Recipe: Gluten-Free Oatcakes

4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup oat flour
2 cups Kefir
1/4 cup filtered water
3 tbsp butter
3 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
4 tsp rapadura sugar

Mix rolled oats, oat flour, kefir, & filtered water together. Let sit at least 7 hours (mine sat out covered for 16 hrs).

Mix in butter, baking soda, sugar & salt. Spoon onto greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or so depending on size of cookies.

One of my favorite oat recipes plain eaten with cheddar. For variations add 1 tsp of spices like rosemary or oregano. Could also add diced cheddar pieces in batter. This could also be a good sweet if you put more sugar, nuts, and dried fruit.

Keeps for 4 days in air tight container on counter. Best in Frig.

Recipe: Cranberry Walnut Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup plain goat kefir 

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar 

1/2 cup rapadura

1/2 cup sucanat 

2 eggs 

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

3 cups Rolled Oats

1 tbsp water

1/2 cup walnuts (I love walnuts, so I probably put more than 1/2 cup)

1/2 cup cranberries

Heat oven to 350 degrees F
Beat together kefir, brown sugar, sucanat, rapadura until creamy.
Add eggs and vanilla; beat it up.
Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, mix it up.
Stir in oats and mix it up.
Drop by rounded tablespoons onto greased cookie sheet.
Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown
Cool on cookie sheet and place on wire rack.


Pretty tasty, but this first batch is too sweet for me though great with a piece of sharp cheddar. I think the next time I make these I will cut the sugar by half or maybe just leave out the packed brown sugar and add more walnuts.

recipe: Gluten-Free Potato Oat Biscuits

The first time I made this recipe, I used 2 cups goat milk kefir and 3 tbsp butter. My biscuits came out looking a little flat and more like soft scones or cookies, but were pretty tasty. I'm looking forward to eating them with some sliced gouda. I've made some updates to the proportions of this recipe with the hope that the dough will be less liquidy and will be trying to make it again in a few days. I suspect fluffier biscuits may require some more baking soda, not sure yet. I will have to fiddle around with all of it until I get everything just right.

• 3 Cups Organic Oat Flour
• 1 3/4 Cups Goat Milk Kefir (if you don't like a slight goaty taste use buttermilk or cow milk kefir)
• 1 ½ Teaspoons Unrefined Sea Salt (see sources)
• 2 Teaspoons Baking Soda
• 2 Tablespoons Organic Butter from Grassfed Cows 
• 1/2 cup mashed potatoes (these potatoes were literally just mashed, nothing in them but one could probably use mashed potatoes that have had the full treatment as well)

Instructions:

1. MIx 3 cups oat flour with 1 3/4 cups Kefir until the flour and milk are well blended. Let sit 7 hours or so covered.
2. Preheat your oven to 350 º F. 
3. Mix in the butter, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 1/2 cup mashed potatoes and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in with your soaked flour, thoroughly.
4. Use a large spoon or 1/4 cup measuring cup to drop biscuits onto a greased cookie sheet.
5. Bake at 350 º F for about 20 to 25 mins (possibly 30 depending on your oven)

The Wacky World of Baby Sizes...

My child no longer fits in the 0-3 month side snap shirts. The sleeves are a little too short so her fingers are escaping and they are tight around her belly and she is only just over 3 weeks old. I was naive to think that age for sizes actually meant the baby's age especially when none of her newborn clothes fit her. My Kiddo was 8 lbs 12 oz and 21"  when she was born and the last time we weighed her she was 10lbs 11ozs. Sadly, they do not make fold-over long sleeve shirts for the over 3 months sizes which my little one desperately needs since she can easily get out of the mittens. I suspect by the time I figure out another way to make inescapable hand covers she will have grown enough to know that she is scratching herself up. In the last two or three days, we have been putting her in all kinds of clothes so we can get a snap shot of her in them since we doubt she will be able to wear them in a few days. I figure at least we can get a few hours use before she has completely grown out of them.

It be nice if baby clothes actually showed the weight and length rather than some random age that apparently means nothing. After some research on the internet and going through some baby clothes that do have the weight range here is some info on what those ages mean in term of size at least up until 6 months or so. Who knew that our kid would be wearing the 3-6 month size at 23 days of life in the outside world.

Age/Size	Weight	Length
Newborn	Up to 7 lbs, sometimes up to 8 or 9 lbs	Up to 17", but mostly not labeled
Up to 3 Months	7-12 lbs, mostly 7-10 lbs	17-23" or 19"-22"
3-6 Months	12-17 lbs, sometimes 10-14lbs	23-27" or 22"-24"
6-12 Months	17-22 lbs	27-29"
12-18 Months	22-27 lbs	29-31"
18-24 Months	27-30 lbs	31-33"

Carter Sizes (which seem to start out small from their website)

Size	Height (in)	Weight (lb)
Preemie (P)	Up to 17	Up to 5
Newborn (NB)	Up to 21.5	5 – 8
3M	21.5 - 24	8 - 12.5
6M	24 – 26.5	12.5 – 16.5
9M	26.5 – 28.5	16.5 – 20.5
12M	28.5 – 30.5	20.5 – 24.5
18M	30.5 – 32.5	24.5 – 27.5
24M	32.5 – 34	27.5 – 30
36M	34.5 – 36	30.5 – 33
48M	36.5 – 39.5	33.5 - 37

Recipe: Gluten-Free Oatmeal Cookies using Almond Meal

I used this recipe for these cookies. I didn't have sesame seeds so used what was on hand. I really wish I had found the dried cranberries my husband bought for my oatmeal cookie making experiments because I felt they would have really made these cookies better, though my gluten-free friend who came for dinner loved them. I found them kind of heavy due to the almond meal and coconut...


The measurements are mostly the ones from the website I got this from, to be honest, I put a little less almond meal, a little more oats, slightly less coconut, a teaspoon or so more almond butter and coconut oil. I am not much for measuring.

1 3/4 cups almond meal
1 cup oats
1/2 cup of coconut 
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup sucanat 
3 eggs 
2 tbsp almond butter (woodstock farms organic)
1/4 cup coconut oil 

MIx the dry ingredients together and then the  wet (eggs,  almond butter, and coconut oil). Combine both the wet and dry ingredients. Form into 1 inch balls and flatten with a fork onto a greased cookie sheet. 

Baked at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. 


I think they taste best warm out of the oven.

Foods that Help Milk Production

I can't stand the smell of mother's milk tea and I only managed a sip of the fenugreek tea I bought which I had also heard helped milk production. Luckily, my postpartum nurse mentioned that oatmeal and oatmeal cookies helped milk production.  I'm sure you already figured out what I chose especially since my fabulous mother-in-law was her for a almost two weeks to help us. She made two really great batches of oatmeal cookies that I liked even better after they had been in the freezer. Now that she is gone I am having to make my own oatmeal cookies and I am intent on trying to make them healthier if I am going to be eating them on a regular basis. Stay tuned for recipes.

Meanwhile in my search for foods that help with milk production, my acupuncturist mentioned that barley was a another good choice, so I made a big batch of beef and barley stew and froze it in mason jars in meal size servings. I really wish I had written down the recipe I made up for the crockpot beef and barley stew, but since I  used some random grass-fed beef rib meat which I will probably never randomly have in my freezer again, I'm not sure I could recreate it anyway. I will try to make sure to post my next version of crockpot beef and barley stew.

Meanwhile, I did a search on good foods for milk production. Who knew that these foods had a special term or two... Lactogenic foods which are also called Galactogogues (which is Greek in origin).

Most Galactogogues happen to be herbs...
Check out wikipedia for a list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactagogue
I will definitely be trying some burdock and nettle.
I drank some raspberry leaf tea while I was pregnant, but in general it seemed to not work for me like most teas, part of my throwing up for 30 weeks.

For more lactogenic foods...
My mom left a great message on my answering machine after I gave birth to the effect of Chinese people eat lots of ginger and garlic after they give birth "very good for you, eat lots" sadly I erased the message so I can't really approximate the accent or strangeness of the message. This website on lactogenic foods and herbs also mentions garlic and ginger. I'm planning on eating more almonds and cashews which I also seemed to want a lot of in my last few weeks of pregnancy and also after I gave birth and adding some macadamia nuts to my diet, all of which would be great in cookies. I was pretty anti-carrot until the last couple of months of pregnancy and after I gave birth and then it became one of the major vegetables I've been eating. Nice to know that my body was already craving the right milk producing foods before I even gave birth maybe that is why I was leaking colostrum starting at week 33 and my milk came in full-bore so early. Then again who knows. I'm willing to try anything natural that may help keep my milk production up.

Baby Wearing

I've been looking for a baby carrying device. I made a Mei Tai, but it is too big for our 3 week old. I'm planning on sewing another Mei Tai (the pattern is available on several blogs) in pink camo for the Manperson which I will make a little bit less long with the hopes that it will work better. Meanwhile, I've been to several stores trying to find something comfortable to wear our little beast girl in. I really don't like the slings that go over one shoulder because I have back issues. I tried the Ergo Baby Carrier with the Infant Insert, but it was way too bulky and I couldn't get it on well being a larger than average person. I've considered the Moby Wrap which is basically one long piece of fabric, but my mind boggles at trying to get myself tied up with one and a baby. I went to my favorite Maternity and Nursing store (well you would think it was my favorite since we've been going there almost every other day in the last two weeks). They had the Baby K'Tan which seems like an easy version of the Moby. Two loops of fabric connected together and it comes with a sash for added support in some of the 8 positions you can wear baby in.

Special Addition lets you take a loaner home for a week. It is an interesting system because you pay for one and then you take home a loaner. If you like it, you exchange it for the one you want and return the loaner. If you dislike it you return and get a refund sans a $5 fee for the loaner. I really liked how easy it was to put on when I tried it at the store. The website recommends the cradle position for newborns, which is alright. The salesperson mentioned the kangeroo carry when I was at the store. I tried it today and it is the best. It is the way I like to carry the little one anyway and easier on my back/hips.  Regardless, either position (the cradle or kangeroo) it acts like some kind of switch on our little girl.

She just goes right to sleep and even when I take her out she stays a asleep for an hour or two afterwards.  I have to admit when she first did it, I found it startling, it was like flipping a switch. The switch that The Happiest Baby on the Block talks about, but I never managed using their tips in the book/dvd (the Austin Public Library carries the dvd & book). I didn't relate it to that at first. I thought I had done something wrong and hurt her  until she smiled in her sleep and snuggled closer. I'm going to go ahead and use the loaner for most of the 7 days while I figure out what color I want in the Baby K'Tan. The bonus is that I think it looks really good on me, not that I am the most fashion forward person. I'm debating between natural, pure honey, soft sand, or baby blue. If it wasn't so hot here, I wouldn't totally go for the black...

Most Used Baby Stuff

There is an overwhelming amount of baby stuff available. Before I gave birth I polled recent parents, read articles,  and browsed countless baby stores online and in person trying to figure out what to buy. I didn't want to buy anything we wouldn't use especially since I would be taking 3 months of unpaid maternity leave. As usual, we ended up with quite a bit of stuff we can't use, but there was no way to tell that until after the baby was born. Our kiddo's birth weight was 8lbs 12 oz, though for a day and half she got down to 7lbs 10oz, she was quickly back up and then surpassed her birth weight within two weeks (9lbs 13oz). Needless to say, we ended up packing up most of the newborn clothes we received, luckily, at least half were hand-me-downs.  A friend of mine who is giving birth to a girl in November will be getting all the unused newborn clothes.  I was really glad the few clothes that I bought for her were all 0-3/6 month clothes.

Our friends passed to us the Itzbeen Baby Care Timer which I would never have thought of buying. I love it, though I use it more to track the last time I pumped breast milk more than anything else and how long I've been at the pumping station. Sadly, I can't feed the baby directly from the breast (more about that some other time). I know many of my friends use an iphone app for tracking these things, but I'm still in the dark ages, though my husband did make me finally get a basic disposable cell phone towards the end of my pregnancy and because at that point we had downsized to one car.

I tried  and bought two hands free pumping bras  at Special Addition the Easy Expression Bustier Hands Free Pumping Bra (Medium, White) and the PumpEase Hands Free Pumping Support for Nursing Mothers. The Easy Expressions is easier when it comes to getting the cones on your boobies, but it is not adjustable and I soon found out not made for someone who has a wide rib cage and engorged breasts as well, some kind of proportion issue. The Pumpease is the way to go since it is adjustable for the broad shoulder/big rib cage/big breast set. I liked it so much I bought a second one, though I got it from Amazon where it was a bit cheaper.

While I'm on the subject of breast milk pumping, I had no idea that the pump I bought two weeks early to help me induce (more about that some other time) was only for occasional use... Then again I had no idea that my dreams of breast feeding would come to ruination either. Granted that sums up my pregnancy nothing went the way I thought, hoped, planned that it would and I should have expected that after giving birth that wouldn't change. Meanwhile, I feel lucky that we have the Special Additions Maternity store where I've rented a hospital grade pump. A Hospital Grade pump really does make a difference in how much you can pump. I am using the Medela symphony and a few of the parts that I bought for my personal every once-in-a-while Pump in Style. I'd also like to say getting 3 sets of the parts you have to wash is really worth it when one is pumping 24/7 since having to find and wash parts at 3am when one can barely navigate the furniture is a recipe for disaster.

I love the Gerber Brand White 2pk Long Sleeve Side Snap Shirt  which is what our baby mostly wears after I've decorated them with Marvy Uchida Fabric Marker Brush Tip 6/pkg-Bright.  This also makes a great gift. I have decorated numerous onsies for other people with those same markers for baby shower gifts. I will have pics on the blog later for all to see how neat these can be...

Our baby also wears Under the Nile Side Snap Shirt - Long Sleeve all the time. I like long sleeve 'cause they have the fold over cuff. My kiddo can get out of the mittens even when double swaddled in blankets, but she can't get out of the fold over sleeves for the most part. Once she got her arm/hand out enough to go through the neck of one of these shirts, but luckily never managed again. Even with her finger nails freshly manicured, somehow she can still manage to scratch herself and me up which is what makes coverage very important.  I like side snap because I am not real good at getting things over her head which seems to take real coordination or two people to dress the baby.

I got an Under The Nile Hooded Kimono toweling type robe at our local organic baby store. She looks so cool in it, very jedi knight. I use it after every time we've give her a bath.

My favorite receiving blankets are Summer Infant Organic Receiving Blankets, 3 Pack, Moss which look good and we used a lot to swaddle our little one the first two weeks, by the third week she had outgrown them for swaddling which wouldn't be a problem for most babies, but our girl is going on giant size (she has been gaining a pound a week, when we weighed her today she is already 10lbs 10oz).

I will continue this list some other time. I definitely want to remember everything I thought was useful in case someday in the far, far future after I've forgotten all about this I might decide to do this pregnancy/baby thing again...