Romance Novel Author - Lifestyle Blog: Dagmar's Home
I came across an intriguingly titled article by Kevin Keck: “Babes in Toyland — I fought the toy invasion and lost” is about all the toys children amass in such a short amount of time.
Well, we don’t have that many toys in our house that I would call it an invasion (our place is simply too small), but I’m losing the fight with noisy toys in my house. [Read more…]
This healthy zucchini bread is a great alternative to store-bought, less healthy treats! And you can also make muffins with the same mix.
It’s snowing, and Don took Landon to freeze his little nose off while sledding with his cousins, so I thought it’s a good time to make a stash of my easy and healthy zucchini carrot bread.
We all love it, and I don’t feel guilty eating it or giving it to Landon because it is made from nutritious, healthy ingredients.
I’m not much of a cook (okay, I’m REALLY not much of a cook), but I make the best zucchini bread in town.
I realize I’m giving away the possibility of making millions if I were to mass-produce this deliciousness for the general public, but who has the time to pursue that?
Not this mom.
My venture into baking started with a recipe for zucchini bread from allrecipes.com, but it has evolved into so much more.
Now I also add carrots (and recently pecans and chocolate chips, there is no end to the improvements) and bake them in cups instead of in loaf pans.
So I thought I’d share my quick and easy recipe while the muffins are baking.
These muffins are a great alternative to store-bought, less healthy treats. I use mostly organic ingredients, but you don’t have to, obviously.
I also use whole wheat flour and substitute half of the oil with unsweetened applesauce.
And I found these great baking cups from IF YOU CARE in my local grocery store. They are environmentally friendly because they are made out of unbleached, beige paper, which means no chlorine is dumped into our environment.
I put the muffins into plastic bags and store them in the refrigerator. They get even juicier and better in the next few days!
This stash will probably last us three or four days, after I share a few with my neighbors and the large Bleasdale clan.
Healthy Zucchini Bread (well, Healthy Whole Wheat Zucchini and Carrot Muffins)
3 eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup applesauce
2 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup grated carrots
2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
3 cups of whole wheat flour
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
1 cup of walnuts or pecans (optional)
1. In a large bowl, beat eggs until frothy. Mix in oil, apple sauce, and sugar. Stir in zucchini, carrots, and vanilla. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda and powder, salt, and nutmeg; stir into egg mix. If you want, add some chocolate chips or nuts to the batter, I use half in the mix and keep half for decoration.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flower two 8 x 4 loaf pans or use large baking cups.
3. Divide into 24 baking cups or pans. Bake for about 50 minutes, and then check with a fork. If some batter sticks to it, they still need some time. If you can still see the zucchini pieces pretty well on the top, they are not ready; you want the tops to be brown and almost uniform.
Ah, my oven is beeping, the muffins are done. Gotta go!
I want to eat one in peace all by myself before my men come home.
Go ahead, make these easy zucchini bread muffins and let me know what you think :)
Are you just learning how to breastfeed your baby? Are you looking for information before your baby even arrives?
Here are 4 tips I want other new moms to know after my 2 1/2 years of breastfeeding. I’m not a doctor, but these tips helped me.
1. Your Milk WILL Come In, And You Will Make Enough Milk for Your Baby
Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise! It breaks my heart every time I hear a new mother proclaim: “I so wanted to breastfeed, but my milk never came in” or “I didn’t produce enough milk.”
First of all, your milk will come in after a few days — it is very rare that it doesn’t — and if you don’t continuously keep breastfeeding with the conviction that your baby gets everything he or she needs, your breast will not learn to make enough milk for your baby.
The more you nurse, the more you will produce and the faster the jaundice gets flushed out of the baby’s system.
Don’t worry about not being able to see how much your baby actually drinks, as you can from looking at how much disappeared out of a bottle.
If your child is gaining weight, peeing and pooping enough and thriving, he or she is doing just fine.
It’s funny, I never had that fear that my son would not get enough milk — I trusted that nature would produce what he needed.
Maybe I also never worried because he nursed EVERY twenty minutes in the beginning! [Read more…]
Hello!
So, it is official, after much research I have finally started my own blog, Dagmar’s momsense (DagmarBleasdale.com). Bear with me as I am learning to navigate this new tool.
After having problems with it in the beginning like so many other moms, I want to share the many, free resources I’ve found so that other moms get through those first rough days and weeks and get to enjoy the many health benefits for their baby and them.
I will also share my thoughts on first-time mommyhood, attachment parenting, working from home, green and frugal living, and life in Westchester, NY.