Old Fashioned Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Pineapple upside down cake really is one of my favorite desserts. Not only is it delicious, but it holds a happy memory for me, because I remember coming home from school, and my Mom would give me a piece, with a cold glass of milk.

I actually only made this cake a couple of times for my own kids when they were young, but now that they are all grown up, I have more time to bake from scratch.
I know how tempting it is to use a box of cake mix instead of baking from scratch, but it really isn't that much harder, and it makes all the difference in the world.

Anyway, this is a recipe from Martha Stewart, and it's actually quite easy. I've made it a few times and it has always come out moist and delicious.

I don't usually change or tweak a Martha recipe, but I did with this cake. It called for the rind and juice from a lime, but I didn't care for the taste the first time I made it. I used a lemon instead, and that tasted much better to me. The recipe also called for pecans, which I'm sure would be good, but I used the cherries instead, just like my mother did, so many years ago.

Food has the power to stir up memories, both good and bad, from the past. I love this cake because it does remind me of my Mom, whom I lost when I was only thirty, and I still miss her everyday.

Recipe for Old Fashioned Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
grated rind from 1 lemon
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
1/2 cup dark or light brown sugar
1 20-ounce can pineapple slices
1 small jar Maraschino cherries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the oil and milk to the bowl and beat with an electric mixer for 1 minute. Add the vanilla, egg, lemon rind, and lemon juice, mixing just until well combined.

In a 9-10 inch round cake pan, on the stove, melt the butter over low heat. Remove from the heat and sprinkle the brown sugar around the pan. Arrange the pineapple slices and cherries on top.
Pour the batter evenly over the top, and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove cake from the oven and cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Turn cake out onto a circular platter.

Eat, and enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday - Seattle's Pike Place Market

Weekend In Pictures



Simple Suppers - Stuffed Bell Peppers With Bleu Cheese Crumbles

One of the things I have tried to be more conscious of in my cooking is trying to cook with the seasons. You know, eating what's plentiful, and in season  at the grocery store or farmer's market, and incorporating that into your meal plans.

Lately, the bell peppers have been so gorgeous that they inspired me to make one of my favorite meals, stuffed peppers.
I like the flexibility of ingredients for stuffed peppers, and you can use turkey, or beef, or make them without meat if you like, too. And you can put veggies in them, from zucchini to tomatoes, to carrots.

For this version of stuffed peppers, I made them with healthy and yummy ground turkey. I put in lots of onions and chopped some mushroom to add to the meat mixture.
This really is an easy meal, and I like knowing that the red peppers are so healthy for you.

The tomato sauce on top of the peppers adds to their great taste, and makes them look good.

I have been a little obsessed with these bleu cheese crumbles lately from Trader Joe's, and have been finding all kinds of ways to use them.
Ground turkey can be a little bland for me sometimes, and so I added the crumbles to top the peppers, and I was pretty much in heaven. They added a delicious kick to the peppers, and I'll make this recipe again, using the bleu cheese crumbles.

Just add some delicious garlic bread and your favorite glass of wine, and you have an easy and delicious summer dinner to enjoy!


Recipe for Stuffed Bell Peppers with Bleu Cheese Crumbles

Ingredients:

3 large red bell peppers
1 pound of lean ground turkey
3/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
1 large egg
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped button mushrooms
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
1 small can tomato sauce
3/4 cup bleu cheese crumbles, or top with the amount of your choice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a large baking dish with vegetable oil.

Wash and cut peppers in half. Cut off stems and remove seeds.

In a large bowl, combine turkey, bread crumbs, egg, onion, mushrooms, salt, and pepper. Pat meat mixture into each half of pepper. Put peppers into greased baking dish.

Spread each pepper with tomato sauce. Generously sprinkle Italian seasoning over peppers.

Bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes. Top with bleu cheese crumbles.

#ad Help Donate Money To Your School With The Tyson Back To School Project A+ Program #cbias

I love cooking for my family, and recently I made a quick dinner of easy chicken tostadas. I have been using Tyson Chicken products for years, and with so many different varieties of chicken to choose from, there's always one that will fit right into my dinner or lunch recipes.

Did you know that when you buy Tyson products, not only are you buying delicious chicken, but you have the opportunity to help the school of your choice to receive money?

Tyson has a program called Tyson Back to School Project A+ that is so easy to join and participate in.
When my children were going to school, it was always very important to me that they had the best learning experience possible. That takes time, caring, volunteering, and money. But not all schools are well funded, and that cuts into the quality of children's educations.

As a grandmother, I care very much about the school my grandson will be starting first grade at, and where his brother and sister will also be attending in a few years.

Signing up for the Tyson Project A+ program lets me and my family help out, and that money can go towards making sure all students have the materials they need for a positive and happy learning experience.

When you buy Tyson chicken with the Project A+ emblem, you can start  helping your own school to receive money from Tyson. Simply look on the back of the package for the label that says, 'Support Your School', cut it out, and give it to your school.

Tyson will give 24 cents for each label they receive, an amount that is higher than most other programs. The money can be used for any need or project that the school decides upon.

Signing up your school to participate in the Tyson Project A+ program is easy. All you need is your school's address and phone number, information that is available on the school's website.

The Tyson Project A+  website is the place to go to get started so that your school can be included in this great program. The site is filled with information and inspiration to motivate yourself, your community, your school and friends to get involved.

If you are like me, you already buy Tyson chicken products to make delicious meals for your family, and this is such an easy way to help out your own school. Can you imagine how much money could be raised if we all participated in the Tyson Project A+ program?

It's exciting to think about, and bringing awareness to this program and spreading the word to others about how they can participate should be our goal.

Tyson's donation of 24 cents per label could make a major impact on our schools if we all got involved. It's so easy to participate, and I encourage you to sign-up your school and start making a difference with the Tyson Project A+ in your child's school.

When I was shopping at Walmart, I saw many, many packages of Tyson Chicken with the Project A+ emblem on them. With so many varieties to choose from, it's easy to provide your family with delicious meals while helping out your school.

Making chicken tostadas with the already cooked Tyson chicken was a breeze. I just heated up the chicken, prepared the other ingredients, like tomatoes, lettuce, and olives, and dinner was ready.

Chicken Tostadas Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 bag of Tyson chicken, already grilled and diced
1 package taco seasoning
I large can of refried beans
2 cups shredded Mexican cheese
2 large tomatoes, diced
sliced lettuce
can of black olives
sour cream
bottle of hot sauce
package of 12 tostada shells

Directions:

Cook chicken in a frying pan, breaking it up, and then add taco seasoning and cook according to package directions.

Heat up refried beans in a pan. Cut up tomatoes, olives, and lettuce. Heat tostada shells in the oven until warmed.

Spread a layer of beans, and then chicken on a tostada shell. Top with lettuce, tomatoes, olives, cheese, sour cream and hot sauce.

With back to school just around the corner for us, we'll be using Tyson chicken products to make lots of easy and delicious dinners.

I love that using the foods we already buy and enjoy can help make a difference to my grandson's school.
I am happy to be participating in the Tyson Back to School Project A+ program, and I hope you'll join too, and start helping to make a difference in the school of your choice.


You can see my shopping trip at Walmart for Tyson products in my Google+ Album and how you can start helping when you #Clip4School with Tyson labels.

You can also connect with Tyson on Facebook and Twitter.

Send A Card and Make A Memory, Because Sometimes Facebook Just Isn't Enough

One of my favorite things to do is to send and receive cards from family and friends.

I love looking back through old cards that I have received and reading sweet birthday messages, or loving words from my kids on Mother's Day cards.

Do people still send cards like they did back before Facebook let you wish someone a happy birthday? I really think that a happy birthday wish on Facebook lets people think they have met their obligation, and they needn't do anything else, not even a phone call, and especially not bothering to sending a card.

But sending or receiving a card lets you hold physical evidence of those loving thoughts or words that can become even more precious as time goes by.

By the time I was born, my parents had been married a long time, had a lot of struggles, three other kids, and not a whole lot of love existed between them, or so I thought.
But when I was about ten, I discovered a scrap book they had kept of cards they had sent each other during the first years of their marriage. There were birthday cards, anniversary cards, and just cards that expressed how much they loved each other.
The declarations of love, the sweet words written, especially by my father, helped me to change my view of their marriage. Their marriage was far from perfect, but now I saw there was a real love that still existed between them, and it would last for many decades, and until my father died.

So I will continue to send cards, birthday cards, Christmas cards, thank you cards, and more. I encourage my adult children to give cards, and they are pretty good about it.

How about you?
Do you send cards, do you love receiving them?

I would love to know!!

Quick Strawberry Cinnamon Bread

Strawberries are still plentiful at the farmer's markets and grocery stores, so I am trying to take advantage of that before fall arrives.
 I think it is so crazy how summer is just flying by, and before we know it, the season will be over.

So meanwhile, I have made this quick and easy fruit bread. It's cheating a little bit because this recipe calls for a can of refrigerated cinnamon rolls as its base, but that is what makes it so easy to make.

The great thing about this strawberry cinnamon bread is that it's delicious for breakfast, brunch, or dessert, along with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.

I'm really finding that using coffee creamer to cook with is versatile and economical. I used my favorite flavor in this recipe, Sweet Italian Cream.

This recipe really only takes a few minutes to put together. You can also easily double it if you are serving it when you are entertaining.

Make sure the cinnamon rolls are completely covered by the egg and strawberry mixture. You can also make this with peaches or other kinds of berries.

Recipe for Quick Strawberry Cinnamon Bread

Ingredients:

1 can good quality refrigerated cinnamon rolls, with frosting
1 cup strawberries, cut in half and slightly smashed with a fork
3 eggs
1/4 cup coffee creamer, Sweet Italian Cream, or Vanilla flavor
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Open cinnamon rolls and place evenly into a greased 9x9 baking dish.
In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, coffee creamer, cinnamon and vanilla. Stir in strawberries.
Pour egg mixture over cinnamon rolls in baking dish.
Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes, or until eggs are set, and rolls are golden.
Let rolls sit 5 minutes after coming out of oven.
Microwave frosting about 10 seconds, and then pour over bread.
Serve or at room temperature,

Serves 4-6