Been Busy, Been Cookin'
I have no real valid excuse for not blogging in so long so we'll just skip that part of the post. I have been cooking, taking pictures and thinking about blogging. I have a few hours every day that I could be blogging, but as my friend Michelle knows, I spend the time doing this instead of here. I have often thought about just posting that I won't be posting, but I am still drawn to blogging, and somehow feel like I really don't have that many exciting things to blog about. Someone told me this past August that if you blog once a week, that's plenty. So maybe I should adopt that attiude. Now, if I can really stick to it....

I love our cold weather and the fact that when it's colder I don't mind cranking up the oven to bake anything or cook something on the stove all day. Since I teach five days a week and some of those days are split by an early afternoon class and an early evening class, the crockpot has gotten a work out.

Earlier, when the weather faked us out by getting really cold for about three or four days in a week and then jumped up to nearly 80, I turned on the oven. I had a day off and thought about making something to have with some tea. I wanted something sort of sweet but not too sweet that it would over power my tea. I rummaged through the freezer, which was getting a bit full and found three full bags of frozen blueberries. I thought about baking a blueberry cobbler, but got side tracked with that idea when I opened the pantry door and saw a cake mix. I checked out a few cookbooks and found something that would fit the bill.

This is a "cheater" recipe. It's not from scratch but it's really easy. I guess if you are ever in a pinch for something to take to a coffee group, this would be perfect. This is a cousin of the Pineapple Upside Cake. It made two 9" layer cakes, but I wasn't sure if I was supposed to flip one on top of the other or no. So I decided I would not flip it. So we ate one and then I froze the other. About a month after baking the two cakes, I gave the spare to my son to take to work. I guess they liked it because it didn't come home and he never said it was horrible. So for a 23 yr. old, I guess that's good, right?

The recipe came from one of my old faithful books Farm Journal's Country Cookbook. I have had this book for years and years. The recipes in the book are pretty simple and I do think that sometimes that less is more and simple is right. There is a reason for KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid).

Blueberry Upside-Down Cake

Serves 9

Cake mix makes this a quickie dessert1/4 cup butter or margarine

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups fresh or frozen unsweetened blueberries, thawed

2 tsp grated lemon peel (divided in half)

1 (8 1/2 oz) pkg. yellow cake mix

1/2 cup heavy cream (whipped)

Melt butter in 8" square baking pan. Sprinkle sugar evenly over butter.

Mix blueberries and 1 tsp lemon peel; sprinkle over sugar. Prepare yellow cake mix according to package directions, stirring in 1 tsp of lemon peel at end of mixing. Spread batter over berries. Bake in moderate oven (375) for 30 minutes or until cake tests done. Let stand 10 minutes. Turn out on platter. Serve warm. Top with whipped cream at the table if you wish.

I know that some like to make cakes from scratch, but honestly, these days I flat don't have the time. I would love to go back to the days of being a housewife who could stay home, go shopping and hang out with my friends, but those years are way behind me. I totally feel the pain of those who have even less time than me and little ones to feed and look after. I understand their need for quick and easy.