NEWS + Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with the Best Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

First of all, some news. As you may have noticed, I have not been posting nearly as often this year. At first, this was due to first trimester pregnancy food aversions and fatigue and later on, I had pregnancy complications that kept me on rest in and out of the hospital. A couple weeks ago, Rob and I welcomed our baby boy into the world. He is a small fighter and will be in the hospital for a while, but we are thrilled he is doing so well for now. Between the NICU visits and exclusively pumping for him, life has been filled with fatigue and we know it will only get worse. Please forgive me for my patchy posting schedule.

Because I was in the hospital, my baby shower was cancelled with 2 days notice. My mom, of course, was already ready to party and had these delicious cupcakes prepared for dessert. While I was sad to miss my own baby shower, it meant Rob and I (with some help from my parents and brother) basically ate all the cupcakes. They actually didn’t last that long in our house.

Easy Chana Masala

In the past few months, and last few weeks especially, Rob has had to do a lot more around the house. And when Rob does the cooking, it means the kitchen is filled with curry.

More of a creature of habit than me, Rob has been cooking through our favourites, Dal Bhat, Tamarind Lentils and innumerable batches of Creamy Broccoli Dal.

He must have become bored, because one day he opened up his favourite cookbook, 660 Curries, and made chana masala.

Turkish-Style Spinach with Creamy Tofu Ricotta + Peace & Parsnips cookbook GIVEAWAY

Want to know what I would consider a lot of spinach? 2 pounds.

It can take me a week to finish a clamshell of baby spinach but I I figured 2 bunches of regular spinach would be 2 lbs. After prepping and removing the stems from both bunches, I barely had a pound of spinach.

Still eager to make this dish, I added our emergency package of frozen spinach (the convenience of it being de-stemmed was not lost on me) and while I still didn’t have enough spinach for the recipe, it was certainly plenty of spinach!

Three-Bean Salad with Asparagus and Coconut Dressing + Whole Bowls cookbook GIVEAWAY

Three beans, sweet peas, asparagus, butter beans and pecans with a coconut-lime dressing. YES! Don’t mind if I steal Allison Day‘s gorgeous photo as my lead photo. It is just too pretty to bury inside my post.

This is a fun summer salad that is perfect for your next gathering or more simply, your next meal.