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!

Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling

It's been a while since I've posted a recipe here that isn't for a toddler. My friend Amanda's birthday is today and she is a pumpkin lover, so I thought that I would surprise her with these muffins. They are so good-- lots of pumpkin spice with a sweet cream cheese center and a crunchy cinnamon topping. They are a little time intensive because there is a batter, filling, and topping-- but they are worth it!

Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling
*Makes 2 dozen*

Batter Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 15oz can pumpkin puree
1 1/4 c vegetable oil

Filling Ingredients:

1 8 oz block of cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Topping Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar
5 tbsp flour
1 tsp cinnamon
4 tbs cold butter, cubed

Preheat oven to 350*

For the muffins:
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine eggs, sugar, oil, and pumpkin. Mix on low with the paddle attachment until just combined.
In a medium sized mixing bowl, add all dry ingredients and whisk to combine.
With the mixer on low, add dry ingredients to the wet and mix until well incorporated.

For the filling:
Combine softened cream cheese, pumpkin pie spice, and powdered sugar in a small bowl. Mix until well blended. This was enough to put about 2 tsp of filling in each muffin. If you like a lot of filling, then double the recipe.

For the topping:
Whisk together dry ingredients. Add butter and use a pastry blender (or 2 forks) to combine until mixture is nice and crumbly.

To assemble: Spoon about 2 tbsp of batter into the bottom of a lined cupcake tin. Add 2 tsp of the filling mixture to the center of the cupcake. Cover with an additional 1-2 tbsp of batter. Sprinkle a generous amount of the cinnamon mixture on top.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the tops are set and spring back when pressed.

Enjoy these straight out of the oven!!

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!

Potato, Bacon, and Caramelized Onion Pizza

I love pizza. It was one of the foods I missed most while on my crazy elimination diet. We rarely order pizza because it's expensive and homemade tastes better! A while back I stumbled upon a recipe for homemade pizza dough on Annie's Eats and I haven't looked back! It's easy to make and tastes so good! It's versatile- You can add whatever spices to the dough that you like. You can use it for calzones, too. This recipe makes enough for 2 pizzas, so I always wrap the extra in plastic wrap, put it in a Ziplock and stick it in the freezer.

Our favorite pizza at the moment is this potato, bacon, and onion one. I love that it isn't like traditional pizzas with a ton of tomato sauce. Don't get me wrong- those are good, too. But there's something about the caramelized onions and potatoes that takes the pizza to the next level.

Ingredients:

For the pizza dough:

½ cup warm water
2¼ tsp. instant yeast
4 cups bread flour
1½ tsp. salt
1¼ cup water, at room temperature
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

In a 2 cup measuring cup, combine the warm water and yeast. Let sit for about 5 minutes. In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix bread flour and salt. Add the room temperature water and olive oil to the warm water and yeast mixture. With the mixer on low, add the yeast mixture. After the dough is just combined, switch to the dough hook. Mix until a smooth dough is formed- about 5 minutes.

Form the dough into a ball and place in a large bowl, coated with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise for 1.5-2 hours.

**Probably the most important pizza crust tip: Preheat your pizza stone! Set the oven to 500* and let the stone warm up for at least 20 minutes! It makes the bottom crispy!

For the Pizza:

Ingredients:

1 yellow onion, sliced thin
3/4 cup thinly sliced potatoes (I used my mandolin)
5 pieces of bacon, cooked and crumbled
1-1 1/2 cups of mozzarella, shredded (always buy fresh cheese, if possible, and shred it yourself!)
2-3 green onions
sour cream, for drizzling
olive oil
pinch of sugar
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400*.

Place thinly sliced potatoes on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and add salt and pepper to taste. Bake for 10-15 minutes until potatoes are almost all the way done. Once the potatoes are done, up the temperature to 500*.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil on medium heat in a pan (or use your bacon grease!). Add onions and a pinch of sugar. Cook for about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally until onions are a golden brown.

Roll pizza dough out (cornmeal helps the dough not to slide!). Place an even layer of the cheese on the crust, then add a layer of potatoes, onions, and bacon. Add another layer of cheese to the top, if desired.

Bake at 500* for 10-15 minutes. Once out of the oven, drizzle with sour cream and top with chopped green onions.

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: Avocado & Coconut Milk Popsicles

Little man loves avocado. It was the first food we gave him when he started solids and it's still one of his favorites. I was at Kroger this morning and saw that they had popsicle molds on sale (BOGO!) and decided that I would try my hand at making a healthy popsicle for him.

These are super simple- the prep time is only about 5 minutes! My plan was to just do avocado and coconut milk, but at the last minute I tossed in some spinach, because why not? These popsicles aren't very sweet, but I like it that way. I don't think he needs tons of sweets at this point in his life. If your baby is over one, you could add in some honey. You could also add in some banana as well, if you wanted.

If you don't have popsicle molds, you can pour the mixture into ice cube trays and serve in a mesh feeder.

Ingredients:

2 Avocados
1 cup of coconut milk
handful of spinach

Combine everything in a blender or food processor and blend until combined. Fill molds and freeze! Easy as that! This made 12 popsicles in the molds I had.

Warning! When you fill your molds be super careful. I pushed the handle into the mold too hard and spilled an entire tray all over my floor.

These guys are super messy, but my little man went crazy for them! I think they felt good on his gums!

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!

What Sawyer's Eating: Plum, Blueberry, & Spinach Pureé

This pureé is one of Sawyer's favorites. He'll eat it on its own or mixed into yogurt for breakfast. I've also given him a frozen cube in a mesh feeder to help with teething. It was a super messy hit! I love it because I can hide spinach in it-- always a success in my book.

My two favorite things about pureés are that they are completely customizable and really low maintenance. If you don't have spinach, you could sub out another leafy green. I've also used peaches in place of the plums and he loved it just as much. If you think you don't have time to make pureéd baby food, just give it a try. You literally chop the fruits/veggies, go play with your kiddo while they're steaming/cooking, and then dump them in the blender/food processor.

Ingredients:

4 plums, peeled, pitted, and chopped

1 cup of blueberries (I used frozen)

1 handful of spinach

In a small saucepan, heat plums on medium low heat for about 10 minutes. Add in blueberries and spinach, cover, and cook for 10 more minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to the food processor. Pulse until combined. If needed, add some of the reserved cooking liquid until desired consistency is reached.

Let cool, then transfer to ice cube trays and freeze.

What Sawyer's Eating- Grain Free Banana Muffins

I love to cook and bake. When we found out we were having a baby, one of the things I was most excited about was making him baby food. Healthy, organic food and saving money are really important to me. Making Sawyer's food is so much cheaper than buying prepared food (especially organic baby food!) and I love that I know exactly what is in it. There is nothing wrong with store-bought food at all. These are simply the reasons why I've chosen to make our own.

We didn't introduce solids until he was 6 months old and have chosen to stay away from grains until he's a year old. We also suspect that he may have a slight dairy and gluten intolerance, so we are avoiding those things as well.

I've had a few people ask me for recipes/suggestions for homemade baby food, so I think I'm going to start documenting them here every week or so. Especially because we're almost finished with monthly updates (HOW do I have an almost one year old??).

You don't need fancy equipment or a ton of time to make your own food. I use a colander and pot to steam the veggies, then I puree them in my food processor or with my immersion blender. I typically take an hour on the weekends to make Sawyer's food for the week. It doesn't have to take that long, either. You can take some of whatever you are making yourself for dinner and puree it, too! One of the best pieces of advice I have is to plan your meals and your baby's meals at the same time. I try to use the same ingredients for both, to keep the grocery bill down.

Because I have a photo, I'm going to share a recipe for grain-free banana mini muffins. I found the recipe at Detoxinista. Normally, I like to play around with recipes and add my own touches, but since I'm pretty new to gluten free baking, I stuck completely to the recipe. Now that I've seen how it works, I'm going to try it next time with zucchini, carrots, and applesauce instead of banana.

Ingredients:
2 large bananas (the more ripe they are, the sweeter the muffin!)
1 egg
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Preheat oven to 350*

In a small bowl, mash bananas with fork until relatively smooth. Mix in the egg, followed by the rest of the ingredients.
Since I made these for Sawyer, I used a mini muffin pan. Be sure to use cupcake liners, as these muffins stick. Spoon the batter into the liners (I filled them to the top) and bake for about 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Sawyer loves these! I wrapped them in plastic wrap, put them in a Ziplock, and stuck them in the freezer. I thaw one or microwave it for a few seconds and give it to him for his morning snack. I love that it's grain free and there are no added sugars!

Next up- Baby beef stew and Blueberry & Spinach puree!