Food for your Itty Bitty: Cream Cheese and Strawberry Toast

Ok, so this could hardly count as a recipe, but we were running low on groceries today and I needed to get resourceful, and I was so excited about how good this turned out, I wanted to share! Delilah and I ate 3 pieces of this toast today, it was delicious.

It is super simple, literally 3 ingredients. Let's go!

Toast your bread.

Smear strawberry jam on the toast.

Top with whipped cream cheese.

Eat!

And that is it everybody. If you are wondering why I used whipped cream cheese, it is because I accidentally grabbed it on a quick run to the store. Does anyone else have as much trouble as I do finding normal cream cheese? Honestly, I don't really see myself ever going back to the regular stuff, since this is so easy to spread, but still, what makes finding good, old fashioned cream cheese so damn difficult. And unsalted, no sweet cream, butter. And, while we are at it, sour cream. I always stand in the diary aisle for like 15 f*ing minutes looking for what I need. And don't even get me started with yogurt. 

*On a side note, since I mentioned yogurt, if you haven't already, you have got to try Noosa. It is so good, really the best yogurt I have ever had. Mmmm the blueberry and raspberry are my favorite. DO IT! Try it!

So now you all know the troubles I have at the grocery store, getting back to the subject. (Anyone just have Salt&Pepper's Shoop pop in there head?) This toast is really good and went over great with Delilah, like we will have this for the rest of the week for breakfast, great. I hope you all enjoy it as much as we did!

Food for your Itty Bitty: Oatmeal Muffins

In my earlier post about breastfeeding, I mentioned how important it is to keep snacks around because you will be hungry, oh so hungry. I tried to keep it healthy, but sometimes you just need a slice whole apple pie. ;) These are the muffins I had laying around, easy to make and easy to grab and go. I read that eating oatmeal can help increase your supply, so I ate a ton of oatmeal in the beginning!

Delilah is not a fan of regular oatmeal, I have tried to jazz it up and it is still a no go, but she loves these and are easy for her cute, tiny little fingers to pick up. I am not a good baker, due to the fact that I don't like measuring and all of the steps involved make me a little crazy, so this recipe was nice because you can throw everything into a bowl and mix it up.

Get a bowl that is going to hold all the ingredients, woo wee my kind of baking!

Throw everything into said bowl.

Mix everything up, really good. The batter is going to be really loose. Have no fear, you are basically making oatmeal you can hold in your hand, along with a baby, diaper bag, 2 grocery bags, a coffee...

Pour the batter into a graded muffin pan. I do not usually bake, so I don't have any wrappers laying around. Not even sure if that is what they are called, I do know that they make everything really cute though. Hmmm, maybe I should run to Target.

It might be easier to pour the batter into a measuring bowl with a spout, as you can see I made a mess.

Bake at 375, mine took about 40 minutes.

When a butter knife comes out clean, that is my method to test if these sorts of things are done, then its time to take these puppies out. Let them cool and then eat a few!

*This post was interrupted so I could read "Five Silly Monkeys" for the 908th time.

Stop and Smell the Muffins!

Oatmeal Muffins

2 1/2 cups Old Fashioned Oats

1 t Baking Powder

1/2 t Salt

1 t Cinnamon

2 T Melted Butter

2 cups Milk

1 Egg

1/4 cup Maple Syrup

1 Smashed Banana

1 pouch/ 1 cup Applesauce

*you can mix any fruit combo you would like, that is what makes this recipe so great. Just make sure it equals to 2 cups of fruit

Preheat oven to 375

Throw everything into a bowl and mix it up, or stir it up if you are feeling extra rasta today.

The batter is going to be really weird and thin, just pour it into the muffin tin, don't worry about a thing, because every little thing is gonna be alright!

Bake for 30 minutes or until you can insert a butter knife and it comes out clean.

Easy Peasy, right?

Forth of July

Thanks to little baby sleeping all night long for a week now, I was able to get up before everyone this morning and be a little festive. It is amazing what a little sleep will allow you to do!

Our day is going to consist of yard work, skillet pancakes, BBQ, sparkles, and who knows what else!

Happy Forth of July everybody!!

Look at that cute wake up face! I love how what little hair she has gets all fuzzy in the morning. Baby bed head ;)

Rest in Peace star headband, you were only worn for 5 minutes and were no match for an 11 month old.

Skillet Pancakes

Preheat oven to 450, put 2 tablespoons of butter into a cast iron or pie pan.

Mix together, 3 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 pinch of salt, 1/2 milk, and 1/2 cup flour.

Take pan out of oven and pour in the batter, bake for 15 minutes or until golden.

Food for your Itty Bitty: Toaster Strudel

I have been running into road blocks when it comes to Delilah's breakfast. She is waffled out, tired of bananas, and not interested in me feeding her yogurt or oatmeal. She also is not a fan of eggs and I am terrible at making pancakes. They never turn out like pancakes, more like thick underdone bread circles. Mashed potatoes and pancakes, my kryptonite. 

I had bought some of those toaster strudels, remember those? With the ridiculously good frosting packets, that never had enough frosting in them. Well she really liked those! I have been reading ingredient labels lately, I am not too crazy about it, but it concerns me anytime it says "Less than 1% of...". I mean, that can't be good. So I decided I would try to make my own! I contemplated whether or not I would use pie crust or frozen puff pastry, I decided to go with the puff pastry since it would resemble the original. I also decided to use cream cheese and jam as the filling, you could make your own, but ain't nobody got time for that ;) But seriously, my favorite flavor is the apple one, so I will be trying out my own apple filling. And Delilah loves anything dairy, which is funny because when I was pregnant I went through a gallon of milk a week for months, it was gross how much milk I consumed, but it tasted so good! Anyways, she loves all things dairy, so I also want to try a cream cheese filling too. I will update as I try the other fillings, but for now, it is strawberry jam, cream cheese, and a vanilla frosting!

These turned out really good, I had to try one three ;)

The few that I used strawberry jam with ran a little bit. I am still going to try a different fruit filling, but until then I am going to only put the recipe for the cream cheese strudels.

Thaw your puff pastry overnight and lay it on a floured surface so it doesn't stick. Then dance.

Mix your cream cheese and sugar, yum yum yum.

I used a pizza cutter to slice up the pastry, made it super easy. Decide how big or small you want your strudel and slice it up. Make sure they are the same sizes and you have an even number.

Put some cream cheese mixture on one side and then slap the other side on top.

Use a fork and seal the pastry together.

Ca-ute!

Once you finish and all of your pastry is on the baking sheet, put in an oven until they are golden brown.

While they cook, whip up your frosting and wait...

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Done!

Put on a cooling rack and wait again.

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They're cool, time to drizzle some icing!

This was after I ate a few.

Toaster Strudel

1 Package of Puff Pastry, thawed

1/2 cup Cream Cheese, softened

1 T powder sugar

Preheat oven to 400.

Lay out puff pastry and roll just a bit to get the creases out. It is ok if they are still visible, that is what I used to measure mine out. Cut along the long lines of the puff pastry with a pizza cutter. Then cut horizontal lines to whichever size you would like. I was able to cut out 4 pieces. 

Mix together your cream cheese and sugar. Once again, if you like yours sweeter add more sugar.

Put a tablespoon or so of the cream cheese mixture on one side of the puff pastry. Lay another piece on top, like a ravioli :) Use a fork to smoosh the sides together, lay on a greased baking sheet. You want to work fast because the puff pastry gets more difficult to work with as it warms.

Continue until all of your pieces are used up! Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden. 

Take the strudels and put on a cooling rack until cool. Drizzle on your icing and then eat it up!

Frosting/Icing

3 T powder sugar

1 t Milk

1/8 t Vanilla

Mix together. You may need to add more sugar/milk depending on what consistency you would like.

Food for your Itty Bitty: Breakfast Edition

Breakfast during the week is usually pretty much the same, only with a few variations. There is always a banana, a berry, and something with substance. Here are some examples:

Bananas, blueberries, and oatmeal made with milk, swirled with 1/2 a fruit pouch.

(I feed her oatmeal first and then let her feed herself the bananas and blueberries. I will also try and slip in a few spoonfuls of oatmeal while she's feeding herself to make sure she gets enough.)

Cottage cheese with applesauce, blueberries, and bananas.

(Delilah wanted to feed herself this morning, it took forever. Picking up each. And every. Single. One. Of the cheese curds. Ridiculous.)

Blueberry Buckwheat Waffle, blueberries, and YoBaby Yogurt.

(We don't follow a gluten free diet, but I try to go the healthier route when I can. Central Market makes the best buckwheat waffle that happen to be Gluten Free, so good! Delilah probably eats about 2 of these yogurts a day, and they are the only food she lets me feed her with no resistance.)

**Update: Delilah no longer likes having me feed her the yogurt, as you can imagine, this makes for a complete mess, two times a day. 

As you can see, bananas are a staple. You would think having a banana every, single morning would get boring. Nope. Not a chance! 

Depending on the weekends and what we have planned, I will sometimes make french toast or breakfast tacos. I will post recipes on those soon. Watching Delilah try bacon for the first time was probably one of the cutest moments ever! 

Have a good day and may you have the strength to feed your resistant, strong-willed child.