I have some exciting news! Clif and I are expecting a little girl at the beginning of August. We held off telling people for a while, but now the secret is officially out. I’m 21 weeks along and feeling great, and as you can see above and below, the belly is starting to make it’s appearance. I’m mostly excited, and a tad bit nervous for the future… and I am now taking any mom/baby advice you might have for me.:)

My mom introduced this recipe to me after finding it in a cookbook she recently bought called “One Pot” (unfortunately I can’t find a link to the book at the moment). It’s full of delicious looking soups, stews and stir fry’s and though this is the first recipe we’ve tried from this book, we’re impressed so far. This soup has an amazing combination of spices including cumin, coriander and cinnamon, and the addition of the semi-sweet chocolate really completes it. It may sound odd, but if you haven’t had chocolate in a beef stew before, it’s high-time you do. Yum.

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Sarah Hope has been a dear friend of mine for the past 4 years, and in addition to being a lovely person, she’s one of the best cook/bakers I know.  She lives in Charleston now with her sweet husband (and their soon-to-be-arriving baby girl!) and we only get to see each other a few times a year, but whenever we do we always enjoy trying out different foods and recipes together. When I was visiting her last summer, I tried her black bean hummus…amaaazing. I was caught completely off guard when she told me that her secret ingredient was soymilk. Really? Soymilk? Sounds strange…but I was surprised in what a difference it made. She has a sweet food/life blog, where she recently posted her famous recipe…so now that the secret is officially out, I’m so excited to share it!

Also, for you lovers of all things home and beauty, my super-talented designer friend Eileen has recently posted a giveaway on her blog! She’s giving away a $30 gift card for the ruby+stella etsy shop, they have some amaazing pillows with really fun designs, so check it out and enter! You may just be the lucky winner.:)

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As you may remember from me mentioning in a previous post, Madhava Agave Nectar very generously sent me a selection of their products to test out in my recipes. I’ve been very pleased with their agave, which doesn’t surprise me considering the great reviews Madhava has received. I’ve had a lot of fun experimenting with different recipes and I’m excited to share some of my results with you!

Last week I had some lemons on hand, and despite the rainy cold weather, I wanted to try out some sorbet.  I used the light agave and it worked wonderfully with the sorbet, and I liked how I could omit the sugar completely. I didn’t have any mint leaves on hand, but I’m thinking next time trying out lemon and crushed mint sorbet? Either way, I’m loving this refreshingly sweet & tangy dessert.:)

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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m so ready for spring. We had a very brief glimpse of warm, sunny weather, but it seems like winters come back all over again. Our little produce market around here has drastically shortened their hours (understandably so) due to the slim pickings we currently have, and even when they are open it’s a sad little selection to choose from. Does anyone else feel uninspired in the kitchen? Please give me some tips for surviving till spring if you know of any!:)

One thing I can always count on making year-round is some variation of banana bread. It’s one of my favorites because it’s simple, delicious and comforting. I threw in some chopped up dark chocolate in this loaf and in my opinion, it’s better than ever.

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