Blueberry Applesauce Cake
I’ve said it before but I have a love/hate relationship with social media. I love the people I’ve met through blogging and how social media makes it so convenient to keep in touch. I’ve made some incredible friends and now have relationships with some fabulous ladies and they all started via the web. I love being able to connect with my readers, reach out to new ones and I realize it wouldn’t be possible without the channels that social media offers.
But I hate how “tied’ to it I am. I hate that my 6 year old son had had to ask me multiple times the other night to get off my phone so he could ask me a question. I hate that over breakfast while the kids are watching a cartoon, I’m “checking in.” I hate that I feel this pressure to keep up because when it comes right down to it, I don’t really want to. Does it really matter if I like your picture on Instagram? Don’t get me wrong, you’re kids are cute but they can’t possibly be more important than the ones sitting right in front of me. Is it because I’m a woman and I thrive on taking care of others? Is it because I have this insatiable need to appear like I have it all together and can multitask like the best of them? Why do I feel this need to check in all the time like I’m going to miss something? It’s silly really. So much of it is self imposed and it’s wearing me down.
One of the foremost reasons I started a food blog was because I loved reading other food blogs so much. My hankering for discovering new blogs and the hopefully new and inspiring recipes is something still not lost on me. I truly believe that food connects us all and I wanted to be a part of that. I wanted to share my story. But somewhere between my love of reading others blogs and now writing my own, I got lost in this world of (un)social media. Many days I feel like I’m missing the point. I love writing this blog so damn much. I adore the women I’ve been so lucky to meet and now call friends. I just don’t like all the pressure I put on myself to keep up in a blogging world that I just don’t understand. As much as I’d love to tell you I’m quitting and giving up all my social media channels, I’m not. Maybe because I’m scared to or maybe I realize that I’m just burned out and need to take a step back. But the excessive checking in with Twitter, Facebook, Instagram yada, yada, yada… has to stop. It’s giving me a headache and getting me nowhere. Instead of telling you and anyone else who will listen to FOLLOW ME! LIKE ME! I’m telling you the opposite. Turn your computer off. Call that old friend you haven’t seen in ages and go get a cup of coffee face to face. Pull your kid out of school tomorrow and take him skiing. Sit down with your husband tonight and talk about your day. I don’t care what or how you do it, I’m just asking you be social the real way. The only way to really connect is un-connect.
The other night when my son kept asking me to get off my phone so he could ask me a question; guess what the question was? “Mama, can we make an applesauce cake with blueberries and you can put it on your blog?”
PrintBlueberry Applesauce Cake
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
This simple applesauce cake is studded with dried blueberries and made with cinnamon and whole wheat flour. It’s a great after school snack for the kids and makes a great cake to serve at brunch.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups apple sauce
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons dried blueberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
- Grease and flour a 9×9-inch baking pan.
- In a large bowl, mix together both the flours, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add oil, vanilla extract, apple sauce and eggs; beat for 2-3 minutes with a hand mixer at low speed, scraping the bowl frequently until cake batter is mixed well. Stir in 1/4 of the dried blueberries.
- Pour batter into pan and sprinkle top of cake with remaining 2 tablespoons of dried blueberries.
- Bake cake for 35 minutes or until cake is set and a toothpick dipped into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Remove cake from oven and let cool completely on baking rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
This recipe has been adjusted for high altitude.
29 Comments
Kelley! I love this post and I love your honesty.
I fight so many of these feelings, too.
Lately, both my husband and I have been leaving our cell phones upstairs all day Sunday. And I’ve been keeping mine at home during dates. These two little things have helped me feel like I have a little less temptation b/c honestly, if it’s with me I know I’ll check in. I still have a long way to go…
This cake looks awesome, I can see why your boy wanted you to make it.
I have been feeling the exact same way! I don’t have plans on quitting social media since there is so much more positive than negative in it for me (namely my friendships), but I have become really tied to it as well and am constantly checking in. It has caused me to become very unproductive during my day and is the main reason I don’t publish to my blog as consistently as I would like to. I definitely have to re-assess how often I check social media and move all the time I’ve been spending on it doing other, more tangible things. Thanks for sharing your sentiments–you are definitely not alone. And your little asked you the BEST question. Love the recipe! xo 🙂
I couldn’t have written my feelings about blogging any better… hence my latest post. I just got bogged by my blog!
This is the perfect breakfast cake!
🙂 Smart lady. Quick question. I don’t live at high altitudes so what should I do to adjust the recipe for closer to sea level?
P.S. I live at about 1500 feet above sea level.
Ya know, your story reminds me of a day long ago when I was reading a book and my daughter wanted a hug, ( we didn’t have Twitter and Facebook etc. back then. ) and even further back to when I was a child and my mom ( a teacher ) was grading papers and I kept bugging her for something, so I think that this is something we all face no matter where or when we live, that struggle to maintain balance and keeping in mind what truly matters most in the midst of our crazy lives.
Wow. Thank you for that. It’s so hard to find balance, isn’t it?
It certainly is. 🙂 but the first step is knowing where we need to prune so things don’t get away from us, which you have obviously figured out.
Love the addition of blueberries to your applesauce cake. I even have dried blueberries in the freezer. Baking this tonight.
There are so many things to do in the evenings (baking Applesauce Cake) that I only turn the computer on at home when I need to check a recipe or pay my husband’s office bills. I spend so much time on the computer at work, that I don’t even want to look at it when I go home. Now that Spring is here we will be spending more time outdoors and loving every minute of it. Enjoy your weekend.
You as well, enjoy the cake!!
How did you get into my head and write down my thoughts? Seriously. It was like a hundred “amens” reading this. Thanks for the reminder (that was already sweeping through my mind anyway). I have all the ingredients to make this lovely applesauce cake and wouldn’t my 4 boys be surprised if I offered that as an after-school activity instead of me sitting on the steps outside checking my phone while they play?
I have a feeling it might be on a lot of our minds. Being a mom and running a business makes balancing tough to say the least. I’m sure you’re boys would love it!!
I think this is such a common problem for any working parent who has any proclivity towards the use of social media whether a blogger or not. I see my sisters in laws’ constant posts on Facebook and wonder where they get the time or why they have the inclination and certainly aren’t doing much one on one time. That said, we bloggers do tend to put too much pressure on ourselves. So glad I got some facetime with you today, we need to make it more of a habit to take the pressure off.
Skiing with you gals yesterday was the highlight of my week!
Love the message. Love the cake.
Thanks, Liz!
Well said! The cake looks delish too!
Words cannot describe how much I love this post, Kelley. I have had so many of these same feelings just this week and keep telling myself it’s OK to not be on twitter for hours every day. It’s OK! I’m going to have to keep telling myself that because I know I need the break it is affording me!
We are so hard on ourselves and finding a balance is tough. So glad it resonates with more bloggers than just me!
I have a love/hate relationship with social media! I need to find a better balance. Do you want to get together…in person? I miss your face! Not your tweets! xoxo
Right back at you, sista! Let’s get together soon! xoxo
I can relate to this. So much. Maybe we were better of before Smart phones…
I couldn’t agree more! Have a great weekend!!
Amen Sister!! I often feel the same Kelley. I was out of town this week with limited online access. My excuse for not caring whether or not I’d instagrammed or tweeted or facebooked. LOL! I have one child grown and one almost grown. Time flew by. I treasure every moment I spend with them. They won’t ever remember how busy I was with work, but they will always remember how much time I spent with them. Hugs to ya!
Goodness gracious are you in my head??? I’ve had that moment with my kids too many times and it’s finally kicked in. I’ve def made a few adjustments (gave up personal FB – big time suck), but I’m still trying to be mindful of the rest. And honestly? I miss my real life friends.
I love all the same things about blogging as you, you seriously wrote exactly how I’ve been feeling for a while.
Love you – and your new look here!!! 🙂 xoxo
Love this post. I, too, struggle with those exact same feelings and am working so hard on only allowing myself to “check in” at certain points during the day (ex: NAP TIME! lol! You know, when I should be cleaning)
I think I am going to give “social free media weekends” a try and see if that helps. I know it does wonders for some, and if people are aware that you are doing it, they might go easy on you for not “liking” every instagram- and you may even inspire them to do the same.
PS- This cake looks yummy!
-Shannon
I love the idea of having social media free weekends. I’ve also like to put my phone away at a certain time in the evening!
Totally with you on this. I’m so worried about instagramming the perfect #dailyjohn, that I put that before actually enjoying him as he is. And it’s going so fast! We all need to take the pressure off ourselves and take a break when we need it.
So fun seeing you today! Wish we could get together more often. 🙂
After mixing all the ingredients I tasted the batter. Completely flat. I then noticed no sweetener in the recipe. I baked it because I’m stubborn but had to throw it away. A complete loss. Is there supposed to be a sweetener in this?