I posted the pic above on my twitter recently and got a number of requests for the recipe, so here it is:

Ingredients:

• 2 c whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 c organic cocoa powder (I like Dagoba)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 2 tbsp flax meal
• 1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 2 c brown rice syrup
• 1 c almond milk (I make my own , but youcn totally buy it)
• 1 c coconut oil (I melt mine in hot water to measure it)
• 1 tbsp organic vanilla extract
• 1/4 c maple syrup
• 1 c chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Prep 2 muffin tins with liners or grease them with some coconut oil.
3. Mix the flour, cocoa, baking powder, sea salt, flax meal, and xanthan gum in a bowl until combined.
4. In a separate bowl combine the rice syrup, milk, oil, vanilla, and maple syrup.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and combine until just mixed.
6. Add the walnuts and mix in.
7. Fill the muffin tins 3/4 full (should make 21).
8. Bake for 30 min until a knife comes out dry through.
9. Let cool for 10 min or until they are not too hot to move then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way.

These are a big hit in my house and totally guilt free!  I don’t feel badly letting Avital indulge.  It can get dangerous though as I can over indulge too;)

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Since I got my Vitamix (yay!) I’ve been making so many new things that I couldn’t have (as well) before and one of my family’s favorites is all of the different nut mylks I’ve been making.  Almond, cashew, brazilian, walnut.  All yum!

My sister, Liza, asked me this morning for the recipe, so I figured I should probably share it with you all!

Here’s how I make them:

You’ll need:

• A Vitamix or other blender
• A nut milk bag or fine mesh strainer

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of nuts (soaked overnight in a glass jar or glass or bowl covered with a breathable cloth like a cheese cloth)
• 2 cups of filtered water
• 2-4 dates (depending on how sweet you like it)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
• 1-1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract

1. Rinse the soaked nuts and place them in the Vitamix.
2. Pit and add the dates.
3. Add the cinnamon and vanilla if desired.
4. Add the water.
5. Blend on high for 2-3 minutes until totally smooth.
6. Place the nut milk bag in a large beaker or jug with the top of the bag flipped over the top to secure it.
7. Pour the blended nuts into the bag and close up the top.
8. Squeeze down the bag to “milk” it and strain through the liquid.  Keep doing this until all the liquid is released.
9. And voila! Fresh nut mylk.

It’s like nothing else.  Fresh.  Bright.  Delicious.

Oh, and remember to store it in glass, it’s safest and preserves the freshness best!

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The other afternoon, it was too cold to run out to the market with the baby, so dinner turned into a: whatever I can concoct from what’s in my fridge.  Luckily, this fabulous split pea soup came about and it’s definitely making it on my list of go to’s.

Here’s how I did it:

Ingredients-

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 chopped vidalia onion
• 4 chopped carrots
• 4 cloves of minced garlic
• 1 cup yellow split peas
• 1 carton of no chicken stock
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon turmeric

1. In a large pot heat the olive oil over med/high heat.
2. Saute the onion and carrot until they start to soften (5-10 min).
3. Add the garlic, salt, and turmeric.
4. Cook together for 1-2 min
5. Add the split peas and the stock.
6. Bring to a boil and then down to a rolling simmer.
7. Cook for 45 min until the split peas start to dissolve adding water as needed.  Cook until desired consistency (peas will dissolve more and more over time and you can add as much water as you like.
8. Serve with some garlic bread or even better garlic fried brown rice!

Btw, I’m making it again tonight!

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(Babies in the belly and fried avocado tacos!!!)

My gorgeous friend Shachar just had her twin babies last weekend and I’m totally in love.  They are edible and she’s already a superb mama.  It was a real struggle for her (as it is for so many of us) and I wanted to take a second to honor her and her journey.

Just a week or so ago I went to visit her while she waited for those babies to arrive.  We chatted adventures in baby waiting (no fun!), ate some tacos (she and her husband are owners of The Taco Truck…I wrote about them here…you have to go try, it’s UH-mazing, and they have a shop now too in Hoboken), and waited.

And now they’re here!  I can’t wait to mush and spoil them.

(Me and Morgan and Riley)

PS- don’t forget to got for me in the Circle of Moms Top 25 Vegan and Vegetarian Bloggers here.

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Let me start by saying I love living in Brooklyn!  I’m constantly coming across new products and businesses in the area that I’m impressed by and psyched to incorporate in my life, kitchen, whathaveyou.

Juggling my way through the market today, Bar nursing in her sling, pushing the stroller with groceries in it (it might as well serve some purpose!), I stumbled upon a brand of beans sold in a box!  You may have read this post where I rant a bit about bpa’s lining our canned goods and how important it is to be supercareful of where our food comes from and how it’s packaged.

I’m pretty vigilant about soaking my own beans and pressure cooking them for dinner almost every night, but for certain things like hummus or when dinner burns while I’m nursing, or the rare occasion where I refuse to order in again and haven’t had time to soak or cook beans, prepared ones come in super handy.

Fig Food Co. sells beans (and apparently soups too) in boxes!  Yay!  I snagged me a bunch of them and am now prepared for whatever my days will bring me!

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Circle of Moms is conducting a contest for the Top 25 Vegan and Vegetarian Moms 2012! The list is totally awesome and I’m psyched to be a part of it:) Check it out and throw me a vote. You can vote daily, so if you’re feeling the love, throw ‘em my way daily!

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I apologize again for my hiatus (this mommy thing gets in the way of everything, huh;)).  We were actually traveling and getting spotty internet while we were gone.

This trip has developed into a yearly thing for us and our favorite friends and doppelgängers (Michelle, Dan, Ike, and Calvin).  Once upon a time these friends lived in Brooklyn and we saw them almost daily, but they’ve moved upstate and we definitely don’t see them enough anymore.

This trip gives us all time to catch up, hang, decompress, make up for lost time.  We all love love Jamaica for it’s amazing food, sunny beaches, calm waters, friendly people…I could go on.  Each time I come back refreshed with a new perspective on the world.  Both the Jamaican air and inspiring friends leave me seeing the world in a whole new light.

This year we stayed at the Round Hill Resort.  It was appropriately beachy and rustic, eco-conscious, and totally chic.

Chef Andre there was amazing and prepared vegan food for us every night (and even one way too large lunch).  It was delicious and amazing to be able to eat well on vacation (often a challenge).  Here are some pics of the food he special prepared for us and the micro greens tasting he prepared from their organic garden!:

(Chef Andre!)

We did little more than swim and sun (and nurse babies of course) and it was absolutely perfect.  I’m happy to be home, though missing my friends already and already looking forward to next year’s trip!

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Happy New Year everyone!  As an educator, New York State Certified School counselor and owner of an organizational mentoring service for students, MotivateMeNYC, the New Year is an especially exciting time for me.  It is a clean slate for my students, a hopeful time when anything is possible, a chance to move forward and achieve anything to which we set our minds.  For students it might mean getting better grades or fighting less with parents or family.  For adults it might mean living a healthier life, saving more money or reconnecting with old friends.  As I’ve been helping students reflect on the past year and reach goals for the upcoming year, I thought that there’d be no better place to share my message, support and tips than with Eve’s readers.  Eve has been a close friend of mine for almost three years and even though she claims not to make new years resolutions, I do not know many other women that embody success, maintain organization and achieve goals the way that Eve does.  For the rest of us regular folks (like my students) who are still trying to figure out the keys to success, here are some helpful tips that I use in my work with my students.

Improvement is a holistic process.  The main reason that I started MotivateMeNYC is due to the dozens of parents who came through my office and said, “my child is so smart, why aren’t they achieving A’s?”  My answer was always the same: You cannot separate the academic portion of the child from the social, emotional and psychological aspects of the child.  What is the child preoccupied with, afraid of, upset about or angry about?  It’s the same for us adults!  If our New Years Resolution is to get organized, we must ask ourselves, is it simply a matter of getting organized or is it a bigger issue about having to face a memory or the fear that if we try, we might not succeed?  If we begin to incorporate every aspect of our lives into our new years resolution, we are sure to attain success.

Recognize Patterns. As you can imagine, one of the most challenging aspects of my work with adolescents and kids is helping them increase awareness about their thoughts and behaviors.  I mean, really, how many self-actualized teenagers do you know?  The funny thing is, though, sometimes the most self-aware and intelligent people overlook many barriers to their own success.  An important part of self- growth and achievement is to simply recognize patterns in one’s life that may hinder success.  By starting to notice these negative thoughts and actions, we naturally move toward positive change.

Don’t make too many goals at once!  I had a great session with my student tonight.  When I asked him to tell me about his resolution for 2012, he replied by saying, “I want to get a basketball scholarship, get better grades, fight less with my parents, be more organized, watch less TV and—-“ I had to stop him there.   How can we achieve anything with so much on our plates?  My advice to students is always to pick one concrete goal and make it specific and realistic. That way, we are more likely to stick with it and change for the better.

These are just some of my tried and true methods for working with students and helping them succeed.  I hope that by sharing them with the readers of Life, Love and Lollipops, we can all stay on the path towards realizing our New Years Resolutions. Whether it be eating healthier, becoming more productive at work or spending more time with family, we can all achieve our goals by looking at ourselves holistically, recognizing patterns and making one realistic goal.  I wish you all a happy, healthy and successful new year filled with many successes and triumphs.

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