Happy Mother's Day!

This year marks the 1st Mother's Day for me as a Mom and it was a great day! Oscar made sure I woke up to flowers, chocolates, a gift card to my favorite boutique/gift shop, those awesome recordable cards from Hallmark with a special greeting from my son and him AND a very large breakfast (it's funny how husbands cook the amount of food they would like to eat) of pancakes with strawberries & whip cream, eggs, bacon, orange juice and coffee! He did such a great job! Thank you honey for making my 1st Mother's Day perfect!

We spent the afternoon getting our organic vegetable and herb garden planted. This is something I've wanted to do since reading Animal Vegetable Miracle and I'm so happy everything is finally planted. It's so rewarding to see the fruits... err... I mean the vegetables of your labor.

We planted three different types of tomatoes, two types of bell peppers, two types of lettuce, spinach, jalapenos, snap peas, artichokes, celery, leeks, walla walla onions, basil, cilantro and parsley. I still want to add lemon-verbena and oregano.

Here is my yummy heirloom lettuce up close. Crossing my fingers that everything gets harvested. Normally I do a ton of research to make sure everything is perfect before I start a project but this time I just went for it. Oscar and I went to the nursery, bought what we like to eat and threw it in the ground. Here's to hopin'!



Even Ozzie joined in on the fun and helped water the veggies once everything was planted. Although I'm not quite sure why my husband has him dressed in pajama bottoms here but who really knows what goes on while Mommy is busy outside in the garden.

After a long afternoon in the garden, I tried this yummy new recipe from Bethenny Bakes as a special but somewhat healthy dessert for us tonight.

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 16 cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup oat flour

3/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/3 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup raw sugar

1/3 cup canola oil

1/3 cup plain soy milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 ripe banana, cut into small pieces (although next time I think I'll use the whole banana)

1/4 cup chopped walnuts or another favorite nut

1/3 cup semisweet vegan chocolate chips (not gonna lie, we used regular old organic chocolate chips not vegan chips)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine first 6 ingredients (through sugar) in a bowl.

Whisk together oil, soy milk and vanilla in a separate bowl.

Add wet mixture to dry ingredients; stir to combine.

Fold in banana, walnuts and chocolate chips.

Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Scoop dough onto pan with a small ice cream scoop.

Bake 25 minutes or until golden brown, turning baking sheet halfway through.

Let cool on a wire rack.

Calories 138, Fat 8g, Cholesterol 0mg, Protein 2g, Carbohydrate 16g, Sugars 9g, Fiber 1g, Iron 1mg, Sodium 114mg, Calcium 16mg

If you read my blog, you know that I've been obsessed with oatmeal cookies lately. These were really good, especially for being a little better for you than your average cookie. I love Bethenny on the Real Housewives of NY and was excited to try her recipe.

It was a perfect day spent with my two boys! Pretty low key since my Mom is out of the country on vacation. Ozzie made sure to call Nanay and wish her Happy Mother's Day too. Happy Mother's Day to all, hope your day was as great as mine!