Lemon Pound Cake

Desserts, Lemon
Everyone’s favorite

Our family has been making this cake for years and years and it is still the best , and simplest cake around.

from the Duncan Hines cake box (with my 2 cents)

  • 1 pkg Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme Cake Mix (any other brand simply will not do)
  • 1 (3.4 oz) pkg instant lemon pudding and pie filling (the small box)
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 cup water (I juice 1 lemon, and then add enough water to it to make 1 cup)
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • (I also throw in the rind from aforementioned lemon in the batter)

Glaze:

  • 1/2 cup Frosting from can (we always juice 1 lemon, or more, and add enough powdered sugar to get to the consistency you want)
  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 10-inch tube pan.
  2. Combine cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, water and oil in large bowl. Beat at medium speed with electric mixer for 2 minutes. Pour into pan.
  3. Bake at 350°F for 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 25 minutes. Invert onto heat resistant serving plate. Cool completely.
  4. For glaze, place frosting in microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high power 10 to 15 seconds. Stir until smooth. Drizzle over cake

 

Spring is almost here…right…

garden

My order of coleus seeds came today so that means it’s almost spring…right?  Courtney and Mary went to the Home and Flower show yesterday.  That means it almost spring…right?

photo
Six different kinds of coleus, some lettuce, some beets and some basil

February is the worst month ever. Ever! But spring will be here soon.

Forsythia last year in our garden. I think it was here mid-March.
The tree peony show in April.
Beautiful dark purple lilacs in early May
early crop radishes
the hosta border in mid-May

…please come soon Spring.

 

 

 

 

Imperfect Birds; Anne Lamott

Books

A 17 year old girl living in a well-off west coast town is involved in drugs and alcohol with her similar fast paced friends.  The novel goes back and forth between the typical 17 year old know-it-all thoughts and her recovering alcoholic mother and  step father.  I didn’t like this book at all.  There was not much plot and I wanted to slap all of them and tell them to get over it already.

PJH Rating: ***

Book: Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk; Ben Fountain

Books

A nineteen year old soldier temporarily back from Iraq spends Thanksgiving day along with his “heroic” Army troop at the Thanksgiving Day Dallas Cowboys football game.  The novel goes back and forth between their day and Billy’s history growing up and in the Army.  A great first novel that really makes America look awful looking at war, politics, class and football.

PJH Rating: ****1/2

Book: Wild; Cheryl Strayed

Books

A memoir of the author’s months long backpack journey along the Pacific Crest Trail from Southern California to Washington State.  She took the journey, the first time she ever backbacked in her mid 20’s after a troubled childhood, a bad marriage and the death of her Mother.  Makes me want to go back packing again (well just a little).

PJH Rating: ***1/2

Book: Flight Behavior; Barbara Kingsolver

Books

A young woman in southern Tennessee is on her way to cheat on her husband but instead encounters a flock of butterflies than changes her life.  Barbara Kingsolver, one of my favorite authors, takes it all on in this novel: religion, environmentalism, sexism, marriage…but her great storytelling and beautiful prose, as usual, all come together to make it a great novel.

PJH Rating: ****1/2

Senate Bean Soup

Beans, Onion, Parsley, Pork, Soup

We have been making this soup for years whenever we have left over ham and a ham bone.  It always tastes better the next day.

Senate Bean Soup

Soup Suppers, Arthur Schwartz

  • 1 lb. dried white beans, rinsed and picked over
  • 1 small ham hock (we usually use the left over bone from a ham)
  • 3 quarts water
  • 1 large onion
  • 6 to 8 celery ribs, finely chopped
  • 3 large garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
  • 1 medium potato, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch cubes
  • 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
  • 1/4 cup chopped parsley leaves
  1. Soak the rinsed beans overnight in cold water to cover by several inches. (we usually skip this as we aren’t thinking that much ahead.  Just a couple of hours soak helps though if you have time).
  2. In a 5 to 6 quart pot, combine the drained beans, ham hock, and water.  Cover and bring to a boil; adjust the heat, partially cover, and simmer briskly until the beans are tender, 1 to 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
  3. Stir in the onion, celery, garlic, potato, salt and pepper.  Keep at a steady simmer another hour, stirring occasionally, until the beans are very tender and the soup is very thick.
  4. Remove the ham hock and, if desired, strip the meat off the bones and put into soup. (we usually add more left over ham if we have it)
  5. Serve piping hot.