Lucuma Spice Muffins

I'm back! It's been a looooooong food blogging hiatus, for good reason. I've been busy with my now 9-month old! She is absolutely, positively, scrumptiously adorable and the love of my life, and the past 9 months have been incredible. And incredibly busy, since I've also started a new job. I have still been able to squeeze in some cooking and baking, although not as much as I used to of course. Over the long weekend, baking was on my to-do list, along with using up some of my lucuma powder. And so... along came this sweet but healthy little muffins!

Update

Just a brief update, in case anyone's checking... I've been completely consumed with my latest "project." ;-) My husband and I welcomed our daughter to the world in early December, and we've been transfixed with her since. Not much time for cooking, though plenty of family members have been helping out, whipping up quinoa or wheat berries & veggies, vegan kale soup, black bean soup, and other veggie-ful meals for us.

Hope to get back to cooking in a bit, but for now, all my attention is blissfully on our new little one. It's a truly amazing time and I am so in love with her!

Baby Shower Bites

Last weekend my mom and my good friend Paula threw me a baby shower. This was just ONE of the food tables! The cake with the giant cupcake on top of it in the pic above my mom ordered from a bakery, but despite the fact they were both skeptical that I'd want to make anything, I insisted on making vegan cupcakes, of course. And, in what's becoming my go-to wower for parties, I whipped up some of SMBP's black & white truffles.

NYC 2: Cafe Blossom

Top right: Delicious black-eyed pea cakes; Bottom right: Mushroom Phyllo Pastry

We were recently back East for a wedding, and had one night in NYC. This pass-through was even less time than my last trip to the Big Apple, but still enough time for a (vegan!) dinner night out with friends and a run in Central Park! Two of my must-dos when vising the city now.

After my other trip, I was hoping to go to Candle 79 again, since it was one of my best dining experiences EVER. Seriously, out of this world, whether you are vegan or not. But, I was coming in off an evening flight, and my husband reminded me I'd probably be pretty tired since I'm now entering my 3rd trimester (!)- he was right. Plus, I did want to try out somewhere new- NYC is just such an amazing food mecca. So, we picked somewhere more convenient to where we were staying - Cafe Blossom on Carmine in the West Village. I had been to the Cafe Blossom on the Upper West side my last trip, but each of the Blossom locations has a different menu and vibe, so it was still a completely different experience, which I was excited to try out! Read on for my take on Blossom...