Tag

pregnancy

Browsing

Vegan Chocolate Beet Muffins

I think that everyone needs their signature baked good. Unfortunately for me, I’ve never had one, and as a health-focused vegan, it has been hard to find recipes that fit the bill for nutrition while tasting delicious. That is, until I came across Minimalist Baker. This blog is my everything! I found two chocolate beet muffin/cupcake recipes and have fallen in love (as has Sasha, my toughest vegan critic!). I slightly adapted this one – replacing the all purpose flour with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free flour, using Stevia vs. sugar, canned beets, and adding Attune bar chocolate crumbles. Sasha gave them two big thumbs up. I highly recommend you give this recipe a try! If you do, please let me know what you think.
Vegan-Chocolate-Beet-Cupcakes
Beet-Puree
Roasted-Beet-Puree
Ingredients
  • 3/4 can of beets (pureed)
  • 1 cup unsweetened soy milk
  • 1 tsp white or apple cider vinegar
  • 
3/4 cup baking Stevia (or coconut sugar)
  • 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup + 1 heaping Tbsp gluten-free flour (or regular all-purpose if you don’t want them GF)
  • scant 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • pinch salt
  • 3 vegan Attune bars (found at Central Market or Whole Foods next to probiotic yogurts)

 Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375°F
  2. Open can of beets and puree them until they are in liquid form. Measure out 1/2 cup and set aside.
  3. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.
  4. Whisk together the soy milk and vinegar in a large bowl, and set aside for a few minutes to curdle. Add the Stevia, coconut oil, vanilla extract, and 1/2 cup beets and beat until foamy.
  5. Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to a sifter and slowly sift it into the wet ingredients while mixing with a hand-held or standing mixer. Beat until no large lumps remain.
  6. Put vegan Attune bars (amazing chocolate filled with antioxidants!) into Ziplock bag and break into small pieces with a wooden spoon. Pour small chocolate crumbles into the mix.
  7. Pour batter into liners, filling 3/4 of the way full. Bake 22 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely. Do not try and unwrap them or they’ll stick to the wrapper.
  8. Once cooled, store in an airtight container to keep fresh. Optional: Dust with cocoa powder.Vegan-Chocolate-Chocolate-Chip-Muffins-minimalistbaker.com-vegan-chocolate

Recipe adapted from The Minimalist Baker (obsessed with her recipes!), and pictures are from here and here. If you try them, please let me know what you think!

Gold Striped Walls

I love interior design, which you’ll know if you’ve been following along for awhile now. I am currently planning a nursery for our baby girl who will be born on June 4. We recently ordered our crib (Babyletto Mercer in all white) and bought the rug for the room (Pottery Barn Henley Rug in Ivory), so all that’s left is the rocking chair and ottoman. And, of course, the wall color. This is the biggest decision and I am so torn. I go back and forth between Rifle Paper Co. wall paper dreams, solid cream, gold wall paper, or gold and white painted stripes. I am very, very inspired by this last option, but I’m not sure this is the option we’ll go with. I’m sharing some of my favorite gold striped walls – what do you think? Appropriate for a baby room or too old? My main concern is having lots of frames hanging against the stripes and it seeming off balanced. Decisions, decisions!

Neutral-Kids-Bedroom-with-Striped-Wall-Decor-800x572

wallpaper_4

il_570xN.506295234_s28n IMG_7958

Screen Shot 2014-01-23 at 8.02.18 PM

Screen Shot 2014-01-23 at 8.00.19 PM

This is my absolute favorite.

Screen Shot 2014-01-23 at 7.59.21 PM

Screen Shot 2014-01-23 at 7.58.42 PM

In Full Bloom Baby Shower

I absolutely adore this ‘In Full Bloom’ baby shower from Hostess with the Mostest! It is completely over the top, but was planned by event planners (Double Take Event Styling), so what do you expect? The little pink and gold French touches are perfect, as are the florals, calligraphy and crafts – creating baby headbands? Too cute.french-garden-baby-shower

hwtm_in_full_bloom_9

french-baby-shower-cake-and-plate-backdrop

french-baby-bridal-shower-drinks-2

hwtm_in_full_bloom_3

french-garden-baby-shower-decorations-favors

hwtm_in_full_bloom_9

french-baby-shower-gift-list

baby-shower-size-tags

hwtm_in_full_bloom_14

hwtm_in_full_bloom_13

french-baby-shower-veggie-sandwiches

french-baby-shower-caesar-salad

hwtm_in_full_bloom_12

hwtm_in_full_bloom_7

hwtm_in_full_bloom_161

hwtm_in_full_bloom_19

french-baby-shower-cake-and-cake-pops (1)

french-baby-shower-cake-and-cake-pops

hwtm_in_full_bloom_10

hwtm_in_full_bloom_15

baby-shower-headband-station-sign

french-macarons-and-french-tarts

hwtm_in_full_bloom_5

french-baby-shower-food

french-baby-shower-food-2

 

– Event Styling & Floral Arrangements: Double Take Event Styling & D’Lorah Ter Har
– Invitations & Printables: Modern Moments Designs
– Photography: Courtney Jade Photography
– Fondant Cupcake Toppers & Flowers: Two Sugar Babies 
– DIY Shabby Chic Headband Kit & My Pink Flower Clip: LB Boutique
– Cupcake & Mini Fruit Tarts: Sugar & Salt Bakery & Catering 
– Stripey Straws: Shop Sweet Lulu
– Mason Jar Flower Frog Lids: The Country Barrel
– Cake Pops: Poppies Cake Pop
– Baskets & Mason Jars: Pottery Barn
– Macarons: Jade Teahouse & Patisserie 
– Ribbon & Fabric: Fabric Depot
– Mini Clay Pots: Michael’s

Golden Baby Announcement

If you’ve seen some of the nursery inspiration I’ve posted so far, you can likely guess that the color gold will have a huge influence in all things related to our baby girl! When I saw these golden calligraphy baby announcements by Val Marie Paper on Oh So Beautiful Paper, I swooned. I fell in love with Val’s stationery skills back here.

Favorite pieces of these announcements: First, the name Vivi Mae is so darn cute (we’ll share our name soon!); secondly, that baby is adorable; third of all, that calligraphy by Katherine Holly is amazing. I cannot wait for my two upcoming calligraphy workshops!
Peach-Gold-Girl-Baby-Announcements-Val-Marie-Paper5

Peach-Gold-Girl-Baby-Announcements-Val-Marie-Paper4

Peach-Gold-Girl-Baby-Announcements-Val-Marie-Paper3

Peach-Gold-Girl-Baby-Announcements-Val-Marie-Paper

Peach-Gold-Girl-Baby-Announcements-Val-Marie-Paper8

Peach-Gold-Girl-Baby-Announcements-Val-Marie-Paper2

Peach-Gold-Girl-Baby-Announcements-Val-Marie-Paper6

Post: Oh So Beautiful Paper

Design: Val Marie Paper

Newborn Photo: Ell Photography

Calligraphy: Katherine Holly

Photo Credits: Val Marie Paper

Photo + Stamp Save-the-Date

I super, super love Antiquaria. Their store is to-die for. All of the rubber stamps are gorgeous, as well as their entire collection of paper goods. I found this unique save-the-date on Oh So Beautiful Paper and thought it was an excellent DIY option for a wedding, or even for a baby announcement (obviously what’s on my mind now)! Antiquaria has a number of stamps (this is my favorite), even this baby one and this too!. The step-by-step instructions for the stationery shown below are in the post here. I’m seriously considering this for baby Petrovic!

I’m also in love with this clay DIY save-the-date. It’s such a great idea. I wish I were that creative!

photo-final21-550x454

photo-step1-550x352

photo-step2-550x352

photo-step-3-550x352

photo-std-final1-550x352