Brown Sugar Cake

This is all that was left of my cake. One last lonely piece. It sure made a good breakfast.
This is a super easy, dense, moist cake. It reminds me of a coffee cake, but I brought it in for a dessert to work.

Brown Sugar Cake

1 package yellow cake mix

1 3.4 oz package vanilla instant pudding

4 eggs

2/3 sour cream

2/3 cup water

1/2 cup oil

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 cup chopped nuts-I used walnuts

Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat cake mix, pudding, eggs, sour cream, water and the oil until well blended, about 3 minutes. Add the brown sugar, vanilla and nutmeg and mix just until combine. Stir in nuts. Pour mixture into a greased Bundt/tube pan. Bake one hour or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Loosen with a narrow spatula and invert onto a cake plate. When cake is completely cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Even better the next morning with a cup of joe.

Thanks everyone

Thanks for the kind comments from my last (quick) post. We have had some trying times at our house these last few weeks. A friend of my youngest daughter had an accident on the 4th of July and sustained a serious brain injury. He is in a coma and on a vent, but is making progress. Having lost 4 friends when I was 17, I know this is hard on her. We also just found out this past weekend that our best friends for the last 17 years are getting a divorce because he has been cheating on her for the last 16-almost the entire time we have known them. This was a surprise, a shock and a huge loss. We had plans for our future which included travel, retirement plans (more travel), spoiling our own and each other's grand kids. Wiped out with the word "he left me and has been unfaithful". Really, really sucks. But we are standing by her with love, food, maybe a little alcohol, but mainly love. Makes me really thankful for all the blessings I have and pray for those who are not as fortunate.

We just got our internet problem resolved. Three weeks without internet is waaaaaay too long, but boy, this modem thing is great-all of us can be on the internet at the same time!! I know for you city dwellers you are probably scratching your head, but we had an air card and only one of us could use it at a time and coverage was spotty at best. I'm totally digging this!

I have some photos I need to load onto the computer so I can get a few posts up. Thanks for hanging there for and with me-I really do appreciate all you who come on by for a look-see. Even if you just keep checking in to look at the weenie roasters......

Due to technical difficulties....

Hi everyone~
I'm without internet at home and only my laptop is working. I can't do picture uploads at work and haven't had time to get to the library to hook up some free wi-fi to do any blogging. Hope to have new internet installed next week. Hope to be back in a couple weeks; need to help out a friend who is going through a very difficult time right now. She is more like family so my focus will be on how she is doing for the time being. Hope everyone's summer is going good-I am hoping the heat breaks sometime soon-the electric company will be getting my entire paycheck pretty soon!

Happy Independence Day!

A little late, but we didn't get home until after midnight!

We went into town to spend the afternoon with our friends, eat a LOT of food, light some fireworks off in the driveway and then watch the fireworks show the town puts on. We lucked out and the rain early in the day ended by afternoon and the skies cleared up so we could enjoy our day.

We did a potluck at our friends house, so I brought my ring salad and deviled eggs, and also tried my hand at a blackberry cobbler. Hermit Crab and I went grocery shopping (yes on a holiday weekend and it was scary!) and they had blackberries on sale 2 for a buck, so I knew I had to make something! According to Dude it was 'my best dessert ever' but he was lying-just trying to get me to stop taking photos of him eating! It was pretty well received considering half the people there don't like berries. It sure smelled fantastic and looked pretty.

I found a recipe on Allrecipes.com and added a couple of things based on some reviews. Here is how I prepared it.

Blackberry Cobbler

1 cup flour

1-1/2 cups sugar, divided

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

6 TBSP cold butter

1/4 cup boiling water

2 TBSP cornstarch

1/4 cup cold water

1 TBSP fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. orange zest

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Wrap a rimmed cookie sheet with foil. Place cast iron skillet on cookie sheet. In a large bowl, mix flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until it is crumbly. Stir in boiling water and stir until it is evenly moistened. Put blackberries in a bowl and sprinkle with a little sugar, the vanilla and the orange zest. In a separate bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in the cold water. Stir in remaining 1 cup sugar and the lemon juice. Stir well to combine and then pour over blackberries; stir to coat all the berries. Pour into the cast iron skillet. Top berries with small spoonfuls of cobbler dough, and spread out dough a little with the back of the spoon. Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Me and Dude-he really hates getting his photo taken.

My plate of food-hot dog, beans, chips, deviled eggs and pasta salad. Oh goodness I was full!

I hope everyone had a wonderful day. Thank you to all the service men and women who fight for our freedoms that we enjoy and take for granted. I salute you all.

It was Pretty much a Bust

**Disclaimer**


The following is meant to be funny, so I don't want to offend anyone. The pictures kind of simulate the male form. Consider yourself warned.

Back in April, I had posted that I had gone to a silent auction for a benefit for a friend who lost everything in a fire. I had bid on and won the wiener roasting sticks.

We went camping this weekend and it was terrible. Well, not completely. We did have some sun on Saturday and went and looked at some boats for sale (just for fun). In a grand scheme, it was bad. It started raining Friday night right when we were having dinner at the bar that is next to the campground. Pouring. We walked there and had to run back to our camper in the rain, lightening and thunder. We had watched the weather at the bar and it was thunderstorms with hail and a lot of wind. We turned on the local radio station and they were saying that there were tornado clouds spotted all around us. Then the sirens started-first in the town that the campground was in, and then the across the river in Red Wing their sirens started going off. The storms passed and we were able to get to sleep. Saturday during the day, the weather was pretty nice, but we started a fire around 8 and the storms started again so we headed back into the camper. The sirens went off again and it rained even more the second night, but again we were spared something serious. And on the way home we drove through a monsoon. Ugh.

We built a campfire at home tonight and were finally able to use our new wiener sticks!

Roasting over the fire

Yum! That was one good dog!

Too hot to cook

It has been a little hot and humid, which is normal for this time of year in Minnesota. I hate heating up the kitchen in the summer, since our kitchen and dining room faces South we get a lot of sun in the windows. It just makes it miserable in here and then the poor air conditioner has to work overtime and then the bill goes up and then we can't afford food. Whew! I have used my NuWave oven a lot lately-round steak, chicken, pork loin. Nothing fancy or new to blog about. I hope to have a dessert up soon. Dude wants me to make the 'cobbler' portion of the peach cobbler and macerate the raspberries I just got.

For now, here are some flowers from the deck-they are getting hot and burned out now, even after moving them to some shade for a day or two. Sigh. Love it when summer comes, but spring is so much nicer to the plants.

Taking the camper out this weekend for the first time this year. Camping by the Mississippi River down by Red Wing. Gonna chill with a beer while watching the rich people boating on the river!

I think summer is already half gone and I feel like I have accomplished nothing. I did however bake a peach cobbler for work. It was mainly well received, but one person thought it was too dry. Dude thought it was really good-reminded him of his Mom's shortcake.

Peach Cobbler

Cobbler dough:
1 cup flour
2 TBSP sugar
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

Fruit filling:
1/2 cup sugar
1 TBSP cornstarch
1/3 cup water
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Dash nutmeg
4 cups peeled, sliced peaches

Preheat oven to 400 degree F. Cook filling: Combine sugar, cornstarch, water, cinnamon and nutmeg in saucepan. Stir to combine; stir in fruit. Cook and stir over medium heat until it comes to a boil and thickens. Simmer, stirring constantly for 1 more minute. Pour fruit into an 8 inch square pan. Place in oven while preparing dough. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, combine oil, egg, milk and vanilla. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir until just moistened. Remove baking dish from oven and spoon dough in 8 scoops over the top of the fruit mixture. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

It would have been great with ice cream, but we don't have a freezer at work.

Enjoy!