vegan whole-grain blueberry banana muffins

I'm over at Scottsdale Moms Blog today sharing my thoughts about the blog 100 Days of Real Food and my recipe adaptation of their whole-grain fruit muffins. 

Keep reading to check out the yummy recipe...

Whole-Grain Blueberry Banana Muffins

(Adapted from this recipe at 100 Days of Real Food.)

Ingredients

• 1½ cups organic whole-wheat flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
• 2/3 cup of applesauce (this is what I use in place of the eggs)
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ¼ cup coconut oil*
• ¾ cup apple juice
• About 1 cup of blueberries
• 1/2 of a ripe banana mashed
• Muffin liners

Directions

• Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and line your cupcake/muffin pan with the liners.
• In a bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. Make a well (hole) in the middle of the flour mixture and put your applesauce, honey, vanilla, coconut oil* and apple juice in the center of it.
• Next, mix in the mashed banana, followed by gently folding in the blueberries.
• Fill the cups in your lined muffin pan 2/3 to 3/4 full.
• Bake for 10-15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. (If you’re using applesauce in place of the eggs, like me, you might find that it takes a little longer to bake all the way through.)
• Enjoy!!

*Couple things to note about cooking with coconut oil. First, I love that it has so many amazing health benefits. However, it can be tricky to bake with, as it is not a liquid at room temperature. I’ve found that I have to heat it up for like 20-30 seconds in the microwave in order for it to blend well with the other ingredients. Also, if you’re dealing with nut allergies remember that coconuts are considered a tree nut.

Choosing a Summer Camp

I'm over at Scottsdale Moms Blog today chatting about finding good summer camp options for the kids. I'm having the hardest time narrowing down camp choices for some reason and, quite frankly, I'm running out of time. (Yikes!) If you have any insight, recommendations or mommy advice when it comes to choosing a summer camp, pop on over and share your thoughts -- I'd love to hear them!

xo

master bath renovation progress update

"Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good." ~Voltaire

This quote speaks to me in so many ways. The little perfection devil veers his ugly head in many aspects of my life and our home renovation was no exception.

I keep waiting to show "final" after photos of our finished spaces, but the problem is the spaces seem so far from finished to me. 

And you know what? That's okay. Part of blogging about the process was showing the process as it unfolds. (And even trying to enjoy said process if possible.) While our house is definitely finished from a livability stand point, it's still lacking so many of the layers that will turn it into a home with character.

While our master bath turned out amazing, it's still needs those finishing layers for it to seem a tad less sterile. But we are still ga-ga over how it turned out, don't get me wrong!

The master bath during construction...

And voila. Some shots of how it looks now. 

You can see that we still have some drywall repair work needing to be done. We changed our minds on how we wanted the sconces to flank the mirror and so the electrician had to go digging to move our wiring.

Do any of you remember that really boring post I did about thermostatic versus pressure-balanced shower valves. Ya, neither do I.

Our tub filler just came in a couple weeks ago after being on back order -- I ordered it at the beginning of August people!

This is where I will have a small make-up vanity niche.

I know it's silly, but I still get excited I get to use these faucets every day.

I really wish I had a shot of the small 1960's bathroom Bryce and I have been using for the past two years in our rental house. This bathroom was a huge upgrade for us!

xoxo

nursery inspiration

With baby #3 on the way, I've been daydreaming about what we might do as far as a nursery. With Reese, we did a simple pink, brown and white theme based around her Restoration Hardware bedding -- pretty, but not very original. And poor Sydney really got the shaft because we had just moved into a rental a few months before her arrival; so, we never really got around to decorating a nursery for her -- poor thing.

This time around, whether it's a boy or a girl, I want to steer clear of the quintessential blue for boy, pink for girl and green or yellow for gender neutral. I'm not sure what the final look will be, but I know I want it to be warm, eclectic and fun.

Here are some nursery inspiration images that I think fit in with the warm-eclectic-fun vibe I'm shooting for...

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xoxo

decor8: blogging your way

This week I started an e-course taught by the lovely Holly Becker, author of the wildly successful design blog decor8. Holly was one of the first blogs I started reading back in the day when I first started stalking reading blogs. ;-)

She really is such an inspiration and a true champion for other would-be bloggers to follow their dreams. I had the honor of coordinating two different SheKnows interviews with Holly. One that ran at the beginning of 2012 about her inspiring design resolutions -- which you can read by clicking here. And another where she wraps up her favorite 2012 decor trends -- which you can read by clicking here.

So far, "in" class she seems to be as gracious as a teacher as she was answering my questions for the two articles. I'm excited to be taking a course that gives me the opportunity to learn more about being my own "blog boss" (which is the theme of the course). And better yet, I get the opportunity to connect with other bloggers -- something I've been dying to do!

BIG news friends!

That's right sweet friends. Baby Terveen #3 is due August 27th.  Making me 15 weeks preggers -- madness, I know! 

That sort of explains my hiatus as I have just been able to maintain status quo the last few months. (I always feel super sick the first 15-16 weeks or so.) So unfortunately, visiting with you was put on the back burner while I just managed what I could.

I'm really starting to feel so much better and I'm excited to get back in the swing of things. I miss sharing what's been going on in our little world. I still have so many renovation results to show!

xoxo