Having a baby is an exciting, confusing, and humbling experience. Within the first week of knowing you’re pregnant, you find out things about the human body that you never knew before. Your body becomes this strange, elusive thing that’s doing this massive work, and making strange noises, and you’re just along for the ride.
I’ve talked before a bit about how being pregnant has caused a few anxieties flare up – one being that prepping for our lil nugget has pretty much been solely up to myself and M due to the pandemic. Which is pretty daunting. So I’ve taken to doing a lot of meal prep to help curb some of those anxieties, preparing one or two recipes a week and freezing it to have on hand when we are too exhausted to meal plan, shop, and cook with a newborn.
The following is a collection of recipes for a massive bulk bake I did – all of the recipes are adapted from a banana quick bread recipe I developed from my mom, so since they have the same basic structure, they’re pretty easy to whip up all at once. I just laid out six bowls and measured out all the wet and dry ingredients into each bowl, added the flavors, greased the pans and pre-heated the oven, and within 90 minutes, I had a solid collection of cooling baked goods to snack on postpartum.
It also just so happens that these recipes are specifically designed to assist in lactation and digestive support for mom and baby postpartum, with ingredients like oats, flaxseed meal, and fibrous fruit. The list of ingredients is a bit daunting, but I do my baking this way so you still get something close to traditionally acceptable taste and texture, without going overboard on inflammation causing gluten, dairy, and sugar. Make whatever substitutions you want!
Just keep in mind what they were designed for – digestive support. So if you decide to slay some of these suckers and you have help in the house, give them a warning before they chow down. And maybe stock up on some Poo Pourri…
Pumpkin Oatmeal Bars with Flaxseed and Chocolate Chips
- 1 c whole wheat flour
- 1/2 c coconut flour
- 1/2 c almond flour
- 1 c oatmeal
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 stick of butter, melted
- 1/3 c coconut oil, melted
- 1/2 c sugar
- 1 1/2 c pumpkin puree
- 1/4 c flaxseed meal
- 1 tsp pumpkin spice
- PLUS cinnamon, clove, ginger to taste
- 2 eggs
- 1 c milk of choice (I like almond-coconut milk)
- 1/4 c maple syrup
- Dark Chocolate Chips
Mix and pour into a greased 9 1/2 x 13 pan, then bake for 35-40 minutes at 350. It comes out in a dense, blondie like consistency. After cooling, cut into 2” snack size squares, or larger rectangles to eat as a breakfast bar. Wrap individually and freeze in a labeled gallon-size freezer bag.
TO EAT: Defrost for a couple of hours in the fridge, and once defrosted, keep refrigerated. These suckers are dense dense dense and will go bad very quickly!! As a postpartum hint, though, you may want to warm them up in the microwave for 10-15 seconds so that you’re getting something that’s a bit easier to digest.
Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins with Flaxseed
- 1 c whole wheat flour
- 1/2 c almond flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 c sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 c oats
- 1/2 stick butter, melted
- 1/3 c coconut oil, melted
- 1 mashed banana
- 1/4 c flaxseed meal
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp clove
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 c maple syrup
- 1/2 c yogurt (I use plain.)
- Blueberries – I used about 1 cup total of fresh blueberries and dried blueberries
Mix, then fold in blueberries. Use an ice cream to spoon into lined or greased muffin tin. These are dense and don’t rise much, so fill ‘er up! Bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes. Cool completely before freezing.
TO EAT: Warm it up in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds. Then pass the butter!
Banana Walnut Quickbread with Flaxseed
A versatile and easily adapted recipe for dense, fiber-packed banana bread, freezable for months. I highly recommend whipping this up and freezing in half loaves to have on hand whenever pregnancy and/or postpartum digestive trouble strikes.
I make this so often it has it’s own post – find it here.
