Breastfeeding Cookies

mix: 4 eggs, a splash of milk, and 1 cup (1/2 jar) warm peanut butter, 1/4 cup brown sugar

add in 1 cup of cooking oats, 1/4 cup ground flax seed, and 1/8 cup of chia seed

add dried cranberries, almonds, chocolate chips, etc. to taste

you can form into cookies and place on baking sheet or throw it all in a shallow baking dish and voila! A slice you can chop up when done.

Cook for 10-15 minutes at 350F or 180C… when cool, drizzle with honey.

Keeps up to a week in the fridge (unimportant, you’ll eat it all long before then!)

Yep. Baby Led Weaning.

Save your ice trays for…..ice, keep the blender for smoothies and post- breastfeeding margaritas, and keep pureed apples for Sunday roast.

Now, pay attention while I rock your world.

Babies.Don’t.Need.Mushy.Food.

I know, right? mind blown.

When you wait for the 6 month mark, as recommended by the World Health Organization, you can go straight to family foods and feed baby straight from your plate. You’ll want baby to be sitting independently, and you’ll be good to start when baby has lost the tongue thrust reflex (you know when they thrust food out of their mouth with their tongue?). Other signs include baby intently watching you eat and perhaps reaching for you food.

The underlying premise sits well with me. By ditching the mush and spoons and opting for family foods, steamed veg, soft meat and so on, you are letting BABY set the pace. You are trusting your baby to experiment with food and texture and to eat as little or as much as she wants. It is respectful, it is kind. You are being sensitive and mindful to your baby’s needs. You are treating your baby as a person with feelings and desires of their own. I like this. It’s how I want to raise my kids.

Proponents of Baby Led Weaning believe it encourages children to taste, see, feel and smell a range of different foods. Think of it as nutritious sensory play! They believe it diminishes the likelihood of fussy eating and mealtime fights, too. Perhaps you’ll find your small eating more because they have the same cuisine as the adults. If you are guided by your child, you won’t force them to ‘clean their plate’, or eat when they aren’t hungry and kids won’t learn that they can have ‘special kids food’, because let’s face it….restaurant meals for children are rarely special! There’s the additional benefit of encouraging independence and of course all that extra practice co-ordinating hand and eye movements. Sounds great, right?

But what about choking?

We go to great lengths to keep our smalls safe and far from risk, so why consider giving them choking-sized pieces of food to PLAY with? If your child is ready, there is little need for concern. Gums are powerful (just ask a mother recovering from nip-lash) and these cute little babies come pre-programmed with a handy gag reflex. Sometimes baby WILL gag on a texture or flavour they don’t like yet. That’s ok. It’s safe because they will spit it up. You are right there next to them to help if required.

What kinds of foods can you give baby?

Unless your child has a risk of allergy, you can start with whatever you are preparing tonight. Follow the guidelines around the introduction of fish, nuts, honey and eggs, but don’t hold back on nasi goreng just because it’s not on the traditional list. You don’t need to worry about choking – those gums are powerful and you are close by should baby need assistance.

You might like to try:

Risotto (loads of different options!)

Roast dinners (soft, juicy meat and well cooked vegetables)

Pasta and noodle dishes (wholegrain pasta and brown rice where possible)

Avocado, seasonal fruits and vegetables

Sushi

Strips of well cooked meat, lamb shanks to suck

Cooked fish (check for bones)

Tofu pieces.

So, now that you’ve shelved your copy of “baby recipes” and thrown the farex where it belongs (in the bin) enjoy prepping ONE meal for everyone, no blenders, Tupperware, plastic cutlery or suction bowls required. What’s not to love about that?!

Ideally, buy/beg/borrow a scoby from someone. That makes life SO much easier. (Are you local to me? I’ll give you one!)

I like using 1L mason jars to brew. They’re a manageable size and easy to store in the pantry and fridge. Keeping that in mind, I make my tea (after scalding jars clean) with two teabags. I’ve been experimenting lately with some of the fruit-flavoured teas and some fun herbals, with good results.

Small is fond of the raspberry/cranberry mix and I like a blueberry/apple combo, so in our batches you’ll find one ‘boring’ teabag and one fruity one. Anything with a black tea base will work, it’s just a matter of playing around. Quick FYI: Teas with oils (Earl Grey, anyone?) can screw with your scoby and take a lot longer to brew. Peppermint and honey are natural antibacterials and NOT good for scoby health.

Make your tea, add sugar (about 1 tsp per cup, so 4 for me) and set aside to cool. Once room temperature, you’re good to add the scoby and about 100mL starter tea – this helps the pH stay below 4.6. I don’t test mine, but it should smell vinegary. if it needs help, a splash of apple cider vinegar will sort it out.

With tea and scoby safely in jar, stick a clean cloth over and secure with a rubber band. Those cheap handkerchiefs that you can buy in packs of six for a couple dollars are perfect.

Place jar in a warm dark spot. Ideally temperature will be between 22-30C (72-86F). Give it a week or so and sniff. If it’s smelling like vinegar, you’re on the right track. This tells you that your scoby is gobbling up sugar and excreting probiotic goodness. If you want to get all technical about it, your pH should be around 3. If it’s higher, return to dark spot and wait a few more days for the brew to complete.

Ready to move on? Rinse your fingers or utensils in a little vinegar so you don’t contaminate your scoby with bacteria, then fish out the solids and set them in a clean container. By now you probably have a baby scoby that’s separated from the mother (yay!). Gloop about 100mL/10% of your jar capacity of your brewed tea over them to protect them. We’ll come back to this later.

Pour the rest into something for storage. For me, this is another clean mason jar, but you can use whatever you prefer. If you fill all the way to the top and only leave a tiny bit of air, your tea will fizz up nicely over the next couple days. The more space you leave, the less fizz you get. Cap tightly if you want bubbles, loosely if you don’t, and let sit at room temperature between 2-5 days. After this, refrigerate and DRINK!

Back to the slime in the bowl… Of course, you’ve already brewed your next batch of fresh tea; simply slide your scoby and some kombucha tea to fix the pH in. Your OTHER scoby (since every fermentation creates a baby) can be used to start a second batch of tea going, or fostered out to a friend

Got all that?

Want some cute videos?

For great pics and cute ideas on storage

Thank goodness I found Yumbox. If you don’t know about this already, it’s a game changer. This bento-style lunchbox has a rubber-sealed lid so (as shown) your strawberries don’t leak all over the popcorn. Your bananas don’t die the death of a thousand bruises from a handful of almonds. And it’s ONE small, flat box to stuff in my bag. Dear deity yes.

For those of us still wearing our L-plates as master nutritionists (this mothering gig, tell you what) the lift-out bento tray even suggests what to put in each compartment. It’s like nutritionally-balanced lunch by numbers.

I’m a big fan of the grazing and choice that this offers. Food is much more likely to be eaten when there’s a few options available simultaneously, and the ease of washing (pop the plastic tray out, wash the whole shebang, reassemble) is easy and common-sense. I’m about ready to commit and purchase a Yumbox Panino (four larger compartments) for myself.

Yes, it IS that easy. It’s also dairy, soy, gluten and nut free (if you make the boring option). I love you too. You’re welcome.

Take equal parts of the first three and mix. Add about a tsp of vanilla extract to that. You  want your oil to be liquid (zapping in your microwave will work a treat), and warming the honey helps too. For simplicity’s sake, I used a cup of each. Bang, whizz, slop, freeze, SCOFF.

OFFICIAL NEVER BUY CHOCOLATE AGAIN RECIPE:

take 1 cup coconut oil (liquified),

1 cup honey (warmed) and

1 cup cocoa.

Whizz about in your processor/blender/thermie/whisk,

add your scraping of vanilla flavour/tsp of extract (or try something crazy like chilli/peppermint/orange) and

pour into a tray lined with baking paper.

Stick in the freezer for a few hours (overnight is optimal) and then let it live in the refrigerator, as coconut oil DOES have a low melting temp.

That’s your basic chocolate. Done. You can even feel a little bit virtuous eating it, because cocoa is a great way to pick up magnesium and coconut oil is a whole fat that’s nourishing and easily metabolised.

Hang on a red hot second… Why does mine look like that? (all lumpy, etc) Mostly because I chucked a bunch of nuts in there (about a cup of walnuts and a cup of brazil nuts, but you could use whatever takes your fancy). This has a couple extra health benefits; my favourite is that it makes the chocolate last longer

I have struggled to fuel my body and fill the tank with essential nutrients.  My holistic GP took a look at my eyes, skin, hair and nails prior to doing more thorough testing and told me that I was in nutritional distress.  Every single shred of nutrition that goes into my body gets taken straight out again in breastmilk.  That’s normal.  It’s supposed to happen that way, of course.  But when MUM isn’t being nurtured, rested, supported, healed…….it all goes to crap.

Since January I’ve been on extremely restricted diets for silent reflux.  No citrus, no tomato, nothing acidic, no chocolate, coffee, onions, carbonated drinks (I reaaaally like unflavoured mineral water).  Very plain vegetables, extremely restricted fruits.  A handful of protein pump inhibitors to try and fix the acid problem.

And all of this was simply making the problem worse.  I was not able to heal with such a limited diet.  My body was, well, struggling.  I was deficient in iron, B6, B12 and zinc.  That’s basically all the critical elements for a healthy body.  I was toast. (Don’t get me started on how much I MISS toast…)

My struggle has forced me to evaluate every single item that passes my lips. I know clearly that if I don’t nourish my body with the best quality, nutrient dense food I will not recover.  I know that if I slip up and consume dairy, wheat or sugar my body will scream in protest and I will feel horrific.

There is no magic bullet to healthy eating.  I don’t believe one single diet plan or fad lifestyle fixes everyone’s problems. I do believe that we can get back in control by looking after gut health. Avoid foods like wheat and refined sugars that promote inflammation. Eat whole foods.  No more packets (I know how terrifying that sounds!) simple, clean, WHOLE foods.

If you are tired, and let’s be honest, who knows a mum who isn’t, then look at your diet.  Make small, achievable steps towards change.  Look for substitutions rather than simply excluding items.  Cut the pre packed cereal, quit the white bread.  And sugar.  Get as far away from refined sugar as you possibly can.  It’s like crack for your brain.  It will hurt to begin with, but you can get off it.

So tell me.  Whatcha gonna do for YOU?

You can make these by hand or in the thermomix and store in the freezer for quite some time.  I prepped these the week before the party and simply pulled them out at the last minute.

My only substitute here was not adding the coconut sugar.  I used the prescribed quantity of rice malt syrup and then nothing else.  The quinoa flakes are fabulous in this recipe and when you ‘bake’ something that’s GF SF and DF and it tastes THIS GOOD….well, we can all be winners with this one <3

Here’s the ingredient list I used, and click here for the method.

250g rice malt syrup

30g organic cacao powder

120g coconut oil

130g rice milk

1tsp vanilla extract

250g quinoa flakes.

Let me know how you go!

No Bake bikkies on the right,  lemon balls made up as a slice on the left.

Quick tips: Make a double batch and prep it in a lamington tin.

If you use regular pitted dates instead of medjool dates you will need to double the quantity to get the same gooey, sticky texture.  It’s possible.  You just need to eyeball the mixture to work it out.  Doubling is a safe bet.

Also, I ran out of macadamias, so I made up the amount with cashews.  No-one was the wiser. My next attempt will be to substitute cashew for macadamia entirely and see how we go.

If you get a chance to try this before I blog again, please let me know!!

Base

10 medjool dates (or 20+ regular dates)

2 cups dessicated coconut

1 tablespoon cacao powder

Blend until it comes together.  Press into a tin and freeze while you do the next part.  (truthfully I just pressed into a tin and kept going, no freezer in sight)

‘Caramel’ Filling

1 cup firmly packed medjool dates (or 2+ cups regular)

1 cup macadamia nuts

1 teaspoon vanilla

Blend until smooth, layer on top of the base and DON’T cheat by not freezing it now.  Give it 30mins to 1 hrs so that its firm for the chocolate layer.

Topping

1/3 cup honey (rice malt syrup splits the mixture, so don’t do it!)

2 tablespoons cacao powder

1/2 cup solid coconut oil (when I doubled the recipe I decreased the amount from 1 cup to 3/4 cup and it was perfect)

Process until smooth and liquidy.  Pour over the slice and pop it int the fridge until it is firm.  Slice it up and store in airtight containers in the fridge.

NOTE:  If you think this will last a week, you are wrong.  It will be gone before you know it!!

The recipe is from Wholefoods Simply and it’s very simple.

1/2 cup coconut flour (I didn’t bother sifting it)

1/2 cup almond meal

3 tablespoons of almond butter (I made this in the thermomix – grab a couple of handfuls of almonds and whizz them until they turn into butter.  seriously, that’s it)

1 egg.

Preheat oven to 175/350F and line a tray with baking paper

Place flour into a bowl and add eggs and mix to combine (TMX, speed 5 for 5 seconds should do it)

Add almond butter and honey and mix again (TMX speed 5 for 5 seconds)

roll it into a ball using your hands and put into the freezer for 5 minutes

roll it flat between baking paper and cut into shapes.

Cook for 8-10 minutes until golden.

Once cool, drizzle with melted chocolate.  I put half a block of 85% lindt in a ziplock bag and melted it in the varoma while cooking risotto for the Arancini balls.  I cut open one of the corners and used the ziplock back to drizzle the chocolate over the biscuits.

Perfection.

You can find the original recipe at https://wholefoodsimply.com/cookies/  Go check out her work, it’s really delicious!