One Handed Eating

The books giving advice to first time moms are limitless.  Walk into any bookstore and you will find rows of books with information about how to get baby to sleep, what baby should be doing at different stages, maintaining a healthy relationship with your spouse once baby comes, the list goes on and on.  What no one tells you, however, is that you must master the art of one handed eating. This essential skill is not addressed in any book I have read.  So, my advice to anyone is once your see the plus sign, eat one handed from that day forward.  Hopefully by nine months, you will be good enough that you can actually finish a meal.

I am horrible at one handed eating.  It is a lot harder than you think.  In the past two months, I have dropped fried chicken, lettuce, and oatmeal on Evan, just to name a few things.  Once, I actually flicked a tomato seed in his face. As I attempted to eat a subway sandwich, a tomato seed fell on Evan's shoulder.  I tried to flick it off and instead I flicked it directly onto his cheek.  I know, mother of the year right here.

By now, Evan and I have a pretty good schedule going and I am able to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner while he is napping or Bill is home to entertain him.  Snacks, on the other hand, are a whole different ballgame.  Because I am breast feeding and working out, it is really important that I get enough calories every day.  Getting the right amount of healthy calories is hard and I actually have failed in this task every single day this past week.  So, I am on a mission to find healthy snacks packed with calories and goodness that I can easily eat one handed.  Enter granola bars.

{Click pictures for the recipes}

Sure, I could buy granola bars from the store.  In fact, I have done this several times.  However, most are loaded with sugar, do not seem to satisfy my hunger, and well, lets face it, cooking new things can be fun.  

I made the no bake energy bites last week. Seriously, these did not take longer than 5 minutes to make and they are so delicious.  And so easy to eat.  I can popped 3 of these in my mouth in less than one minute while holding Evan and changing out the laundry.  These things are breastfeeding mom's dream come true.  I also eat these while getting dressed to run and they seem to help keep me satisfied throughout my workout.  I am so glad I found this recipe.  Try them, you will not regret it. 

I made the chocolate chip peanut granola bars this morning.  They take a little longer than the energy bites, but not much.  Basically, you just melt the peanut butter, honey and coconut oil, add that to the dry ingredients, press in the pan and sprinkle chocolate chips on top.  I actually substituted unsalted butter for the coconut oil because the only coconut oil I could find was $11 and I am too cheap to spend that on a recipe I am not sure I will like.  Also, make sure you only use the 1/4 cup of chocolate chips.  It was so tempting not to pour the entire bag on top :).   It says that you can place the pan in the freezer or refrigerator to set.  I, of course, used the freezer method because I could not wait to try them.  In keeping with my goal to take pictures daily, here are some pictures of the process. 

Basically, you just add this: 

To this:

Add some chocolate chips, and voila, you get this:

Next time, I think I will add the chocolate chips to the dry mixture and stir them in because my chocolate chips did not seem to set very well into the granola mixture.  Other than that, these bars were delicious!  And saving the best for last, my sous chef: 

Anyone have any good recipes for easy snacks that I can eat one handed?  If so, please send them my way.