Pumpkin Pie Bars

It's no secret , I love to bake. I could probably have a blog only about baking, but I love to try cooking new things too, and crafting new things, and learning new information etc., so a general blog it is. 

But, this post is about baking. 

You will need:

A large can of pumpkin pie filling or 2 small cans

1/2 cup of brown sugar

2 sleeves of graham crackers, crushed

4 tablespoons of cinnamon, divided into to 2 tbsp portions

2 eggs

1 can of evaporated milk

1 stick of butter/margarine, melted

Butter flavored cooking spray 

The eggs and evaporated milk were what my can of pumpkin pie filling called for, so you may want to see if yours says something different for preparing pumpkin pie. 

To make:

Preheat your oven to 350. 

Mix the graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar and 2 tbsp of cinnamon. 

Add the melted butter. 

Mix till mostly moist. A few dry crumbs or chunks won't matter too much!

Spray your pan (I prefer glass for almost everything) and pour your cracker mixture in. Press flat. 

Spray more of the butter flavored spray on top of the pressed crumbs. 

Bake for 10 minutes. 

While that is baking, mix your pumpkin pie filling, eggs and evaporated milk, and the remaining 2 tbsp of cinnamon. 

Pour it over the baked crumb crust. 

Bake for 35-45 minutes until the edges start to brown.

Let cool or serve warm. I found them to be yummy either way!

Breastfeeding, and how I Finally made it work!

Breastmilk, Boobs, Nipples, Pumping, Breast Pads.... OH MY!!  (for anyone who is squeamish about those, or any related words, I suggest you just stop reading now.)

I've mentioned before, breastfeeding has NOT been an easy thing for me in the past. I've had different situations and issues with each of my girls, and have learned that, like deliveries and pregnancies, no two are exactly alike!

If you'll give me the time, I'll  explain my two previous situations, and how this time, with my third daughter, is different. 

K1: She was born at 41 weeks. She was really struggling with her breathing when she was born. I held her for 10 seconds before she was taken to the NICU (this all matters, I promise). She had high acid levels in her blood, a high infection, blood and fluid filled lungs, and an open sore on the back of her head from the vacuum (she was 9lb 9oz and couldn't make it out without help). 5 hours later, at 11pm, I got to really see her in her little incubator. 

My nurses told me that they were going to have me start pumping that night to get things going and stimulate milk production. The hospital did not have a 24 hour IBCLC (internationally board certified lactation consultant), so I wouldn't see one of these LCs until morning. I asked my nurses about the pump, but they were very busy and kept forgetting to bring one. Our second time visiting our baby, 1am, I asked the NICU nurse. She brought one to my room a little while later. 

This is where things started to go wrong. This NICU nurse was very new, I think it was her 1st or 2nd shift ever. She brought me the hospital grade pump, set it up, helped me get everything on, and turned it on... to the highest suction on the fastest speed. I had never pumped, so knew no better. I was told to pump every 3 hours. So, I did, at 2am, 5am and 8am. The LC came in around 9:30 the next morning, and noticed that my nipples had most of the skin rubbed off. She measured me, and realized I'd been given flanges two sizes too small. 

That was the first problem. The LC then gave me soothies:

They felt great, really they did. 

However, as my skin was already broken, when I took the soothies off, they pulled off more skin and any scabs that had started to form. 

The LC and Neonatologist decided that we would try actual nursing at 24 hours old. When we did it that afternoon, K1 had a feeding tube in the center of her mouth. But, we still worked at it. K1 had to learn to nurse around a feeding tube. She did it though. Then (24 hours later) they moved it to the corner of her mouth, she retrained herself, and again, we made it through. 24 hours later, they moved it to her nose instead of her mouth. Finally we were without limitations, but she was so confused by that point, she had all but given up. But we still plowed through. She was in the NICU for 8 days, the 8th day was because she was losing weight and they wouldn't let her leave till she could sustain her weight without a feeding tube. 

We made it home, but over that weekend, I dreaded feeding her. My nipples were so scabbed over, and the tissue was so damaged that it was flapping... yeah, flapping. I thought they looked infected, so I went to my OB. They gave me creams to help, but told me that the damage was so extreme that the only way for them to heal, would be for me to quit nursing and pumping for 2 whole weeks. By that time, my milk was gone. I pumped for 2 months to try to regenerate my supply, took fenugreek, mothers milk tea and lots of oatmeal. K1 would not latch at all. Eventually, I had to throw in the towel.

Oops... that story got much longer than I intended, but K2's is much shorter, I promise!

K2: Born at 38 weeks, 7lb 4oz. She lost quite a bit of weight and got some pretty severe jaundice by 2 weeks old, and was admitted to the hospital. It was a different hospital than the one where she and K1 were born. We worked with a new LC, and she was great. I was having pretty bad pain whether nursing or not, but was told that the latch was great and that it would get better after the initial few weeks. It didn't. I saw her again, and again, was told that the latch was great, just strong. I researched on my own, and thought I had thrush based on the pain symptoms. However, a nurse at my OB's office told me that if there were no visible signs, they couldn't treat it. I was in toe-curling, make me gag, pain the entire 6 months I nursed her. On top of that, at around 3 months, my supply started to drop drastically. I nursed till she refused to keep going, then I'd pump, but formula was still needed. I ate and drank all the 'right' things. No matter what I did, I'd waited too long and couldn't get it to go back up. At 6 months, we completely switched to formula. 

Now, onto my (so far) success story!

K3: I was so determined to make nursing work this time... and at 6 months, my first goal has been met! I got much better prepared this time. 

I ordered 2 forms of Fenugreek before she was even born:

I also ordered Mother's Milk Tea:

It still wasn't an easy start (I'm convinced it never is). Even in the hospital, she went  over 12 hours and refused to nurse. Even if she would try, she refused to nurse on the left side. I was finally able to get her to latch on the left with a nipple shield. To avoid confusion, I used the shield on both sides... and guess what? She got it! She still got high jaundice, and we gave 2oz of formula once a day for 3 days, but she gained steadily. I always had The Hubs give her the bottle, so she never associated ME with anything more than "food from the boob".

At 3 days post delivery, my milk came in full force. No matter how much she nursed (which I pushed a LOT to help kick the jaundice), I couldn't get comfortable. I was started to get clogged ducts. I stood in a hot shower and massaged, and it didn't work. After 24 hours of pain, I caved and pumped, and pumped and pumped. I just needed to be empty. After pumping about 8 oz. that day, I felt much more comfortable, she was able to keep me comfortable without much (if any) additional pumping.

After 2 weeks, my milk supply started to suffer on the left side. I have no idea why, but she was refusing to latch. So I pulled the shield off, and she nursed without it. She was stimulating it better and getting more without the shield. After a few days, she dropped the shield on the right side as well. 

Now, I'm not going to let you think that it was just that easy. There were a few days of starting with the shield, then taking it off, or vice versa. I decided to just let her do what she was going to do and go with it instead of trying to 'train' her into doing it one way or another. 

I was still having quite a bit of pain in the entire breast on both sides at 7 weeks. I went back to the LC, and discussed that it was the same horrible pain I'd had with K2. She suspected non-visible thrush, and told me to put Monistat on my nipples. K3 wouldn't nurse, I guess it tasted funny. So, I turned to Dr. Google, and found many women who'd had success with Gentian Violet. 

 

I ordered some from Walgreens and tried it immediately. I won't lie, the first (and only) day I put it on was horrible. The pain was at least double what it normally was. I vowed I wouldn't use it again. Yes, my nipples were dark purple, and yes, it turned K3's mouth purple, but that didn't bother me... the pain did.

However, the next day, the pain was back to normal, the next day, it was cut in half again. After 2-3 days, the pain was gone. I was amazed at how much more I enjoyed not only nursing my baby, but my baby! I enjoyed holding her, because it didn't hurt! That was a first for me out of 3 babies!

Once I got past the pain, I settled in determined to maintain a high supply. I think that I've always had a great supply in the beginning. I just didn't work hard enough to maintain it. 

Here are my tips to maintaining a good milk supply:

1. Fluids... like, crazy fluids. This is my 52oz gas station mug. I drink a minimum of two of these a day. Water, flavored water, tea, lemonade, juice etc. Powerade is great for boosting supply. 

2. Food. You have to eat! The amount of food I currently eat in a day is probably double what I'd normally eat, but if I don't, if I let myself get just the slightest big hungry, my supply dips. Eating warm, soft foods in beneficial, because your body doesn't need to put as much effort into digesting it. Your body can put all it's efforts into making milk! 

3. Rest. And I know it can be hard... trust me. I have 3 kids, the oldest is 4. I have a part time job. I want to be good at both. I also want to breastfeed. I have to sit when I can. I have to sit when I really shouldn't! I have to go to bed with dishes in the sink, because I need to sleep! Making milk is an activity that your body has to do. It has to have the energy to do it. *I personally can't do much in the line of exercising if I want to maintain a supply. A 30 minute casual walk tanked my milk supply for 2 days with K2. This time, I'm just not doing anything to get into shape. I will, when I'm done nursing. I just have to be ok with that. 

4. Fenugreek. I put a dropper or two in my coffee every morning (and, yes,  it's true, caffeine in any form, including coffee, isn't great for milk production). I think of it as my 'instant boost'. I take 2 Fenugreek pills 3 times a day, it's my 'continued support'. If I'm noticing a growth spurt in K3 and/or a dip in supply, I take 3 pills 3 times a day. If I have an oversupply one day, I don't take the pills that day. 

5. Lactation Bars  I really believe that these were my saving grace when I was really starting to feel like things might fail. We'd gone 2 weeks needing to give 2oz of formula every night when I finally made these. I ate quite a few that first day, but that night, no formula was needed. 

6. Just Nurse. Now, I know that this doesn't always work. I was so frustrated when a friend of mine told me this with K1, when I couldn't even get K1 to attempt to latch. However, If your baby will nurse, then take time to just let them. Grab a few movies or a new series on Netflix, a huge supply of snacks and drinks, and spend hours, even a whole day, or days, curled up with baby. Couch, bed, recliner, wherever, just stay there. Get up to go to the bathroom and go right back to cuddling... and nursing, and cuddling... and nursing, and then do it some more. 

Those are my tips. I've had some interesting experiences with nursing, but I can't be the only one. I KNOW I'm not actually, because no matter how 'natural' people will tell you it is, it's still something that you and your baby need to learn to do, like walking, and you need to learn to do it together, like running a 3-legged race!

*I'm not a Lactivist by any stretch. G1 only got breastmilk for 8 days and she is insanely smart and super healthy. Seriously, she's been sick about 3 times in her entire life. Loving and Feeding your baby are all that really count. Breastfeeding is something that I wanted to do, and for it to not work, well,... Challenge Accepted!!!

The World's Best Hair Tie

Having 3 little girls, I'm deep into the land of hair products. Shampoo, conditioner, detangler, 8 different brushes, ribbons, barrettes, and ponytail holders.

The most commonly used among adults and older kids are probably these:

The durable thread/fabric covered ones. They are great for K1. 

Then there's these things:

Totally worthless for anything past the 'I'm determined to get these 10 wispy hairs into a ponytail' stage. For us, these were ok till about 18 months. Past that hair growth stage though, they just weren't strong enough to keep their hair up, and the 'no pull' feature just made them slick enough fall out. 

Enter MY mom. 

She turned these:

Into this:

Cut the fingers into little rings, about 1/4-1/2 inch wide. That's it. The PERFECT hair tie for 1-3 year olds who still have that fine toddler hair that refuses to stay put.

Blueberry Cobbler Bars

I've probably mentioned before that I'm a 'see what I can make with what I have on hand' kind of baker. I've had some culinary home runs, and few strikes. There was also the day that I couldn't convince myself, the Hubs, or my toddler girls that the chewy, flavorless mass of bananas, oats, and raisins was a cookie. It really was awful. 

Today, I found ingredients to make what I'm calling Blueberry Cobbler Bars. Not so sweet that I'd consider it a desert (though give me another try or two and I'll remedy that), but sweet enough that you can consider it a 'treat' for breakfast. And really, served warm, they didn't really hold up as bars very well. 

There's two separate recipe lists, but they're almost the same ingredients. 

For the base:

4c quick oats

2/3 c brown sugar

2 sticks melted butter

3 tbsp cinnamon

Mix and press into a sprayed 9x13 pan. I prefer glass always. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. 

While this is baking, mix your topping. 

Filling:

21 oz can pie filling, any flavor will work. I used blueberry. 

Spread the pie filling onto the baked base. 

Topping:

2c quick oats

1/3 c brown sugar

2 tbsp cinnamon 

2 c milk

1/2 c flour

Let soak for 10 minutes or so, mostly to let some of the milk absorb into the oats to soften them. 

Pour the topping mix onto the blueberry layer. 

Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour. Your main method to test if it's done will be the jiggle test. :)  Shake your pan and if the center jiggles, keep baking!

Serve warm or cold, maybe even with some heavy cream or whipped cream for a sweet treat!

Cinnamon Glazed Croissants

After 2 nights of almost no sleep (thank you G3), I was hoping to get away with something nice and easy for breakfast for my two older fawns. Cereal? No. Oatmeal? No. Toast? No. 

Now, don't start thinking that I'm some sort of cook-to-order mom who takes requests every morning. Most mornings, it's 'this is what you are eating or you can wait till lunch'. 

No, I'm not a mean mom either. Since I was very young, I have not been a breakfast eater, something I seem to have passed on to my kids. So, if they don't want to eat a particular something, it's usually not because they don't like what I want them to eat, it's because they just aren't in the mood for breakfast. 

This morning however, even in my 'I have a 4 month old' zombie stupor, I decided to get creative and bake something. G1 had asked for cinnamon rolls, but I didn't have any on hand. So, I grabbed a tube of croissant rolls I had in the fridge. 

I can bake most things from scratch. Yeast Breads are not one that I've felt brave enough to try yet, so pre-made it is!

Spray your pan with butter flavored spray... A good dose, almost pooling on the pan (I'll explain why in a second). 

Unroll the croissant rolls onto the pan so the bottom has a good coating of the butter flavored spray. 

Spray the butter flavored spray onto the unrolled croissants. *You can use actual melted butter for this, but the spray is easier, faster, and has no calories.  

Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on the unrolled croissants. How much to use is your call. I use quite a bit! I'm kind of addicted to cinnamon!

Roll up the croissants as usual, starting at the fat side. 

Bake for 12 minutes at 375 (or however long the baking instructions say for whichever brand you are using). 

When they come out, they'll have a dark crisp crust to them... Similar to the ones you'd buy at a bakery. This is what that pooled butter spray does to them. Instead of coming out white and super soft (almost doughy in my opinion) like they usually do, you have a much more 'ritzy' look to your rolls. It's also flakier!

Mix together powdered sugar and milk to make a glaze for them. Start with 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and 2 tbsp of milk. Mix it up. You may have to add more sugar or milk, depending on what consistency you like. In the end, for mine, when I lifted the fork out of the glaze, it coated the fork nicely, but still slowly dripped off. 

The thickness of your glaze is, again, personal preference, but, you don't want it to be too thin or the milk will absorb into your rolls, making them soggy. 

Use your fork to drizzle the glaze over your rolls. Go ahead and give them a good coating!! 

Enjoy them! G1 did...  G2 still hasn't decided if she's going to eat breakfast this morning.