snapshots.

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Thanksgiving 2013. It was a good one.

That would be Aunt Wendy’s famous Pumpkin Crunch Cake. It puts pumpkin pie (and all Thanksgiving food, for that matter) to shame.

One of the highlights of the day was receiving this photo from my sister Katie, meeting the Prancercise lady in Florida. If you haven’t seen Prancercise…enjoy.

My cousin Liz and I had a solid 10-minute photo shoot, as usual.

My little friend Giana…despite my first words to her being “you smell.”

Post-Thanksgiving veggie fill…

kale + banana smoothie:

Last but not least – some good stuff right here.

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What was the highlight of your Thanksgiving?

girl meets: 10.9.13.

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Let’s keep it simple today, shall we?

food.
I made another healthy Pumpkin Loaf yesterday, and this time I was super lazy and used quick oats (instead of using/making oat flour like last time). It turned out just fine! Good to know…

fitness.
Okay…not exactly fitness. I actually haven’t even worked out in these bad boys yet because the gym has been closed. But they will lend to my fitness soon enough…

fashion.
One of the great things about the fall is that my normal “I work from home” outfit (leggings, t-shirt, hoodie) looks a lot more intentional with a beanie + sunglasses.

fun.
Want to know how many episodes of New Girl I’ve watched over the past week? Trust me…you don’t.

What you do want to know, though, is that Nick Miller is just about the best person TV character ever.

Apparently I’m late to the game with New Girl, but better late than never…

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What’s your favorite TV show right now?
Favorite fashion trend/style for fall?

wheat-free vegan pumpkin loaf.

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I think I should be clear that I’m not wheat free, nor am I a vegan. BUT. After a few too many servings of this fall favorite…

…I figured it wouldn’t hurt to “clean up” my treat of choice for a few days. So I made a handful of replacements in my favorite Classic Pumpkin Bread recipe. The result is not only delicious, but it’s like…really healthy too.

* wheat-free
* can be easily made gluten-free (just use gluten-free oats)
* vegan
* no refined sugar
* entire loaf is under 1000 calories

ingredients:

  • 1/2 can (7.5 ounces) canned pumpkin puree
  • 1 ripe banana, mashed
  • 2 tbsp ground flax meal + 4 tbsp warm water (to make a flax “egg”)
  • 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
  • 1 1/2 cups oat flour *
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • optional: chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit, etc.

* I actually made the oat flour myself by putting 1.5 cups of regular rolled oats in the food processor until achieving desired consistency. I kept mine pretty chunky to achieve a more hearty texture.

directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan.
  2. Combine pumpkin, banana, maple syrup, and flax egg large bowl.
  3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
  4. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture, combine.
  5. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
  6. Let cool for a few minutes before removing from loaf pan. Store in refrigerator.

I feel crazy for even saying this, but I think I actually might like this loaf better than it’s classic predecessor! It’s dense, chewy, and not too sweet. Perfect for breakfast, a snack, or dessert.

What is your favorite fall treat (healthy or not)?

10 fun fall recipes {via pinterest}.

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Let’s be real – chances are slim that I’ll get to make all of these over the next couple of months. But if I were to be the cooking/baking goddess I hope to one day become, these treats would be on the top of my list this fall!

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Scarecrow Treats

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread (apparently 500 calories for the whole loaf!)

No-Bake Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes

Butternut Squash Skillet Lasagna

Bourbon Sweet Potato Bisque with Brown Butter Cinnamon Sugar Croutons

Pecan Pumpkin Butter Squares

Mini Apple Pies

Spiked Snickerdoodle Milkshake

Cheddar Apple Biscuits

Cheddar-Apple-Biscuits-1024x671

Cinnamon Monkey Bread

Monkey_Bread-2

What recipes do you want to try making (or just eating ;)) this season?

scenes from the weekend.

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Do you know how much I love fall weekends?

(I know, it’s technically not fall for about another week, but it sure feels like it now.)

This weekend was pretty much perfect. It started out with a Friday night at Jessi’s adorable new apartment.

We laid around and talked for 6 hours about life, purpose, hair braiding, and how much we secretly love Miley Cyrus…

…before deciding to go out at 1:30am to meet up with some friends, then we had one last sleepover before she gets hitched!

Saturday was pretty low key. I took a 45 minute walk home and listened to this amazing podcast on Psalm 41-43.

Got some greens in for lunch…

…and opened this surprise swag bag from Bethenny! I’m gonna be like, so skinny now 😉

On Saturday night I went out in the West Village with a bunch of friends. What started as a chill night somehow turned into ridiculousness. In a good way.

(^^ check out creepy eyes in the background, haha)

Oh Monica, how I love you :)

Today was spent being lazy, for the most part (unless you consider it productive to stay in bed until noon on Pinterest. Ahem). I did manage to go grocery shopping, where they finally put out PUMPKINS! Even though pumpkins and NYC apartments don’t really mesh well…

I also got the fixins for this big ol’ healthy lunch. Plantain chips + roasted sweet potato + garlicky kale, with an artsy photo to show for it.

After spending the rest of the day catching up on work, I made myself presentable for the night ahead.

Then I headed to church, which was our first Sunday at Union Square Ballroom. The message was amazing, and I even got to meet some lovely blog readers :)

After church was a cozy dinner out, and now here I am about to watch tonight’s (DVRed) Breaking Bad. Probably not the best choice of television to watch before I go to bed, but oh well…

Will leave you with some inspiration for this week!

What was the highlight of your weekend?

what i’m loving right now.

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the return of BEANIES. Let’s just reflect on that for a moment.

Bestowed. Something I always love is getting things delivered right to my doorstep (er, doorman). That’s why I was so excited to recently be sent a free Bestowed Box. This one had some amazing products like a 3-day Reboot Wellness Booster, Mighty Leaf iced tea, and other great snacks and coupons.

If you’d like to try Bestowed for yourself, you can receive $5 off your first box! Use discount code 5OFFBESTOWED03.

Pepperidge Farm Pumpkin Spice Swirl Bread. Another day, another new pumpkin treat. This bread is really good – it has a perfect subtle pumpkin flavor without being too sweet.

Shiba Inu dogs. If you follow me on Tumblr you might notice I’m slightly obsessed with foxes. So you can imagine how much I love seeing these fox-like dogs all over NYC lately. Seriously…they’re everywhere!

Layered necklaces. This is what I’m going for to accessorize my dress at Jessi’s wedding (I got some great long gold ones), but I love it in general as a look for this fall.

What are you loving right now?
Any good new food finds? Fall styles?

**Sending my love and prayers to everyone affected by the tragedy that happened in my city 12 years ago today. It’s an honor to be part of a city and nation that has come together and is stronger than ever before. We will never forget!**