Friday, November 29, 2013

Reflections: One Year Later

I apologize for the three week long radio silence. My life was thrown some amazing curve balls this month and I am relearning how to balance my life with all the new and wonderful things that are all vying for my attention. 

Yesterday, my apartment was filled with the sounds of laughter, friends who have become family, pumpkin spice, apples baking, and a whole lot of wine. It's funny, a year ago I sat down in my parent's kitchen and talked to my mom about the direction for my life. I was tired, ill, unhappy, and un-joyful: all of which is not my normal. I was convinced that the road I had been on for two years was not the path I was supposed to be on, but I was paralyzed by the fear of changing it. As I sat and talked I realized that there were so many things in my life that I wanted to be different. I wanted time for friends, for community, for yoga, for coffee chats, for reading, for my family, for my boyfriend, and for myself. The life I was living left no room for all of the things that I held most dear and the thought of continuing down the same path was frightening to consider. 

So I made a plan. A life altering and seriously divergent plan from the one I had set for myself (and if you know me, you know that new plans terrify me). But I was convinced that my life needed to be seriously overhauled, and one year later as I sit in my kitchen surrounded by my family of friends, flowers, and candles, I realized that I had done it. I had truly leapt into the unknown, dreamed big, opened my heart, mind, soul, and stepped fully and presently into the dark and you know what the amazing thing was: I accomplished everything that I had dreamed of last December.

So today I am filled with miles of gratitude and have found the courage to lean in to the uncomfortable. 

I hope that you had a moment to say thank you to yourself and those around you who alter your life everyday. We all could use more people to uplift, support, challenge and change us. Be that for yourself and for someone in your life who has made all the difference. 


Monday, November 4, 2013

It's Fall, Y'all: Vegan Pumpkin Pecan Bread

The weather shifted, the scarves came out, the slippers are on, and that means we NEED all things pumpkin. I didn't have to look very far from my kitchen to find everything in this recipe.

I hope your fall is full of falling leaves, your favorite mug, your favorite blanket, and some good old fashioned snuggling up.

Vegan Pumpkin Pecan Bread
(tweaked from Joy the Baker's recipe for Vegan Pumpkin Pecan Bread)

3 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups of light brown sugar, packed (pack it, that is important)
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon backing powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
2 teaspoons of all-spice
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
1 cup canola oil
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
1/3 cup water
1 cup chopped pecans

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 8x4x3-in loaf pans and set pans aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soap, salt and spices. In a medium bowl, carefully whisk together pumpkin puree, oil, maple syrup, and water.

Add the oil mixture all at once with the flour mixture. Use a spatula to fold the ingredients together. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl well, finding any remaining bits of flour and sugar that might still be in the bowl. Fold in the chopped pecans into the batter.

Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Bake for 1 hour or 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center of each load comes out clean. Remove from the oven. Let rest in the pans for 20 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack.

Serve bread warm, in thick slices. Loaves can be wrapped and kept at room temperature for up to 5 days.