HERE + THERE

1. favorite, life-changing new hair products, OI
2. post-nap, playing with papa's birthday balloons
3. a beautiful gift and note (and fun collaboration) with the dreamiest children collection, owned by the gorgeous Celia of  LaCoqueta Kids
4. for someone who never wears earrings, these from Forever 21 are just perfect
5. a cookbook gift from my husband
6. sweet, juicy watermelon from trader joes, you would think it's summer
7. freshly-baked vegan banana bread for our neighbors
8. quintessential aug: standing, curious, dressed like a mini-man.
9. heart garland, made from old anthropologie magazines

so many stories and breakthroughs and dreams moving through my heart lately, but the one story i'll remember most this week is the way our son distinctly called me "mama" and crawled as fast as lightning to me, burying his face deep in my neck.

RECIPE: VEGAN BANANA SPINACH MUFFINS

as a mama to a very active nine month old, i have found that spending a lot of time in the kitchen together has been something that makes us both incredibly happy. i will move aug's high chair next to where i am, either chopping or peeling or blending, and he will, for the most part, watch me and get excited by every sound and move i make. it is often my very favorite part of the day because the fact that he watches me cook the food he eats is incredibly important to me. why, i don't really know, but i think i just  want him to remember how much i loved caring for him, with every kiss and bite.

most of what i make aug i would eat myself, and i try to enter as much variety into his daily diet as i can. we let him feed himself and when we don't, it's usually some little puree that i came up with the morning of and stored. these muffins were inspired by my little one, who loves to eat, loves spinach and loves bananas.

and friends, don't let the spinach fool you. you will not taste them because bananas "hide" most flavors of strong leafy greens. so essentially, you are eating one of the world's healthiest foods when you are eating these ;) they are light and fluffy and other than their color, you would think you're eating delicious banana bread. i made this batch fairly basic as i knew  my husband would eat most of them (he dislikes cinnamon and spices) and so would my baby boy. but really, there seems to be an endless amount of alternations you could make to these and i am positive they would all turn out fantastic.

VEGAN BANANA SPINACH MUFFINS

serves 12 large muffins

2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup oil 

4 ripe bananas, mashed

2 large handfuls of spinach, (finely chopped or pureed in a blender)

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup rice milk

1 tsp vanilla

**optional: add one cup of shredded carrots or apple, substitute coconut oil for vegetable oil, use your favorite type of flour, replace sugar with your sweetener of choice

**add-ins: shredded coconut, flax seed, chia seeds, oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, blueberries, cranberries, chocolate chips, scoop of protein powder, chopped nuts.

preheat oven to 350 degrees. spray a muffin tin with cooking spray, or line with baking cups.

in a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. in a separate bowl (or a mixer), whisk together the sugar and oil, then add the bananas and chopped spinach. add water, rice milk and vanilla, stirring to combine. 

add the flour mixture and fold in any add-ins listed above (or your own!), stirring just until wet.

bake for around 12-18 minutes (depending on your stove ~ ours is awful!), or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. let cool completely before eating.

enjoy! xo

5/52

"a portrait of my son, once a week, every week, in 2014"

augusuts: it seems spring and summer have sweetly made their presence known in the blooming trees and in the fruit selections at our local trader joes. we are taking advantage of every second of it, especially now that his two bottom teeth have finally showed up to the party.

CAMELLIA BLOOMS (PART ONE)

it's far too early for the trees to be in even partial bloom, let alone full. the cherry and magnolia and camellia blossoms have left me speechless in the passing weeks, and i've chased them down like rolling thunder chasing the wind.

i've taken desperate measures to find the blooms (driving through neighborhoods, walking down alley ways, climbing up hills, etc.). but when the pink magic puffs show up on unassuming trees, how can one just pass them by? i can't. blame it on my sensitive soul.

late friday afternoon, we took augustus to one of our favorite town's square and we came across a giant, blooming camellia tree. there were hundreds of perfectly fallen blooms on the ground, begging to be played with.

all photos were taken on my iphone.