Sometimes I feel guilty that I'm not making burger paties with lentils or quinoa.  I feel that if I really were a healthy person or a caring person or a concerned person that I would be making quinoa burgers.  Maybe with black beans.... and kale.  That sounds right, doesn't it.  Quinoa burgers with black beans and kale.  Definitely has a ring to it.  Secretly, I feel weird about calling it a burger though.
The guilt never wins over the desire for pork.  Local and well-reared pork but still, it's pork.  I tell myself that the only way everyone will eat something with so much vegetable matter in it is with the power of pork.  This did not work last week when I made asian kale with mushrooms and bacon... it's still sitting in the fridge.  Truthfully, sometimes they just don't eat stuff.  Sometimes nothing is more appealing than pizza or chocolate.
I was afraid to admit it until I read this blog post.  She was so honest about how she felt when time after time, the family did not eat the cake.  They turned to everything but the cake.  Here's my story.  A couple of weeks ago, one of my voice students came in carrying a big bag of Chips Ahoy 100 calorie packages of death.  There were about 50 little packages of terrible in the big bag.  I hustled her downstairs to the studio before the kids could see it.  She told me she went to the outlet store and thought it would be nice to bring them for the kids.  It was very thoughtful of her.  I wish that it could have been peanuts or a dozen eggs or maybe even kale.  Chips Ahoy.
Of course, the kids saw the bag and were down stairs claiming their prize before the end of the lesson.  The said huge 'thank you's' and I think that Kid #2 thought that she might be Santa.  No word of a lie, this applesauce bread was cooling on the cooling rack.  It had just come out of the oven.  It looked beautiful.  It smelled beautiful.  I even glazed it because we all know that icing translates into 'gobbled up'.  Maple glaze - you can't beat that.  Except apparently you can beat that.  Apparently, 100 calorie Chips Ahoy mini's beats maple glaze and homemade applesauce bread.  I don't think that chocolate chips or hand dipping each slice into chocolate ganache would beat Chips Ahoy.  So I thought that the applesauce bread/cake was being eaten.  Being carried to school for snacks.  Thickly sliced for a lovely after school treat.  Eaten as a before bed snack.  I realized on Friday morning that the bread was still nearly whole on the counter top.  One slice taken, re-wrapped and left.  I checked the bag of 100 calorie Chips Ahoy mini's... there were 5 packages left.

Maybe there wasn't enough glaze?

The moral of this story:
Icing is no guarantee of consumption.
Take your baking to work where people are busy, depressed and desperate.  They will eat anything and be happier for it... unless they have 100 calorie Chips Ahoy mini's.


Red Fife Applesauce Bread with Maple Glaze adapted from EatLiveRun
makes 1 lg loaf cake

1 1/4 cup whole wheat or red fife flour
1 cup unbleached, all purpose
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup applesauce

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Butter and flour a med/large loaf pan.  Set aside.
Combine the whole wheat and all purpose flour together.  Mix.
Add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom to the flour.  Mix well and set aside.
In a large bowl cream together the butter, brown sugar and sugar until mixed and fluffy (you can whisk or use a mixer)  Add the egg and vanilla and continue to whisk or mix until fluffy and well combined.  Add in the applesauce and fold until combined.
Add the flour mixture and mix until everything is well combined and flour is entirely incorporated.
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
Bake for about 50 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Cool for about 10 minutes before removing from the pan to cool on a wrack.