My husband has celiac disease so our household is gluten free.  My second daughter has a milk and soy protein intolerance (MSPI) so now I am eating gluten, dairy, and soy free.  If you’re anything like me, you’re constantly starving and snacking while breast feeding.  The following are a list of my go-to snacks that take little to no prep work and can be eaten with one hand as a bonus!

–        Unsalted, natural almonds and walnuts: Many salted varieties contain soybean oil, which my daughter is sensitive to.

–        Natural peanut butter or almond butter with apple slices or celery:  Many regular peanut butters contain soybean oil

–        Lara bars

–        Vega protein shakes made with coconut milk or almond milk

–        Bone broth with canned coconut milk:  Every commercial variety of broth I found contained some kind of soy.   After having a roasted chicken or gluten, dairy, and soy free rotisserie chicken for dinner, throw the bones in the crock pot with water and a splash of apple cider vinegar for 24 hours to make bone broth.

–        Avocado with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper

–        Tortilla chips with mashed avocado

–        Trail mix made with unsalted nuts, dried fruit, and Enjoy Life chocolate chips

My favorite middle-of-the-night, post-feeding snack is baked oatmeal.  Once a week, I would bake a pan during the first few months of my younger daughter’s life.  I adapted the recipe from one I received from my mother-in-law so that it would be gluten, dairy, and soy free.  I usually ate a square right out of the pan, but you can add almond or coconut milk and warm up a square for a couple of minutes in the microwave.

Baked Oatmeal

Ingredients:
1/3 c coconut oil
2 room-temperature eggs
2/3 c brown sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp vanilla
¾ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
Sprinkle of nutmeg
1 c plus 2 tbsp coconut milk (or dairy/soy free milk of your choice)
3 c quick (not instant) oatmeal

Directions:

1. Grease 1 ½ quart casserole dish and heat oven to 350°F
2. In mixing bowl, beat eggs slightly.  Add brown sugar, baking powder, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Mix well.
3. Slightly warm coconut milk in small pan on stove.  Add in coconut oil.  Stir just until the coconut oil is melted.  Remove from the heat and add small amount of egg mixture to the pan, stirring very quickly.  Pour coconut milk mixture into the remaining egg mixture in the mixing bowl, again stirring very quickly so that the eggs don’t curdle.
4. Stir in oats.  Pour into casserole dish and bake for 25-30 min at 350°F

Notes: Raisins, dried fruit, or nuts can be added to oatmeal before baking.  Oatmeal can be prepared and refrigerated overnight, then baked.  I’ve also used old fashion oats and got good results.

Becky Nagel is a stay at home mom from Denver, CO to two girls, 3 years and 11 months old, who enjoys cooking, running, and hiking.