milling mondays: homemade baby rice cereal

It is common to feed babies rice cereal when they first start eating solid foods and it is SUPER easy to make yourself.

We decided to give it a try with E after trying sweet potatoes for a couple of days. We figured that maybe giving her something more bland with her formula mixed in would be less of a change for her pallet and a gentle way for her to learn how to eat. And she liked it much better than the sweet potatoes. Instead of crinkling up her face and closing her mouth, she would reach for the spoon and open her mouth. So we decided to go this route for a couple of days and then return to veggies. Since then she has loved every veggie we have fed her:)

Homemade Rice Cereal

Ingredients

1/4 cup organic short grained brown rice

1 cup water

Directions

Bring the water to a boil.

Grind the brown rice into a powder. I of course used my WonderMill which worked great!

Add the rice powder to the boiling water while stirring. Let it simmer for 10 minutes continually whisking to make sure it doesn't clump.

Mix in breast milk or prepared formula to the desired consistency.

sweet potato puree

For a while Esther has been very interested in eating - she keeps reaching for food or drinks that Michael and I are having. Since I felt like it was too early to share my coffee or Thai curry with her;) we decided to let her try to eat some solids (with doctors approval). I think Esther had high hopes for the experience. As I lifted up the spoon to give her her first bite I looked away to say something to Michael and before I knew it she had wrapped her mouth around the spoon and taken a bite. BUT I think it ended in disappointment for her. She was so eager and then ... then her face started frowning and she wasn't as eager for the following bites. She didn't complain, but her facial expressions revealed her true feelings. Ha! I guess food wasn't all it was cracked up to be in her mind and maybe sweet potatoes just didn't taste good to her in general so we will try another veggie or fruit in the near future.

In the end I think Esther's parents had more fun with it than Esther herself:) We started the day by going to the farmers market to pick up some sweet potatoes to bring home to puree.

farmers market

mor and daddy - why are you posing me with a sweet potato???

Sweet Potato Puree

Ingredients:
Sweet Potatoes, peeled
Water

Directions
After peeling the sweet potatoes cut the potatoes up into small chunks.
Add the chucks to boiling water and let it boil until tender, about 15 minutes.

Then add the boiled potatoes to your blender and add some boiled potato water (or other liquid) and blend until you get the right consistency.

The pureed sweet potatoes can be stored in the fridge for a couple of days or you can freeze it as well.

This is SUPER easy to make and has no preservatives. Both characteristics that are important to me when feeding my baby. 

I think it tasted just fine and even a little sweet, but for now Esther isn't the biggest fan. I guess once we start mixing food together we will try the sweet potatoes again with a fruit or something.

even if esther wasn't the biggest fan of sweet potatoes she was super excited about her new bib:)

milling mondays: gluten free banana bread

I love banana bread! And this gluten free recipe does not taste gluten free in my opinion. It tastes just as yummy as when made with gluten flour. If you mill your own flour then making rice flour is super easy and inexpensive to make. So if you have some very ripe bananas that need to get used - this is a great recipe. 

Gluten Free Banana Bread

modified from Easy Gluten-Free Baking

Ingredients

1 1/3 cup very ripe bananas, mashed

1 cup sugar

1 2/3 cups white rice flour (white rice)

1/3 cup cornstarch

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 eggs

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F.

Mix together bananas and sugar and let it rest for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, if you mill your own flour grind your white rice. I of course use my WonderMill.

Then mix together the dry ingredients - the freshly milled rice flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt and xanthan gum. 

In a separate bowl mix butter until light and fluffy using a handheld mixer.
Add in the eggs one at a time mixing well between each.
Blend in half the dry ingredients stirring until smooth.
Then mix in the banana sugar mixture before adding the remaining half of the dry ingredients.

Once the batter is smooth, pour it into a greased/rice floured 9x5 bread pan.

Bake for 50-60 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. 

Let it cool in the bread pan for 5 minutes before removing it from the pan and letting the banana bread cool completely on the rack. 

Enjoy!

our little tennis player

Is four months too early to start playing tennis??? :) Having a tennis playing daddy we hope she will enjoy playing tennis when she gets a little older - at least with her daddy and mor. 

milling mondays: whole wheat bishop's cake

Whole Wheat Bishop's Cake


Ingredients

1 cup water, boiling
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup slivered almonds
8 TBS unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 cups whole wheat flour (1/3 hard wheat berries and 2/3 soft wheat berries)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chunks



Directions

Preheat oven to 350F.

Pour boiling water over dried cranberries and let it sit for 15-30 minutes.

Toast almonds in a pan until beginning to brown.

Cream the butter and brown sugar together until light and fluffy.

Then mix in the eggs one at a time.

Finally, add in the buttermilk and almond extract.

If you mill your own flour, grind the hard and soft wheat berries. I use my WonderMill on the pastry setting. Sift the flour twice to make the cake less dense.

In a separate bowl mix together the freshly milled flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Then add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients a little at a time. Mix until just combined.

Drain water from the dried cranberries and stir them into the dough along with the toasted almonds and chocolate.

Pour the dough into a prepared 9x13 pan and bake for about 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let it cool on a rack for about 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

happy easter

 happy easter from the carlsons!

did someone say easter bunny?

joy

I absolutely love being a mor (aka mom)! I always wanted to be a mother, but you never know what the experience is truly like until you are doing it. And I love it! Esther is such a joy to be around. She loves to smile. I took these pictures a couple of weeks ago, but I see this smiling face all day long:) She is obviously a baby and has needs that a baby has and my body aches and I am sleep deprived ... but when I look into her eyes and see her smile (or even when she cries  ... does any one else find baby cries adorable?) it is all so worth it! I have a Type A personality for the most part and I have been surprised how it hasn't really bothered me that my house isn't picked up and that there are millions of  things on my to do list ... I mean I would love to get those things done, but if it is between getting those things done and spending time with sweet little Esther (even if she is fussy) - I choose Esther every time. I am so thankful for this little girl. I feel so privileged to be able to be her mor. I know that I may be in the honeymoon phase and some days are harder than others ... but I truly believe that I am doing what I feel called to do. I just love our little family and I am so thankful for the sacrifice of so many that has allowed this incredible blessing of God. God has been so faithful and it has filled my heart with so much joy!

diy thursday: birthday freebies

It was my birthday earlier this month and I got to enjoy some birthday freebies:) I love a good deal and FREE food qualifies for that ... and it is even better at restaurants you like eating at even when it's not free:) This year it looked a little different since we had a newborn baby in tow - but we made a few adjustments and still got to enjoy most of the free meals we usually get.

I have had several people ask me about my list of birthday freebies so I thought I would list some of my favorites.

I will start with the ones that require an ID - meaning you have to eat there on your actual birthday and prove it with your ID. We live in Arizona in the East Valley so we can enjoy what my husband refers to as the triple threat: Liberty Market, Joe's Farm Grill and Joe's BBQ. They all give you $10 towards your meal - which is pretty much a free meal at these places. YUM!

Another two places I usually visit on my birthday because they require ID is Firehouse Subs (free medium sub) and Dutch Bros (free large drink) ... yes Dutch Bros is a must! Chompies also offers a free breakfast and so does Denny's on your actual birthday, but I usually don't take advantage of those - just not enough space in my stomach.

There are lots of places you can sign up for email updates that will send you a coupon for a free meal/snack/drink on your birthday. Some of my favorites are The Keg ($25 towards an entree),Grimaldi's Pizza (free large pizza one topping up to $18), Which Which (free small sub), Jason's Deli ($5 towards meal), Mellow Mushroom ($5 towards meal), Genghis Grill (free regular bowl), Schlotzsky's (free small sandwich), Rubios (free entree), Starbucks (free drink), Dunkin Donuts (free medium drink), Krispy Kreme (free doughnut and coffee), Sprinkles Cupcakes (free cupcake), Culvers (free ice cream)

There are also lots of places that will send you coupons for BOGO type of offers such as Benihana, Zoes Kitchen, Cold Stone, Dairy Queen, Auntie Anne's Pretzels, Bruegger's Bagles, Johnny Rockets or lots of places that offer a free dessert if you buy an entree. I don't love these offers because they are really not giving you much free since you end up spending money on a meal when you otherwise wouldn't have gone to that restaurants. Places I will take advantage of this kind of deal are places like Fox Restaurant Concepts (free dessert with entree purchase) or Postino (free dessert with entree purchase) - because those restaurants are just so yummy and any excuse to go .... right?:)

There are also lots of places you can get free items or money if you are on their email list such as Ulta, Sephora, World Market etc.

Enjoy!

PS. I am sorry I didn't include links to all of these places, but with a newborn I opted for not spending the time adding the links ... I will try to do that soon. In the meantime a simple Google search should do the job if you aren't familiar with the restaurant URL:)

happy new year!

happy new year from THIS girl and her parents:) we look forward to seeing what 2015 has in store.