This past Sunday, while Eddie was off at a course, I decided I was going to brave our local Publix store by myself with both kids. I had a little anxiety about it, but there were a few things we were out of and I didn't want to place another delivery order. I had promised Caleb that we would make Hulk Muffins this week, and I needed some of the ingredients for that. Plus, I really wanted to use my Binxy Baby Shopping Cart Hammock. 

As shown in the image above, putting your child's infant seat in the seat that is meant for older children is a really unsafe way to go about doing your groceries. It throws off the cart's balance and can easily lead to the cart tipping over and the infant seat falling (super scary, right?). When Caleb was a baby, I remember getting so frustrated when I went grocery shopping, because his infant seat took up the entire basket area of the cart, so I was really limited in the amount of groceries I could buy. 

But with the Binxy Baby Shopping Cart Hammock, I was able to save tons of space in the cart. I was even able to put things under Chloe while she was in there. Caleb loved being able to see his little sister, and it really did make the shopping trip that much more pleasant since I knew she was safe and I didn't have to limit my groceries too much. The hammock fits most standard grocery carts, holds up to 50 pounds, and if you don't feel comfortable having your baby in the hammock on it's own, you can actually fit a standard infant carrier in the hammock, which frees up all that space for you under the infant seat. You can safely use it until baby is sitting up on their own.

The hammock clips onto the sides of the grocery cart with two plastic clips, and you secure it with a velcro strap on both sides. I felt like Chloe was really secure in there! There is also a safety harness to keep the baby in place. 

So even though Chloe did decide to melt down at the very end of the shopping trip and let the entire store know how hangry she really was, the shopping trip leading up to that point was as smooth as I could have expected it to be thanks to this nifty little invention. 

Want a Binxy Baby Shopping Cart Hammock of your own? Shop this affiliate link and get 10% off your order! This also makes a pretty awesome gift for a new or expecting momma. 

The biggest reason we went to the grocery store was to make Hulk Muffins for Caleb. I made these once before and documented the process so I could publish on the blog, and I'm glad I documented it then and not this time, because this time was an epic failure. I decided to sub out whole wheat flour for coconut flour, and let's just say it was a dry crumbly mess. Apparently coconut flour is super absorbent and you need to use way less of it and more eggs, and I had no idea, so we had a failure this time around. But the first time around, they were a yummy hit. They are green because they are loaded with spinach, and they are sweetened with applesauce, so they're not loaded with sugar.

They were so much of a hit that one evening, Caleb ate FOUR of them (and then refused dinner, which was fine by me). So if you have a picky eater, you may want to give these a try! We call them Hulk Muffins because he's obsessed with anything related to super heroes, and he got to watch them grow in the oven like the Hulk does. But they would work well with a ton of other names. I actually had him help me with the process and he really enjoyed it! 

Recipe originally from Pretty Providence
Servings: 18 muffins

Ingredients
​
Dry Ingredients

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients

• 1 large banana
• 2-3 cups spinach
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk or almond milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup honey
• green food coloring (optional)

Glaze

• 1-2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• green food coloring (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a muffin pan with cooking spray and cupcake liners, if using. 
2. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. 
3. Add wet ingredients to a blender. Puree until very smooth. 
4. Mix wet ingredients in with dry ingredients until there are no lumps. Add green food coloring if you want a darker green color. 
5. Spoon batter into the muffin pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 
6. While muffins are cooling, mix 1 cup powdered sugar with 1/4 cup milk and green food coloring. Whisk until smooth. Add more powdered sugar as needed until it's the right thickness and consistency for a glaze. 
7. Drizzle cooled muffins with glaze. 
8. Enjoy one (or if you're Caleb, FOUR)!

xoxo, 

​Jenise

A couple of months back, Caleb, my usually amazing eater, decided he was going to get picky on me. He boycotted anything green, which started to give me a little anxiety. I took to Pinterest (you should go follow me!) and started looking up recipes for picky toddlers.

I tried a few and most were delicious, but I was unsuccessful in getting him to try them. I finally came upon a recipe for easy whole wheat banana muffins and I was able to sneak some spinach and carrots into them. They are so easy to make, and I make them mini, so his little hands can grab them. I'm including the basic recipe here, but know you can add chopped spinach, shredded carrots, shredded zucchini, and loads of other goodness in there to up the nutritional factor.  

​These travel well (store in an airtight container) and keep for about 5 days. 

Breastfeeding has come fairly easily to me, but milk has not flowed in abundance, unfortunately. One of the things I have found to work are these lactation cookies, so I decided I would share the recipe. You can tweak them in any number of ways to your liking. The important ingredients are the oatmeal, flaxseed meal, and brewer's yeast (I ordered mine from Amazon but I'm pretty sure Whole Foods has this). I personally like them loaded with chocolate chips, so that's what I usually add, but you could add raisins, almonds, peanut butter, etc. They are actually much tastier than I thought they would be, and my husband has even enjoyed these as well. 

Hope you enjoy as much as I have! 

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Lactation Cookies

Ingredients: 
2 tbsp Flaxseed meal (no substitutions)
4 tbsp water
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour (I used whole wheat)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 cups thick cut oats
1 cup chocolate chips
2 tbsp Brewer's Yeast

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375. 
   
2. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. 
3. Mix flaxseed meal and water, set aside 3-5 minutes. 
4. In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until well combined. 
5. Add in eggs. 
6. Stir flaxseed mix into butter mix. 
7. Add vanilla. 
8. In separate bowl, sift flour, baking soda, salt, and Brewer's Yeast. 
9. Add butter mix to dry ingredients. 
10. Stir in oats. 
11. Fold in chocolate chips. 
12. Drop on parchment paper, bake 8-12 minutes. 
13. Let cool, enjoy!

xoxo, 

Jenise