Scraps and Snippets ~ Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake

 A co-worker brought a yogurt strawberry bundt cake into the office a few weeks ago. I tasted it and decided I needed a recipe so I could veganize it and make it my own. I wanted to serve it at my brother's wedding. Why would I use a cake I'd never made for an occasion like that? Good question. Insanity? But the lemon and blueberry marriage just sounded heavenly. And I uber increased the lemon so I knew it'd be off the charts. I don't know the origin of the original recipe but if you google Strawberry Yogurt Cake you'll find lots of options. 

Now onto my Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake of deliciousness. 

1 Cup of room temperature Earth Balance

2 Cups of sugar

3 TBSP egg substitute (just the dry portion, the wet is coming up) ( I used homemade EnerG. and her recipe says rounded 1/2 TBSP to 2 TBSP liquid I go 1 full and 3 respectively for my subs, generally)

8 ounces non-dairy yogurt. The containers I buy are 6 oz. I used a full vanilla and 2 ounces from a blueberry.

1/3 Cup Non dairy milk (pretty much anything but chocolate)

1/3 Cup lemon juice

zest from 1 lemon

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 Cups whole wheat pastry flour (set aside 1/4 cup)

1 and 1/2 to 2 Cups fresh blueberries

Preheat over to 350. Grease and flour a bundt pan unless you have silicone then a light greasing is good enough. 

Mix milk and lemon juice together in a separate bowl and let sit for a couple minutes. In a separate bowl combine Earth Balance and sugar, add in lemon zest, salt and baking powder and mix well. Add the yogurt to the lemon juice/milk blend and stir well. Add the egg substitute powder and when incorporated pour the liquid into the sugar/Earth Balance bowl and stir very well. Add the flour (remember to set aside 1/4 cup) and blend. Then toss your blueberries with the reserved flour and pop them into the batter. Stir and pour into the bundt pan. Bake for 50 minutes to an hour. A knife should come out clean.  

Glaze. Approx 2 TBSP lemon juice to 1 Cup powdered sugar. But. You have to mess around with that to get it to the consistency you want. The cake is very moist. In hindsight I would have added another 1/2 Cup or so of sugar (or flour) to give it more body. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ B'day Blues...and Praises

Yesterday was birthday number 52 for me. As in a full deck of cards. Finally. 

Lookin for the pony in the pile of poo, folks. 

52. I don't feel much older than 17. Honestly, I'm still that 17-year-old-girl on the inside who doesn't know who she's supposed to be and what she wants to do with her life. 

But. While I'm still trying to figure that out, life has been happening. And I have been blessed. 

I have so many people who know me and love me any way. I have little children who call me Gramma Kelly for as long as they need to. Today they gave me handmade cards, hugs and kisses and deafness in one year. 


In the past week I have had meaningful and rich conversations and time well spent with all three of my kids and my daughter-in-law. My husband gave me two cards, one from the puppies thanking me for taking such good care of them and for loving them. And one where he shared that he loves me more than ever. 

My works buddies signed a card that poked gentle fun at me but shared a little love, too. Facebook friends peppered my wall with good wishes. Texts poured in. And my Bible study girls sang to me. As did my sweet little grand babies at my "surprise" party. "Surprise" because they each spilled the beans. :  ). And cautioned each other to stop spilling. 

My daughter made my cake recipe with the kids. Toad-Boy and the Mrs joined us. It was a lovely, lovely day. 

So in spite of the fact that I awoke with a pimple on my nose and managed to spill 194 degree tea down my side and had a busy day, it was a day that I celebrated fully and I'm thanking God for providing it. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Cake Parade and Harvest Auto and Machinery Review

 Ha. Ha. So I said I'd post over my four day weekend. Yeah, right. Hope you didn't hold your breath. 

The desserts went over very well at the wedding. I didn't even get a taste of the strawberry beauty & made out of my recipe. Fortunately I was with my 7-year-old-foster-granddaughter and she couldn't finish her raspberry fudge deliciousness so I did get to taste that one. 

Thursday I was going to do a massive grocery run and get an early start on the cakes. Instead, I got to drive out to tiny town Wahoo Nebraska in between meeting my adult-woman-baby-child for breakfast, & and her 3-year-old and shopping for ingredients for the baking fest. &'s cousin, Trevor, owns a new dealership in Wahoo and he's kinda like a personal shopper for cars and trucks. If that makes sense. 

I HATE buying cars. With a passion. I've actually gotten hostile with a few smarmy used car salesman types. Rob's and my last car was new and we got it from our nephew at the big dealership he worked at in Omaha. It was the smoothest car buying session in the history of every car we've ever purchased. Painless. We send people to him because of the ease and because it's great to trust someone with your big buck decisions. Everyone raves about his knack of making car shopping simple. About five months ago Trevor moved into his own location. But with a spin. Most of his business is over the internet. Basically, you just let him know your specs (how much you want to spend, what type of vehicle, what must haves, etc.) and he finds a vehicle and gets you into it. 

He was going out of town over the weekend and & wanted to get her van before he left. So we headed out there. Again, painless. I sat in the waiting room and played with the 3-year-old until she had to take a poo. Then had to join her in the bathroom. 

The poo took longer than the paper work, I swear. 

If you are interested here's Trevor's website. Here it is. 

Back to wedding cakes...look for recipes. Coming soon. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Upcoming Bake-Fest.

I'm going to be baking up a storm on Thursday and Friday. And I'll be dodging pups who will no doubt take up residence under my feet in case I drop something. 

Vegan cakes galore. Plan on recipes soon for the following: 

Raspberry Fudge Groom Cake

Strawberry Layer Cake

Pumpkin Caramel Pecan Cream Cheese Roll

Lemon Blueberry Bundt Cake

German Chocolate Bundt Cake

I have a couple tried and true recipes that I'll be using, and a few ventures into uncharted territories. I'll post pictures of the creations. Hopefully they'll be fabulous. 

Serials and Scenarios ~ Natural Balance Dental Chews

Gladys and Gertrude recently won a contest. A blogger I follow offered a Natural Balance Dental Chews giveaway. 

A random drawing = treats!

The ingredients: 

Brown Rice Flour, Rice Starch, Brewer's Yeast, Vegetable Glycerin, Yeast Extract, Coconut Oil, Kale, Parsley, Alfalfa, Sorbic Acid (preservative), L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C).

The girls (Gladys and Gertrude) and (Lily and Lola) love them. And I love the ingredient list. The chew went down pretty lickety split with the big gals, but the little ones got to gnaw for awhile. My girls have gotten a bit picky about treats but these ones grabbed their attention. 

I don't have a giveaway for you, but if you are looking for a new treat to try. You can find a coupon at the Natural Balance site. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Weekend Update

I made three pies for my brother's upcoming wedding on Saturday. Yay. Only a few cakes left to go.

We went to another wedding on Saturday. I read that 2013's biggest wedding month was September. I'm guessing the same holds true for 2014 and that September and October might be competing with the traditional May/June.

Other notable? Gertrude and Gladys turned 5 months old on Saturday. How fun is that? And speaking of fun let's look at a comparison shot or two. Note: tiny puppy was Gladys, big honkin puppy is Gertrude. Gladys was having nothing to do with the photo session.

After the photo shoot I had to take a shower and while I was showering some four-legged scoundrel took an extra roll of toilet paper and the two little fur-buddies had a blast.

Serials and Scenarios - Ane Mulligan's Chapel Springs Revival ~ Reviewed

Last week I interviewed Ane Mulligan. Here's my review of her book. 

First the book description. 

Chapel Springs Revival

With a friend like Claire, you need a gurney, a mop, and a guardian angel.

Everybody in the small town of Chapel Springs, Georgia, knows best friends Claire and Patsy. It's impossible not to, what with Claire's zany antics and Patsy's self-appointed mission to keep her friend out of trouble. And trouble abounds. Chapel Springs has grown dilapidated and the tourist trade has slackened. With their livelihoods threatened, they join forces to revitalize the town. No one could have guessed the real issue needing restoration is their marriages.

With their personal lives in as much disarray as the town, Claire and Patsy embark on a mission of mishaps and miscommunication, determined to restore warmth to Chapel Springs —and their lives. That is if they can convince their husbands and the town council, led by two curmudgeons who would prefer to see Chapel Springs left in the fifties and closed to traffic.


And my review: 

I am always a little apprehensive when someone I know offers me a book for a review. 

I've known Ane Mulligan for years and she has been a staple and mentor in my writing and blogging journey. 

Ane's new book Chapel Springs Revival is a long time coming. Mulligan has worked the craft and networks involved in writing. If anyone deserves to be published just because she has given so much to other writers it would be Ane. 

But Mulligan isn't just a good writing citizen, she's a good writer with stories to tell that only she can. 

Ane introduces us to Claire and Patsy and their lives in a sleepy little village. But even sleepy villages often have underlying currents and pleasant, tranquil settings sometimes need a little  shot of passion and life. Chapel Springs is exactly there, and Patsy and Claire are treading in marital currents. 

Both women discover that their long marriages have begun to look a lot like the formerly charming town square. Used-to-be, lackluster, dull and barely functional. The ladies, along with some friends and frenemies, set out to refurbish pretty much everything. 

Claire, unfortunately, has a special knack for getting into hot water, so as the clean-up and self-improvement campaigns begin, Claire finds herself getting a little too immersed into the projects. My visual of Claire while reading about her antics is a mental merge of Lucille Ball in a panic, Tomb Raider's Lora Croft on a mission, and Mrs. Doubtfire and Mr. Mom on their learning curves. Let's just say that if something could go wrong and Claire is there it will go wrong in the worst way. My favorite scene in the book is at the end when she innocently has a mishap that lands her in an all dressed-up-and-no-way-out pickle. 

This story is sweet escapism but there are teaching elements that I appreciated as well. After all, I'm at a certain age and been married for a long while and have struggled with some of the same concerns discussed by Patsy and Claire. I mean, reality isn't a romance novel, it's a whole lot more like working late, worrying about family members and different interests most of the time. So while I loved the escapism and the fact that the book is very well written, I also appreciated the depth and realistic issues faced by the characters. 

I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.