This morning we happened to look out front to see a neighbor we had not seen before. Especially in this heat when everyone is staying indoors, I got excited to see a lady sitting outside on her porch reading what looked like her Bible. I told Randy that I had to go take her a cake and introduce myself! Immediately I got up to see what I had in the pantry! And there it was…a Duncan Hines Pineapple Cake Mix. Not having sliced pineapple or maraschino cherries, I remembered what Brenda Gantt is always saying “use what you have”! So I did. I got the can of crushed pineapple out and the candied cherries that I still had from making a different cake and began to tweak it to make individual cakes. This recipe made 5. It is always so great to be able to use the paper baking pans so it makes it easy to give away and look pretty all at the same time. Adapting the recipe to allow it to use what I had this is what I did:

1 box of Duncan Hines Pineapple cake mix

4 eggs at room temperature

1 cup of water (I drained the 20 Oz can of crushed pineapple and was able to get a cup of liquid so I used that in place of water)

1/3 cup oil

1 small package of French vanilla instant pudding

1 stick butter, melted

20 oz can of crushed pineapple

1 cup light brown sugar

15 candied cherries, cut in half

Combine cake mix. 4 eggs, oil, dry pudding mix and water (or juice) Beat with mixer 2 min and no lumps remain!

Melt the 1/2 cup of butter (1 stick). Pour about 2-3 tablespoons in bottom of each baking pan. Sprinkle about 2 teaspoons of brown sugar over butter. Spoon about 3 tablespoons of crushed pineapple over the sugar and place about 4-6 cherry half’s over that. Using an ice cream scoop (Pioneer Woman makes a great one for $9.00). Place about 2 scoops of batter over the pineapple mixture and bake about 15-17 min or until cake tests done! Cool and top with pineapple glaze if desired.

Glaze:

Using remainder of pineapple and its juice, add any left over melted butter you had from the 1/2 melted. I added 2 cups of powdered sugar and stirring until powdered sugar is dissolved. When cake is cooled about 30 min, pour some of the glaze over the top!

Pineapple Glaze

This morning we happened to look out front to see a neighbor we had not seen before. Especially in this heat when everyone is staying indoors, I got excited to see a lady sitting outside on her porch reading what looked like her Bible. I told Randy that I had to go take her a cake and introduce myself! Immediately I got up to see what I had in the pantry! And there it was…a Duncan Hines Pineapple Cake Mix. Not having sliced pineapple or maraschino cherries, I remembered what Brenda Gantt is always saying “use what you have”! So I did. I got the can of crushed pineapple out and the candied cherries that I still had from making a different cake and began to tweak it to make individual cakes. This recipe made 5. It is always so great to be able to use the paper baking pans so it makes it easy to give away and look pretty all at the same time. Adapting the recipe to allow it to use what I had this is what I did:

1 box of Duncan Hines Pineapple cake mix

4 eggs at room temperature

1 cup of water (I drained the 20 Oz can of crushed pineapple and was able to get a cup of liquid so I used that in place of water)

1/3 cup oil

1 small package of French vanilla instant pudding

1 stick butter, melted

20 oz can of crushed pineapple

1 cup light brown sugar

15 candied cherries, cut in half

Combine cake mix. 4 eggs, oil, dry pudding mix and water (or juice) Beat with mixer 2 min and no lumps remain!

Melt the 1/2 cup of butter (1 stick). Pour about 2-3 tablespoons in bottom of each baking pan. Sprinkle about 2 teaspoons of brown sugar over butter. Spoon about 3 tablespoons of crushed pineapple over the sugar and place about 4-6 cherry half’s over that. Using an ice cream scoop (Pioneer Woman makes a great one for $9.00). Place about 2 scoops of batter over the pineapple mixture and bake about 15-17 min or until cake tests done! Cool and top with pineapple glaze if desired.

Glaze:

Using remainder of pineapple and its juice, add any left over melted butter you had from the 1/2 melted. I added 2 cups of powdered sugar and stirring until powdered sugar is dissolved. When cake is cooled about 30 min, pour some of the glaze over the top!

Pineapple Glaze

I love serving fried chicken when we have a Southern meal to family and friends, but I don’t like standing over a hot stove frying the chicken at the last min! One evening when we were having friends over for dinner, we weren’t sure what exact time they would get here due to their grandchild’s event! So because of that I came up with frying the chicken a couple hours before we expected them and made gravy to pour over the chicken pieces. Baked it in the oven for about 20-30 min in preheated 300 degrees until gravy was bubbling! This time I added something that I hope will make it a true southern dish….1/2 stick of melted butter over the chicken before pouring the gravy over the top! Paula Deen, you would be right at home serving this! Serving this alongside a new potato casserole (a friend is bringing) a green salad (another friend is bringing), deviled eggs, green beans with bacon, Corn muffins, Sister Schubert rolls, and ending the meal with pecan pie and chocolate cream pie with whipped cream! Heart Dr is on speed dial!

4 chicken boneless chicken breasts, cup up and soak in buttermilk

1 egg, beaten

After u have soaked the chicken pieces, remove to a piece of waxed paper. Add the beaten egg to the buttermilk in the bowl

Dip each piece in the buttermilk mixture then the flour mixture. Fry in hot oil until all chicken has been fried.

Place in a greased baking dish and distribute the melted butter evenly, trying to get each piece a little bit of the butter. If u have too much chicken for that amount of butter, just melt more butter to make sure each piece has a little taste. After all, what is a southern meal without butter?

2 packages of Pioneer Gravy Mix

1/2 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter

Needed to take some cupcakes to a party tonight, I knew we were already having lemon squares, chocolate chip cookies, cream cheese brownies, so I thought maybe we needed something not chocolate. After thinking about what to take, I decided to make something I had never made before. The vanilla cupcakes have raspberry jam in the middle of the cupcake that was flavored with almond extract. The frosting was made with cream cheese, dried strawberry powder and topped with a raspberry! Such a perfect summer cupcake!

Cupcakes

Box of Duncan Hines White cake mix. Follow directions on box but use milk instead of water. I added 2 teas almond extract to batter. Pour cupcake liner almost 1/2 full. Put about 1/2 teas raspberry preserves/jam in center of batter then cover the jam with about a teaspoon of more cake batter. Bake u til cupcakes test done. Do not over bake. You don’t want a dry cupcake.

Frosting

After cupcake is completely cooled frost each one with frosting and top with sprinkles or a raspberry or a strawberry!

1 box of powdered sugar (3 1/2 cups).

1 stick of butter room temperature

1 8 oz softened cream cheese

1 oz package of freeze dried strawberries you have processed to become a fine powder

1 teas vanilla

Enough milk or cream to get frosting to a spreading consistency (about 1/4 cup, more or less)

Beat all ingredients until smooth. You will want to add milk gradually as to not get to thin!

When we lived in Pasadena, Ca 2010-2014, we would drive out to Camrillo, CA where Randy would drop me off at the huge Outlet center while he went to that office to work. Then when he got the notice that his credit card was at the limit, he would leave the office and drive to pick me up for us to go have dinner before driving back to Pasadena! That way we missed all the 5:00 traffic and we came home full as a tick!(Actually how full can a tick be). Maybe the more accurate phrase would be, we were stuffed as a pig; as we had found a great little Mexican food place that someone had told us about. It was there that I had my first Albondigas! Where had this been all my life? I feel in love with it. Because they had a chip and salsa bar and this amazing soup, I feasted on just that. Chips and soup!!! While looking through an old cookbook from 1993 last night there it was. A recipe for that great soup. So because my birthday is coming up next month, I am being extra nice, so thought I would share it! Here it is! Enjoy!