• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 over ripe banana, mashed
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a 9 inch square baking pan. In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat together the sugar and butter until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, making sure the first egg is fully incorporated into the batter before adding the next. Stir in the baking soda with the sour cream then add to the mixer. Add the pumpkin and banana and mix until combined. Add the flour and baking powder. Mix well. Stir in the vanilla. Pour the batter into the pan.

Topping

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 5 tbsp cold butter
• 1 cup pumpkin seeds

Add the sugar, flour, cinnamon and butter to your food processor. Pulse until combined. Stir in the pumpkin seeds. Drop little chunks of the mixture over the top of the cake batter. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If you find the cake is browning too fast place a sheet of tinfoil over the top of the pan near the end…after about 45 minutes.

Caramel sauce

• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp + 2 tsp cream
• splash of vanilla

In a small pot over medium heat whisk together the sugar, butter and cream until it comes to a boil. Continue to whisk at a boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and let sit for a minute. Add the vanilla then whisk in the icing sugar. Add more icing sugar if you want a thicker sauce.

To serve: Drizzle caramel sauce over the cake. Cut and enjoy!

*recipe adapted from allrecipes 

I think the warm weather is finally here to stay. To celebrate I decided to whip up this super sweet and refreshing combination of mango, pineapple and banana. I hope you like it as much as Poppy and I did.

Serves 2

1 Mango
1 banana, frozen
3-4 Pineapple spears
1 cup of coconut water
1 cup of coconut milk, frozen

Toss everything in the blender and enjoy. Happy Summer!

*Go green:

- Toss in a few handfuls of spinach, kale or chard

I woke up this morning with the intention to make these for our “Pancake Tuesday” breakfast but due to Poppy’s urgent desire for 100% of mommy’s attention I wound up making them for lunch instead, giving me a bit more time for morning snuggles.

*Warning these are extremly addictive.

1 1/2 cups of flour-reg. or whole wheat

3 1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 1/4 cups milk

1 egg

3 tbsp melted coconut oil

In a medium sized bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Make a hole in the center and pour in the milk, oil and egg. Mix. Cut banana into 1/4 inch slices. Dip the banana pieces into the batter and fry for about 3 minutes per side. You want them to be nice and crispy. I topped mine with a little sun seed butter and some coconut spread. Beyond yummy…enjoy!

*note-these are also fantastic alone or with a sprinkle of confectioners sugar.

Tip- you can freeze the finished product. Simply pop them in the toaster oven and serve!

These are perfect as a quick on the go breakfast or snack. Pair them with a handful of berries or warm them up with a little butter or, for a sweet treat, try them with a smear of date paste…soooo good.

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce

1 super ripe banana, mashed

2 pear, mashed

1/2 cup date paste + 1 tbsp water

1 cup gluten free flour

1/2 cup coconut flour

1/2 cup ground oats

2 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp psyllium husk powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

2 carrots, shredded

1 small zucchini, shredded

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

1 egg, lightly beaten

*date paste- Place about a cup of dates into a mason jar and cover with water. Let soak for a few hours or over night. Empty the dates into a food processor with about a tablespoon of the soaking water. Pulse until you have a beautifully smooth paste.

Preheat oven to 350

In a food processor pulse together the zucchini and carrot until nicely shredded. In a medium bowl mix together the yogurt, applesauce, banana, pear, zucchini, carrots, date paste, coconut oil and egg until combined. In a separate bowl add the flours, oats, baking powder, baking soda, psyllium husk powder and cinnamon; whisk together. Dump the wet ingredients in with the dry ingredients. Using a wooden spoon stir until well combined. Grease an 8 inch square baking pan with a little coconut oil. Evenly spread the batter into the pan and bake for approximately 1 hour/ 1 hour 10 min. To tell if they are done insert a toothpick into the center of the pan, if it comes out clean the squares are done! Enjoy.

I wanted to make Poppy a mini birthday cake that she would smash to bits and then devour because she loved it soooo much. Because of this I spent a long time searching for the perfect recipe. I wanted it to be healthy but also super yummy. I got a lot of flack from family and friends all of whom shook their heads at me in disapproval: ” it’s her first cake – make it a REAL cake,” they all said. I had a very different take on the subject. I knew for a fact I could make a healthy and delicious cake for Poppy without using a ton of crap. Also if Poppy has never eaten a sugar filled cake before she would never know the difference. I settled on this cake from Hellobee but struggled finding a healthy icing recipe that would be able to hold its form when piped ( I really wanted the cake to be pretty ). After a lot of internal struggling (lol) I decided to make a healthy cake with a regular cream cheese frosting

The party started at 4:30 and as the guests were flooding into our home I stood in the kitchen frantically trying to ice the cake. After spreading on the first bit of icing I tried to change my mind and toss the icing I had made and quickly whip up the healthy icing I had been looking at but my mother quickly talked some sense into me – ” dont be ridiculous, you are not throwing out all of this icing – just ice the cake”. So as our guests began to flow through the kitchen saying their hello’s I frantically iced Poppy’s cake…it was by far the fastest icing job I have ever done and it looked it… kind of defeating the reason I chose the sugary icing in the first place.

In the end non of this mattered. Poppy would not touch the cake. She hated the icing on her fingers and rather than licking the little bits off that we had to put on her fingers, she made mommy and daddy lick it off. It was a win win. No sugar ended up in her tummy and the next day I was able to do a beautiful photo shoot with Poppy and her cake! oh and after the photo shoot was over the grownups got to devour this delicious cake;)

*note:  I really wanted to start a few small but meaningfull/funny birthday traditions. This little pink hat is one of them. This hat is now Poppy’s birthday hat. Every year we will take photos of her in the hat….I’m sure you can see how this is going to become funnier and funnier as she grows. You’re welcome.