Made by a Mama-Bear

Darlings, I've finally emerged from my postpartum babymoon (sort of). That's right, our little birdie has hatched! On March 5, after a marathon birthing, we welcomed Oona Cassini (also known as Oona-bear, Seahorse, Baby-bird, Little squeaker, little Shaver, Blueberry and Tangerine. We are a family of nicknames) into our family. She is absolutely perfect in every way (I know every Mama knows this about their little one!) and has been delighting my days and exciting my nights (perhaps the lack of sleep is affecting my judgment as I write this!). Anyhow, my sewing machine has been silent since Oona arrived on the scene, but I have been cooking and baking as time permits and thought I'd share some of the goodness with you here. * I had to abandon many of my favorite raw treats during pregnancy, because they made me feel HORRIBLE (so sad, since they are high in folate and other goodness). However, I'm happy to report that the juicer is back up and running and I'm adding raw treats back into my diet as I can. For now, I'm avoiding nuts, since I am nursing and think my consumption of almonds and cashews was giving my little Seahorse some horrifically painful gas. For now, kale seems to be a safe choice.

* While I'm nursing, I need to consume 500 extra calories per day. That is 200 more than during pregnancy even! It's not as hard for me to eat more, because I'm ravenous! One thing I've been craving, though trying to consume in a responsible way, is dessert. At present, I'm making only dairy-free desserts and would like to cut back on the sugar as well. Two new favorites for me are baked treats made with olive oil-- who knew this could be so lovely?! The first is a blood orange pound cake I found over at Smitten Kitchen. This is absolutely amazing and I suggest you make it tonight to eat for breakfast tomorrow. The second is a lemon sugar cookie I adapted from the basic sugar cookie recipe in the Martha Stewart Living Cookbook. Instead of butter, I used olive oil. Additionally, I added lemon zest and lemon juice to the mix!

* Another treat I whipped up were these ridiculously delicious chocolate cupcakes and vanilla buttercreamiest frosting. These are both completely vegan (no animal products at all) and completely amazing. I think that most people are either frosting folks or cake folks. Usually, I fall into the frosting category, but this cake is so moist, you really don't even need frosting (did I seriously just type that?!). The cake recipe is from the Veganomicon. It's called the "lower fat deep chocolate bundt cake." I obviously didn't make it a bundt cake, and adjusted the baking time significantly (down to 25 minutes) to compensate for that. If you happen to make this one, I would suggest omitting the vanilla and almond extract unless you have some high-quality stuff. I made it with stuff I had from who knows where and it was over-powering. The frosting is from Oh, She Glows, though I made it with vanilla instead of almond. I think this recipe is DELIGHTFULLY salty, almost like salted caramel. Tasty.

* That's what I've been making in between marathon sessions of staring at my baby and watching the first season of Teen Mom (I wish I were joking). Love to you all!