Sunday, March 6, 2011

Simple Spice Cake - 3 Points

Growing up I had a fabulous "aunt" who decorated her entire house in zebra strips and royal purple. She frequently hosted tea parties with the who's who and once took me to the home of the French ambassador for a fashion show. You can imagine that her cookbook was full of delicacies that would please the most discerning palate. Her go-to cake, for drop in visitors, was this deceivingly simple spice cake, topped with a dusting of powdered sugar.

Simple Spice Cake
1 3/4 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves

1. Sift flour before measuring, then add remaining ingredients and beat for 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Bake in a greased 9x13" pan for 30 minutes at 350F.
3. Yields 24, 3 point servings.

Here is the cake with a custard topping (I will give you that recipe later).


Now for menu planning! I read an interesting article in Self about being a flexitarian. I had never heard that word before. Apparently, it is someone who views beef as an occasional indulgence and eats vegetarian several times a week. I think that means that I am a flexitarian. I rarely eat beef. How often I eat vegetarian is up for debate. Going by a traditional definition, I guess I eat vegetarian 3-4 days a week. However, that includes fish. As far as I am concerned, if it died before I ate it - it's meat. That definition gets me down to 1 or 2 days a week. 

I am a member of a liturgical church, which means that I am about to celebrate my favorite holiday season - Lent. That means, you will be seeing even more meatless meals from me. Beans, eggs, and fish? Yum!

Sunday

Monday
black bean soup

Fat Tuesday
mom's chicken

Ash Wednesday
scallops with tomatoes and mangos

Thursday
mom's pork chops

Fasting Friday
bean and cheese quesadillas

Saturday


If you are interested in your own Weight Watchers menu, here is one (click the menu item for the recipe):

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday
night out - local favorite: Ahart's, chain favorite, Logan's (they have a nice skinny section on the menu - excellent veggie skewers)

Now, since I have made you go so long without a picture (which, we learned was a no-no from David Lebovitz) here are some lovely pictures of some rocks.  I took this while visiting the Ozarks. My friend Alex loves rocks, and I was trying to get some nice photos for her. 








8 comments:

  1. I LOVE spice cake. You're right- this looks deceivingly tasty. Your custard topping intrigues me!!

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  2. Looks like a great cake recipe! I love making Weight Watchers recipes as well! Thanks for commenting on my blog. I've added your blog to my Google Reader and look forward to reading your future posts.

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  3. Everyone should have a cake like this up their sleeve! You're so funny w/the picture thing - what a good student you are! LOL! :)

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  4. Love this kind of cake; simple, healthy and so good I'm sure.
    Rita

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  5. 3 points? Sold. Adore spice cake and love ease more than anything - this has it all.

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  6. Spice cake sounds delicious, and your menu plan is awesome.

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  7. Mmmm...I heart spice cake so much! Yours looks crazy delicious!

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  8. Thank you everyone! I love reading your comments. Design - it's the teacher in me. I feel a need to follow direction:)Yummy - I am so glad I found your blog. I just love it. Food Hound - up next, the custard topping.

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Thanks for your comments!