What Sawyer's Eating: Pumpkin Almond Butter muffins (grain & dairy free!)

So Sawyer's new favorite word is "cookie." And while I'm fine with him having cookies every now and then, I needed to figure out something that could stand in as a "cookie" when he's standing at the pantry crying, "Cookie, pwease!" I decided to play around with my 3 ingredient pancake recipe, and came up with these muffins!

Pumpkin Almond Butter Muffins

Ingredients:

2/3 cup almond butter (or nut/seed butter of your choice)
1/2 cup of pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
2 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (You can sub about 1/4 tsp of nutmeg)
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp honey or maple syrup (optional)

*Preheat oven to 350*

In a small mixing bowl, combine almond butter, pumpkin, honey, and eggs. If your almond butter is hard to stir, you can heat it in the microwave prior to mixing it into the other ingredients.
Stir in the spices and divide batter evenly in muffin cups. I filled mine about 3/4 of the way full.

Bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

This made about 8 muffins. I froze them and cook them for about 30 seconds when Sawyer wants a "cookie."

They were such a hit- He kept trying to swipe them as I was photographing them! This photo isn't focused and the lighting is awful, but I couldn't miss those little fingers reaching for one!

What Sawyer's Eating- Gluten/Grain free Pumpkin Muffins

Little Man loves pumpkin. Maybe not as much as some of you die-hard pumpkin spice fans, but he is really loving it lately. I usually hate buying cans of pumpkin because most recipes don't call for the whole thing and I end up wasting it. But I have 3 pumpkin recipes I'm planning to share this week and the best part is that you can use the same can for all of them. No waste!

First up are these Grain Free Pumpkin muffins. This is the second batch I have made for him because he loved them so much. I like giving them to him as a snack because they're filling, but they're not full of empty calories, sugar, and other junk.

(I apologize for the crap pictures-- I had to take them quickly with my phone instead of my camera)

Ingredients:

1 cup of almond flour
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
2 eggs
1/4 cup almond butter
1/4 cup of honey, agave, or maple syrup (I used maple syrup)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350*

In a mixing bowl, combine almond flour, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, and salt.
Add wet ingredients and mix until everything is thoroughly combined.
Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups- about 3/4 full.
Bake 20-25 minutes, until the tops spring back when touched.

Allow to cool and then freeze, if you want. I usually keep them in the freezer and pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds.

If I weren't cooking these for Sawyer, I would probably add some pecans and chocolate chips!

What Sawyer's Eating: Muffins 2 ways

Sawyer loves muffins. I love muffins because they are so versatile. I shared the recipe a while back for the grain free banana muffins I made him. You can find it here.

I've been using that same recipe as a base and adding different fruits and veggies to change it up. Last week, I made him a batch of carrot/zucchini/applesauce muffins and a batch of banana blueberry. Both recipes are below.

Carrot, Zucchini, and Applesauce Muffins:

Ingredients:

1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup shredded carrot
1/4 cup shredded zucchini
1/2 cup applesauce
1 egg
1/4 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350*

Add all ingredients to a medium sized bowl and mix until just combined.

Spoon the batter into mini muffin tins and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool, then freeze or refrigerate.

For the banana blueberry, omit the zucchini, applesauce, and carrot. Add one mashed banana, 1/4 cup of fresh or frozen mini blueberries, and a dash of cinnamon!

What Sawyer's Eating: Broccoli Nuggets

Broccoli is another favorite in the Crossen house. I hated broccoli for years, but had some while I was pregnant and now I love it. Typically I steam it, then sauteé it with some olive oil, garlic, and s&p. Little man goes crazy for it. He'll avoid everything on his tray and eat all the trees first!

I love that Sawyer loves healthy foods. I just read an article that talked about how the foods you feed your baby set the tone for the kind of eater they will be later on in life. I'm doing my best to give him a big variety of healthy foods. That doesn't mean he'll never get treats or a Chick Fil A kids meal, but for now I don't think there's a reason for them.

I mentioned that I've been looking for homemade finger foods lately so that I can avoid giving him junk. These broccoli nuggets fit the bill! I saw a recipe for cauliflower nuggets and adapted it slightly because cauliflower grosses me out! I've seen store bought versions of these, but they're pretty expensive! It's also nice because these don't have any preservatives, etc. We've been avoiding grains so far, but now that he's older we are slowly starting to introduce them, so these nuggets have some gluten free oats to help bind them together.

Ingredients:

2 cups of broccoli florets (fresh or frozen)
3 eggs
1 cup of gluten free oats (you could use bread crumbs)
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp of oregano

Preheat oven to 375*

Pulse broccoli in a food processor until finely chopped. Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse until combined.

Spoon onto a parchment lined cookie sheet (I used my cookie scoop). Bake for 20 minutes. Cool and enjoy! I kept some in the fridge and froze the rest to use throughout the week.

What Sawyer's Eating: Baked Sweet Potato Pancakes

I'm not sure that I should even classify these as baby/toddler food. They are so good and I had to keep myself from eating all of them!

Sawyer has pretty much stopped eating pureés at this point. I still make him some fruit ones to eat with his yogurt, but for the most part he eats whatever we eat. I like to have some homemade finger foods on hand for snacks and lunch, though. One of our favorite side dishes is roasted sweet potatoes mashed with parmesan cheese, garlic, and spinach. Since I wanted something that Sawyer could feed himself, I figured that I could take my recipe and turn it into a pancake for him to pick up. Sawyer loves sweet potatoes and garlic, and I love sneaking in spinach, so these are right up both our alleys.

These pancakes (or puffs, whatever you want to call them!) are super simple and quick to make! You only need 4 ingredients- sweet potatoes, spinach, parmesan, and garlic. If you are dairy free, these will still work without the parmesan cheese.

I gave him these for dinner along with homemade veggie soup and he gobbled them up!

Ingredients:

2-3 small sweet potatoes (enough to equal 2 cups mashed)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 large handful of spinach, cut thinly
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
Pinch of thyme
olive oil

Preheat oven to 350*.

Prick the sweet potatoes with a fork and microwave until soft. You can also bake them in the oven, but I didn't have that much time.
While the potatoes are cooking, heat the olive oil in a pan. Add garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes over medium heat. Add spinach and cook until wilted- about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
Once the potatoes are cooked, slice them in half and scoop the potato into a bowl. Add cheese, spinach and garlic mixture, and a pinch of thyme.
I scooped everything into a ziplock bag, cut the tip off, and piped the mixture onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. You can also just scoop it out with a spoon if you don't feel like piping. I think piping makes it go a little faster, though.

Bake for 20 minutes, let cool, and enjoy!