1 box yellow cake mix, 4 eggs, 3/4 cup oil, 8 oz. sour cream.  Mix ingredients, spread 1/2 of cake mixture in a greased 9 x13 cake pan.  Sprinkle 1/2 of the following mixture on top:

1 cup brown sugar mixed with 1 tbsp. cinnamon

spread remaining cake mixture on top sprinkle remaining brown sugar mixture on top and swirl with butter knife.  Bake at 350 degrees for 35 min or until done.    Glaze cake when cooled.

Glaze for cake:  2 cups powdered sugar, 5-6 tbsp evaporated milk, and 1 tsp. vanilla.

Here is a picture of the apple muffins I made this morning.  They were very good.  I definitely will be making them again.  Thanks for sharing the recipe, Cheryl.  Here is the recipe: 

2 cups flour (I used whole wheat), 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tbsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp cinnamon, 3/4 cup apple juice, 1/3 cup oil, 1 egg and 1 cup diced apples.  Combine all ingredients and put into muffin pan.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 min.  Next time I make it I will add nuts but I didn’t this time.  Anyway they were really good.

Today has been rain, rain, and then some more rain.  Extremely dreary.  Hubby is having trouble with the van  but has been unable to work on it because of the rain.  We did manage to sneak in a picnic lunch over at the park.  They have a shed there and we were fortunate enough to get to use the shed, otherwise we would have had to come home.  We had hamburgers on the grill, pasta salad and yogurt.  We got some more good pictures to share. 

I hope you all enjoy your day and God bless.

Our blackberries are doing much better than I thought they would.  Today makes 3 gal. I’ve picked. YUM!

Yesterday we finished the pears.  Later, we went up to the garden and SURPRISE!  Lots of beans were ready.  We canned 15 quarts and had enough for dinner and lunch today.  

Tomorrow we will be going down to Jessica’s.  Sam has a doctors appointment so the girls and I will be playing with Daniel.  Jess is going to make supper for us before we come back home.  Last night’s menu was fried chicken, green beans, and rice.  We had cantalope and watermelon for dessert.  It certainly has been hot here for the last few days.  Hotter than usual I think.  Oh well, fall will be here soon and everyone knows what follows fall.  I think we better enjoy these hot, summer days.  Cold winter days will be here before we know it.

I think the girls and I will make pizza sauce to can today from the tomatoes we picked yesterday.  The recipe I use is:

1/2 cup oil, 4 med. onions chopped, 4 cloves garlic, 1/4 cup dried parsley, 1 gal. tomato juice, 2-12 oz cans tomato paste, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tsp. oregano, salt, and basil, 2 bay leaves, 3/4 tsp. black pepper.  mix all ingredients, simmer about 2 hours.  Process pints 30 min on 10 lb pressure.  Yields about 12 pts.  I will be adding banana peppers and some hot peppers to mine today as I have quite a few of these in the garden.

I guess I better get busy with these projects.  Enjoy your day and God bless.

Today has been kinda a resting day.  So much has been going on here lately, I thought the girls and I needed a day to rest.  Of course, as all you know there is no such thing as a completely resting day.  Especially during the week.  Anyway, I decided as I was resting to make a cherry pie.  I used the cherries we picked over the weekend.  I put about 3 cups of pitted cherries and about 1/2 cup sugar.  I brought this to a boil and let it boil down some.  Then I thickened it with 2 tbsp. cornstarch mixed with 2 tbsp. water.

Then I made my pie crust.  The recipe I use is:  1/4 tsp. salt, 1/3 cup milk, 1/2 cup oil.  Mix all this together, then add 2 1/3 cups sifted all purpose flour.

Then I divide the dough into 2 parts for the bottom crust and the top.   I must warn you though this next picture is not too pretty.  I have never been good at rolling out pie crust.  I want to be, so I keep trying.  Maybe someday.

The finished product.  I know it doesn’t look too good but I believe it will taste great.  Especially with that homemade vanilla ice cream I’m making.  We are also having pork tenderloin, pinto beans and mashed potatoes. I think I will have  cornbread with this.  Today for lunch I had my first batch of wilted lettuce and green onions, so I had to bake cornbread to go with it.  Now, where I from they would have said a “mess” of lettuce and onions but I didn’t want to confuse those of you who do not understand mountain talk.  For you all who don’t know what this is, I’ll explain. First pick the lettuce and onion, fry some bacon.  Then you wilt down the lettuce and onion with the hot bacon grease.  Add a little salt and enjoy with cornbread.  Hubby likes pinto beans with his. Anyway you fix it, it is good!  My ice cream maker is finished, so I must go.  Take care and God bless.

Yes, we have more snow.  It is snowing hard and we have gotten about 1 1/2″ already.  All our shoveled out places are covered again.  I think it is supposed to snow until about 8:00 tonight.  I just pray it doesn’t snow too much.  We plan on going to Jessica’s this weekend.   The last picture shows how hard it is snowing,  if you look really close, you can see the barn in the distance. 

Changing the subject, here is a picture of a peach pie I made today.  Instead of using a pie pan, I put it in one of my cast iron skillets.  The peaches were home canned.  I just thickened up the juice.  The pie crust is really simple.  1/2 cup oil, 1/3 cup milk, 1/4 tsp. salt.  Stir this together, then add 2 1/3 cup sifted all purpose flour.  Mix together.  This will make top and bottom crust.  I used the entire dough for a bottom crust as this skillet is fairly large,  then I put a crumb topping on the top.  I think this need vanilla ice cream on the side.  What do you all think?  Well, enjoy your day and God bless.

My accomplishment for the day.  This cake goes by several different names.  Some call it a stack cake.  Some call it a lassie (molasses) cake.  No matter what name you call it, it is just plain GOOD.  When I was growing up in the mountains of southwest va, this cake was very popular among my mom’s family.  You very seldom had any type of family get together that someone didn’t make this cake.  Of course, as a young girl I took this for granted.  Ate the cake and never thought about learning to make it myself.  Then we moved away from family and of course I wanted me some stack cake.  I called my aunt and got the recipe.  It has taken much trial and error but I think I’ve just about got it right.  This is a recipe I want to pass down to my girls.  Old mountain recipes will be lost if we don’t teach the next generation how to make them (even if they don’t want to learn).  If anyone is interested in the recipe, here it is:  1/2 cup oil, 1 cup sugar, 2 eggs,   1 1/2 tsp. ginger, 1/2 cup hot water, 1/2 cup molasses, 3 cups self-rising flour.  Mix all ingredients together.  Turn mixture onto floured surface.  Knead until slightly stiff.  Divide into 6 parts.  Put wax paper into round cake pans. ( I do three at a time)  Take each section of dough, spread out thinly in cake pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Romove from oven.  Place on cooling rack.  Repeat process for the other 3 sections.  Spread apple butter between the sections.  Let set overnight to allow the apple butter to moisten the cake layers.  Then serve.  Many enjoy this cake with buttermilk.  Any questions, just leave a comment or e-mail me.  Enjoy and God Bless.