I am a regular contributor to Yogamint.com and have a couple of new recipes on the site to share with you. These are both delicious and comforting winter foods - enjoy!

Creamy Cauliflower Gratin
This creamy (and surprisingly vegan!) gratin is great as a main course or can be served as a side dish.


Tangerine Breakfast Cake
Despite being low in fat and sugar this cake is so yummy that kids will love it too. I used olive oil and almond meal (ground almonds) in the mix, so it has a really nice Italian-inspired flavor.

I made these muffins last month for a bake sale at my son's school. They are quintessential fall treats- spiced, mapley, apple or pear-filled awesomeness...and they will make your house smell amazing when they are baking! Can you tell that is a big thing for me? Smelling things? Yes, I'm crazy...but, if you like to cook, I bet you are quirky too. xoxo

Spiced Maple Muffins

1 cup of applesauce, or pear or pumpkin puree
3/4 cup non-dairy milk
1 Flax "egg" (2 tbsp water + 1 tbsp of ground flaxseeds)
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons oil (canola, coconut, etc.- your choice)
2 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
1/2 teaspoon maple extract
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans (or a combo)

The colors of fall are appearing all over the place where I live. I absolutely love running at sunrise this time of year! The light is golden and it shines through the leaves of red, gold, orange, and brown that line the streets of my neighborhood.


Simple beauty first thing in the morning is a great way to start the day!







I love the green heart in the middle of this leaf!


To help us get into the fall spirit, the kids and I took a trip to Apple Hill a couple of weeks ago.


We had some treats (apple turnover and apple strudel):


Visited some farm animals...


...including a "plaid" chicken (in the words of my five year old)...


...walked a hay maze...


...and came home with a box of apples, pears, squash, cider, and mulling spices:


I bought three kinds of apples: Gala (for eating), Fuji (for applesauce), and Granny Smith (for pie or crisp).


I used the Fuji apples for this applesauce and they were perfect. I don't usually eat a lot of applesauce but my kids do (one of their favorite breakfasts is oatmeal with applesauce and raisins). This sauce is so good, though, that I added some to my morning oats too.

It tastes just like apple pie- yum!


Easy Crockpot Applesauce
Makes about 32oz.

About 10 sweet apples (Gala or Fuji work well), cored chopped (you don't need to peel them)
~1/4 to 1/2 cup water
1/2 cup unsweetened apple juice (or more water)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla

I am relieved to say that I finished my second half marathon on Sunday! I was so nervous before the race!

All geared-up and trying not to freak out:

The finisher's tee is so...YELLOW!

Finisher's necklace by Tiffany:



NWM = Nike Women's Marathon. The back of the necklace says "I run to be." with room for engraving so that we can add our own reason for running...

With 20,000 runners, this race is the largest marathon and half marathon in the country. The proceeds help to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. This race has raised over $118 million over the past 8 years for the cause and I ran in memory of my father-in-law who passed away from complications related to lymphoma in 2008.

The weather was perfect but the course was even hillier than I remember and it was a hard run!

I completely earned my post-race cupcake and Blue Bottle latte by the bay:

Perfect, perfect weather (with the Bay Bridge in this shot)!

The physical exertion of this kind of event is challenging but, like many others before me, I definitely think that the mental race is the hardest part. I was struggling with stomach issues through the entire race (and a few hours afterwards) and my mind was all over the place.

The race was in San Francisco, which holds a special place marker in time for me. I worked in the city in the late 1990s and my life was quite different back then. My time visiting the city and running the race on Sunday gave me pause and brought about some much-needed reflection on "back in the day". A few of my favorite memories from working in SF:

Though the race is over, my brain is still crunching through some of the meditative part of the experience. That aside, I am ready to get back to other things, like doing more weight training and yoga or just making pancakes on Saturday morning instead of getting up early to run long distances! I have been resting since the race and eating to recharge and refuel.

These "scuffins" (kind of a cross between a scone and a muffin) are disguised as a fall treat, but really they make a hearty and healthy breakfast. Not to mention, no blog would be complete with out a pumpkin recipe (or ten) in the fall, right??

Pumpkin Cranberry "Scuffins"
Makes 6-7 "scuffins"

1 cup ground oats (process 1 cup of rolled oats in a food processor or blender until they resemble a course flour)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup lightly toasted pecans, chopped
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup non-dairy chocolate chips (optional)
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 tbsp flax meal
1/2 cup non-dairy milk
1 tbsp blackstrap molasses
1/2 cup canned or fresh pumpkin puree
3 tbsp oil (canola, coconut, etc.- your choice)

(This recipe was inspired by and adapted from Dreena Burton's Squirrelly "Scones" in her Vive le Vegan! cookbook (a favorite of mine!)).

Getting ready to go on vacation is never really easy. Packing always takes significantly longer than I ever imagine that it will. For our latest adventure, we traveled by airplane (yes, another trip right after our California RV adventure!) and that makes all of the preparing and packing and whatnot just that much harder. I can never find decent food in an airport for myself (let alone something that my kids will like and that I'll feel good giving to them). This time, I wanted to be prepared instead of starving a few hours into our flight!

Breakfast:

Our flight was at 10am, so we had a chance to have breakfast before boarding. My husband and I had breakfast at home but, since we had to get the kids up and ready early, I made a portable breakfast for them. Super pancakes (in the mix: whole wheat and all-purpose flour mix, hemp seeds, almond milk, banana, canola oil, vanilla, baking powder) and fresh blueberries. Because these pancakes are sweet from the banana, the kids love them without any toppings and that makes them extra portable and great for in-car breakfasts.

Lunch:

Instead of purchasing an airline meal (that may or may not be something that we can eat), I packed a snack bag for each of us. Our bags contained sunflower seed butter and jelly sandwiches (I didn't want to break any "no peanut" rules that we may have encountered so I avoided peanut butter), edamame (soy beans), snack bars (Clif ZBars, Nu Go bars, etc.), Snapea Crisps, sliced apples, and Snackimals cookies.

More on our latest excursion soon!

What kind of foods do you like to bring with you when you travel? Any grab-and-go favorites?

Nothing says spring quite like strawberries from a roadside stand. We have managed to find a couple that are open this month and I'm amazed at how quickly we finish off pint after pint of berries!

1. Preheat oven to 350º F (176º C). Spray a mini muffin pan with non-stick spray.
2. In a medium bowl, combine all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, and baking powder. Set aside.
3. In a blender, combine banana, milk, flaxseeds, brown sugar, oil, salt, and vanilla. Puree until smooth. Pour into bowl with flour mixture and mix to combine then fold in strawberries. Please don't over-mix!
4. Fill mini muffin cups level with the top and bake muffins for about 25 minutes or until they are golden brown.