Babies, Love and Strawberries

I honestly haven't been feeling like myself so I have had this post started since Sunday. That being said, I started it originally with "Happy Mother's Day" but it's a little late for that. Oops.

We celebrated Mother's Day on Saturday at The Gruene Door. It's a pretty little restaurant located in Gruene Lake Village less than 10 minutes from Gruene. We had a full table with my parents, Preston and myself, Sister, her husband and Baby O, my uncle and my grandmother. The staff was SUPER accommodating to all of our needs and the food was delicious! 

I have been eating VERY well all week and my plan was to continue through the weekend. I think I did pretty darn good. If you know me - and have read this blog before - you know I love (LOVE LOVE LOVE) wedge salads. I have an obsession. Seriously.

This is the Steak and Wedge. Super delicious. The steak was very tender and cooked perfectly (medium rare). I didn't realize it until someone asked but I haven't had beef for almost two months so this was a treat! I normally order blue cheese dressing on my wedge salads but the waiter suggested their Cabernet Vinaigrette so I tried it. It was creamier than any vinaigrette I have ever had and delicious. So my love for wedge salads continues....

We shopped a little after eating but Sister and I had our eyes on The Gruene Flour Cupcakery. Oh yes. Cupcakes.

And Baby O too. Cupcake love.

She obviously loved her Lemon Cupcake. I had the Root Beer Float cupcake, Preston had The Bostonian and Sister had the Wicked (chocolate/chocolate). They were good but Preston says mine are better. I love that man.

So after my cupcake indulgence I promptly passed out on the way home. Typical me.

What was NOT typical was that we got home around 3:45 and settled down on the couch and BOTH of us fell asleep. Until 7:05.

I'm so embarrassed. Sigh.

Sunday, however was extremely productive. My productivity included this super yummy Fresh Strawberry Yogurt Cake from A Spicy Perspective. I found this recipe on Pinterest several months ago and kept putting it off because there weren't any fresh strawberries. But now there are!!! YAY!! I added apple sauce instead of eggs and I think it messed with my cake. Meh. So if you're going to make it use the original recipe.

Here are my pictures though because they turned out so pretty. I love strawberries and how they are so colorful.

Bright yellow lemon zest.

OH!! I almost forgot. Notice the stuff that looks like it's brushed on the center of the pan?? It's magical no-stick coating for the pan. I swear. It's equal parts vegetable shortening, flour and canola oil. I used one tablespoon of each and it covered the bundt pan perfectly. What I read online is that you can mix up enough and keep it in a jar for future use. Genius. Thanks to my friend Irene for finding it!! Mwah!!

Here's my finished product complete with a scrumptious lemon/powdered sugar glaze.

This is what happened. My cake turned out thick. SUPER heavy. Not sure what happened. Preston says it tastes fine but I think it could have been better. I read online that you can substitute 1/4 cup of applesauce for every egg. So I did. Then I read later that it's 1 TABLESPOON per egg. Sigh. Too much applesauce apparently equals a heavy, dense cake. Oh well. What I'm learning my friends is that all of this "vegan baking" stuff is going to be trial and error sometimes. This time I was lucky enough that it was edible. HA!!

I leave you with one more picture. At least it LOOKS delicious.

Hugs & kisses!!!