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I’m having the most wonderful day today. I just got home from a walk in the woods with Jax. The best way to start the day. I still have to push myself to go, but I never ever regret it. Since May, we’ve taken a selfie together on nearly every walk. If we have friends walking with us, they join the photo. They’re shaping up to be some of my most treasured photos. See above. How can you not love the cheese? You can see how happy I am in these photos. I am literally transforming before my very own eyes, unlocking the vibrant me that I pushed down for many years. Oh, there I am.

We’re back home now and I just wolfed down a buttermilk Entenmann’s donut. So incredibly satisfying, but I think I’m going to pop out to Shangri La Vegan for an early lunch once I post this. I need more than a donut to fuel me through a massive cleaning today to prep for our Thanksgiving guests. Zero percent chance I am going to cook and add to the mess.

This morning while journaling, I wrote out in detail what I want my life to feel like. It’s so real, guys. I can reach out and touch it. I encourage you to do the same. I think the key to unlocking our dreams is to make them feel as real as breathing and to know deep in our bones that anything we can conceive is possible. How can we be it if we don’t know what it feels like? I try to make it feel as immediate as possible. I’m not waiting for decades to live my dreams. You?

A few other thoughts:

• Shangri La Vegan does a new menu everyday that includes a bean, vegetable, soup and grain. Endless possibilities exist within those four options. After Thanksgiving, I might start doing that more for our daily cooking. Last week I made us bowls using rotiserrie chicken, leftover rice that I heated in a skillet with a little butter, a baked portobello mushroom with cheese and jalapenos and cut up avocado. It was one of the best things I’ve eaten in a long time. Simplicity.
• I’m getting excited about decorating our bedroom. That’s my next project. I’m thinking about doing a blog post of what I’m envisioning. Would you want to see that?
• I’m so excited for Thanksgiving I could burst. We are going to have a baby in the house. I can’t wait to love on her. I love kids. I decided not to have my own, but I love having them in my life.
• When Keith and I got married (we eloped to Vegas in September!), I felt an immediate shift inside of myself about officially being the boy’s stepmom. What a responsibility! I can’t play around anymore about the life I’m living. I want to leave them a legacy. I want to be successful so I can help them live out their dreams. Of course, I felt like this before, but it feels more urgent now. I am their stepmom. I am a stepmom. Holy shit!! I want them to be happy in life and the best thing I can do for them is model what that looks like and build a safety net for them. It’s deep.
• I learned how to tie a tie this morning. Keith has a new job and he has to wear a tie. He had done it himself and did a great job except the skinny piece was longer than the top piece, so I insisted on redoing it for him before he left. All these years of not knowing and it was the easiest thing ever. Thank God for Youtube. You can learn how to do anything in the entire world these days.

What are you up to today? I have a cleaning list a mile long and I am honestly excited to tackle it. The feeling of a clean house is the best feeling in the entire world.

For today’s post (my fourth in a row! Look at me!), I’m interrupting my recent diatribes about writing to actually write about something important: carrot cake!

Carrot cake is a crowd favorite, but it’s historically a pain in my ass because I don’t like to grate carrots. I inevitably get too close to the grater and cut my finger. It’s a thing. So, when I came across Grossy Pelosi’s recipe for Carrot Cake that uses baby food for the carrots I was intrigued if a little grossed out. My lazy baker tendencies won and I tried the recipe and, wowza, it’s a keeper. I’ll never make another. You dump everything in one bowl and keep your life moving forward and that just makes me so happy. Plus, when I say the crowd goes wild for these things? Holy crap. Whoever enjoys these will be losing their minds over how delicious they are. It’s the best feeling in the entire world as a baker to watch and cackle over people who love your food. It gives people-pleasers like me such satisfaction!

I’m reposting the recipe below because I’ve made a few substitutions that make it perfect for me, but definitely check out the full recipe on Dan’s website for step-by-step photos and additional subs!

Ingredients:

For Cake:

• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups AP flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsweetened or sweetened coconut (I prefer unsweet but sometimes it’s hard to find. Use what you can get!)
• One 20 ounce can crushed pineapple, strained and given a whirl in food processor. I prefer my carrot cake without fruit clumps in it. If you like fruit clumps, you don’t need to strain!
• Two 4 ounce jars of carrot baby food puree
• 2 cups walnuts (optional). I like my cake nutty! Use less if you want a lighter touch or none at all if you are a nut hater or have allergies.

For Frosting:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cake pan or line muffin tin. I prefer muffins for quick breads because I like crunchy edges.
2. Dump all cake ingredients in a bow and mix. So easy.
3. Pour into pan or muffin tin and cook until golden brown or toothpick comes out clean, about twenty minutes for muffins and about an hour for cakes depending on your oven.
4. Once cake is fully cooled, frost.
5. For frosting, mix ingredients together in stand mixer or using your arm power until light and fluffy.

Yield: about 24 muffins

These cupcakes taste best after some time in the fridge. They are SOOOO good. Thank you Dan and Dan’s mom for blessing us with this recipe. Thus far, I have given cupcakes to my niece, given some to my boss for her birthday and brought them to a dinner party. The yield is high and they are so incredibly easy. Enjoy!