Last night I came home from baseball to find this!

I walked in and saw a shiny new bike with a big bow on it – an early birthday present from Adam =) My birthday is two weeks away. We had been wanting to buy bikes since we moved to our new house, since there is so much around us that we can bike to! The beach, the stores/mall, parks, gym etc. We had been looking around and trying to decide what type we wanted, and settled on wanting a hybrid bike because we aren’t exactly going to be off-roaing and in the mountains so there was no need for a mountain bike. A hybrid was perfect because it’s lightweight, with skinny tires that make for a great road bike with easy transitions.

I was reminded of when I was probably 10 or 11, and my parents bought me a new bike for my birthday. I was out in our front yard, and my dad brought the pink bike – with a basket and tassels around from the side of the house to surprise me. I remember being so excited to have a new bike – and then trying to ride it around on the driveway.

This year is a milestone birthday (in our family at least) – apparently the age 25 does not warrant a number birthday card, it goes from 21 to 30 with greeting cards. 25 isn’t important enough to have its own card. My mom said 25 was the last ‘big’ birthday celebration she would throw for us – because once we were 30 it would be up to our spouse to plan and throw us a party {although with Adam I’m still not sure that would happen ;) } — Although she also said she would forgo the birthday party and send me to Vegas this summer if I wanted (which, yes, I do want.) I plan on having a birthday party at our house with my friends as well, and then probably cake with the family (which I’ll make for myself of course.)

I feel as though 25 is a big birthday – a 1/4 of your life has passed, you now enter your ‘mid to late’ 20s. Eeek! Thankfully Adam is 4 years older than me, so I can always feel much younger ;) hehe. I think a shiny new bike for my 25th is a great present! And I’m so excited to use it all summer long.

I actually made this cake for our mother’s day brunch a couple weekends ago because one of my mom’s favourite desserts is carrot cake. However, I came across this amazing vegan carrot cake recipe from one of my favourite sites Healthy Happy Life. I made the Kale salad from her site last week as well.

It’s amazing – dense and refreshing due to carrots and orange juice, as well as satisfyingly sweet with little sugar added. I’m a huge carrot cake fan too – and this is 100 times better than the sugar loaded, flour filled versions I used to make. Everyone loved it and I would definitely make this again.

I used coconut milk and added coconut to the mix, because my traditional carrot cake usually has it, and it gives it a subtle coconut flavour. This would be a great cake to bring to a picnic or pot luck this summer – because you don’t need a fork and knife to eat it. Cut into squares and serve!

Vegan Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Wheat/Gluten Free
Recipe adapted from here

Carrot Cake:
Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups homemade oat flour (made from GF/WheatFree rolled oats)
• 3-4 Tbsp ground flax seed
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 Tbsp baking powder
• 2 1/2 cups non-dairy milk (I used unsweetened coconut milk)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Zest of one orange
• 3 Tbsp fresh orange juice (from orange you zested)
• 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup raw walnuts, chopped
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
• 2 1/2 cups chopped shredded carrots (5-6 carrots)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees – prepare 9×13 pan with cooking spray.

2. Place oats into food processor and process until fine oat flour – about 1 minute. Shred carrots – I used my food processor grater attachment, then switched to my blade attachment to create smaller shredded carrots.

3. In stand mixer with paddle attachment, add oat flour, flax seed, cinnamon, and baking powder and mix slightly.

4. On low, add speed add the coconut milk, vanilla, orange juice, and orange zest. Mix until combined.

5. Melt coconut oil and add in the sugar, mix slightly. Add to mixer / wet ingredients.

6. Fold in the carrots, nuts, coconut, and raisins on low speed.

The batter at this point will be thick and textured, think ‘chunky’ – not smooth like  a regular cake batter. This is fine.

7. Pour the batter into cake pan and smooth down with a spatula. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes – or until the edges brown and start to pull away from the pan.

Once baked, allow to cool completely and come to room temperature on counter.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 8 ounces vegan cream cheese
• 4 ounces Earth Balance, vegan butter
• 1 1/4 cups pitted dates

While the cake is baking, you can add all your frosting ingredients to a food processor. Process until smooth. Using a spatula, scoop the frosting into a small bowl and place in the fridge to chill.

* I didn’t have vegan cream cheese, so I just used my regular cream cheese frosting *

Allow cake to fully cool before spreading frosting. Frost with cream cheese – sprinkle top with walnuts.

I placed this in the fridge overnight before we ate it, tightly sealed with aluminum foil. Serve Chilled.

This cake will stay good for up to one week, covered. 

I’ve found a new TV show addiction. The Doctors. I’m obsessed – Thanks to PVR I can record it and watch every episode. I love the daily health tips, medical information and my fav, TMI Tuesdays.

Despite having a baking blog I eat 80% healthy most of the time. A lot of people wonder how I stay in shape and still maintain a baking blog. I usually say that I have very happy friends and family who get to eat all of the things seen on here, that way I’m not stuck at home with 2 dozen cupcakes or a cake. I also work out regularly at the gym, at home, and keep an active lifestyle such as going on daily walks with my dog and Adam too. I also currently play on a women’s rep fast pitch team with 2-3 games per week. I joke that I’m a crazy fast walker, and even at 5’5 I can out walk Adam, who is 6’3. Let’s just say I love to walk, and could walk forever.

My diet also consists of allergy-friendly foods. After finding out what I was really allergic to last year, I changed my diet in a big way. Therefore I can easily eliminate the foods I can’t eat, which also open up healthier options for me. I have a wheat/corn/dairy/egg allergy. So, I eliminated a lot of breads and starchy carbs, along with corn and fillers found in lots of processed foods. We eat things like zucchini pasta and burgers without a bun, and eliminated dairy all together (no cheese except goat cheese occasionally, and almond/coconut milk). Lately I’ve been subbing coconut flour, almond meal, homemade wheat-free oat flour, and rice flour in all of my baking. I’ve also included coconut oil for healthy fats. You can find recipes like wheat-free Banana Brownies here, Wheat-Free Dairy-Free and Gluten Free chocolate chip cookies here, almost-vegan cowboy cookies, paleo pumpkin pie, 5-ingredient date bars, protein pods and dairy-free Banana Ice Cream here. I also eat out at a restaurant less than 5 times a month probably, which limits my processed, and high-fats intake which restaurants use.

For breakfast I usually have a green smoothie, or oatmeal with banana cinnamon and almond butter. On the weekends I wait until I’m hungry to eat breakfast, which is sometimes lunch. I’m not a big breakfast person. I’ll have fresh fruit like cantaloupe or a banana sometimes and that’s it. I’ve made some two-ingredient banana pancakes before, you can get the recipe here if you love big breakfasts! When I’m feeling in the mood on a Sunday for a brunch feel, I sometimes make a big frittata for Adam and I as well, you can get the recipe for that here.

For lunch pretty much every. single. day, I eat some sort of salad or veggies. I’m not a big condiment person (aside from mustard and ketchup on burgers), so I don’t overload my salads with heavy dressings, and I never buy veggie dip – just eat those bad boys on their own! I also have a dairy allergy so it keeps a lot of those saturated fats away such as mayo and heavy cream based dips/dressings.

Most nights during the winter we would eat soup (pumpkin turkey chili, kale and bean soup etc) which are chalk full of vegetables. In the spring and summer we switch gears and it becomes salad & BBQ weather. Which is great because Adam isn’t much of a cook, but he mans the BBQ during the summer which frees me up.

This salad is inspired by one of my favourite Vegan and healthy living blogs, Healthy Happy Life by Kathy Patalsky. I have been silently stalking her website for months but hadn’t tried any of the recipes yet – and now I’ve made two in the last few days. This salad is Ah-mazing. I LOVE a good salad, and love kale. I usually toss kale into smoothies, but Adam wasn’t a fan of it in regular salads because of it’s harder texture, but you just have to ‘massage’ it or marinate it for a while to soften it up, while at the same time being crisp and fresh. Kale is also a POWERHOUSE of nutrients packed into a single cup serving.

Image via HHL

We bought a new BBQ last week and we had to ‘christen’ it. Adam and I are both super stoked on the new BBQ. We had both our parents over for dinner and made chicken legs (marinated in Trader Joe’s Soyaki sauce marinade) along with potatoes and this salad.

This salad is so, so good. Definitely a great summer salad to keep on file for pot-lucks and summer get togethers. The  best thing is that it gets better as it sits, so you can actually make a salad the night before and it’ll be good to go for dinner. I made it in the morning before dinner. Another favourite summer salad of mine is Marinated Quinoa Veggie Salad.

Power Kale Salad
dressing based off this recipe here and here

Ingredients for Salad:

• 1-2 bunches of Kale, washed and chopped with stems discarded
• 1 zucchini, julienned/shredded
• 2-3 carrots, julienned/shredded
• 1 medium red onion, diced
• shredded brussels sprouts
• sunflower seeds
• pumpkin seeds
• cranberries/raisins

In large bowl, combine the zucchini and carrot. If you don’t own a mandolin, you can chop the zucchini and carrot as well or grate them.

Top with onion, chopped kale and brussels sprouts. Set aside.

*Note: I add the raisins and seeds just before I’m going to serve the salad to keep them crunchy*

Ingredients for Salad Dressing:

Tangy Tahini Dressing

• 2  1/2 Tbsp creamy tahini
• 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 3 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2-3 Tsp agave syrup
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. Olive oil

In measuring cup combine all dressing ingredients, and whisk with fork to combine. You can add more/less of anything if you want it thicker, or if you like your salad heavily dressed. Drizzle on top of prepared salad and mix together completely.

Place prepared salad in the fridge covered, for at least an hour or more, or overnight. When you are going to serve it, toss in the seeds and cranberries. Feel free to mix in other nuts/add ins as well.

Even Better Topped with Banana Ice Cream!