I am referring to the teenage years with my daughter. She turned 6 this past August and if I didn’t know any better, I would have thought she turned 13. She certainly acts like it. The emotions, oh, the emotions. The littlest tasks bring out all of the emotions. Crying, whining, complaining (she must have been listening to her 12 year old brother too much), screaming…you get the picture. Getting dressed. You would think I was asking her to perform brain surgery. We have tried picking out the clothes the night before, that just moves the argument to the night instead of in the morning. The only consolation there is that it is more appropriate for Mommy to have had a glass of wine at night then first thing in the morning. 😉 The arguments are about what type of outfit, skirst, pants, dresses, skorts. Does she have gym the next day? If so, no dresses unless she is wearing tights or leggings. Then you have what kind of shoes. Which color/type. Again, gym days require gym shoes. That can send us all the way back to the beginning of the whole darn procedure. Then, how is she going to wear her hair? Up, down? Pony tail or Pig Tails? Braid, no braid? All the way up or partially up? Just clips? This whole process takes WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY too long. I really need to set a timer and let her know that if the decisions aren’t finished by the time the timer rings, I pick it all. So, we have it all set at night and then she wants to change her mind in the AM. She wants to wear off season clothing (sweaters when it is 90 outside, shorts when it is freezing). **Note to self, put away summer clothes this weekend. So, if this is starting now, does it mean that she is getting it out of her system now so that she can be a polite, respectful, sweet teenage girl? Not likely, but one can always dream. My Mother always told me that I would get mine when I had kids. She is referring to the payback I deserve for being such a hell raiser during my teen years. Yes, I deserve some payback, but how much is enough? We also have arguments over what she is having for breakfast. This is probably partially my doing as she has too many choices. I like variety, so have several things to choose from for breakfast. Cold cereal (4 or 5 different kinds), French Toast Sticks, Nutri-Grain Bars, fresh fruit, cheese and PB toast. I don’t recite this all off to her every day, she knows what is there. This whole decision process can take 20 minutes or so. As soon as I see her smiling face come downstairs I let her know that she needs to start thinking about what she wants for breakfast. It generally takes her a while to wake up and decide. I am fine with that. Once 7:30 rolls around, I start reminding her that she needs to make a choice. Once a choice has been made, she sits down to eat. This can take a while too. She will chatter more than she eats. Then she gets mad and emotional that I am nagging her to eat. Ay yi yi! I really can’t wait until she is 13. That is going to be so much fun! NOT!

I have to say that she does get a lot of this from Jon. He is certainly not a teenage girl, but he has got the attitude of one. I think a certain little girl needs to quit taking lessons from her big bro on behavior!

I am still swimming in applesauce over here, so what better to make than an applesauce cake. If this doesn’t say “Fall”, then I don’t know what does. The cake is moist and is paired with a maple frosting that totally makes the cake.

Here is a picture of the cake, frosted, a little messy. I almost forgot to take a picture I was so excited to eat it! LOL!

This cake is very easy to make. I used Pamela’s Baking Mix, but you could use any combo of GF flours or even regular, all-purpose flour if you don’t have to eat GF. I think the most time consuming part is the frosting. The frosting is very sticky and wanted to create a bunch of crumbs on my cake. I had a long, stressful day and was not feeling the love when I frosted the cake, so I really didn’t care. I just wanted to eat it! LOL! Maybe a tsp or 2 of milk or water in the frosting will help smooth it out. I also left the nuts out b/c I ran out and my kids aren’t wild about them.

Applesauce Cake

Applesauce Cake

2 1/2cups all-purpose flour (I used Pamela’s. Don’t forget to add Xanthan Gum if you are making this GF and your mix doesn’t have Xanthan gum or guar gum in it).
1 ½ cups applesauce (unsweetened, but I am using sweetened)
1 ¼ cups sugar
½ cup stick butter, softened
½ cup water
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice (if you don’t have this, use this site for subs)
1 tsp salt
¾ tsp baking powder
2 large eggs
1 cup raisins (I leave these out b/c my kids won’t touch the cake with them in it; may add chocolate chips instead)
2/3 cup chopped nuts
Maple-Nut Buttercream Frosting or Cream Cheese Frosting if you want instead.

1. Heat oven to 350. Grease bottoms & sides of 13 x 9 x 2 pan or 2 round pans, with shortening; lightly flour.
2. Beat all ingredients except raisins, nuts and Frosting in a large bowl with electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on high speed 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in raisins & nuts. Pour into pan(s).
3. Bake rectangle for 45 – 50 minutes, rounds 40 to 45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool rectangle pan on wire rack. Cool rounds 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.
4. Frost rectangle or fill and frost layers with Maple Nut Frosting.

Maple Nut Frosting

3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup stick butter, softened
½ cup maple flavored syrup
¼ cup finely chopped nuts

1. Mix sugar and butter in medium bowl. Stir in syrup.
2. Beat until smooth & spreadable. Stir in nuts.
3. Frosts one rectangle cake or fills and frosts one 8 or 9 inch layer cake.

So, last week I had posted about baking being a stress reliever for me. I think I may want to revise that statment. The baking itself is relaxing for me. The clean-up, not so much. Since my baking spree began a few weeks back, I have done more loads of dishes than I care to count. Last night was the final straw. I just simply couldn’t do any more. I am taking a hiatus from baking at least through the weekend so that I can concentrate on some other stresses that I have going on right now. Yes, I will still cook our meals, but the added disasters I was creating need to come to an end for the short time being. I think my new goal will be to aim for only 1 baked good per week. That doesn’t count our bread b/c it goes in the breadmaker and really doesn’t make much of a mess. Also, Jon and I go through a loaf in a week, easily. Especially with his new found love of Cinnamon-Sugar Toast in the AM.