Strawberry Streusel Muffins with Lime & Cardamom

I haven't been baking lately. As a matter of fact, I feel as if I've been avoiding it. The activity that brought me so much joy and provided a form of escape and stress release had until today gone by the wayside. I think perhaps the exhaustion that comes with my current job at Whole Foods dictates a lot of what I do, or rather don't do. It feels like such a chore to bake myself something when I could be doing other things I seem to think are more important lately. Since it's spring, and therefore a time of renewal and detox, I've been trying to re-prioritize and spend time doing things I really love. I had almost forgotten what the start of spring meant...

...STRAWBERRIES ARE BACK IN SEASON!!! Well, down here in Texas strawberries are in season, so I must apologize to those of you who are still getting snow this week and utter a big WTF on your behalf. I had this past Saturday off so I decided to make it a priority to go to the farmers market and see if I could pick some up. For me, strawberries are the best thing about the start of spring and I can't believe I nearly forgot about them. I can only use this as an example to urge you to take a minute to sit down and reevaluate what you are doing. Are you missing anything that brings you joy? And if so, by God make time to do it. It's that simple. 

I've already eaten my fair share of raw, sliced up strawberries since ferreting them home yesterday, but I wanted to bake up a little something with them, too. I decided to end the baking hiatus with a lovely recipe I've had bookmarked for a while. The recipe is one of Renee's from the beautiful and inspiring blog Will Frolic for Food. Have you visited her blog? If not you should and then be prepared to get lost in her beautiful recipes and writing. She posted a recipe for vegan/gluten free blueberry muffins with oat streusel back in chilly February when frozen berries were as close as you could get to satisfying a juicy berry craving. Since I didn't make many changes to her original recipe, I'll list my substitutions below and provide a link to the original. That will give you a chance to see her beautiful work and perhaps find some new recipes you want to try :)

Strawberry Streusel Muffins with Lime & Cardamom (vegan, gluten free)

original recipe found here via Will Frolic for Food

**my changes: I used diced fresh strawberries in place of the frozen blueberries, coconut oil in place of the olive oil, and the juice and zest of a lime in place of the lemon. I baked mine for a bit longer at 30 minutes total.