{Recipe Recap} Caramel Fudge Brownies with Marshmallow Cream

Another Funday Monday.  We had a busy weekend, from brownie- and baby food-making on Friday night to a 5k and dinner with friends on Saturday to laundry, yard work, two walks (we are loving this dry fall-ish weather), and more baby food on Sunday.  I sorta don’t want Connor to ever eat real food because I’m enjoying making these purees too much.

I put my “applesauce” from Friday on Instagram.  That was apples, oatmeal, raisins, and a little cinnamon.  Connor’s a big fan.  On Sunday, I made him some “main meal” food – chicken, potatoes, squash, a little onion, and peas – and a fruit-oatmeal puree made with strawberries, an apple, a peach, and oatmeal.  I think he’ll be a big fan of both of those.

But enough about bland baby food, let’s talk about brownies.  Shawn and Heather are both big fans of marshmallow cream and even the McHusband, who isn’t a big fan of chocolate, appreciates a good brownie so long as it isn’t too rich or made with dark chocolate.  I know, he’s missing out.  So I figured these brownies would go over very well in our group and I was right, they did.

I took these to dinner on Saturday night so I erred on the side of them being less ooey-gooey so they wouldn’t cause a mess as I passed the Tupperware container around the table.

They were definitely too cakey for me, but the flavor was still very good.

I didn’t make the brownies from scratch as the recipe would prefer.  Sorry, I just didn’t have the energy or the time for that on Friday night.  Duncan Hines worked for me!

I would like to try these again, from scratch, when I’m having people over and I know they can use a fork and plate if necessary to eat these the way they were meant to be – gooey and messy.

Hope you guys had good weekends!  Here’s one more brownie picture to help get your Monday off to a good start.

{Recipe adapted from here}

PS  Happy Birthday, Jeremy!  You would’ve liked these brownies so  consider them your virtual birthday treat.

{Recipe Recap} Sweet Potato with Spinach and Peas

So this is a bit of a different food post for you guys.  Guess what?  I made baby food!  I’m pretty happy about it, too.  Breastfeeding was a challenge mostly because of supply issues, and I worked so hard to feed Connor as much and as long as I could.  So I’m thrilled that I can fairly easily whip up some healthy purees for him.  No worries about supply now!

The first thing I tried was a combo puree of sweet potato, spinach, and peas.  There was supposed to be some leek in it, but I didn’t have that.

I have two baby food-trays so I filled them up and stuck them in the freezer then I pull out a portion as I need it.

So, what did Connor think about his mom’s food?  He really liked it!  Heather and Bronte were over when I was making this, and we all taste-tested it and while it was fairly bland, none of us had any complaints.

This recipe came from Top 100 Baby Purees by Annabel Karmel.  It was 12 oz of sweet potato, half a cup of peas, and 3/4 cup of fresh baby spinach.  I sauteed the sweet potato in a tablespoon of butter, added some water and let that boil for about 10 minutes, then threw in the peas and spinach.  I pureed everything with extra water as needed and voila – baby food!

We have some great little containers that are working perfectly for the portion size that Connor needs right now.

I’m excited to try something else, but I know Connor’s supposed to eat the same thing for a while and I’d rather use this stuff when it’s fairly fresh and not in danger of being freezer burnt.  So he’ll eat this for the week and I’ll make up a batch of something new this weekend.  Potato, carrot, and corn puree, anyone?

{Sorry for the terrible phone pics.  I’ll try to do better with future foods.}

Hope everyone’s had a good week so far!