A cake.... with a secret

I made a cake.

It was really tasty.

It has a secret.

We had some friends over for dinner the other night, which gave me a great excuse to try something new for dessert.

I'd seen this recipe on Joy the Baker recently and gave it a try, with a few adjustments to accommodate my husband's dairy intolerance. Plus, I don't have a bundt pan so I just did normal boring cake.

The secret?

It's got cannelini beans in it! What? Crazy.

The addition of the beans makes up for some of the butter.... and you totally can't tell.

We ate it all up, then once I was sure everyone enjoyed it, I told them the secret ingredient.

Tasty!

Just the right amount of underdone in the middle.

The icing I used was from the Joy the Baker Cookbook: Vegan chocolate buttercream. I don't usually like icing that much, but this one is amazing, I love it.

So there you go, dairy-free cake with beans and vegan icing.... and so good!

PS. I found this website helpful in figuring out non-dairy substitutes. I used olive oil-based Nuttelex instead of butter, which is less chemical-y than other Margerines.

Blah

Today is a bit of a depressed day.

38 C (100F)

Kitchen a mess even though I've spent the last 3 days cleaning it.

No energy to clean said mess.

Then I got grumpy at my poor husband

At least I did Yoga today, that was good.

I did Yoga 5 hours ago and am still in my yoga pants and haven't showered. Never mind though, I did yoga.

here's a picture that is a bit happier than me:

that's a Shrek doll one of the ladies I work with dresses up like a baby and puts in the shopping trolley. Makes me so happy every time.

Oops

Well, seems like I haven't posted for a while. Maybe I'll give this another try.

I want to take this in a new direction: I want to talk about how I'm redefining my view of what life is supposed to look like. I'm learning to love my roots but not be defined by them, to figure out exactly who I am. It's taken a long time and I've felt really beaten down a lot, but I feel ready to start again, I guess.

A lot of that will be just daily stuff - I want to share how I'm getting into gardening, chicken-rearing, cooking, knitting and all sorts of things. And I might share how I'm figuring out how to be real with myself, other people, and my spirituality. We'll see where it goes.