Chocolate Cake!

 My blender has been in overdrive!  The food processor was accidentally put in long-term storage and I cannot bring myself to buy a European model.  They aren't cheap and I cannot use it beyond our time here, and I am too impatient to wait for Amazon to deliver right now.  Besides, if I can pull these off with a blender...can I really justify a food processor right now?  I'm trying to justify one as a birthday present, but I've already picked out what I want for my birthday.

Anyway, thanks to Chocolate Covered Katie, I tried another dessert recipe from her blog.  She calls it chocolate cake...with a crazy ingredient.  I spent quite a while at the grocery store yesterday scouring for some of the ingredients.  Clara had a play date and Zach stayed home with Charlie.  Armed with my list and thanks to Google Translate for helping me translate them I was able to locate organic whole wheat flour and spelt flour, plus flax seeds, etc.  The recipe called for ground flax, so I had to use my blender to try to do this and it turned out ok.  In the picture below you can see the cake after it was done.

Chocolate Covered Katie recommends using her Reece's Pieces Fudge Frosting, so I decided to use the blender for that too.  To be honest, I think the food processor would have really helped this, but it turned out good using the blender.  However, I wanted to try the cake before adding the frosting.  It turns out the cake is moist and rich enough without the frosting so I haven't actually put it on the cake yet.  

 Charlie said it tasted like chocolate cake.  Clara and Zach both said it was good.  Only after they tried it did I reveal it had cauliflower in it!  You should have seen their faces.  Clara then stated that must be why it smelled funny.  I guarantee you she will ask for a second piece later today.  This is Zach's piece half-way eaten.  Not a morsel was left on anyone's plate.

Now, my honest opinion is that this cake tastes really good.  I'm not sure if it was there, or if it was the fact I knew cauliflower was in it, but I did detect the smell of cauliflower but couldn't taste it.  Nobody else remarked about a different smell.  This cake tastes good enough that I would take it with me to a friendly gathering.  I imagine it is even better using a food processor, but I don't know how.

While I love chocolate, I'm so glad I have found some recipes that I do not feel too bad making for my kids.  It turns out to be a win win, and I don't feel like I'm being bad when I have some too!

On that note, I will say that I am very happy with my results with Insanity and drinking Shakeology (the other reason my blender is overdrive)!  We are down to just 16 days left.  It will feel very good to know I completed the program and I believe our plan is to repeat Insanity before doing Insanity the Asylum.  Well, I know that is MY plan.  I don't know that I would have stuck with it without Charlie doing it right there by me.  We've had to get creative to work around his schedule because some days he has to be at work super early or sometimes stay super late.  Some days we get up early to do it, other times we fit it in late at night and a couple of times he has come home on his lunch break to do it...but we have not skipped a single workout!  Since this is a lifestyle change, this dedication will have to stay with us forevermore, but the longer we do it the easier it becomes to stick to it.  I'm feeling energetic and starting to see muscles that I had allowed to be covered with a nice layer of fat.  My clothes are getting looser!  The numbers on the scale have come down a bit, but I have a few more pounds to lose.  I'm hoping to add running into the mix on this next time around too.  With all the delicious recipes I have found for main dishes, snacks, and desserts, I have no complaints about what we eat.  I no longer have cravings for junk unless I do not have these things available.  I gave up potato chips and am on day six since that making that commitment (my biggest vice) and realized I hadn't been thinking about it until I typed it!