via Instagram @whitneynewby

Is it a crime to post a recipe without a close-up photo of the finished product? Perhaps. But it seems like every time I bake this pumpkin cake, it's gone before I have a chance to take a real photo. This picture of Liam gobbling up his third piece straight out of the oven will have to suffice, at least for now.

This is a gluten-free, dairy-free, refined sugar-free recipe that I can feel good about feeding my toddler (and the rest of us). For the past five years, I've used Pamela's Ultimate Baking & Pancake Mix for nearly all of my gluten free baking. But when a friend recently gave me a bag of Namaste Gluten Free Perfect Flour Blend to try, I was hooked. While Pamela's contains a small amount of dairy, sugar, and tree nuts (almond meal), Namaste does not. I actually like the final product more, and it's less expensive. Score and score.

This recipe was adapted from Namaste's website, where I replaced the canola oil with coconut oil and the sugar with coconut sugar, which I also purchase in bulk from Amazon. The end result is a super moist, not overly sweet pumpkin-flavored quickbread that can easily be made into muffins or a bundt cake. You could also add chopped apples, chocolate chips, or a pecan topping to dress it up a bit.

GF Pumpkin Bread - adapted from NamasteFoods.com

1 cup Namaste Gluten Free Perfect Flour Blend
1 cup Coconut sugar
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp. Coconut oil, melted
1/2 tsp. Vanilla extract
1 cup Canned pumpkin
2 Eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 tsp. Baking powder
1 tsp. Baking soda
1/8 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 tsp. Ginger

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 8" x 8" baking pan. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ground ginger, and nutmeg. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl combine sugar and melted coconut oil. With a wire whisk blend in vanilla and pumpkin, then beat in eggs one at a time.
3. Gradually beat in flour mixture.
4. Spread batter into prepared 8" x 8" pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.

How we're *trying* to stay healthy during cold & flu season.

Four years ago, I wrote this post on "how we're staying healthy during cold & flu season." Looking back on it now, it's obviously written pre-kids because, with little kids in the house, staying perpetually healthy often feels impossible. Liam is in some form of childcare with other toddlers at least 3 times a week and it's almost inevitable that he brings home a cold or virus every couple months and generously shares it with us. When we moved to Raleigh last year, it felt like one of us was sick every few weeks. So this year, we're taking action! Or at least trying. (I write this as Liam and I are, ironically, on the tail end of a cold.)

I've updated and expanded the info in my original post to include what we're doing with Liam, as well as what I hope to do in the future. 

1. Wash your hands with soap and water. In the antibacterial hand gel craze, this may not be so obvious. While hand sanitizer works well if you have no access to soap and water, and while it does kill most microbes, it doesn't physically destroy them and wash them away from the skin's surface like good old-fashioned soap and water does. Most hand sanitizers are composed of mostly alcohol (60-95%) which does destroy bacteria, but it also strips away the outermost layer of skin and dries out your hands (which has to do with point #2). Also, the CDC notes that the most common infections are typically viral (not bacterial) and therefore are not killed by the active ingredients in hand gel. Bottom line? Use hand sanitizer in a pinch, but not as a replacement for good ole soap and water. If I've just picked up Liam from childcare and he wants a snack in the car where we have no access to soap and water, I put antibacterial on his hands and hope for the best. Otherwise, I always try to find a sink. Also, making your own natural hand sanitizer with essential oils looks intriguing, though I haven't tried it myself.

2. Moisturize your hands. Your skin is your number one protection against disease. So we have to be careful when we have wounds or openings to the skin that allow bacteria or viruses direct access to our bodies. In the winter, when your hands get really dry and sometimes crack, those little cracks are a weak spot for your immune system because they allow microbes in. No wonder it's so much easier to get sick in the dry winter, right? So keeping them moisturized protects them (and you) from disease.

3. Elderberry syrup. It's our secret weapon. I learned about it several years ago on Passionate Homemaking and Shawn and I have used it with a lot of success. This Fall and Winter, we'll be taking one to two teaspoons of it every morning as an immunity booster. Also, if you're at the beginning of a cold or infection, you can take 1 teaspoon every 2-3 hours and you'll get over it much quicker. It's powerful stuff! We had been buying bottles of it from Whole Foods, but just recently started making our own (which is much cheaper) with this tutorial from Mountain Rose Herbs, which is where I buy our elder berries. You can also purchase elderberries on Amazon. It's all natural, works amazingly well to fight cold and flu, and actually tastes really good. I think kids would really love it! Try it out! I just made this year's batch of elderberry syrup and made sure to use raw, local honey this time around - which has added health benefits for seasonal allergy sufferers. And from the research I did, raw honey has no more risks than processed honey for children or pregnant women. I also put 1 teaspoon of elderberry syrup into Liam's sippy cup in the morning and he doesn't mind the taste at all. When we were both recently sick, we took a teaspoon every few hours and got over our colds very quickly (in less than 3 days). 

4. Flu shots. I know this is such a controversial topic, but because I'm pregnant and because of my background as a registered nurse (and the complications I often saw of people having the flu), we're all getting flu shots this year. I've personally never gotten the flu after getting a flu shot, and because the flu can be pretty dangerous in pregnancy, it's what my midwife strongly recommends. We do always opt for the preservative-free shot which can usually be found at Walgreens (just call ahead to check). This means that it does not contain mercury as some flu shots do. It is refrigerated, and I think it stings a little more, but it feels well worth it to me.

What are some tips you have on staying healthy during the cold/flu season?

P.S. I'm tempted to jump onto the essential oils bandwagon. I've read so many positive things about them, just haven't made the leap. Worth it? Any specific brands you'd recommend? 

DIY: Cozy baby blanket in under an hour.

I'm kicking it into full gear as far as baby crafting goes. This little project couldn't be easier, even for beginning seamstresses, and I love how it turned out. Fresh, modern, but so useful. 

Once you've pre-washed and dried the fabrics (quilting cotton and chenille), you can easily make this baby blanket in under an hour. The finished size is approximately 34" x 41". 

Supplies: 
1 yard cotton quilting fabric*
1 yard coordinating chenille fabric**
Sewing machine
Scissors
Thread
Sewing pins
Iron & ironing board
Rotary mat, cutter, and ruler (optional)

*The cotton quilting fabric I used is called Desert Blanket in Desert from the Arizona line by April Rhodes. I absolutely love the entire line - so current, delicious colors, and mostly gender neutral.
** I purchased the cream chenille fabric from Joann Fabrics.

Instructions:
1. Wash and dry both fabrics, according to manufacturer instructions, which can be found on the end of the fabric bolt.
2. Iron the quilting cotton and trim the fabric down to 35" x 42". I used a rotary mat and cutter which makes things quick and precise, but you can also measure and cut using a ruler and scissors.
3. Lay your trimmed quilting fabric on top of the chenille fabric, straightening and smoothing as much as possible.

 4. Trim the chenille fabric all the way around the quilting fabric to create two equally sized pieces.

 5. Place fabrics right sides together and pin all the way around, trying not to stretch the chenille fabric as you go.

 6. Using a 1/2" seam allowance, sew the two fabrics together all the way around, leaving a 6-inch opening on one side to turn the blanket right side out. It's important to use the quilting fabric as your guide for sewing as the chenille is much stretchier and shifts around easily.

 7. Turn the blanket right side out and, if needed, use a warm iron to press the quilting cotton. (Do not iron chenille.) Using a 1/4" or 3/8" seam allowance, topstitch all the way around the four sides of the blanket, making sure to enclose the 6" opening you left to turn the blanket.

8. Trim your threads and enjoy! The blanket is machine washable.

I wish I had a newborn baby to model this blanket, but I will have to wait until January for that.

Grateful (iPhone version).

It's been a difficult, draining week on many fronts, which is why the blog has been so quiet. But instead of droning on about the whys, I want to focus on what I am grateful for this week. Because gratitude turns what we have into enough. True?

+ I am grateful for October. Quite possibly my favorite month of the year. I never tire of pumpkin spice, cooler weather, and crunchy leaves underfoot.

+ For this verse. "All sufficiency in all things at all times." You know what that means? That even on the hardest days, "I can't even..." or "I give up" aren't options. God has made his grace abound to us so that we can. 

+ For a new pumpkin cake recipe that's gluten free, dairy free, and refined sugar free that we gobbled up in two sittings. What a gift to eat yummy things even when your family's dietary needs feel so high maintenance. (I'll post the recipe soon.)

+ For the opportunity to serve alongside my family, even when it feels like more work than the good it's possibly doing.

+ For the friendliest little guy I've ever met (and possibly the most persistent). He didn't really get that the older man was asleep and kept saying, "Hiiiii. How yooo?" 

+ For matching plaid and a daddy-son relationship that grows tighter and sweeter by the day.

+ For 26 weeks and for women in the grocery store who whisper, "You look so beautiful." That's always an appropriate thing to say to an exhausted pregnant lady. Always.

+ For a tiny girl inside who already knows her daddy's voice and kicks like crazy when he comes close.

What are you thankful for this week?

Friday Five.

1. Happy Friday! It's been a full, productive week at home, despite a painful tailbone injury that hardly seems to be healing. (The doctor reassured me that within 2 months it would heal. 2 months?!) Anyway, I've had to stand 80% of the time to avoid pain, which has meant a cleaner-than-normal house, preparing freezer meals for when baby arrives, and an extraordinary amount of nesting. Like... a third of our Christmas gifts are already purchased and wrapped.

Speaking of gifts, Liam turns two this month! For one of his gifts, I sewed him his first backpack. I figured it would be helpful for him to carry to "school" (Bible study) and church with his snack and sippy cup and diapers when the new baby arrives, so that the diaper bag is freed up for her things. I used Made By Rae's Toddler Backpack pattern, which was easy to follow and makes a really adorable bag. The exterior fabric is a new Nate Berkus home decor print I found at Joann's that's apparently "soil and stain resistant." Yes, please.  I can't wait to see him wearing it.

2. This recipe for Old Fashioned Apple Crisp by Ina Garten is our family's favorite. It's full of sugar and butter, which is probably why it's so delicious. (You can easily make it gluten free like we do by substituting gluten free oats and gluten free flour. No one will be able to tell the difference.)

3. As someone who loves the city and misses it daily (specifically Chicago and New York), this article by Kathy Keller on why the city is a wonderful place to raise children is so enlightening and encouraging. We don't have plans to move from Raleigh, but if we did, a large city would be our top choice. And we'd re-visit this article a dozen times. I love her insight.

4. Did you know you can freeze fresh spinach to use for smoothies? We always buy spinach or kale from Costco and rarely get through an entire carton, so this is budget life changing. I especially love the idea of making spinach cubes to put straight into a green smoothie. Exactly what we'll be doing.

5. Have you stumbled on this article: If My Child Marries Yours? If you're in a similar season of motherhood, brace yourself for the tears. Just beautiful.

Anything you've learned around the web this week that you want to share? Comment away. And have a wonderful weekend!