Pineapple Upside Down Bundt Cake

This is an excellent way to use up those leftover maraschino cherries from the New Year's ham.

Instead of laying the pineapple flat in the baking pan, use a bundt pan.  Cut the pineapple slices in half and put a cherry in between every slice.  I was able to use an entire 20 oz can of pineapple this way.

Pineapple Upside Down Bundt Cake

20 oz can of pineapple rings

maraschino cherries

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 stick butter

1 box vanilla pudding

2 cups flour

1/2 cup white sugar

1 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

2 t vanilla

4 eggs

juice from pineapple plus enough water to equal 1 cup

Set oven to 350 degrees.  Melt the butter and brown sugar.  Pour into an ungreased bundt pan.  Cut pineapple slices in half and arrange around the bottom of the pan alternating with cherries.  Mix the dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate containers, then mix together.  Pour very carefully over the pineapple and cherries.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.  It should easily come out of the pan after about 15 minutes.  Enjoy!

Goodbye 2016

As we get to the end of another year, I wanted to share a few pictures of the projects I completed.

May everyone end 2016 and begin 2017 happy, healthy, and hopeful!

In the Garden Today

My garden is doing wonderful things today. I am so excited!

My tomatoes are finally turning red. We planted them the last weekend in May, so this has taken two and a half months.

This is how tiny they were in June.

I have picked two zucchini but they are very tiny. I picked them because they had stopped getting any bigger and one of them actually seemed to be shriveling up. The biggest one on the plant is four inches. Hopefully it will surpass the five inches of the ones I just picked. DH said that the weather is probably keeping them from getting a good size. We are having quite a mild summer, only about three weeks of 90 degree weather. I'm guessing the average has been somewhere in the high 70's. I was actually wearing long sleeves to work today.

The new vegetable bed is doing great. I have carrots, lettuce and herbs in it right now and some cabbage sprouts that I will transplant this weekend. Making the bed was real easy but it sure did take a lot more dirt than I thought. I bought what is called "roll-board", lots of little boards stapled onto a wire and all about the same height. Then I bought short posts that can just be hammered in the ground where you need them. I didn't have to do very much digging, just the grass off the top and a little tilling with the hand-tiller. Then poured a whole lot of dirt. Way more dirt than I thought it would take. I could probably add 160 more liters of dirt and it wouldn't be full. What I'm really liking about this method is that once you add the dirt and soak it in well, you are ready to plant. Not very much digging required. I'm already planning to put another bed along the back fence for spring because this one filled up so fast. The landlord will probably wonder what I'm doing to his grass, but the moles have already ruined the yard so why not make it productive.

These are cabbage sprouts in paper planters that you can plant straight into the ground.

The green bits are carrot sprouts. DH informed me after I planted them that there are too far apart and I could have fit more in. Oh well, I'll know for next time.

Carrots, a few lettuce, and my herb garden.