Amazing Dark Chocolate Lactation Cookies

One of the things I worried about most each time I brought my new baby home if they were getting enough breast milk. Since they aren't eating from a bottle and you can't see exactly how many ounces they're consuming, I was always worrying if they were eating enough, if I was producing enough, if I would continue to produce enough. It's a very stressful situation for a breastfeeding mom!

So, when I received lactation cookies as a gift with my second baby that were delicious and were supposed to help with milk production - I was like, "Where were these with my first baby?!" And with my third baby I decided to make my own so that I could keep them on hand whenever I needed a quick snack.

Fast forward four years and to my friend having her second set of twins last month and I knew that I wanted to put together a care package that included some yummy lactation cookies. I can't imagine having to worry about producing enough milk for two babies! She breastfed her first set of twins (who are just 6 weeks older than Grace), so I knew that she would love something yummy that would also help with milk production.

The brewer's yeast, flaxseed and oatmeal in the cookies are all natural galactagogues - or foods that help increase milk production. So you get a yummy treat and you can help give your milk production a boost. Plus, I use dark chocolate chips which make them pretty much a vegetable, right?

And if you're not trying to lactate, you can omit the brewer's yeast in the recipe and make a regular batch because the cookies are delicious and you'll find the rest of your family trying to eat them too! A note on brewer's yeast - it can be kind of bitter. So, look for a brand that tells you it has reduced bitterness or is mild tasting. I like TwinLabs Genuine Brewer Yeast which I found my local health food store.

{DARK CHOCOLATE LACTATION COOKIES}

INGREDIENTS:

2 tbsp milled flaxseed

4 tbsp water

2 c. flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

4 tbsp brewers yeast

2 eggs

1 cup of butter (softened)

1 c. sugar

1 c. brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups old fashioned oats

2 cups dark chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. Combine the water and flaxseed and allow the mixture to sit for 5-7 minutes.

3. Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and brewers yeast in a medium sized bowl.

4. Beat together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.

5. Add in the eggs, vanilla, and flaxseed mixture until well combined.

6. Slowly add in the sifted flour mixture.

7. Fold in the oatmeal and dark chocolate chips by hand.

8. Use a large spoon (or large cookie scoop) and drop cookie dough onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

9. Bake 12-15 minutes, cool, and enjoy!

I like to bag 2 cookies together in the square zipper snack bags from Walmart and put the in the freezer. Then, when I want a treat, I can pull them out and the cookies stay fresher in the freezer. After I bag them in pairs in the snack bags, I put the snack bags in a gallon freezer zipper back to keep the freezer burn at bay.

Come back tomorrow to see how I used these double dark chocolate chip lactation cookies to create a fun care package full of my favorite new mom things - plus a cute printable!

The Best Peanut Butter Cookies || Baking with Kids

Isabella is always after me to bake with her. She loves being a big help in the 

kitchen. I'd be lying if I didn't say that baking with kids gives me anxiety. I've 

never been very good at it, even though I know there are so many lessons to 

learn over so many genres of learning when you bake. So every once in awhile 

I get brave and let her create with me in the kitchen. She's almost 9-years-old 

now, so it's not quite as nerve racking as it was when she was 5 and 6-years-old.

Do you like baking with your kids or does it give  you anxiety?

My good friend Niki was always telling me how her older girls were baking or

that she need something made for one thing or the other and she would ask them

to make it for her. I decided that if I want Isabella to be able to do that when she

is twelve/thirteen/fourteen, that I need to help her learn the skills now by 

working with me in the kitchen.

So when Eclipse 2017 rolled around and we decided we wanted to make

some Eclipse Cookies, Isabella was thrilled when I asked her if she wanted to

help me make them! We decided that our favorite peanut butter cookies would

make the perfect moon shapes and if we dipped them in semi-sweet chocolate 

they would be perfect. It was fun to let her gather the ingredients and all the 

tools we would need to make the cookies. Then she called me in when she was 

ready to get to baking!

Our favorite (and THE BEST) peanut butter cookie recipe is delicious! The

cookies are soft and chewy and bake to perfection in 10-12 minutes. You most

likely have the ingredients on hand and you don't have to press them with a fork.

You just roll in balls and drop them onto the cookie sheet.

I like to cover my cookie sheet with parchment paper to keep the pan fairly

clean and to avoid using the cooking sprays that aren't supposed to be so great

for you anymore.

THE BEST PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES (ever!)

{INGREDIENTS}

1 cup butter, softened

2 2/3 cup brown sugar

2 cups peanut butter

2 large eggs (whisked and beaten)

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/3 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

{INSTRUCTIONS}

1. Cream the butter, peanut butter, and sugar together.

2. Add the eggs and vanilla. Mix well.

3. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the butter mixture and mix until just incorporated. 

4. Cover dough and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

4. Use a large cookie scoop to scoop onto parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool for 5-10 minutes before you try to transfer them to a cooling rack or they will fall apart!

Makes 3 dozen - depending on the size of your cookie scoop :D

If you want to dip in chocolate like we did, then melt the chocolate according to package directions, but add 1 T. of shortening. Then dip away!

Summer Yum: S'mores Cereal Marshmallow Treats

It's summer and when summer hits I crave all things s'mores. There is just
something yummy about the graham-marshmallow-chocolate combination. So,
when we were doing our weekly grocery shopping trip and I saw this new
Honey Maid S'mores Cereal I knew that it would make a great no-bake treat that
the whole family would love. So, I grabbed a couple of boxes, a bag of
marshmallows, mini chocolate chips, and mini chocolate bars to make my
creation come to life.

If you can make the infamous rice krispie treats, then you can make these. They
whip up in about 10 minutes total and after they've cooled and set you - you're
good to go. Well, unless you're my husband and you try to eat it out of the pot
while it's all ooey and gooey before I get a chance to put it into the pan.

{S'mores Cereal Marshmallow Treats}

7-8 cups Honey Maid S'mores Cereal

1 (10oz) bag marshmallows

1/4 cup butter

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup frozen mini chocolate chips

mini chocolate bars broken into individual pieces

1/2 cup melted chocolate chips (optional)

{DIRECTIONS}

1. Coat your 9x13 pan with butter or cooking spray. I always forget to to this first,

but it really does make the whole process go so much smoother if you !

2. In a large pot, melt your 1/4 cup of butter on medium-low heat. Once the butter

has melted completely - remove from heat!

3. Dump in your 10oz bag of marshmallows and stir and stir and stir until all the

little marshmallows are melted and well combined with the butter.

4. Dump in the 1/4 tsp of sea salt. It really does give your treats a great flavor!

5. Next up, add in your Honey Maid S'mores Cereal and stir until every inch is

covered in marshmallow.

6. If you want to up your chocolate game, dump in a 1/2 cup of  FROZEN mini

chocolate chips. When they are frozen, you have a better chance of them not

melting completely.

7. Spread into your already buttered 9x13 pan. See! You did it at the beginning,

so you're not scrambling like me to get it done before the marshmallow treats

set up. 

8. Totally optional, but if you want more chocolate and you want them to be

pretty, nestle the mini chocolate candy bar pieces into the nooks and drizzle

some melted chocolate on top.

See! I told you they were easy! My non-s'mores loving middle child loves these

because they are full of chocolate, lighter on the marshmallow chunks, and super 

yummy. I love that the cereal already includes the classic s'mores ingredients.

If you're not crazy for chocolate like we are, you can skip all extra add-ins and

just go for the s'mores cereal because it has little chocolate cereal pieces in it too.

Cut up into squares or eat right out of the pan! They are delicious and the perfect

way to get your s'mores fix when there isn't a campfire handy!

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE S'MORES TREAT?!?!!?

S'mores {Pudding} In a Jar: Baking with Kids

I really do love s'mores. I have a whole Pinterest board dedicated
to my love of the graham cracker, chocolate, marshmallow combination.
I am always fascinated by the fun out-of-the-box ideas people come up
with for putting a new spin on the tried and true idea of s'mores. I have even
made my own s'mores creation and they are loved by the entire family!
So, when my daughter and I saw a kit at the grocery store for making s'more
pudding cups she said, "Mom, we could make those and we could make them
so much cuter!"

I had to agree. We couldn't make ours in clear plastic cups or random
juice glasses that have survived 16 years living with the Armstrongs.
We had to go BIG {or rather small} or go home and use adorable mini
jelly jars to make these layered s'mores creations. So, we grabbed some
mini Ball jars, graham crackers, mallow bits, 
mini chocolate chips, and chocolate pudding
and got to work!

My Isabella is all about the graham cracker and the chocolate part of s'mores
and not so much about the marshmallow. However, she loves these little mallow
bits because they are more crunchy than squishy. That made them the perfect
marshmallow component to our yummy s'more pudding cup {jars}.



FIRST, we whipped up some chocolate pudding and crushed our
graham crackers in a Ziploc bag.
SECOND, we melted some of the chocolate chips and dipped graham cracker
pieces and added some mallow bits. We refrigerated them to speed up the
setting process.



THIRD, it was time to get our layers on! I used a small cookie scoop to put
about two scoops of pudding in the bottom of the jars.
FOURTH, we sprinkled in about 2 tablespoons of graham crackers on top
of the pudding layer.
FIFTH, spoon about two small scoops of chocolate pudding on top of
your graham cracker layer.

Now it's time to make it pretty! We stuck in our chocolate covered graham 

cracker pieces, and sprinkled graham crackers, mini chocolate chips, 

and mallow bits on top. Isabella was very particular that they have just the 

right ratio of mallow bits to chocolate chips in each jar. I think she did a great job! 

Isabella loves to help in the kitchen. She says she been baking for like 5 years, so

she has a lot of experience. It was so much fun to create something together and

to have her put her little touches on the s'mores in a jar - like adding the mallow

bits to the chocolate dipped graham cracker.

I think only second to creating yummy food in the kitchen is her love of getting

to serve her delicious creations to her family. It really matters to her that

everyone love what she's created because she puts so much of herself and love

into everything she creates. She was thrilled that her brother and sister gobbled

up every last bit the S'mores {Pudding} In a Jar!

DO YOU LOVE S'MORES? 

IS THIS SOMETHING YOU WOULD MAKE

WITH YOUR KIDS? 

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE RECIPE TO MAKE AS A FAMILY?

LINK ME UP IN THE COMMENTS TO YOUR FAVORITE S'MORES RECIPES!

Creepy Halloween Popcorn Cake

It's true that we love a good family movie night and especially when it comes to a
spooky Halloween family movie night. And if you're going to have a spooky movie,
then of course you need a really good spooky treat to go with the movie. We've made
a lot of fun and creepy treats to go along with our spooky movie nights, but this creepy
eyeball covered Popcorn Cake that I made might just be my favorite!


This slime inspired popcorn cake is equal parts creepy and delicious! It's really easy to
pull together and only requires a handful of ingredients. My kids always ask for popcorn
during the movie and it was fun to have popcorn in such a fun and funky form. The kids
were really surprised when I revealed this creepy cake that could watch them as they
ate it. You don't have to just use it for a movie night, it would be perfect for a
Halloween party with friends and family. You can whip it up in less that 15 minutes and
it's ready to cut in serve in about an hour.

CREEPY POPCORN CAKE

{INGREDIENTS}

2 bags microwave popcorn

green M&M candies (about 1/2 cup)

1 bags mini marshmallows

1/2 cup butter

green food coloring

gummy eyeballs

{DIRECTIONS}

1. Prepare your pan by spraying with cooking spray or buttering generously. I used an

angel food cake pan, but you can also use a bundt pan. The angel food cake pan made

it really easy to remove from the pan.

2. Pop your 2 bags of microwave popcorn. I used one that is simply salted, but if you

love butter - go for the movie butter kind. Remove the unpopped kernels.

3. Melt your butter over low heat and then add in the marshmallows and stir until

smooth and shiny. Remove from heat and add in your green food coloring.

4. Pour over your popcorn and stir until all the popcorn is well coated and is 

nice and green.

5. Press into your prepared pan and let cool for about 45 minutes.

6. Pop it out and decorate with the green M&M's and gummy eyeballs.

I didn't want M&M's throughout the entire cake, so I just used them as a garnish.

If you want candy or any other creepy candies inside your cake, then combine them with

the popcorn before you pour the marshmallow mixture over it. I would let the

marshmallow cool for about 2 minutes before I poured it over the popcorn so you don't

melt all your candies with the heat.

There you have it, a delightfully ghoulish treat to enjoy at your next spooky movie night.

What's your family's favorite treat with a movie?

{RECIPE} The Best Snickerdoodle Cookies You'll Ever Make

When I first got married, all I wanted to do was make the perfect snickerdoodle. They
were JJ's favorite and as a new wife, I wanted to be able to make his favorite cookie
perfectly. Well, that didn't happened. I've always had a knack at baking (just ask anyone
that has had one of my sugar cookies), but I just couldn't master the snickerdoodle.
JJ likes them soft, with a little crisp, but not too much. They either baked totally flat and
too crunchy or puffy and flavorless. I tried recipe after recipe, but nothing worked.
I thought when we moved from the high altitude of Utah to sea level in California that it
would solve all my problems. Nope. So, I gave up. I was resigned to making sugar cookies
and chocolate chip cookies and I let go of the dream of the best snickerdoodle.



Then, one day, I found it. The snickerdoodle recipe that changed my life and made my
husband (and daughter) very happy! I found it in an old church cookbook that had been
given to me as a gift. I don't know what it was that made me try baking one more recipe
after giving up years ago. But, after ten years of trying, I finally had a recipe that baked
up the perfect snickerdoodles every time.


They have the texture my husband loves and they are SO easy. My 7-year-old loves
to help me make them, especially since they are her favorite, and they always turn
out just right, no matter which one of us makes them.

{THE BEST SNICKERDOODLES}

{Ingredients}

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup shortening

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 3/4 cups flour

2 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

{DIRECTIONS}

1. Mix first 4 ingredients.

2. Add next 4 ingredients and mix well.

3. Roll dough into walnut sized balls. I used my cookie scoop to get the perfect size

every time and then roll them into balls.

4. Mix together 1/4 cup sugar and 4 tsp. cinnamon and roll the balls in the mixture

to coat the them with cinnamon sugar.

5. Line your baking sheet with parchment paper and bake 2 inches apart at 375 degrees

for 8 minutes. Cookies should be puffed and golden around the edges.

6. Remove from the oven and let them sit on the pan until they've fallen a bit,

then transfer to a cooling rack or another piece of parchment paper to cool completely.

There you have it, the recipe that will make sure you bake up perfect snickerdoodles

every time. You're welcome. Be sure to share with those you love and hide them from

the cookie monster in your house because I promise they will go fast!

Do you have a favorite cookie recipe that bakes perfectly every time?

Leave me a comment and let me know where to find it!

Frosted Banana Bread Bars {with a secret ingredient}

It's no secret that we love a good banana-based dessert with delicious frosting on
top, as evidenced by our favorite Frosted Banana Cookies recipe from a few years
ago. So, when my friend told me that she had whipped up a batch of banana bars
earlier in the day that were cooling at home, I was intrigued and had to find out what
she wa stalking about, so I started researching the idea of banana bars.

Some called them Banana Brownies, or Banana Bread Bars or even Monkey Bars.
But they all had two things in common - banana goodness and frosting! So I set out to
put together the best of all of them into a yummy banana dessert that I knew my kids
would go crazy for and maybe add just a little bit of a healthy twist to it.

Most of the recipes I found for Banana Bars used sour cream in the recipe. Well, I've

never loved sour cream and so we don't keep it on hand at the house because we don't

eat it on any of our savory foods. So, a few years ago, I started substituting Greek

yogurt for any recipe that called for sour cream. It's a 1:1 substitution, it has the same

texture, I love the tang of the Greek yogurt, and I love that it has protein in it. So that

makes anything you bake it in healthy, right? Ha! I wish!

I love that I can substitute in the Greek yogurt and my family is none the wiser!

I've done it in my zucchini brownies, my funeral potatoes, my hot corn dip and
several other family favorites. It's a simple substitution that makes me feel a little bit
better aboutthe foods I am feeding to my family.

So, let's get started! To make these delicious frosted banana bar brownie squares -

or whatever you want to call them - you are going to need:

FROSTED BANANA BREAD BARS

1.5 cups sugar

1 cup plain Greek yogurt

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 eggs

1 3/4 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 4 or 5  bananas)

2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda 

3/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease your jelly roll pan. Beat the first four

ingredients together until creamy.

2. Blend in bananas and vanilla for one minute.

3. Add in dry ingredients and blend for another minute.

4. Spread into prepared jelly roll pan and then bake for 20 to 25 minutes until they
look perfectly golden brown.

5. Cool slightly and frost with Browned Butter Frosting (below)
while they are still warm.

BROWNED BUTTER FROSTING

1/2 cup butter

3 3/4 cups powdered sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

about 3 tablespoons of milk

1. Heat butter in a saucepan on medium heat until it is boiling and has 

turned a light brown color. 

(If you've never browned butter - Our Best Bites has a great tutorial.)

2. Remove from the heat and immediately add the remaining ingredients.

It will be thicker than a glaze, but thinner than a regular frosting.

3. Use a spatula or frosting knife to frost the Banana Bars immediately. It will be

easier to spread if your bars are still warm.

And there you have them! Protein packed Banana Bars that are practically

healthy because of the bananas and Greek yogurt. Never mind the sugar and flour.

Hee, hee. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do! I took them to the park 

to share with friends and the kids went crazy for them!