Today's Recipe ~ Oatmeal Lactation Cookies

I always love when people put recipes up on their blogs, it's so great to get new ideas from your friends.  However, I'm more of a recipe-reviser (usually to fit with what I currently have in the cupboard) than I am a recipe-creator, so I've always resisted putting any up here.  But, I do have a few recipes that I've had a lot of people ask me for, and generally they tend to be the ones that I've revised significantly, so I end up sending a link along with a list of the 10 different revisions I've made.

 

So, if only to make it easier for me to share my favorite adapted-recipes with my friends, I thought I'd put a few up in the old blog-o-sphere.

 

And to start, my Gluten-Free Oatmeal Lactation Cookies

 

 

Before you ask, let me answer your questions:

• I don't know if these really help, but "they" do say that oatmeal, brewer's yeast, and flax seeds can help increase your milk supply.  I've also read that Coconut Oil can help with milk supply, but I read it on some random person's blog, so I don't know about that one.
• I've fed these cookies to Keith & Parker on several occasions and so far, neither of them have started lactating, so I think the men-folk are safe.
• You can buy Brewer's yeast at the health-food stores, I think I got mine at Super Supplements.  You could go to the Brew-supply store, but I don't recommend it.  Not only because it was humiliating, but the brewer's yeast they sell is active, which means it can cause some fizzy-unpleasantness in your tummy.

That said, here we go (the full recipe is at the bottom):

 

First, you toast the oats.  I like to toast the oats on two cookie sheets with 8-oz of oats each, that way I only have to measure once:

 

Spread the oats out on the cookie sheet and toast for about 20 minutes, then let cool.  Make sure the oats are quite cool before you start assembling the cookies, or else you'll end up with Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies, rather than Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Still good, but not quite the same.

 

They'll be golden-like coming out of the oven.

 

Blend half the oats in the food processor until the oats look like whole-wheat.  If you're using whole flax-seeds, add them at this point too.  Flax seeds are high in Omega-3's, but when they're whole, it's hard for your body to absorb them, so ground flax-seed is the way to go.

 

Add 3-4Tbs of Brewer's Yeast to the ground oats.  Brewer's yeast is the "secret ingredient" to help with milk production, so be generous, but I've found that if you use more than a 1/4 cup, the cookies get kind of bitter.

 

Blend to combine, then add the cinnamon, baking powder, and salt.  Pulse to combine completely.

 

Meanwhile...

In the mixing bowl, combine your butter and sugars.

When I'm concerned about my milk supply, I can eat a lot of these cookies, so I'm always trying to find the best balance of tasting good and not having too many calories and fat.  For the butter, I've tried everything: butter, vegan butter, applesauce, coconut oil, bananas.  My current favorite combination is 5oz ripe banana and 5oz of coconut oil.  The coconut oil needs to be solid, so if it's hot in your kitchen, you might have to put the oil in the refrigerator for a while to solidify.

 

Cream until smooth.

 

Add the eggs and vanilla.

 

Add the ground oatmeal and the whole oats and mix.

Once everything is mixed, add the chocolate chips.

 

Scoop out into a cookie sheet.

 

These cookies don't really spread (at all), so if you want them to look more like cookies and less like little mounds of cookie, you can flatten them with your hand:

 

 

Bake until golden brown. 

 

I like them with a cup of creamy tea.

 

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Lactation Cookies

adapted from Alton Brown's The Oatiest Oatmeal Cookies Ever

 

 

Ingredients:

16 oz old fashioned rolled oats

1/4 C flax seeds (whole or ground)

3-4T Brewer's yeast

1 t baking powder

2 t ground cinnamon

Pinch kosher salt

 

5oz ripe banana (ripe, but not over-ripe)

5oz coconut oil (solid)

6oz brown sugar

2oz granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 t vanilla extract

1 C chocolate chips

 

Heat the oven to 375F

 

Spread the oat out on one or two cookie sheets.  Bake until light brown, about 20 minutes.  Allow to cool in the pans.

 

Grind the flax seeds and 8oz of the oats in a food processor until it looks like whole-wheat flour.  Add the brewer's yeast, baking powder, cinnamon, & salt.  Pulse several times until totally combined.

 

Combine the banana, coconut oil, and sugars in a stand mixer.  Mix on medium speed until creamed together (fully combined & light brown in color).  Add the egg & vanilla and mix to combine.  Add the ground oat mixture and mix to combine.  Finally, add the whole oats and chocolate chips, mix to combine.

 

Scoop the dough out onto parchment lined cookie sheets.  Flatten, if desired.

Bake 12-14 minutes until browned around the edges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Rolling!

 

Cecily rolled over today for the first time.  Of course, like all babies, she did it while my back was turned.  I was making the bed, and turned around to discover her on her back.  To make sure it wasn't a fluke, I rolled her back over onto her tummy and watched her immediately roll over onto her back.  Ever one to push my luck, I ran for the camera and then rolled her back over onto her tummy.  I now have five minutes worth of film of Cecily crying on her tummy.

 

Slow down little girl!  You're Mama's not ready for you to grow up yet!

Halloween

Halloween is not my favorite holiday.  I'm not very creative when it comes to costumes, and I'm apparently too old to go door to door extorting candy from my neighboors.

 

 

After several disappointing trips to the consignment and thrift stores, I'd finally come to the decision that our kids would just go without costumes this year.  I'm too cheap to pay $15 for a (used) costume that they're going to wear for an hour, and I don't have the time or energy to make anything.

 

But, last night, I came up with an idea for a pumpkin tutu costume for Cecily.  Of couse, the currently popular method for making a tutu is to buy strips of tulle and tie each of them onto a piece of elastic.  Although that sounded cute, it sounded kind of expensive for that many rolls of tulle, and like a ton of work.  So, I went with my lazy-girl version of a tutu, made with a sewing machine.  One cut and two seams later, it's done (it's just a costume for a 3-month-old, so I didn't even bother sewing the side seams).  But, it turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself.  Of course, if I was a good Mom, I'd go find a green onesie for her to wear underneath...but I think we've established that I'm not, so I won't.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

 

Saturday was Keith's Dad's 70th Birthday.  So, the whole family went to Puyallup to celebrate.

 

We got there just at the end of the pumpkin carving, Keith got a start on our pumpkin, but it turns out that we picked one tough pumpkin.  It had a skin that was about a 1/4" of concrete...eventually Keith carved it with his electric drill.

 

The family put together a list of "70 things we love about Gary Kruger"...but apparently we're over-achievers, since I think we ended up with over 80.  But it was very sweet to go around the room and read all the nice things about Gary.

 

But the BEST gift he got was that Parker & Wesley got to spend the night Saturday, Sunday, and Monday nights.  Happy Birthday Grandpa!   You're welcome.

Serves you right, Mama

The other day, I let Parker stay in the car while I took Cecily out of the car & upstairs for a nap.  He seemed okay, so I did one or two other things before coming back to drag him out of the garage.  Only to discover this:

 

 

He had been "painting" (his word) in the car with my lip gloss.

 

Guess I had that one coming.  I just wish it hadn't been my long-wear 12-hour lip gloss.

 

The next day, I came downstairs from putting Cecily down for a nap (again) to discover Parker with C's hat on:

Family Photo Time!

We have a new member of the family, so it was time to have John Crozier come over again to take newborn and family photos.

 

 

We didn't get newborn photos taken of Parker when he was born, and I really wanted to do it for Cecily.  We should have done it the first week we were home from the hospital when Keith was home.  Unfortunately, I wasn't together enough to get them done.  Then, Cecily's acne was so bad, I put the photos off until her skin cleared up.  So, two months later, we're taking "newborn" photos.

 

 

It would have been easier if we'd done them when she was actually newborn, since she would have slept through the entire thing.  Now she has opinions...and she barely fit in the basket.  But, we wouldn't have gotten such cute photos of her awake.

 

Both kids were in a pretty crabby mood this morning, but by some miracle, John was able to take some great family shots:

 

I'm really happy with how the photos turned out, I think I need to buy a few more picture frames!  Oh, and check-out the cute packaging they came in:

You need to be more specific, Mama

This morning, Parker & I kicked Darcy off the favorite chair so we could read a book.  Parker & I discussed how Darcy had gone to sleep on the laundry basket.

 

Later, this afternoon, while Parker was "helping" me feed Cecily, I asked him to take the dirty jammies he was trying to cram into her dresser and put them in the laundry basket.  He goes running down the hall, and comes back a few minutes later, empty handed saying, "Darcy wrappit".

 

I had a feeling I knew what he was talking about, so it wasn't much surprise to come out to the living room to find poor Darcy covered in dirty laundry:

 

 

I suppose I should have been more specific.

My Sweet family