess is minimal and I don’t have to pull away while mixing to make sure she doesn’t get her fingers caught in the beaters.

Bee likes butter!

We made cookies based on the Wannabe Cape Breton Oat Cakes recipe. While she played with some of the dough (much tastier than regular playdough!), I rolled out the dough and cut out cookies.

Bee playing with the dough, lots of flavour and texture!

I rolled the dough quite thin, so the result was more like a sweet cracker – quite addictive, I must say. Hard to eat just one! Bee liked them too, so this recipe is a win. I’ll make them again, and maybe swap the raisins for cut up dried pears, dates or apricots, or even some chocolate chips.

Oatmeal raisin food processor cookies, kind of like a sweet cracker.

Recipe: Oatmeal Raisin Food Processor Cookies

2 cups flour (I use whole spelt flour)
1/4 tsp each cinnamon, ginger and cardamom
1/2 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups old fashioned oats
3/4 cup raisins
1 cup butter, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup cold water

Preheat oven to 375° F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Pour flour, spices, brown sugar, salt and baking powder into food processor. Pulse to combine. Add old fashioned oats and raisins. Pulse to combine.

Add butter pieces and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. While running the food processor, slowly add water. Stop processing once the dough starts coming together.

Flour counter. Turn dough out onto floured counter. It will be crumbly. Knead lightly and briefly until it comes together. [Give some dough to your child for play.]

Roll out dough to a 1/4″ thickness. Cut into squares/rectangles/whatever shape you desire. (I tried using a cookie cutter, but it didn’t work well because of the oatmeal in the dough.) Place cookies on prepared baking sheets.

Bake 8-10 minutes or until light brown.

Raffaello Macaroons (Almond Coconut White Chocolate Macaroons)

You know those Ferrero Rocher balls, the white ones called Raffaello? I like them. They’re the inspiration for this cookie.

I’m delighted with how these macaroons turned out. Crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside. The flavours marry beautifully, yet there’s still a subtle taste of each individual ingredient.

Recipe: Raffaello Macaroons (Almond Coconut White Chocolate Macaroons)

Makes approx. 36 cookies. This recipe is gluten-free!

1 1/2 cups ground almonds
1 1/4 cups finely shredded coconut (unsweetened)
3/4 cup coarsely grated white chocolate
1 egg
1 egg white
3/4 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350° F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine egg, egg white and sugar in a bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until thick, light coloured and frothy. Gently mix in the ground almonds, shredded coconut and shaved white chocolate.

Make 1-inch size balls and place on baking sheet 2-3 inches apart. Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.