Pineapple Upside Down Cake

We were in the mood for something sweet, not too heavy, and believe it or not...not chocolate! What we had on hand was the makings for Pineapple Upside Down Cake with a little variation: There were no pineapple rings so crushed pineapple was used. It was also nearly shocking that we had maraschino cherries, but they sure are pretty!


The recipe went like this: Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Preheat Oven to 350'
Open a can of crushed pineapple, dump into a strainer with a bowl below! Drain juice.

3 Tablespoons of butter melted in a round cake pan
1/2 Cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoons of reserved pineapple juice
Gently mix.
Add drained crushed pineapple.
Place maraschino cherries into the pineapple mix.
Set aside.

In a separate bowl combine:
1 Cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 Cup Pineapple juice
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup coconut oil or shortening
Mix until smooth.
Pour over pineapple mixture in pan. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes.


Remove from oven and immediate invert onto a plate. Leave pan over the cake on the plate for about 5 minutes. Then take pan away and you will have a tasty, sweet treat!


Scratch and Sniff Photo!! Mmmm, you can almost smell the buttery pineapple. Remember, the cherries are optional.


Finally, serve the cake warm with a cup of tea or coffee and enjoy the winter storm blowing the rain!

Missing

We have 15 hens right now and not one of them is laying eggs. It is the first winter in many that the girls have gone on an egg laying vacation. I have been on the hunt in and around the barn, but there just are any eggs. I may need to change the song I am whistling to the hens...?!

Cinnamon Rolls

Here is the story in pictures! The best days to make these are on snowy cold days or freezing fog days or drizzling rain days or staying inside by the woodstove days!


Set the dough to rise and it can be mixed in the same pot that the milk is warmed in.


Punch down the risen dough, then add more flour for kneading.


The dough is kneaded and resting.


Now the dough has been divided in half to make it easier to work with in the next steps.


The butter is melted and added to the top of the rolled out dough.


My grandfather's mini cast iron skillet is perfect for melting butter. Thank you, Mom xoxo.


Buttering is complete, now its time for the sugar and spice.


The cinnamon and sugar is mixed together first, then sprinkled over the buttered dough.


Raisins are added next. In Ireland, raisins added to the bread is called 'spotted dog'! Then the rolling begins. It doesn't matter which way you roll it, but it seems easier in the end if the dough is rolled toward the baker.


The ulu knife is the perfect cutting tool for so many foods and certainly for these cinnamon rolls.


One pan is full and resting to rise a bit more before baking.


Fresh out of the oven and there were 7 more pans just like this one. The cinnamon rolls freeze beautifully after they have been baked, iced, cooled, and covered. Then reheat in the oven at 350 for about 15 minutes.


Another pan out of the oven. The icing, with a touch of maple syrup and a splash or two of strong coffee give it just the right flavor, will go on easier on hot cinnamon rolls.


Finally, these ooey-gooey treats are ready to eat!! Enjoy them with your family!~

Winter Provisions

All of the flurry of the summer harvest and into the autumn canning is paying off now. The picking, washing, cleaning, cutting, chopping, canning, preserving, rinsing, drying and finally labeling chaos has settled down!


Now the shelves are waiting with the labors from early spring to autumn to be chosen for a meal, a side dish, a tangy treat, or a sweet fix! The tallest cabinet has on the top shelf everything pickled: corn relish, dill pickles, bread and butter pickles, and pickled beets. The next shelf down has tomatoes: canned tomatoes, tomato soup, garden sauce for spaghetti or soup starter, and salsa. The third shelf is straight forward and simple: corn and green beans. Then the shelf full of sweet treats like jams, jellies, applesauce, peach butter, apple butter and pear butter. On the last shelf are some of the squashes that will be used for a hearty roasted dish. The short shelves have a great deal of dried foods: beans,nuts, tomatoes, zucchini, figs, peaches, pears, apples, and parsnips. There is also an overflow of jams including fig jam. The dried foods are added to oatmeal in the morning or a dollop of jam for sweetening yogurt. The nuts on the shelves are used short term and the rest are either waiting to be shelled or in the freezer.


The challenge now is to see how little we need to buy at the grocery store! What's for dinner tonight? It looks like some hot tomato soup and grilled cheese for dipping!

Babies on the Farm

Here are the two youngest cousins just after the New Year! Ada is nearly nine months old and Aiden is 18 months old. They were fascinated with each other and of course, I was fascinated with them! Many kisses ~xxxxxx~

Recent Snow

We had a stretch of warm enough to bloom weather followed by a gentle dusting of turning everything white weather! Find the beauty in your winter days!

Soup Pot!

What is cooking in your home? The soup pot on the farm is busy with stored garden vegies, chicken, turkey, or pork and always an apple chopped or sliced for sweet, warm goodness!