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If you're looking for a hearty, healthy breakfast that's tasty and passes the "can I make this while wearing a sleeping baby?" test, look no further.
Ingredients:
1 cup old fashioned oats (not quick oats)
1 1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar (or less, to taste)
1 egg
1 handful chocolate chips
From here, you can add pretty much whatever else catches your fancy. If you want to make this into a breastfeeding recipe, you could add some flaxseed meal, but I wouldn't do more than 1/4 cup. I'll add a handful of pecans if I have them, and a splash of vanilla if I'm feeling fancy. And cinnamon. I love adding cinnamon to just about everything sweet. If you're not like me, leave it out.
How-to:
Pour all ingredients into loaf pan. Stir to combine, making sure you don't end up with clumps of peanut butter (which might take a minute). Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until set. Kiss sleeping baby (of course, this doesn't have to wait until the end).
I only have a "before" picture because the baby woke up while this was in the oven and I was too hungry when it came out to get an "after" photo. I'll try to remember next time I make this delicious breakfast. Unless you want to try this recipe and share your own photo?
This post may contain affiliate links, which means you're supporting my stay-at-home blogging efforts if you make a purchase using these links.
Because Hubby is from Texas (or maybe because he's a weirdo... could go either way), he doesn't share my love for barbecue chicken. Which means one batch makes me about a week's worth of lunches for while he's at work! It's literally the easiest thing to make in the slow cooker and it's so delicious and versatile once it's done. If you don't have a slow cooker, I definitely suggest getting one. They're great for when you don't want to spend a ton of time cooking.
This recipe works just as well if you have a nice pork tenderloin, except then it's pulled pork instead of barbecue chicken. And then it won't last as long, because Hubby will eat it, too.
Here's how you make it: put 2 or 3 boneless chicken breasts (or 1 pork tenderloin) in the slow cooker, pour about half a bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce over the top, turn the slow cooker on low for about 6 hours and walk away. When it's fully cooked, shred the chicken with a fork right in the slow cooker. You don't want to lose any of the chicken-y barbecue-y juices. And then comes the hardest part... trying to figure out how you want to consume your delicious barbecue chicken.
Here are some of my favorites.
Pizza: barbecue chicken, red onion, green onion, extra barbecue sauce, and jack cheese (cheddar works, too) on a homemade pizza crust.
Salad: barbecue chicken, green onion, black beans, corn, lettuce with equal parts barbecue sauce and ranch dressing.
Sandwich: just barbecue chicken on toasted sourdough works just fine for me. I'm so California.
Nachos: barbecue chicken, black beans, green onion, any shredded cheese, and tortilla chips.
Quesadilla: a substitute for nachos if you don't have tortilla chips.
A la carte: with a fork, unless you want sticky barbecue fingers.
What's your favorite way to enjoy barbecue chicken?
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I make a little money if you make a purchase using these links.
For Christmas, we got sick. Hubby, Baby Boy and I all had colds. It was pretty rough. Getting sick while breastfeeding means a lot of asking "can I take this medication?" And even when it's a "yes," it's really "yes, but..." And the "but" is almost always that it decreases milk supply. Considering that I don't pump and therefore don't have extra mom milk in the freezer, I was concerned about keeping my little man well-fed while trying to clean out my sinuses. Despite my best efforts taking meds sparingly and keeping my water consumption up, I noticed that my milk machines were looking less full than before. So I decided to step up my game and see if lactation cookies are all they're cracked up to be.
They are. I made the cookies last night and had one before bed. I had another one with breakfast (not for me, for the baby). Not only are my milk machines back in high production, but these taste just like my favorite oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with an added hint of peanut butter. Does it get any better?
This afternoon I wrote myself a reminder on the bag:
The recipe I used was basically half of this recipe from Simplistically Living, with a few modifications, mostly to simplify the process.
Here's what I used:
1 tbsp flaxseed meal
2 tbsp water
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 splash of vanilla
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 tbsp brewer's yeast
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
Combine water and flaxseed meal in a small bowl. Mix butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla in a stand mixer (have I mentioned how much I love my KitchenAid stand mixer?). Add watered flaxseed meal and peanut butter and mix again. Add brewer's yeast, flour, baking soda, and cinnamon and mix again. Add oats and chocolate chips and stir (by hand) to combine. Drop by the spoonful on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes or until cooked through.
I'm tired of people saying that climate change isn't real, or isn't caused by human actions, or is too sciencey for their non-sciencey brains to understand. The truth is that the climate is changing, it's our fault, and the people who say otherwise don't want to admit that their actions are fucking up the only planet we have. It's really not complicated.
Granted, I am a scientist. I have a B.S. in Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution from one of the top ten public universities in the country and a Masters in Zoology. But you don't need that to understand climate change. Below, you'll see some of the anti-climate change arguments I've heard, and why they're incorrect.
For starters, "I'm not a scientist" is a total cop out. A scientist is someone who knows science. Science is facts supported by observations. Who wouldn't want to be someone who knows things based on their own observations?
"There's no evidence that the climate is changing." Scientists have been tracking the level of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere since 1958 in what's called the Keeling Curve. The Keeling Curve shows that CO2 levels have gone up every single year since they started tracking it. Why is that important? Because CO2 is a greenhouse gas, which means that it traps heat from the sun in our atmosphere instead of letting it bounce back out into space (like a greenhouse). In other words, CO2 levels going up mean Earth is getting warmer.
"But the climate changes every day." No, it doesn't. The weather changes every day. The climate is the overall pattern of weather over time.
"But it's freezing right now!" This is why scientists have generally stopped referring to what is happening as global warming and started calling it climate change instead. Even though, around the world, the last 15 years have been 15 of the 16 warmest years on record (the 16th year was 1998).
"But there's no evidence that it's our fault." Again, there actually is. Scientists have been able to look at ice from Antarctica that is 800,000 years old and get an idea of climate changes over that time (How amazing is that?). What they found is that we're overdue for an ice age. Except, when the Industrial Revolution started, people started burning a lot of coal, which started releasing a lot of CO2, which started trapping more heat in the atmosphere.
So there you have it. Observations showing that the climate is changing in ways that are being caused by people. But all hope is not lost! Stay tuned for things we can do about it.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I make a little money if you make a purchase using these links.
Last night, Hubby came home from work. I gave him a kiss and asked him about his day. After giving me the gory details, he asked me, "what do you do all day? I'm not trying to criticize; I genuinely want to know." I believed him. I've told him that being a new mom isn't easy and doesn't leave me with a lot of free time.
He always asks me if I'm "sleeping when the baby sleeps." At night, yes. During the day, no. Then what am I doing when the baby sleeps? I'm running to the basement to do a load of laundry. I'm running back to check on the baby. I'm running outside to get firewood. I'm running back to check on the baby. I'm running into the kitchen to find something to eat. I'm running back to check on the baby.
And when the baby isn't sleeping? There is no "I." There is only "us." When the baby isn't sleeping, we do baby things. We breastfeed. We read books. We breastfeed. We do tummy time. We breastfeed. We sing songs. We breastfeed. We have baby dance parties. We breastfeed. We go for walks.
Sometimes we even breastfeed while we're reading or singing or walking around the neighborhood. Yeah, we have mad skills.
And that just about sums up a perfect day as the new mom of an exclusively breastfed baby.
And the baby just pooped himself awake, which means this post has reached its end. Back to doing baby things.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I make a little money if you make a purchase using these links.
As a new parent, there are so many decisions you have to make, including whether to use cloth or disposable diapers. If you're considering cloth diapers, there are a few things to consider.
Cloth
The good: less expensive, better for the environment
The bad: endless laundry
The ugly: you have to try to remove the poop before washing
Disposable
The good: more convenient
The bad: endless trash
The ugly: diaper rash
For Baby Love, I've decided to use both cloth and disposable diapers. We didn't start using cloth diapers right away--they didn't fit until he was about 9 pounds. Now, we use cloth diapers when we're at home and disposable for going out and for going to bed (they seem more absorbent, which means fewer overnight diaper changes, which means more sleep for me). And I'd rather be able to throw out dirty diapers in public versus saving them in a wet bag and bringing them home. We do have this wet bag at home, and it's great for keeping diaper smells and messes contained.
Not all cloth diapers are created equal. I have two brands that I like, Charlie Banana, which seem to be the premium brand, and LBB, which is cheaper and doesn't have as nice of fabric but is similar in style. I've also tried Apple Cheeks, which are more expensive and you have to buy in two sizes (the first two I mentioned are one size and adjust with a bunch of snaps). I was given one GroVia diaper, too, that I haven't used because you have to line dry it, and who has time for that nonsense? There are other brands, but I haven't tried them. Are there any that you especially do (or don't) like?
If you want to try cloth diapers but baby poop grosses you out, you can buy disposable liners to keep the poop off of the diaper. I'm not at all bothered by baby poop (I'm not at all bothered by my baby's poop), so I have no idea how well they work.
The most important thing to remember for all baby decisions is that the only person who can decide what is the right thing for your family... is YOU. And what's right for your family now might not be right next week. And that's okay.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I make a little money if you make a purchase using these links.
We've all been there: you see a perfect bunch of bananas at the store, take them home, and overnight they get brown and gross.
Luckily for all of us, brown bananas make the best banana bread! Over many years and many overripe bananas, I've perfected my recipe so that it's light, hearty, not too sweet, and requires minimal effort and cleanup. Whenever I have a perfect recipe like this, I prefer having an actual recipe card over trying to scroll through my Pinterest account looking for what I want. I've found my perfect recipe box that comes with customizable dividers, recipe cards, and a holder so the cards don't get gross sitting on the kitchen counter while you're baking.
I use 1/2 white flour and 1/2 whole wheat flour and add pecans when I have them (or chocolate chips, depending on my mood). And this is my favorite bread pan--it's Pyrex, so you know it's durable, it's the perfect size for so many things (especially when cooking/baking for one or two people), and it has handles for easy oven removal and a snap-on lid for keeping leftovers fresh.
Hold the phone! Want to know how to make this delicious recipe even better? Use creamy peanut butter instead of vegetable oil. The peanut butter not only increases the healthfulness of the bread by adding some protein and lowering the amount of fat, but it also improves the consistency and eliminates some of the crumbles you always get when slicing homemade bread. And it doesn't make it taste like peanut banana bread, for any banana bread purists.
I love having a nice warm slice of banana bread for breakfast with a cup of coffee and my homemade creamer--it's the perfect way to start a crisp fall day!
