Oh Baby, Soupy Soup and A Fall Dessert!

Hey Everyone! Thank you so much for the kind words on my baby shower. I really had a great time! And yes, I am super lucky to have a Mother in law who is vegan. I actually was the one who got her and my future Sister in law to go vegan! Whooo! Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. We had a block party on Saturday and besides that we've just been getting things done before the arrival of our Starshine! Yesterday marked 2 months until her due date! Can you believe it? We are so excited to meet her!


Speaking of the Starshine, my Father in law and his girlfriend brought over some adorable gifts for her. This is a bank we put it in her room. I've already been adding change to it here and there! :)

They also got her this adorable little chair. T and I were laughing thinking about her sitting in it (when she is a little older) watching a movie with a little bowl of popcorn and Ginger sitting right next to her waiting patiently for a piece of popcorn to drop! HA HA!

My lovely Naunee (the one in my last post) bought us the bedding for her crib.

It's organic too!!! I just loved it and when I saw it, I had to have it. Butterflies!!!

Her crib is all set, even though, we will be having her in our room/bed for awhile.

Last week I made this yummy THICK soup. This was really impromptu, and I apologize for the lack of color. I sauteed onion and garlic in olive oil then added some broccoli and a little low sodium vegetable stock. I let that cook down a little then added the rest of the broth, some seasonings, 2 cans of organic cannelini beans (I use Eden Organics), and some soy-free miso. I removed half and put it in the food processor (or you can use a stick blender), then added it back to the pot. While that cooked I boiled some baby pasta, then added that to the pot and let everything combine. Drizzle a little olive oil, season to taste and voila! Soup!

I also made my favorite Lemon Lentil Chickpea Soup! Yum! This is a favorite of mine!

Since we have so many apples from apple picking, T made his special Fall dessert for me. He has been making this for a couple of years. It's the perfect Fall treat! He sautes apples in coconut oil then adds cinnamon, apple pie spice, raisins, walnuts and some oats. He lets it all get soft and drizzles with maple syrup! Oh my gosh, this is soooo good! Apple pie in a bowl!

Have a great day everyone!

My Baby Shower

Hey All! Thank you for being so patient, I was going to post about my baby shower yesterday, but the pictures my sister sent aren't coming through, so I'd thought I'd wait. But since they still aren't coming, I will have to post some of the pictures I took. I will post hers once I get them! I believe she has a picture of me and Maria! I was so glad she was able to attend (she lives near my parents).


Anyway, here is a picture of the lovely center pieces that were on the table. Pink of course!

And here is the tent outside on my parents deck, all decorated. You can see a lot of people attended. I think it was around 50. I am so lucky to have so many loved ones that care about me!

Inside my Mom and Sister (who both threw me the party) decorated with lots of butterflies and pink (two of my favorite things and of course, the theme for the baby's room). On the left is a baby pic of T and on the right a baby pic of me!

Look at all of those presents! Yippy, my baby and I are blessed! We got just about everything we needed!!

Onto food, I started off with some appetizers: hummus, bean salad and artichoke salad. The big black thing is an olive believe it or not! HA!

We also had vegan wraps (sorry, as you can see, by the time I got to them a few were already taken). These were filled with raw veggies, hummus and avocado.

There was non-vegan food as well, that I didn't take pictures of. But this was my favorite: broccoli rabe and pasta. My Mother in law made this, she is a vegan, so her food is always vegan, and delicious!

This was the non-vegan cake. I thought I'd share a picture because it was so pretty!

And my favorite part of the day: vegan cupcakes! Aren't these adorable? My future sister in law (who is vegan also) hooked me up!! They were from Papa Ganache and they were so amazing!

In other vegan desserts, a watermelon basket with melon balls inside. Mmm..

And finally, the picture you've all been waiting for! :) Me and my grandma (she'd kill me if she knew I posted this). Yes, I am large and swollen and I've gained waaaay to much weight. But I am happy and that's all that matters! :) T bought me the beautiful corsage I have on. By the way, this is the grandma that makes juice (grapefruit and orange) every morning and still goes to Jazzercise at 81 years old!

And a little bonus, since you all were so patient, I went to the doctor yesterday to monitor the baby's growth (something that is very important when you have Crohn's, which is why I haven't turned down any ultrasounds). Anyway, she is right on target: 3lbs 13oz and 2 months to go! She is already head down too! Her little foot was near her head again, I tell ya, she is a yogi!

Have a great day everyone!!!

Apple Picking and Goodies

Hello everyone! I have so much to share from my beautiful shower, but I am still waiting on some pictures from my sister, so I will have to post that later in the week! :) I have a super busy week ahead. We have a doctors appointment, some friends are coming up to visit and go to dinner and we are starting our childbirth classes! So exciting! :) But anyway, I had a wonderful time at my shower, I am truly blessed by all the beautiful gifts I received and for all my friends and family that came. More on that soon!


So to go back a day or 2, or Saturday T and I went apple picking! I had just mentioned it in my last post and it was a spur of the moment thing. We happen to be in the area hitting up our favorite health food store. We are going to go again because it was still early, we like to go when there is a chill in the air and pumpkins to buy! Before we started picking we stopped at the health food store to get some goodies. We both tried out a coconut water we have never seen before. This was pretty yummy!

More on the goodies I picked up there later.. now onto apples!

We picked a few different varieties..

Unfortunately, there weren't any Honey Crisps! Good thing I grabbed a few at Whole Foods last week..

I love apples, mostly because they remind me of my favorite season, fall!

Here is our basket.. ready to go!

On the way out we grabbed some fresh apple cider, they make it right there for you! YUM!!! You would think we all these drinks a pregnant lady would be in trouble. Luckily, they had brand new bathrooms just installed! Whoo! My kinda place! ;)

Onto the goodies, I picked up my favorite soy-free miso made by South River Miso Company. I love the chickpea flavor, perfect for soups!

I also grabbed a raw chocolate bar that I had never seen: Fearless, the flavor I bought was Hibiscus and Ginger, a LaraBar in Carrot Cake and my old favorite standby: Righteously Raw Caramel Bar..mmm, heaven!

At the farm I grabbed some pumpkin butter! I love adding this to smoothies, spreading it on sprouted grain bread or a brown rice cake and adding a scoop to my oatmeal.

When I got home I opened the new chocolate bar only to find a bite mark! It was intentional of the company, of course. How cute is that?

So that was our fun Saturday! I promise, shower pictures and more on Wednesday! See you then! Xo

Bring on Fall!

Hello Everyone! I hope you all had a stellar week! Mine has been pretty good, I am so excited for my favorite season: Fall! It was such a nice change of pace to have the windows open all week and to be able to go for long walks with T and Ginger. I am feeling great too, which is always a plus! About 10 weeks left until my due date!! Yippy! This weekend is my shower, I wasn't suppose to know about it, but no one can keep a secret from me! Muahhahaha! LOL! I am bad with being surprised, my mother ended up telling me when it was before she sent out the invites. I will take pics, there will be vegan food, including cupcakes..mmm, can't wait!


Anyway, I've been snacking on these yummy raw chips this week..

Raw Makery Krispys! I've bought other flavors from this company in the past. This flavor was "Herb." Pretty good.

I made a nice warming lentil soup for one of the cozy cool days we had earlier this week. When I make lentils it's very simple, I just saute garlic and onions in olive oil, add whatever veggies (this time I used celery and carrots), then I added the lentils with low sodium vegetable broth and a piece of kombu (I remove it at the end, it adds nutrients and helps with the "gas factor"). Bring to a boil, season to taste and enjoy once the lentils soften. YUM!

One of my favorite things about Fall is apple season! I can't wait to go apple picking again! I skipped the peaches at Whole Foods and ran over to the local/organic apples. Mmm, Fall.

And finally, a delicious smoothie I had at lunch one day: Fresh Figs (from my tree), Raisins (for iron), Sunwarrior Protein, Almond Milk, Hemp oil and a Frozen Banana. So creamy and thick. My idea of a "milkshake!"

Have a great weekend everyone!

The End of a Wonderful Staycation

Hey All! I hope your weekend was great! On Thursday T and I headed to Brooklyn for some more staycation fun. T wanted to go to an Italian place for pizza he had heard about and I wanted to get some raw food to-go from Rockin' Raw. Unfortunately, Rockin' Raw wasn't open yet and we didn't feel like hanging around for an hour or so until they opened (plus this pregnant lady was HUNGRY!). So we just headed home and actually arrived home before they would of even been open. I did take some fun pictures..

On Saturday we took a ride to Rutherford to Sweet Avenue Bake Shop. Our favorite vegan cupcake place. We got one carrot cake and one "True Blood." I HAD to have an Eric cupcake!!! Before we left I saw they tweeted that anyone who comes in with a TrueBlood t-shirt on will get a free Trueblood cupcake!!! T actually has a "BonTemps Football" t-shirt, so I convinced him to put it on and off we went!  Yum! Eric was delicious! ;)

We finally picked a cantaloupe from our garden. Sadly, something ate both watermelons so this was all we had as far as melons. And another sadface because T wanted to open this one when I told him it wasn't ripe (do men ever listen?). So this wasn't exactly soft and sweet like a cantaloupe should be. Over eager son of a.. LOL! 

On Sunday, we just hung out at home. Football season has begun (SIGH), so I nest while T watches. We picked up some lunch beforehand. I got vegan split pea soup. Perfect for the rainy gray day we were having (not that I am complaining..bring on Fall!). Lately I haven't been craving raw foods. I am a little nauseous again and comfort foods seem to make me feel best. I'll go with it. Two and half months left before our little Starshine is here!!

Have a great day everyone!

Figs and a Beach Day!

Hello Sweetie Pies! I hope you all had a great week. I have lots of pics for this post, so I will keep it short! 


First of all, check out our fig tree! We didn't have a harvest early in the Summer, but now we are having the biggest harvest yet! We picked about 5 day this week and they are so sweet!

Mmm.. so many figs, so little time! :)

Earlier this week, I made escarole and beans for dinner. I often get asked how I make this. You can find my recipe here. The only change I've made is that I add 2-3 tablespoons of soy-free miso (you can use regular miso instead) and I also use low sodium vegetable broth. As for canned beans, the only brand I use is Eden Organic because they don't contain any BPA or aluminum.

I also had some left over PB Cups that my mother in law made over the weekend. She uses a recipe from The Kind Diet. These are sooooo good!!!

Onto some adventures.. on Wednesday we headed to the shore to spend the day at the beach. Before we headed out, I fueled up with a smoothie: Figs (from our tree), Frozen Cherries, Frozen Banana, Almond Milk and a scoop of Sunwarrior Protein. This hit the spot! Of course we also brought some snacks with us and had dinner are my mother in laws house.

The beach was so beautiful. The weather wasn't too hot and there was a beautiful breeze. The sun was really hot though, I got a little sunburn on my legs, but my big ole belly is nice and tan! :)

The water was really cold, but in a refreshing way. I only went in up to my knees. I am afraid to swim while pregnant..even though the waves were extremely small. Just a weird fear I guess!

When we returned to our spot, my chair was turned over and a pigeon was trying to get into my bag! I think he wanted my raw crackers! HA HA!

Of course, no beach adventure is complete without a little L + T love..

Mmm.. and a coconut water! This coconut water is the best I've tasted (besides fresh), this taste just like it came from a fresh cracked coconut.

Ginger spent the day at my mother in laws house, beating up on her pug. We were all pretty pooped after the long day..

More on Monday! Enjoy your weekend all!