What's Cookin'?

Before you know it, Christmas will be here! Along with Christmas comes all the baking and cooking for all the family get-togethers. I've discovered a few recipes that have been big hits.

I ususally bake cakes to take for pot-luck and reunions. I've given up on dieting, so I've adopted the prayer of "Lord, if you can't make me skinny, please make my friends fatter than me." I figure that the least I can do is help Him out by baking cakes, right?

First is the gooey cake recipe, which have custard-like centers. It's a basic recipe that can be adapted to whatever your favorite flavor is. I've only made the pineapple gooey cake and the peanut butter gooey cake. I've found that the peanut butter cake requires a slightly shorter baking time. They have both been big hits in my family! Here's a picture of the pineapple gooey cake.

Pumpkin Gooey Cake

Cake: 1 (18 1/4-ounce) package yellow cake mix; 1 egg; 8 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling: 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened; 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin; 3 eggs; 1 teaspoon vanilla; 8 tablespoons butter, melted; 1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar; 1 teaspoon cinnamon; 1 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 by 9-inch baking pan.

To make the filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter, and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well. Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to overbake as the center should be a little gooey.
Serve with fresh whipped cream. (We just eat ours plain, cuz I almost never have whipped cream on hand.)

Variations:

For a Pineapple Gooey Cake: Instead of the pumpkin, add a drained (I don't drain mine!) 20-ounce can of crushed pineapple to the cream cheese filling. Proceed as directed above. (Omit the spices.)

For a Banana Gooey Cake: Prepare cream cheese filling as directed, beating in 2 ripe bananas instead of the pumpkin. Proceed as directed above. (Adjust spices as desired.)

For a Peanut Butter Gooey Cake: Use a chocolate cake mix. Add 1 cup creamy peanut butter to the cream cheese filling instead of the pumpkin. Proceed as directed above. (Omit the spices.)

Here's a recipe from my mother for a very moist Coconut Pecan pound cake.

Coconut Pecan Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a bundt cake pan and set aside.

Mix together:

1 box yellow cake mix (I use Duncan Hinds Extra Moist.)

4 eggs

1 cup oil

1 container prepared Coconut Pecan Frosting

1 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla

Pour into greased bundt cake pan and bake for about45-50 minutes or until top springs back to the touch. Turn out onto cake plate and let cool before serving.

Added on September 17th: I baked this cake this morning, but I used a carrot cake mix instead of a yellow cake mix. YUMMY!

Enjoy!

More Stuff That I've Made

Our youngest grandson just turned a year old, and I wanted to give him something that I think every little kid needs...a little red rocking chair. I found an unfinished one at a local furniture store (ON SALE!) and gave it a few coats of bright red paint. I was planning to paint his name and some kind of cute design on the back, but then I thought, "I want to do something DIFFERENT!"


So, I went out to my arts and crafts and sewing shed, and made these little padded sleeves for the back of his chair. I used my embroidery machine to embroider his "name train" on one and left the other one plain. Here is a close-up.

His mom, our teacher DiL, had her birthday a few days later, so I made this tote/purse for her. I was inspired by the cute totes at http://hello-refabulous.blogspot.com/ You should check it out; I think she is an amazing young woman. She has eight children, homeschools, and still manages to find time to create beautiful items! This is my first try at ever making a purse, but I think it came out pretty well. I had some wooden apple cutouts, so I drilled a couple of holes in one to turn it into a button and painted it. It's on the closure, which is backed with velcro.

Here's one of the inside pockets, and the lining coordinates with the school print on the outside.

In June, I had the opportunity to get together for a weekend with 6 of my online friends and the mother of one of them in Pigeon Forge, TN. We all chipped in and rented a big log cabin on the side of a mountain, and we had a blast! It was as if we have known each other all our lives!

I made a personalized drink huggy as a small gift for each one of them. They are really easy to make!

What do YOU like to do?

I May Not Live to a Ripe Old Age...

...because I'll probably die laughing at all the funny "old age" stuff there is out there! My OLDER (by 13 years!) sister sent these bumper stickers to me this morning, and I've been giggling ever since I saw them!

My precious Mother will turn 92 on Thursday. She's had to make some new younger friends because all her old friends have died on her!

Hmmm...I wonder if she'd get ticked off at me if I order one of these bumper stickers to put on her car!

Nah...I'd better not stick anything on her car, because she would just spend hours trying to get it and all the sticky stuff off! She thinks that having a bumper sticker on her car would look "tacky" and be embarrassing for someone of her age. I mean, when you're going to all those funerals, you don't want your car to look tacky in the funeral procession, right?

Have a great day!

Artsy-Fartsy Stuff

One of my interests is arts and crafts, and I sometimes combine it with sewing. I sometimes dream of being able to earn a decent living by selling my creations; but, in reality, I'm too slow and have to be in a creative mood. I also figure that if I HAVE to produce things in sufficient amounts to sell, it probably would no longer be a fun thing to do.

Here are a couple of the things I've made this year.

This is a "shabby chic" wall pocket/planter. You can line the bottom with sheet moss, or a coffee filter, fill with dirt and a pretty plant, and hang it on a fence. You can also just use a piece of floral foam and silk flowers to make an arrangement to hang on a wall or door in your house.

It's made from a 1-gallon can, with both ends cut out, painted, sanded, decoupaged, antiqued, amd sealed with an acrylic sealer. One end is mashed flat and wired together, with the flowers and ribbon hiding the holes and wire. I also draped pieces of a crystal Christmas tree garland to add a little sparkle.

Right now, I'm into making checkbook covers, because the plastic one I got from the bank tore up, and I REFUSE to pay $5 for another one! This is the first one I made and gave to my daughter. It turned out pretty well, but I was not pleased with the satin stitching on the edges...probably due to the extra inner facing that I used, so my newer ones are going to be finished with seam binding.

I have more pictures, but they'll have to wait for the next post! G'night!

New To This Blogging Gig

I've been thinking about creating a blog for some time. The problem is...I could not imagine that anyone might be interested in what a plain ol' gal like me could possibly have to say.

I have lots of interests, though, and finally decided that I would brave the wilderness of blogland. The worst that could happen is that I could put everyone to sleep, right?

Anyway, since I'm new to this blogging gig, I will have to check things out and take the plunge into trying to post something interesting after I get things figured out!