spelt banana nut muffins

in a search for a good spelt banana nut muffin recipe to satisfy my 2 muffin monsters, i stumbled upon a fantastic one at what's cookin' blog and am so satisfied with it, i don't think there is anything i would change. i wanted to post it here so i can find it easily when im making my super batches of muffins.

3 large ripe organic bananas (or about 1 1/4 cups mashed)
1/3 cup sugar or honey
1/3 cups coconut oil
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups whole spelt flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
~3/4 cup chopped nuts (i added more nuts cause we like it extra nutty!)

Heat oven to 350.
Oil muffin tin (or loaf pan...cooking for ~42 min).
In a bowl, mash bananas then add sweetener, oil, and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, sift together spelt flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
Blend the wet and dry mixtures, then fold in nuts.
Pour into oiled muffin tin and bake for about 22-23 minutes, or until tops just spring back upon applying gentle pressure and or a toothpick comes out cleanly.
Remove from oven and let cool in tin for about 5 minutes.
Remove from tin and place on a rack to finish cooling.
I do highly recommend at least one or 2 "sample" muffins eaten warm.


these turned out delish! between my two ravenous guys and my nightly pregnancy snacks, these dont last long in our house!  they freeze well and are yummy with a little nut butter spread on top. yum.

true hummus

after devouring our friend's homemade hummus at a dinner party, i had to have the recipe. she got it out of saveur magazine and told me the difference lied in the preparation as well as the quality of the ingredients, but just to read the article.  i wanted to put this recipe in my blog so i will never lose it, plus to share with my friends. this authentic middle eastern family recipe is from alia yunis, and she tells of a funny story of how most real Arabic friends and family of hers are put off  by the 'provocative' 'unauthentic hummus' out in the american supermarkets. they say if it is made with black beans or has 'strange' added ingredients like red peppers or jalapenos, then it's no longer a true hummus, but some other kind of dip! wow, sticklers huh?  and don't even get them started on how it's not a dip for veggies, but pita bread! haha! the article was funny! 

even though i like a lot of store bought hummus, and the rogue varieties, i wanted to get the hang of classic homemade hummus down before venturing out into the unknown. for years i typically would drain a can of garbanzo beans, throw them in processor with other random ingredients and call it hummus. most of the time it turned out alright, but the texture and flavors never seemed just right. 

so even though it is more time consuming, definitely follow these directions and you will not regret it! :) 

1 2/3 cup dried chickpeas, picked over and soaked overnight

1 clove garlic, peeled

salt to taste

1/2 cup tahini (sesame seed paste) -- i found the best one at fiesta's Mediterranean section!

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tsp chopped parsley

1/4 tsp sweet paprika

1. Drain chickpeas, transfer to medium pot, cover with water and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat to a medium-low simmer , partially covered, until chickpeas are tender and skins begin to naturally fall off, about 50-60 minutes. Drain well, reserving the cooking liquid, and set chickpeas aside to let rest and become cool enough to handle.

2. Peel chickpeas, discarding skins (kaye's note: i had started to do this one by one, and was like, whoa, this is going to take me forever, especially since i was doing a double batch! i found the easiest way to peel them was this: after draining and reserving the liquid, then keep them in the cooking pot and run cool water over them, and most of the skins will float to the top, which you can easily skim off with your hands or a spoon. then i just got my hands in the pot of beans + cool water and kinda rubbed the beans lightly with my fingers and swirled them around a lot, which helped to dislodge more stubborn peels.  then i drained that water and picked off any remaining skins i found in the colander. to me, this was way faster, but you do what works for you! peeling the skins off seriously makes a huge difference so don't skip this step!)  

3. put chickpeas and 1/4 cup cooking liquid into a food processor and puree, occasionally scraping down bowl until very smooth, 3-4 minutes. 

4. put garlic and a pinch of salt into a mortar and crush with a pestle until they form a paste. (kaye's note, i donated my mortar and pestle after years of it collecting dust, so i just used my garlic press to make a garlic paste) add tahini, lemon juice, and salt to taste and process some more. 

5. transfer hummus to a shallow bowl and press a well into the center with the back of a spoon. drizzle  hummus with oil, and sprinkle parsley and paprika into well. Serve with olives and pita bread, if you like! 

apricot spice cake

my friend and fellow health enthusiast kristy p gave me this recipe from chef mark anthony with a high recommendation! i haven't made it yet, but plan on doing it next month when the food budget is fresh. i'll be altering it to be wheat free for chris and will let you know!

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups water

1 cup apricots, chopped

1 cup raisins

1/2 cup dried cherries, chopped

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup carrot, shredded

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

2 cups orange juice

oil 9 inch spring form pan. in a medium bowl, mix dry powdery ingredients. in a small saucepan, combine water, spices, fruits, and carrots. bring to a boil and allow to cool for 5 minutes. add orange joice and cool completely. add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir well to combine. pour the batter into the pan.

bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. serve plain, dust with powdered sugar, or frost with a homemade butter and cream cheese frosting.

our second child & how we found out

christopher and i were anxiously awaiting when my period would return so that we could start trying for another baby.  because of breastfeeding regularly, it didn't come back for real until around november 2011, a couple of months after elijah's first birthday. as many of you know, it took us over a year of trying to conceive elijah, and through the process of doing hormonal testing, we learned that i was low in progesterone, which is an important hormone in getting and staying pregnant.  the last go round i had started a natural progesterone cream therapy that took about 2-3 months to balance things out, and voila, we were pregnant with elijah, our long awaited blessing!  that whole 14+ months were difficult though, hoping every month that 'this time would be it', having everyone around us get pregnant so easily or without plans to, and asking God 'why not us??'  through that experience, we grew in humility, patience, trust and gratitude, and for that i am really thankful. this time, we knew in our hearts and minds that it could take awhile, and that God's timing was perfect. He is a good Creator who gives and takes away for his own glory and by his own omnipotent wisdom. I started the cream again, we charted my cycles, prayed and hoped for the best but with peace in our hearts. I have to say it also helped that we already have a beautiful son who takes up a lot of our mental and physical energy, so i wasn't sitting around empty handed begging God for a child. however, it was becoming very apparent that elijah needed a brother or sister, for our sanity (he needs a playmate!) and for his own good (to grow in patience, sharing, and gentleness.) 

january 27th was my lmp and we conceived a few days before valentine's day, although at the time i was not sure if it had 'worked.'  i had taken a pregnancy test a little earlier than my expected period because we were going out of town for a long awaited family reunion of sorts and i thought it would be great to have known and share the great news with the family, but it was negative. after a couple of weeks went by and i was definitely very late, i took another test. negative. i was feeling a little more tired and hungry, but i can't say that i had an overwhelming feeling that i was pregnant. i just figured it was pms or something. i mean, the tests aren't ever wrong, right?! ;)

my awesome milly (mother in love) dinie came to visit me & elijah for a week while chris was out of town. it wasn't until this time that i really started to feel like something was up. in addition to feeling exhausted and hungry, i was feeling kinda bloated, nauseous, and my skin was broken out. she has since told me that she noticed my belly poking out a little and got the vibe that i was, but didn't want to say anything, just in case i wasn't. dinie and i had talked about how weird it was that i was so late, and that i felt kinda strange, but we both figured my body was still balancing out and getting used to the progesterone. when chris got home, i had him buy some more tests from the dollar store, because at this point i was 21 days late and starting to feel suspicious and just had to know what was going on. that night we prayed for the test in the morning. that it would be accurate and that we would have a sense of peace even if the answer was negative. saturday morning march 17th, when elijah woke up crying out, 'mama...dada...' i went for the test and chris got the boy. the 2 pink lines showed up quickly....POSITIVE! oh my goodness! i couldn't believe it was true! we had gotten pregnant so quickly this time! God had spared me the waiting and blessed me abundantly! i immediately hugged chris and told him the news and we both teared up with huge sleepy grins! :)

of course, the first person we told was elijah, but he just said and signed 'baby' and of course didn't really comprehend what we were really talking about. the very next person we told was my best friend chelsea, who was in town from denver for a wedding and was crashed on our couch.  it was a happy morning of celebrating and calling up family and friends! 

One of the best reactions, which was also true with elijah's announcement, was from my dad and mom, who were just hootin' and hollerin', praising God and tearing up! they are the best at being excited with big news and love being grandparents! 

 i was excited to tell my sister and best friend kristy, who was already around 12 or 13 weeks pregnant (about 6 weeks ahead of me) with their first child, that we were going to share a pregnancy together! how cool, and how appropriate considering we grew up sharing just about everything! ;) this is a picture of us just last week at a party i threw to reveal the gender of their baby. IT'S A GIRL! they are planning on naming her abigail, which means 'the joy of the father.' love it! i am excited to start sewing some cute dresses for their little one and look forward to babysitting for them while they go on much needed date nights!

this is me today, on a lazy saturday morning at 15 weeks pregnant. with my first pregnancy, i was showing 'faster' or 'bigger' than most people and got tons of inconsiderate comments about how huge i was, etc.  this time, it is not different, and if anything, i am getting bigger faster than before! haha! but i honestly feel great about my body and know that just like before, the weight will fall off with all that nursing and toddler chasing! :) my grandpa (who is himself a twin) swears im having twins, but i doubt it. we won't know how many or what gender until 20 weeks, which is sometime late june.  speaking of 'june', we are planning on giving birth at our new home (more on that later!) with our lovely midwife june lamphier who helped deliver elijah at centre vida birth center. here is her website if you want to check it out:  june lamphier . our second little baby is expected to make their arrival the first week of november, but you just never know! elijah will be just a couple months over 2 years old, we should be settled in our new place, and hunkering down for the holidays. we'll keep you updated! <3

God gives you the children you need

I'm tired of feeling like I have to apologize for my son all the time. It's mostly to strangers, because they think he doesn't like them because he is slow to warm up to someone. But he's just under 2 years old & it seems an appropriate response to me for him to be apprehensive of strangers or people he barely knows. Like a survival instinct. Sure, once you hang around awhile & show yourself trustworthy, he will open up, smile, high five & show you all his favorite rocks. But until then, can we all just be okay with the fact that he's wary of strangers?

My son is naturally a serious boy, especially at first glance.  But if course he has lots of silly, happy moments, like singing about beans & rice, doing flips on the floor, making up words that rhyme & dancing while playing harmonica. I love my Elijah. I on the other hand am almost the opposite. At first glance, I am smiling, laughing, & talkative, but I have a very serious, analytical side. I was raised to be a people pleaser. To always smile & perform, to be a good girl who makes sure everyone is happy. I don't want to raise my kids that way. Sure I want them to be kind, have manners, & be joyful, but in a healthy way that flows from their heart & not sense of fear of acceptance.

Elijah studies things & people. He doesn't smile for pictures or put on a show for the video camera. He isn't quick to laugh at people's attempts to amuse him & he definitely doesn't feel the need to perform for others. Deep down, it really is okay with me, but the nervous, disappointed, insulted vibe from people is what bothers me. I want others to see my son the way I do, as a diverse, unique & loving boy. 

He's just a toddler & is learning & absorbing the world around him. I think he's amazing & I believe his innate seriousness is a beautiful gift from the Lord that will be a blessing in his life. So while there's a part of me that wants to be approved of, & have my son approved of, I'm making a decision to stop seeking that. I want to model for him to live for an audience of One, the Most High. 

I love & accept him just the way he is, my Mr.Serious, my sweet Elijah Samuel. 

Do you love him too?<3

goji berry lemonade!

with the temp rising and the sun beating down, its none other than lemonade season! ive made my own fresh lemonade and limeade for years, but recently got inspired to throw in some different ingredients to supercharge the nutritional value.  now you can forget gatorade or emergen c packets with their synthetic vitamins!

goji berries are one of the most nutrient dense foods on earth! they have a crazy amount of protein for a fruit, lots of vitamin a, c, and iron. they contain over 20 trace minerals and loads of essential amino acids. but it can be hard to find a way to get them in your diet more regularly, especially if you are not crazy about the taste or texture of the dried fruit.  here is a loose recipe for goji berry lemonade that is so refreshing.



1/2 cup lemon or lime juice
2 tbsp coconut oil
3 tbsp goji berries
1/2 tsp sea salt
-sweetener of your choice ( i used a big squirt of stevia to keep it sugar free but honey, maple syrup or dates would work great)
-add about 5 cups water ( or fill your vitamix to the 6 cup mark with water)

blend these ingredients in your high speed blender until the gojis are well mixed and your mix resembles carrot juice! refrigerate and enjoy!

pumpkin muffins for my pumpkin muffin

one of my favorite pet names for chris is 'pumpkin muffin.'  :) even though zucchini nut muffins are probably his favorite variety, he and elijah are both muffin monsters and will devour a dozen of any kind in no time!  (elijah begs for 'muff-muff!' haha!)  i try and keep a steady supply of muffins in our freezer and fridge so that chris can grab one on the go before his 5am bike ride to the bearded brothers kitchen. we also eat muffins as a snack or as an addition to a breakfast smoothie, so i try and keep them as nutritious as possible and less like a dessert. 


if you want them more dessert-like, add more sugar or sprinkle some on top with some cinnamon before baking for a crystallized topping. who says pumpkin inspired food is just for fall?? we eat these year round! yum!


1 1/4cups whole spelt flour
1/4 cup flax meal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 can pumpkin puree
1/3 cup coconut oil
2 large eggs (i used 1 egg + 1 egg replacer bc i was low on eggs)
1 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice
2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch nutmeg
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt


1 cup chopped nuts (hazelnuts or pecans are great)

preheat oven to 350. grease muffin pans or put down liners. 

mix the wet ingredients in one bowl, and the dry in another. then mix together.lastly, fold in nuts. 

spoon into cups and bake for about 25 min, depending on your oven.