Crumb Cake

Every now and then I just crave a plain old crumbcake. With cinnamon, of course! Not that I dont like fancy desserts because I really do enjoy making and eating those. I like this dessert as a breakfast bread as well. Its especially good with your morning coffee.

This is what you will need for the cake part. Also, some vanilla, not pictured. sigh.

This is what you will need for the topping. There is no need to toast the coconut. It toasts as it cooks.


Start with your butter and sugar.

Add your eggs, one at a time. Beat after each egg.

Add sour cream and vanilla. Mix well.

Add dry ingredients and then mix in with wet ingredients.

Mix it up.

Spread half of this in a 9x13 pan. The odd thing is it will seem like the pan is too big. It cooks up big though.

Meanwhile, mix your topping ingredients up.

Sprinkle half the topping mix over first half of batter. Then top with remaining batter.

Sprinkle remaining topping mix on top. This will still seem like there is not enough batter in the pan but trust me, it is.

See? It turns out good.

Now would be a good time to have a little of that squirt whipped cream to put on top. Too bad we cant buy it because my kids squirt it in their mouths everytime they open the fridge.

Crumb Cake

Cake:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 cup (8 oz) sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each. Add sour cream and vanilla, mix well. Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Add to cream mixture and mix well. Spread half of batter in 9x13 pan.

Topping:

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons flaked coconut

1/4 cup nuts

2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Combine topping ingredients. Sprinkle half of the mixture on the batter in the pan. Carefully spread the remaining batter on top. Sprinkle with remaining topping. Gently swirl the topping through the batter with a knife. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until pick inserted near the center comes out clean. Let cool and enjoy.

The beauty of this cake is everyone usually has all these ingredients on hand. Happy Cooking!

Sayin' Grace...

I am constantly coming across little prayers that people say before their meals that I think to myself "I HAVE TO REMEMBER THAT!" I have decided to start keeping a list of them on here. I would so love to hear everyones traditions if you have one. Growing up we always said (and this includes all of my extended family too!) "Bless us O Lord for these thy gifts we are about to receive from your bounty O Lord. Amen." About 5 years ago we starting having my middle daughter Sara just say our prayer for us because she has the gift of saying what she has in her heart and it is usually what we have in our heart but we dont know how to say it. Love ya Sara.
This morning I found this. "Come Lord Jesus, be our guest, And may our meal by thee be blest."
Sweet, Simple, Lovely.

WHITE Texas Sheet Cake!

Hi ya'll. I think everyone I know in this area has had a chocolate sheet. If your southern you have probably seen a chocolate sheet cake at every family potluck or wedding and usually have all the ingredients to whip one up at all times. I know I do. I think every southern blog on here has a post about it. I know I do. In fact, its probably the first thing all of us think about when we see the words chocolate cake. I know I do. Okay, enough of that. I must say when I came across this recipe last week I was intrigued to say the least. It was late. Way too late to mess up the kitchen again. I had on my jammies. I couldn't resist. I went and messed up my kitchen anyway. This cake is really very moist, buttery, and tastes sinful (in a really good way). If your not a huge chocolate fan (what??!) you will enjoy this nice change from the traditional sheet cake. It is definately worth trying and worth all the butter!Here are your ingredients that you will need. Except the water.

Melt the butter in with the water and bring to a boil.

Remove from heat and whisk in your dry ingredients...

Then your eggs, sour cream, and vanilla....

until smoothish.



Spread in your greased pan. You can already tell this cake is rich and buttery.

When its done, a pick will come out clean and it will look toasty.

While its cooling, brew some coffee and make frosting.
Peets coffee, Major Dickasons Blend is my new passion.

Melt butter in with milk, bring to a boil.

Remove from heat and add powdered sugar and vanilla. See that small brown dot?

Thats the vanilla.

After whipping that into a smoothness we only dream about. Add pecans.
Mix well.

Spread over your cake that has been cooling 20 minutes.

AAAHHH. I had mine with coffee. My daughter had the sparkling grape juice.

Sweetness!



White Texas Sheet Cake

1 c. butter

1 c. water

2 c. all purpose flour

1 t. baking soda

1 t. salt

2 c. sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup sour cream

1 t. vanilla or almond extract

Frosting

Bring butter and water to a boil in a large saucepan. Remove from heat and whisk in flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, eggs, sour cream and vanilla or almond extract until smooth. Pour into a 15 x 10 inch greased baking pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-22 minutes or until a pick comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 20 minutes. Spread with frosting.

Frosting:

1/2 c. butter

1/4 c. milk

4 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 t. vanilla or almond extract

1 c. chopped nuts

Combine butter and milk in a saucepan, cook over low heat until butter melts. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat and add powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Add nuts.

Hope your enjoy!!

Must Try Recipes~~~~

TGIF!! I hope everyone had a great week but has an even better weekend. The weather here has been so great that I have really wanted to get out in the yard and start trying to make everything look better. We have had a pretty mild winter. I have been able to get in my kitchen and cook some. I have a huge stack of must try recipes from some of my favorite blogs. Although I do try to create some recipes of my own, I so so so enjoy making others as well. This first one comes from The Sunday Baker at www.thesundaybaker.blogspot.com. She has a great blog and some really easy yummy recipes. These caramel turtle brownies were excellent. You can get the recipe over at her blog!!

The layer of caramel in this just sent it over the edge!

This next one is called apple dumplings. It uses 2 cans of crescent rolls and is so easy! I guarantee you will not be able to quit eating these. I got this one from The Pioneer Woman Cooks! Go to www.thepioneerwoman.com for the easy peasy recipe.

These Apple Dumplings do have one odd ingredient. One small can of Mountain Dew! The sauce you will have in the bottom of the pan after baking is finger smacking good!

Hello All!! I hope everyone had a great weekend and a special Valentines Day. I wanted to share with you what I got from my husband. He gave me these beautiful flowers. A dozen yellow roses. They look exactly like the ones he gave me about 25 years ago when he gave me flowers for the first time. I still have them, dried, in a glass jar in my bedroom.

My middle daughter Sara gave me this stunning long stemmed red rose. The color was so deep red and beautiful.

And.....I got a box of my favorite chocolates.

Kentucky Chili

Hi Everyone! My mother is out of the hospital and doing great. Well, not great but she is on the mend. I guess you cant have a surgery like that and spring right back. She is in alot of pain but she is moving around and walking some. Although I have been cooking over there, I havent been able to post. I did make this before her surgery but didn't have time to post it. This recipe comes from my mother in law, Joyce. She was born and raised in Kentucky and she is a wonderful cook. She cooked for all her brothers and sisters as she was growing up and we all love her cooking. Not too long after I got married (20 plus years ago), she and I were talking about chili and she said this is how she makes it. It is just delicious. Now when we make it we just call it Kentucky Chili. This is a nice twist on the chili we make here in Texas. The fact that we NEVER have lefovers is a testament to how good it is.The ingredient list is very simple, ground meat, tomatoes, tomatoe paste, onion, salt, pepper, chili powder, garlic, onion and.....drumroll please...angel hair pasta. Oh, and a can of kidney beans not pictured because my husband was on the way to the store to get it. Isnt it a tradition I forget to put at least one ingredient in the picture??

Brown your ground meat, onion, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
After draining your ground meat, cover with water and add just enough water to cover. Now add chili powder-lots of it. Then add your tomatoes and tomato paste Simmer for about 45 minutes.

I continue to taste and make sure it tastes right. Then add about a small handful of pasta. I like the angel hair pasta. It doesn't take long to cook at all.

And I usually break it in half.



Drain and rinse a can of red kidney beans and add those as well. They dont need to be cooked just warmed through.

This make a nice size meal and could be frozen very easily.Serve with your favorite cornbread. A dollop of sour cream on top would be good but my husband wouldn't go back to the store. Ha!

Heres the recipe:

2 lbs ground round

1 good sized onion

1 can diced tomatoes

1 small can tomato paste

salt to taste

pepper to taste

garlic to taste

5-6 tablespoons chili powder

1 small handful angel hair pasta

1 can red kidney beans

Place ground meat, onions, salt, pepper, and garlic in a large pot and brown. Drain. Then add enough water to cover meat. Add can of tomatoes and can of tomatoe sauce, chili powder and simmer this for about 45 minutes. Add pasta and cook another 5-7 min. Add kidney beans and heat through. Delicious!!

Prayers Please.

Good Morning Everyone. I wont be able to post for a couple days. My mother is going in this afternoon to have some metal rods put in her back. She is in extreme pain and cant hardly walk. She is nervous but she is ready. I will be up at the hospital for a couple of days I am sure.
Be back soon with some more great recipes.
Love you all, please say a prayer for her.
Joan