Hydration during labor is apparently key. After reading many articles covering the subject and it's importance, I decided not to be caught off guard concerning my hydration levels. They say that labor is pretty much like running a marathon in many ways. First you have to be physically prepared, you have to train your mind and also make sure you have sufficient energy and hydration.Because of this I thought of getting a few electrolyte drinks ready. Electrolytes are great because you don't have to drink as much as you would normally for the same amount of hydration. Most blog posts I found on women keeping hydrated during labor was all about powerade and energade.

Personally, I'm not the biggest fan of high corn syrup and artificial flavor and colors in my drinks so I try to avoid those type of drinks in general. That is why I opted for a more natural approach. I decided to get natures very best source of electrolytes; Coconut water.

So far during the end of my pregnancy I struggled a bit with juices and coconut water as it gave me slight heartburn but I finally found a solution to this tiny problem. Just freeze it!

So I set about making my very own electrolyte cubes for labor and delivery with my favorite brand of coconut water at the moment and some cut up berries. The berries just give a tiny bit of flavor and a slight energy punch ( which I'm guessing would be helpful during the birthing process).  In some of them I also added a drop of lemon juice, but that, as well as the fruit, is totally optional.

What are your go-to hydration drinks and methods? Have you tried coconut water during labor? I will let you know how it went after the labor. Although, I can officially say that the cubes taste great, especially since it's summer and the weather has been a bit warm for my liking.

So I'm finally getting around to posting this recipe, sorry to everyone that was waiting. My excuse is that I'm pregnant and believe that is reason enough. HAHA

A while ago, the hubs and myself decided to start eating more healthy. Please note that we are already considered "extreme health freaks" by most who know us, but with baby on the way there is no such thing as too healthy. We decided to just cut out the majority of our wheat consumption, you know the processed and refined stuff. After quite a few tantrums and some really harsh language coming from our kitchen I realized that gluten free baking is hard, even harder when you are  plant based eaters like we are. Gluten free AP flour sucks, and I did try just about every brand on the market except the Orgran Brand ( I'm still testing out this sucker as soon as I get the chance). My Pancakes, which are a breakfast staple in our house, was just not as light and fluffy as it should be. Instead I was left with dense pancakes that made me wonder if they were under baked. In short, I was about to give up.


Then it happened. We were in the local Dischem picking up some of our kitchen staples when I saw it. There was an enormous bag of rice flour on special. I decided to chuck it into the basket without even thinking twice, because hey, Why not? I got home and put it in the cupboard and that is to moment I completely forgot about it. Now my hubs has the idea this was due to me being a bit afraid of trying rice flour for the first time and although that could very likely have been the reason, I'm sticking to "pregnancy brain" as my excuse.

I finally got around to making us pancakes using my go to recipe, with the normal flour replaced with rice flour and I also needed to add some extra water because rice flour sucks up liquid like a sucker (see what I did there?).  They turned out perfect! If you are trying these out make sure to follow the method

Ingredients:
Dry
1 cup Rice Flour
1 tbsp Sweetener of choice ( I used some fructose)
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/8 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Cinnamon ( this is completely optional, I add it because Jacques absolutely LOVES cinnamon.)
1 tsp Ground Flax seed Powder
Wet
1 cup Milk Alternative ( I find soy works best.  You can also use normal dairy milk if you want to. )
1 tbsp White Vinegar
2 tbsp oil of choice ( if using coconut oil, like me, make sure to melt it first)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract (also completely optional)

Method:

1. Combine the milk and vinegar in a mug and set aside for at least 5 min.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl, making sure everything is mixed well.
3. Pour your milk and vinegar mixture into your bowl with the dry ingredient, add the remaining wet ingredients and mix until everything is mixed well.
4. Add a tbsp of water at a time and mix well until you get the desired consistency. AKA you can pour it easy enough but not so runny that you have crepe batter.  Depending on the brand of rice flour this can be between 2 and 4 tbsp.
5. Cook about 1/4 cup of batter at a time over medium high heat.  Flip when the bubbles start popping or until the batter has slightly set up a bit.  Cook on the other side until brown and voila! You have a pancake.


I really hope that you enjoy these as much as we do. Please let me know if you have any other cool recipes with rice flour that I can try out.

xx

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Ingredients For the Vanilla Cupcakes

• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup fructose sugar
• 11/2  teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup Water
• ½ cup Grapeseed Oil / Olive Oil
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Preparation For the Vanilla Cupcakes

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Line 1 (12-cup) cupcake pans with 12 cupcake liners or if you prefer not to use liners you can just grease the cupcake pan lightly.
2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together soy milk, oil, vanilla, and vinegar. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and whisk until just combined. Do not over mix.
4. Fill the cupcake liners about two-thirds full with batter. Bake standard sized cupcakes for 15 to 18 minutes (or mini cupcakes for 8-10 minutes), or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean with a few crumbs clinging to it. Cool the cupcakes completely before frosting.

Variations:
Chocolate cupcakes: Just Add - 2 Tbsp Cocoa powder + 1 Tbsp Water

Coconut and Blueberry: Just Add - 2 Tbsp Desiccated Coconut + 1 Tbsp Blueberry Jam or a handful of fresh Blueberries.

Pregnancy Granola | Vicky Kriel

People who know me would be aware that my all time favorite breakfast is granola. Recently, since I've gotten pregnant, that has not changed except that I now pour a handful of granola into the bowl with some cooked oats. There is just something to the texture and slight crunch that it adds to the oats.
 Point is granola is great however, it can be hard to get hold of a decent one that isn’t pumped full of nasty refined sugars, flavorings and oils. Like, what on earth is glycerin and why the hell is it in so many brands of granola?!

That’s why I’ve come up with this delicious recipe to make my own, without the nasty stuff. It’s all 100% natural, incredibly easy to make and most importantly tastes amazing. Oh, and it’s really good for you, especially during pregnancy, so dig in.

My recipe includes 3 different types of nuts, seeds and fruit. This is such an amazing way to start your day, providing you with loads of energy.
The beauty of granola is you can mix it up and add whatever you like. The nuts, seeds and fruit I use here are my favorite but you can of course change things up a bit. Like I sometimes add some coconut shards and other times I would add some dried apple and extra cinnamon to get more of an apple pie taste.

Pregnancy Granola | Vicky Kriel

Recipe

Ingredients
2 cups Oats – I prefer to use steel cut oats but any oats will do. And feel free to use gluten free if you don't do to well with gluten.
1/2 cup each of 3 Nuts – Almonds, Pecans, Walnuts
1/4 cup each of Sunflower Seeds and Pumpkin Seeds
1 tbsp Poppy Seeds
1 cup Mixed Dried Fruit – Raisins, Cranberries, Apricots
1/4 cup Desiccated Coconut
1/4 cup Date or Maple Syrup
1/4 cup Raw Virgin Coconut Oil
2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Ground Ginger
Tips

• Try to find 100% natural dried fruit with no added sugars, oils or sulphur dioxide (preservative). Did you know natural dried apricots should be brown not orange!

• If you don’t have cup measurements, use a mug instead and make sure you use the same mug to measure all of the ingredients so that the proportions are right.

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C (340°F).
2. Put the coconut oil and syrup into a baking tray and place in the oven until the oil melts.
3. Roughly chop the almonds, pecans and walnuts (remember to leave 1/2 cup of almonds whole). You can do this with a knife, a food processor, or in a pestle and mortar. Almonds can be quite hard to crush so I used my handy food processor with the milling blade for a few seconds.
4. Place the crushed nuts and the rest of the ingredients into a large mixing bowl and combine. note: the fruit can get a bit chewy after being baked so feel free to add the fruit at the very end.
5. The coconut oil and syrup mixture should be nice and melted now, so stir it into the mixing bowl.
6. When combined, pour the mixture into the baking tray and gently compress it down with the back of a wooden spoon.
7. Bake for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent the top from burning.
8. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about an hour and then keep in an airtight container.

   Pregnancy Granola | Vicky Kriel

 What is your favorite breakfast recipes?