Spring and the Bun In the Oven

Easter was a beautiful day and I woke so cheery...dreaming about holding my baby in my arms. I am now 17 weeks pregnant and happy.

This past weekend Matthew and I enjoyed a beautiful Easter holiday with his parents. It's always so nice to spend a relaxing Sunday with family, especially when there is a home cooked meal to bring us together around the dinner table.

Though I haven't been cooking much or photographing. Food and photography have been my passion for the last 2 years, but in the last few months I have been plagued with food aversions and fatigue. I rarely even touch my recipe books. As for my camera, its just collecting dust. Its a strange thing to become enemies with food.

In the last few weeks food and I have been getting a long a little better. I am finding that I am slowly getting inspired again by recipes and by curiosity...I am starting to wonder what certain things taste like which is waking up my desire to start cooking again. But its coming back slowly.

This Easter was a bit of a triumph for me because I was able to create a fresh strawberry lemonade that I brought over for our Easter dinner. It felt like a small but meaningful achievement to me because even though I feel so exhausted all the time, I was able to make a contribution. And though as small as it seems, making something from scratch comes from the very bottom of my heart.

I hope everyone reading this had a wonderful Easter.

More Healthy Recipes

A few weeks ago I left my job of three years at Allegiant. During my 3 years as a media coordinator, I had met many amazing people and learned many things about myself and others. But toward the end of 2010, I had an epiphany. I realized that I was hungry to learn new things and I was eager to experiment with new concepts. I was ready to take a leap and I was no longer afraid to make the change.

This year I feel fresh and renewed. I am grateful for the chance at a new start where I can strive to be a better person. I have made several resolutions and have been tenacious about sticking to them. But my new goals have been very time consuming so I have not been able to take any new pictures of recipes. In fact, I may not post very often. But I plan to share the last few recipes that I had photographed last year starting with this sprouted garbanzo bean burger.



I originally found this recipe on 101 Cookbooks and its a very delicious and nutritious meal. I recommend that you sprout your garbanzos at home for more of a healthy punch. I found this great blog post on how to sprout the beans at home. Also I used sunflower sprouts, pea shoots, and yogurt as shown in the picture.

Enjoy and Happy New Year!



Source: Recipe is from 101 Cooboks and chalk board by Shabby Blogs.

Sweet Caroline and Her Quince

Oh, sweet Caroline. Good times never seem so good.

Caroline has turned 15 and is blossoming into a beautiful young woman. She loves to read Harry Potter books and hopes to someday become a doctor. Snapping pictures of her was such a blast since her and I both share a love for all that is vintage.

Oh and if you are wondering where I got that sweet logo at the top of this post, it from Shabby Blogs.

Young Women are like Flowers

A few weeks ago, four girls in the Young Women's program of my church completed their personal progress. As a reward for their accomplishment, the Young Women's President organized a fun retreat that included a one night hotel stay, goodie baskets full of treats and spa products, and a photoshoot at the temple. I had the honor of taking the pictures which was so much fun. I really love being part of the Young Women's program as it is wonderful watching the girls as they develop their spiritual growth. It is also very rewarding for me to know that I am helping to contribute to their knowledge of eternal principles and appreciation for the worth and potential of their own sweet souls.

The inspiration I received for these photos came from the beautiful flowers that are nutured at the Temple grounds. The delicate beauty of the flowers remind me of the Young Women as they have so many similarities. Just like the flowers, the girls of the Young Women's program are each special and beautiful in different ways. The values are like the seeds that have been planted. The seeds grow with each passing season until eventually each girl becomes a woman that works to make the world a better place through service and self improvement.

Sweet Caroline Preview

Squash Lentil Soup and Muffins

I originally made this Squash Lentil Soup and Squash Feta Muffins back in October but never got around to posting the recipe. The soup was really delicious so I decided to make it again over the weekend, only this time I added carrots, celery, and spinach which made it even better!



I had originally found the Squash Feta Muffin recipe on 101 Cookbooks where Heidi Swanson shared with her readers a self-published cookbook called Martha Goes Green. It was my first time making savory muffins so I wasn't entirely sure what to suspect. But since I had a huge 25 pound sweet meat squash sitting in my kitchen waiting to be roasted, I figured I had nothing to lose.



The muffins turned out incredibly scrumptious and they paired up so perfectly with the lentil soup. My husband really enjoyed it and he usually doesn't care much for soups. But after eating this meal, he was really stuffed! Any leftover muffins I froze and they actually do really well when you re-heat them in the microwave.



Its been really fun planning for the holidays lately and thinking about all the yummy recipes that I want to make and share with my family. During the entire month of November I thought of all the things I was grateful for in my life--my husband, my marriage, my home, my family, my job, my health and my friendships. I really wanted to keep a jar and drop a note of all the things I was grateful for each day to share the day of Thanksgiving aloud. Unfortunately I didn't get around to doing it so I think I will definitely do it next year.

This past weekend when we celebrated Thanksgiving, I was really happy spending time with loved ones. I felt like my heart was just swelling with emotion. The only family member missing was my step father since he spent Thanksgiving at the hospital. His health has been declining and he was hospitalized 2 weeks ago after having a colostomy reversal. Since his sugery, he hasn't been allowed to eat or drink anything--not even water. But I spent a few hours with him the day before Thanksgiving, reading to him the life of Gordon B. Hinckly at his bedside. I was hoping it would bring him some comfort and entertainment. Sitting next to him made me think of how grateful I was that he took care of my mother and helped her become the person that she wanted to be--spiritual, confident in speaking her mind, and generous.



Source: Inspired by The Williams-Sonoma Collection: Soup

Squash Feta Muffins

Source: Martha Goes Green.