Mommy

Allergy Friendly Protein Muffins

A Southern girl cooking without dairy and cream?! Surprise! It can happen! My son has always had an allergy to dairy (and soy- which is in EVERYTHING). I had to reprogram the way I cook for us, but it has been so worth it for our family. We eat much better than we did before Lincoln was born.

These muffins have become our favorites! They’re SOY FREE, DAIRY FREE, GLUTEN FREE, REFINED SUGAR FREE and can easily become VEGAN.

*these do contain nuts! You can substitute almond milk for coconut milk and cocoa powder for the powdered peanut butter to make nut free

Ingredients

2 c. Old fashioned oats (gluten free)
3 Tbsp flax meal
3 Tbsp chia seeds
2 Tbsp chocolate powdered peanut butter
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 ripe bananas (mashed)
2 eggs ( can be substituted for 1/2 c of applesauce)
3 Tbsp honey (can be substituted for agave nectar if vegan)
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 c almond milk
1/2- 3/4 c add in of your choice ( we love raisins, blueberries or chocolate chips)

Instructions

Pulse flax, chia seeds, powdered peanut butter and 1 cup of the oats in a food processor until it makes a “flour”

Combine remaining dry ingredients with “flour” in a large bowl

Add in all remaining ingredients. Allow mixture to rest for 10 mins before scooping into muffin tin

Scoop mix into lined muffin tin and bake at 350 for 20 mins.

DIY Almond Milk

My son has a dairy and soy allergy. So, we go through a ton of almond milk! I started making my own a little while ago. It’s taken a while to perfect it, but I think we’ve got it! Lincoln loves it, and I get plenty of yummy almond meal to add to all sorts of recipes. Added bonus- the dates act as a mild laxative.

Ingredients:

1cup raw almonds
3-4 dates, pitted
3 cups filtered water
Dash of salt
Generous play of quality vanilla

Equipment:

Blender
Milk bag (or cloth napkin)
Glass milk jug (or storage of some sort)
Large bowl
Strainer

The Process

Soak almonds in water overnight or up to 48. Keep them covered in the fridge if you’re soaking more than overnight.
Once your almonds are soaked, strain the water off and give them a good rinse. The soaking releases an enzyme that can actually hinder nutrient absorption. So definitely discard the soaking water and rinse the almonds!
Boil your dates in 2 cups of filtered water for 5 mins. This softens the dates and gets some of the nutrients into what will be your almond milk.
Finally time to make the milk! Once your boiled dates have cooled, dump the dates with the water into a blender with your almonds. Add another cup of filtered water. Blend this mixture for a while- maybe 3 mins? You’ll start to see when it’s getting nice and smooth.
Place your milk bag in a large bowl. Pour blender contents into the bag. It will take some serious squishing to get all of the liquid out. Keep at it! You want all that liquid! Almonds ain’t cheap!
Once you’ve gotten all of the liquid that you can out, place the bag and its contents aside. (You can roast this on a silpat to make almond meal. It’s probably the only real reason to make your own almond milk. Recipe for the best muffins coming soon!)
Put your milk back in the blender (rinse your blender first so that you don’t have any almond chunks put back in your smooth milk). Add the salt and vanilla. Blend again.
Pour your delicious milk into your storage container of choice. I find that the milk is only good for 4-5 days. That’s why I prefer to make smaller batches.

The more water you add, the less creamy the milk is. So you can definitely stretch your almonds. I prefer this ratio, but you can tweak it to your preference. Make sure you shake before drinking!

If this seems super extra, it’s because it is. Store bought is cheaper and easier. Like I mentioned earlier, I like making my own because I get the almond meal, which is a great flour substitution. However, it is super nice to know exactly what is your going into your baby’s body!

Welcome to motherhood- the place where you make things harder than they have to be for your kid🤷🏻‍♀️

DIY PILLOW SHAM

We all can agree that the easiest way to change any room decor is by changing the pillows. Fortunately, they’re super easy to make. I literally just make covers for existing pillows. Super cheap. Super simple.

I picked up this navy and white fabric at Joanne’s. I found these Pillow covers at Hobby Lobby. I do realize my DIY limits. Mixing homemade with store bought helps hide the fact that I’m not the best seamstress in the world.

Products used:

1 yard decorative fabric

1.5 yards plain “cheap” fabric

6 yards Trim- if using

Fabric glue

Iron

Pins

Sewing machine

All purpose thread in matching color

* fabric amount made 2 24″ square pillows and 2 12×22″ lumbar pillows

DIY:

Start by cutting everything out. The pillows I made were 24×24. So, I’ll use that for reference. I prefer to cut my fabric the same size as the pillow- not adding any length for seam allowance. I think it makes for a better looking pillow- nice and full!

Cut out 1 24×24″ piece of your patterned fabric.

Cut 2 pieces of your plain fabric to 14×24. These will make your envelope on the back for you to slide your pillows in to. * if making a different size pillow, half the size of your pillow and add 2 inches to get your needed size for these pieces

Take your back pieces (plain fabric) and fold over 1/4 – 1/2 inch on one of the sides that is 24″ long. Iron that down nice and flat. This will make a finished edge for your envelope.

I like to use a little fabric glue to make sure it doesn’t come unfolded. You could stitch this, but I’m not that talented. So, I glue.

I added trim on these pillows. Honestly, this type of trim is a pain and I’ll never use it again. It looks fancy though. So, I guess it’s worth it? I used a flat trim on the edge of the lumbar pillow. Much easier to work with… this round situation is not fun. I’ll show you how to attach though!

You’ll want to pin it down all the way around. Match your raw edge to the edge of the trim, keeping the “fancy” part of the trim towards the middle of the pillow. This will allow it to be where you want it when you finish your pillow. Once your all pinned, throw that sucker on the sewing machine and give it a quick stitch around. This keeps it from moving around when you assemble your pillow. Careful around the corners! But don’t worry if you don’t get them right, we have fabric glue to fix everything. Now its time to attach the back panels. Pin your first piece on with the right sides (the side you want to see when the pillow is finished) facing each other. You’ll place the second panel on and line it up with the edges. They are meant to overlap.

Time to stitch around the entire perimeter! Once you’re done, flip it inside out and stuff with a pillow!

Project complete!

Playroom Mountains

After a year of my living room being taken over by toys, I decided it was time to create a space especially for Lincoln. Because every one year old needs two rooms and free reign of the entire house, right? I wanted a space that could still function as a guest room, since that was that I was converting to the playroom, but I wanted it to be fun and whimsical for play time.

Enter these mountains.

They were super simple to create. The black mountain tops are magnetic paint. Perfect for hanging up artwork!

Let’s get in to how these mountains got done.

First, I taped off basic shapes I wanted for the mountains. I brought one of the peaks down on the adjoining wall just to add some visual interest.

I painted the large mountains a dark grey the little mountain peaks a lighter grey to make them appear as if they were in the background. Peel off the tape and you’re left with the picture below.

Fill in the gaps with the light grey paint. I used a little tiny paint brush to make sure my lines stayed crisp.

The finishing touch is to top the dark grey mountains with black paint. I used magnetic paint that I had left over from a different project. Just tape off the peak shapes you want with painters tape.

The entire project took me about a day to complete. The drying time is what gets you!

I got the bedding and pillows from Target. We use the beds as more of a couch situation, but guests can snuggle in when they come!

Products used:

Painters tape

Valspar Signature paint in Metropolis (dark), Gravity (light) and Sherwin Williams Origami White (wall base-still used Valspar paint- just had them match it)

Paint rollers

Art brushes