Nothing like a little temptation

Today is the first day of my experiment to cure my GI issues on my own with the side benefit of my size 4 pants once again fitting like they should. If you want to read more about that, visit my other blog called My Journey to a Size 4.

And, what better way to start a “diet”/exercise regime than tempting oneself with a delicious Lemon Poppy seed Cake with Lemon Curd Sauce?

Knowing that I wouldn’t be able to eat the cake today, I was tearing the cupboards apart calmly looking through all the cupboards to see if I had any cupcake liners so I could make cupcakes instead of one cake. I didn’t think the birthday boy at work would like it too much if I brought his cake in with a giant slice missing already!

My search for cupcake liners was unsuccessful, but I was successful in convincing hubby to take me out to Chili’s after I picked him up from his meeting at 9pm for some Kickin’ Jack Nachos, frozen strawberry margarita, and a Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie. I really didn’t have to twist his harm too hard, though!

This morning I quickly realized the error of eating all these items past 9pm when I awoke to a stomach three times its normal size. Lovely! What a great time to have to take my measurements!

Anyway…back to the cake.

Today someone at work was turning 60 and thus a cake was in order. The only thing in my cupboards was a box of white cake mix. Can you say B.O.R.I.N.G?

Here’s what I did to jazz it up:

LEMON POPPYSEED CAKE

To 1 box white cake mix (mixed according to directions on box) add 1 palmful of poppy seeds, Lemon extract (or lemon juice) to taste, and the freshly grated zest from 1 lemon. Mix together and bake according to box directions.

I ran out of time to make the lemon sauce last night because I was gorging myself at Chili’s picking up some important books from the library so I made it this morning with hopes it would taste okay without being able to sample it.

The recipe I used came from my Southern Living cookbook.

LEMON SAUCE
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest (I just used the spirals I made the night before)
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (I used the stuff from the bottle)

Stir together first 4 ingredients in a small saucepan until smooth. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium  heat 5 minutes or until thickened (and it turns into a translucent gel consistency). Remove from heat and stir in butter, zest and lemon juice. Serve warm or cold. Yield: 1-1/2 cups.

P.S. My apologies for not being able to show you the sauce drizzled nicely over a slice of cake. But, my buttocks and thighs will be thanking me in a couple weeks that I didn’t indulge in this cake!