Healthy Pumpkin Bread

Yesterday I made healthy pumpkin bread, I used the recipe from 100daysofrealfood.com but changed a few things around. My husband doesn't like cloves - and I don't know that I've ever had anything with cloves in it - so I left that out. At work today one of my coworkers said it was good, but something was missing (maybe it was the cloves!). The full recipe is as follows:

1 ½ cups whole-wheat flour (I used King Arthur’s white whole-wheat flour)

1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon nutmeg

⅛ teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 eggs

½ cup oil (I used coconut oil)

½ cup honey

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 cup pumpkin puree

½ cup chopped tree nuts (optional)

 

I left out the ginger, cloves, baking soda (because I just didn't have any) and the nuts. Despite all the missing ingredients it was still yummy and it made me feel good that I wasn't eating a million calories. Even better, I felt okay giving it to Emma - and I'm really picky about the things I let in her body! She loved it! To give it a bit of a sweeter taste I used a pumpkin icing recipe from skinny taste using cream cheese, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon and a few others things. This recipe definitely made me ready for fall! In fact, it has inspired me to finish my fall wreath. The only thing left is to hot glue the fake pumpkin and leaves to the mesh and it will be ready to hang up! Pictures to follow next post :)

Emma turned 1!

Wow it has been a long time since I have posted! Honestly, I am a terrible blogger but I REALLY want to get better. I love the idea that years down the road I can look back at how I was thinking and feeling. I find it even more exciting to think that Emmalyn will be able to someday see what her ol' mom was doing while she was tucked away fast-asleep for the night (or a few hours at least). We are going through this teething thing and it is brutal. Everyone told me to watch out for the molars... and they were right! Over the last 2 months it is basically like having a newborn again. There is something really special about baby cuddles in the middle of the night, but the same can be said for waking up in the morning and realizing that you and your child have slept peacefully through the whole night! Does anyone out there remember what that feels like??

For those who read this and don't know...Emmalyn turned a year in August! It is surreal to me that I have a one year old. More than that, she is a doll baby and her smile is infectious! How did I get so lucky?? We took her to get 1 year birthday pictures done and these are a few things that came out of the photo shoot:

 

Thanks to Elizabeth Avery Photography for all the cute pictures! I made the lollipop bouquet after seeing a picture on Pinterest and then used them as centerpieces at her birthday party. The entire party was incredible...but I will post about that separately when I have a bit more time.

Life has continued to be hectic but I have started trying to make cooking a bigger priority - stay tuned for some of my latest meals. I have really been getting inspiration from 100daysofrealfood.com and skinnytaste.com. My goal is to ultimately eliminate all processed foods, but at this point I am focusing on harm reduction. I have to get my hubby on board the vegetable train :)