Happy November!

To celebrate the beginning of one of my favorite months and may I be as bold to say, the beginning of the Holiday Season (yay!!) I've decided to share one of my absolute favorite pumpkin recipes. 

Pumpkin Pound Cake

(a "healthified" twist based on the Starbucks favorite)

I am a pumpkin bread fanatic, so believe me when I say, this pumpkin pound cake is the most moist and chewy pumpkin bread recipe that I have found yet. Not to mention it is a lighter choice taking the Starbucks fan favorite recipe with 310 calories and 12 grams of fat and taking it down to a much more appealing 246 calories and limited amounts of fat.

With a health obsessed yet cravings hungry pregnant lady in the house and an even healthier husband to feed, this recipe has been perfect for us. And okay maybe it's not so healthy when you make 3 loaves in a week, like we have, but we have been sharing with family who have loved the recipe just as much as us... so we've called it good. 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. All Purpose Flour

1/2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon

1/2 tsp. Salt

1/2 tsp. Baking Soda

1/2 tsp. Baking Powder

1/4 tsp. Ground Nutmeg

1/4 tsp. Ground Cloves

1 1/2 c. Sugar (I've used white sugar and brown sugar, and both taste great!) 

1/2 c.    Fat Free Vanilla Yogurt 

3           Eggs (You can use 3 egg whites and 1 egg, as well, if you'd like a healthier touch)

1 c.       Canned Pumpkin Puree 

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan, set aside.

2. Combine the flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cloves, and nutmeg, into a mixing bowl. Set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, yogurt, and eggs. Whisk throughly until blended. Stir in the pumpkin puree. 

4. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients. Stir until completely incorporated. 

5. Pour the mixture into the greased loaf pan and bake for 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. (Make sure to especially check the middle, if it is still gooey at 60 minutes, add another 5 minutes onto the cooking time-- this is usually the case when I make it). 

6. Let cool. 

7. EAT! 

I hope you love it just as much as we do. And even as much as I am right now, since I couldn't go through a whole blog post writing about it without eating some myself! 

*recipe adapted from the book Fast Food Fix by Devin Alexander

happy november. 

Our Bay Area Summer in Photos.

Palo Alto, CA was our home for the Summer while Tanner interned for Facebook HQ as a spiffy business intern.

Facebook was more than gracious and set us up in the nicest apartment we had lived in during our newly-married lives on the famous Sandhill Road.

50 minutes from Napa Valley, 30 minutes south of San Fran, 15 minutes from the beach, 5 minute walk to Stanford Campus, and minutes away from something cool to do (and really good food) in every direction, it was a dream.

...but, we probably went on 1/4 of the adventures that we wanted to because this mama was sick as a dog all day everyday. Cue the sad snoopy tune from Arrested Development right about...yep now.

But let these photos be our proof that we did indeed go on some fun adventures. We went to cool places, we did some cool things, and we ate some darn good food (which anyone who truly knows me, knows this was the most important), and we made memories even if I was hurling in most of them.

Thanks for the good times Bay Area.

celebrate.

We celebrated two years of marriage in July while we were in Northern California. 

TWO YEARS, people! 

July 1st, 2011 will always be one of the absolute best days of my life and because of that we like to partyyyy it up when it comes around. So, like any special day in our house we (or maybe just me -- Tanner's learning) love to make it a week long celebration. 

To kick it off, we headed to the one and only Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay. The views and the atmosphere were breathtaking.

And that sunset mixed with the ocean and those cliffs... no words, people. Good thing I happen to have a video right?! And those bagpipes playing in the background...unreal. 

The actual day of our anniversary fell on Monday. I think that should be illegal, or we should at least get free passes from the realities of Monday but we still partied hard and celebrated at the cutest italian restaurant in downtown Palo Alto. Perfect patio weather, perfect food, and perfect man. What could be better?

One word: BEYONCE. My husband loves me so much and is so secure with our relationship (and his manliness) that he was totally okay to share our anniversary with my woman-crush the Queen B herself and surprised me with tickets to her Mrs. Carter show in San Jose. Besides being a little too over stimulating for this nauseous mama to be, it was a blast and just the way to end our 2 year anniversary celebration.  

I love that man of mine. Here's to many many many more celebrations with you, my Tan man.