While I’m taking a little more time to be with family and recharge, I have a guest post by Elise from Hungry, Hungry, Hippie – one of the first blogs I ever read, and still one of my very favorites. Meeting Elise is on my bucket list…and this post just might the kick in the pants I need to get myself out to Southern California and visit (or move in with) her. Thank you, Elise!

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Dearest Yes, I Want Cake readers,

Let me first lower your expectations: I don’t have cute baby photos.  Or a Crossfit workout.  Or a delicious cake recipe. 

Katie has me there.  

But I do have this. 

Truthfully, I never thought I’d be the kind of girl who would make a pie from scratch.  A vegan pie no less.  It’s just so…domestic.  

But every once in a while I surprise myself.  And now you get to benefit from the anomaly.  

Enjoy!

Double Pie Dough

[vegan, adapted from Vegan Pie in the Sky]

• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/3 cup cold Earth Balance/coconut oil
• 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp soy yogurt (I used plain but vanilla would work too)
• 1/4 cup almond milk

Mix dry ingredients together and then cut in the cold butter/oil in chunks.  Use your hands to break up the chunks without overworking the dough.  It will be mostly floury with random butter bits.  That’s fine, though, don’t worry.  Next add the yogurt and almond milk.  Using your hands, mix and fold the dough until it has just come together.  Then cover the bowl in saran wrap and put it in the fridge to chill (at least 30 minutes). 

Apple & Cranberry Pie Filling

[vegan] 

• 1 really large apple (or 2 medium sized apples) 
• 1 cup cranberries (I used frozen)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup coconut sugar
• 1 tbsp arrowroot/cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• pinch nutmeg
• pinch salt

Chop apple (some people prefer to peel them first, but I didn’t) and mix it with the rest of the ingredients.  My cranberries were still fairly frozen, but it didn’t affect the recipe at all. 

Split chilled dough in half – one portion for the bottom, one portion for the top.  If you have a rolling pin, great, roll out the dough and place it in a greased pie pan.  If you don’t have a rolling pin, you’re in good company.  I used my hands to press it into a pie pan shape, but a bottle of wine makes a decent rolling pin, too. 

Trim the edges of the dough.  Add in the filling.  Place the top layer of rolled out dough over the filling.  Press the edges together making a fancy shape.  Cut slits to let the air out. 

Bake for 30 minutes at 425 degrees, then 5-10 minutes at 350.  Watch it at the end so you don’t burn the edges of the crust. 

Enjoy! 

This was a nice balance of sweet and tart and the crust was flaky, soft, buttery perfection.  And I’m pretty sure the neighbors could smell it’s deliciousness from a mile away. 

Katie, I know it’s not cake, but is this good enough to lure you to Southern California??  

My sweet, wonderful, amazing best-friend-of-a-mother passed away on Mother’s Day.

To say that I am sad would be the understatement of a lifetime. I’m crushed. My heart is broken. I am worried about my dad. I am worried about my brothers. I am angry that I only got 27 years with her. I am baffled that she went from healthy, to ill, to gone in the matter of two months. I am sick with the thought that Adrienne is too young to be able to remember how wonderful she was. I am dreading the moment I wake up and forget she’s gone and reach for my phone to call her like I do every morning. I dread walking into my parents house and not hearing her sweet voice say hey sugar when I walk in the door. My soul hurts.

But I’m also grateful. Grateful that she was my mom and best friend. Grateful I got twenty-seven years with her. Grateful that she and my dad were blissfully married for 45 years. Grateful that she got to hold my hand while Adrienne was born. Grateful she was in this world for one year of Adrienne’s life. Grateful she left a mark on so many people’s hearts. Grateful I got to lay in bed with her for the last five hours of her life. Grateful that she’s not suffering anymore. Grateful that she got to see her mama (her daddy, her son, her friends, her family, and Jesus) on mother’s day. Grateful that I will someday see her again.

But mostly, I’m just missing her.

It’s been a year!

A year since this beautiful little child came into my life. I can, without a doubt, say that this last year has been the absolute best of my life. People always ask me isn’t being a mom the hardest job you’ve ever had?

Um, not even close. Try raising 30 kids (some of whom you don’t like) in one classroom for eight hours a day. Now that was work.

Raising my own beautiful, amazing, inspiring, joyful child has been nothing short of a pleasure. I just get to hang out with the girl I love most in this world ALL.DAY.LONG.

We walk, we (sort of) talk, we eat what we like, we read books, we go to the park, we sometimes cry, we laugh a lot, and we have the most amazing time. I seriously don’t know what I did before my precious Adrienne Bren.

Words cannot express the gratitude I have that God chose me to be her mama. I love you more than anything, AB and I wish you the happiest birthday!

(Oh and speaking of mamas, my own is not doing so well. I’ve pretty much moved into my parents house to take care of her and my dad during this difficult time. My wonderful husband plans to drive down when he can to see his family, and we are just trying to take one day at a time. Until I am back at home – whenever that may be – please accept my apologies that I will be a lot more absent from this blog. Rest assured I am still cooking, loving life, exercising, and eating cake. But until I can show you all of that on a regular basis,  I appreicate your understanding, and – if you would be so kind – your prayers as well.)

Seriously, our swag bags were stinking unbelievable. I cannot even believe so many companies wanted to join in on the fun.

On Monday morning, before I took Janetha and Susan back to the airport, I dug into that 10lb mountain of goodness and pulled out a few things to make breakfast for us.

Strawberry Granola Pancakes

PRINT Recipe

• 1 C whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 C all purpose flour
• 2 t baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 C milk
• 2 T ground flax + 1/4 C water (mix together and let set – this is your egg)
• 2 T oil
• 1/4 C Xagave
• 1 C plain Chobani yogurt
• 1/2 C Cascadian Farms Granola
• 4-5 large strawberries, sliced

Combine the flours, baking powder and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the milk, flax egg, oil, Xagave and Chobani.

Add liquids to the dry and mix until just combined.

Stir in the strawberries and pour by 1/4 C full onto a griddle or man over medium high heat. Sprinkle the granola on top just before flipping.

Serve with almond butter and more Xagave.

Also, a humongous thank you to ALL of our other swag bag donors. I have been diving into that bag at all hours of the day – your generosity for our event is so much appreciated.

Beanitos | Hanna’s Herbs | Lara Bar | Simply Bar | NuNaturals | Bob’s Red Mill |Pure Bliss Eats | Mix 1 | Attune Foods | Popchips | DRY soda | Cascadian Farms | Twin Cakes Bakery |Optimum Nutrition | Pangea Organics | Bobo’s Oat Bars | Colorado Fudge Maker | Fitmixer |Nuts About Granola | Oh! Nuts | Physique57 | Build A Sign | Zesty Blog Consulting | PROBAR | CORE POWER |Love Grown | Lush Nuts

My heart swells with both pride and gratitude when I think about the events of last weekend. But mostly gratitude. I have been blessed to meet so many amazing people throughout the process of planning and executing BLEND, and I know that they are relationships that won’t stop as we get back to our regular lives. From our amazing, amazing sponsors and swag bag donors (more on them later!) to the multitude of fabulous bloggers I got the chance to meet in person – I am supremely grateful.

When Lindsay asked Janetha and I last September if we wanted to plan a blogger’s retreat…my answer was a resounding no way. I didn’t know the first thing about planning an event like BLEND.  My degree is in English and Elementary Education for heaven sake. I can teach your kids how to add, subtract, read, and write a paragraph. But setting up a business, managing money, and organizing meals/exercise/lodging for seventy people? Ummm…no clue.

The experience was (as Lindsay put it) nothing short of a headache and a blessing. We ate, we bootcamped, we hiked, we watched Lindsay get a tattoo, we walked (a lot), we laughed, we photographed, we ate some more and we had a weekend I will never forget and can’t wait to do again next year.

Blend 2012 was wildly successful. More so than I ever could have expected. I almost can’t believe it already happened and is finished.

Although I missed Meeker and that bald baby girl fiercely, I am giddy with excitement over the amazingness of the weekend.

As soon as I get a good night’s sleep and a screw my head back on straight – I’ll tell you alllll about it. (and don’t worry…if you missed it, plans for Blend 2013 are already in the works)

Happiest of Mondays to you.

Baby breakfast.

I was more intent on the coffee – not so hungry. But that didn’t stop me from digging into the jar of almond butter for a spoonful (or two).

Alternating between spoon and fingers. We’re working on the silverware concept.

A little playtime after breakfast.

Then we took a nice walk. I don’t know what I’d do without walks.

Next we hopped in the car and drove about an hour to Colorado Springs to hug my sweet mama – who hasn’t been feeling so hot lately.

We sat in bed with her and snacked on some things her friends had brought over. I left my camera in the car.

After about an hour of quality mama time, I left to go pick up some delicious things for BLEND.

That’s fudge. Birthday cake fudge.

Next, we headed home, A went down for a nap, and I got to cleaning my filthy house. (I have some exciting house guests coming tomorrow morning…I put away my mountains of laundry and cleaned the bathroom for them!)

In the middle of laundry I realized…holy macaroni, I’m starving.

Ahhh – soy milk, straberries, banana, spinach, ice

Slurped down while working on some BLEND stuff. It kind of feels like I’m planning a three day wedding. (and don’t you dare say a word about my phone that looks like a barbie-calculator)

After getting this jazz organized, I headed to the library where I do my after-school tutoring. Adrienne stays home and plays with her daddy or her sometimes her Gigi. Lucky girl.

Today, I helped a second grader write a paragraph on Cesar Chavez. I learned a thing or two…not about spelling.

He helped Mexican Amanicans.

Then to the bank. Whoever appointed me head financial big wig for BLEND made a terrible mistake. I dislike dealing with money. But I do like stealing dum-dums to stash in my diaper bag for screaming baby emergencies.

Then it was home to stare in the fridge blankly for 10 minutes, hoping dinner would just appear.

It pretty much did.

goat cheese and spinach quesadilla with an egg

An after dinner walk helped me feel like a sane person again, and now I’m off to do something relaxing. Like eat ice cream with my feet propped up on the coffee table while watching my husband look at things on the internet. It’s what we do.

Yeah, I still eat those things (the oatmeal in cookie form, now). It’s just that ice cream is so much more fun.

To be honest, almost three years ago when I started blogging, I didn’t really eat ice cream. Or anything fun, really. Maybe some cake here and there – but I’ve sort of relaxed a bit.

Maybe it’s maturity. I’m a whopping twenty-seven years old now.

Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve now been married for almost five years and Meeker has told me every day of our married life that I’m beautiful and would still look amazing with 30 extra pounds on me (Yeaaaah right, Meek. But thanks anyway.)

Maybe it’s that no matter what I eat, I weigh the same exact thing – give or take 3 lbs. And who can see three pounds on a 5’8” frame? Not I.

My policy is eat what I want when I’m hungry…stop when I’m full. It’s a pretty fail proof system. 

So for the last few days when I’ve wanted ice cream for dinner – I’ve had it. No big deal. I’ve also had a salad for lunch every day for weeks.

So the moral of this story is eat what you like. And I unabashedly like ice cream and cookie dough.

Cookie Dough Ice Cream Sandwiches

makes 4

PRINT Recipe

• 1 C flour
• ¼ C sugar
• ¼ C butter, melted
• ½ t vanilla
• ¼ C milk (I used soy)
• pinch of salt
• dash of cinnamon
• ¼ C chocolate chips
• 1 C vanilla ice cream

Mix all the ingredients except the ice cream and form into eight golf-ball-sized balls. Flatten them all with your hand, and scoop ¼  cup of ice cream onto four of the cookie dough discs.

Top each scoop of ice cream with the remaining cookie dough discs.

Wrap each individually in foil and freeze for at least an hour before eating.

2. Meeker tore down our deck this weekend so he could build a better one. He gashed his arm, came inside, asked me to give him stitches (didn’t happen – we used glue), went back outside, and accidentally stepped on a nail that went through his shoe/foot. Then we had a family outing to go get him a tetanus shot. The deck project is now on hold.

3. I have had ice cream for dinner three nights in a row.

4. I have been cooking, though. Since I’m running around like a madwoman all week getting ready for the retreat, I cooked Meeker some meals to subsist on for the week and weekend I’m away. He’s more than capable of taking care of himself and Baby A all by himself, but it makes me feel much less guilty about abandoning my family.

5. I finally got my hair trimmed. The I’m-growing-my-hair-out-mullet is GONE. Also, I trimmed Lindsay’s hair yesterday (I hope it’s straight!)

6. I did Sunday’s Crossfit workout yesterday, then went to Boulder and (after the haircut) did some serious power stroller walking…for 5 miles. My legs want to fire me.

7. I let Adrienne watch (five minutes of) Sesame Street for the first time this week while I made us lunch.

8. Lunch was a goat cheese, prosciutto, and spinach panini. She gobbled it up. That girl’s taste buds are hilariously adult-like.

9. Oh, I almost forgot, Meeker is building me THIS on our new deck…that is eventually going to happen.

(Sorry, Travis!)

We went to church together.

We made (and ate pizza) together.

Our kiddos ran wild together.

And then we had this insanely good ice cream dessert that had here a few weeks ago…together.

(Lindsay is out here for BLEND – which is just in FIVE short days. One, two, three, four, FIVE. To just let you in on a little bitty secret…I’ve never been so nervous/excited in all my life. I feel like my head is on backwards. I can barely navigate my way around my house due to the overwhelming amount of rad SWAG taking up every square inch. This girl is spending the night at my house on Thursday. I’m leaving Baby A for the FIRST TIME EVER IN HER WHOLE LIFE and I’m only sort of freaking out about it. Okay, more than sort of.)

So today it was nice to have some time to just relax and listen to toddler squeals and eat ice cream. That’s what Sunday is all about, right?

Cinnamon Coconut Ice Cream Scoops

serves 6

• 1/4 gallon of cinnamon ice cream*
• 3/4 C unsweetened coconut
• this caramel recipe

*If you can’t find cinnamon ice cream (I can’t…ever), just buy vanilla, add 1 heaping tablespoon of ground cinnamon, and mix it in your food processor or blender until it’s evenly distributed. Then re-freeze it for about an hour so it’s nice and scoopable.

Toast the coconut in a pan over medium heat, watching and stirring constantly. It burns in the literal blink of an eye, so be careful. I ruined two little pans full.

Then roll/cover each scoop of ice cream in the toasted coconut and pour the caramel sauce over it before serving. (I made them ahead of time, minus the caramel and froze each individual scoop in a muffin tin. Then just poured the caramel over each one before serving)

Okay, going to enjoy the last few drops of Sunday (and eat some more ice cream) before things get really wild…