Weekend in Carmel - Point Lobos

I posted last week about our mini babymoon weekend in Carmel.  

On one of the days Dan spent a few hours with his best friend and old roommate watching college football.  After a rather large breakfast at La Playa Hotel, I decided to skip football and go for a walk.  {The hotel had made-to-order waffle and omelet bars and I tried both!}

Just 10 minutes south of downtown Carmel is Point Lobos.  We spend a lot of time in Carmel but I'd never been there and after seeing a post on Amanda's blog, I knew I had to go. Funny, how sometimes it takes a newbie to the area to show you something new about a place you've been a million times before.

I stuck to some pretty easy trails that led straight out to the water and just spent an hour or so there. 

Hikes like this always make me feel so lucky I live in California.  It's just so pretty here!   

When I have more time, I'll definitely head back to some of the longer trails.

~LMD

Weekend in Carmel - Babymoon

A few weekends ago we attended the wedding of some very close friends in Carmel.  Since I absolutely adore Carmel, we decided to make a long weekend of it and call it our babymoon.  Hopefully, we'll have a couple weekend mini-babymoons :)

We stayed at La Playa Carmel in downtown Carmel which was amazing. It's walking distance to the adorable downtown and beach.  We had an ocean view room so we left the windows open and woke up to the sounds of the ocean. 

The grounds of the hotel were absolutely gorgeous.  

Sunday morning we woke up and took a walk through the neighborhood and to the beach.

The homes in downtown Carmel are some of my favorites.  They look like they could be straight out of a fairytale.

And it helps that they're just a couple blocks from the beach.

{18/19 weeks pregnant and after a very large and very delicious breakfast at La Playa Carmel}

The best part of the weekend was celebrating the marriage of these two at their gorgeous wedding and rehearsal dinner.  

The rehearsal dinner was held at the grooms tasting room Caraccioli Cellars in downtown Carmel.  A place not to be missed! 

~LMD

One year later...

Yesterday was our first wedding anniversary.  We spent it driving 9 hours home from Oregon where we had spent the last few days at our friends' gorgeous wedding. 

We also announced some exciting news to our family and friends.

LMD

Strawberry Oat Muffins {recipe}

We hosted Mother's Day this weekend, and I'm starting to realize you end up with loads of leftovers when hosting.  I really dislike letting food go to waste. So last night after making a delicious crust-less quiche thrown together from all our leftovers {recipe to come!}, I saw the flat of strawberries in our fridge and knew I had to figure out something to do with them.

  

Amanda's recipe has been my go to muffin recipe of late.  I switch it up depending on what fruit I have on hand and I've been substituting the olive oil with coconut oil that gives them a much more decadent taste.

I love flipping through Marina's recipe book and saw a muffin recipe with rolled oats, found them in my pantry and decided to give it a go. 

These muffins were quite possibly the best I've ever made.  I'm disappointed I only made 1 batch.

Strawberry Oat Muffins

{makes about 1 dozen}

inspired by and adapted from Amanda and Marina

Ingredients

1 cup + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1/2 cup rolled oats

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 egg

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup greek yogurt

1 cup raw sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cup fresh strawberries, chopped

raw sugar, for sprinkling on top

It's best to make this recipe by hand instead of using a stand mixer.  Your muffins will come out lighter and fluffier that way.

Directions

Preheat over to 400 degrees F.

In large bowl combine flour, rolled oats, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. 

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg with melted coconut oil (make sure the oil isn't too hot or it will cook the egg).  Stir in the greek yogurt.  Add sugar and vanilla and mix until combined.

Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour wet ingredients into it.  Using a rubber spatula, give it 3 stirs.  Add in chopped strawberries (less 1/8 cup), and stir until batter is just barely combined.  Some dry flour may be visible - that's okay! You don't want to over mix.

Fill a greased muffin pan {lined or not} with the batter to the top for each cup. Place the remaining strawberries on top of each muffin and gently push into the batter.  Generously sprinkle raw sugar over the top of each muffin.

Place in 400 degree F oven. Turn oven down to 375 degrees F and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown on top and a cake tester or toothpick comes out dry.  

If using liners, immediately remove them from the pan and place them on a cooling rack. Otherwise let them sit a minute or two in the pan and then place on a cooling rack.

{Placing in a hotter oven will help the muffins rise, giving you a lighter fluffier muffin.}

Enjoy!

~LMD

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Easter 2014

I have a pinterest board named 'this is the dream I'm working on'.  I was inspired to create it after reading posts from here and here. I love finding pins that belong on this board. I'm probably even a bit too discerning with what I'll pin to it.

Last weekend we hosted Easter for our families.  This was the first party we've hosted together, the first as a married couple, and the first time having everyone over to our new home. Both our our mothers are amazing hostesses and amazing cooks.  Needless to say, I was a bit nervous.

By no small miracle, all of the food was ready at the same time. 

Dan and I were seated next to each other at the head of the table.  

I had the perfect view of our families around the table.

{OUR EASTER TABLE}

There was a moment at dinner where everyone was talking and eating and laughing, 

I sat back and looked around the table and had overwhelming feelings of contentment and joy.  

I was right smack in the middle of a life that I had dreamed of. 

I paused for a few moments and let myself experience it; hopefully locking away that image, feeling incredibly grateful and then jumped right back in to eating and laughing with our families.

LMD