Lazy Daisy Cake

One of my friends used to often make this cake - Lazy Daisy Cake. I don’t know were the name came from but this cake, but who cares, it is a cute name and oh so yummy. I finally got the recipe from her (it was out of an old 4H cookbook!).

Lazy Daisy Oatmeal Cake

Ingredients:
Cake:
1 cup quick oats
1 ½ cups boiling water
½ cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon

Topping
⅔ cup butter
⅔ cup brown sugar
¼ cup cream/milk
2 cups coconut

Method:
1. Combine the oats and boiling water and let soak for 20 minutes (it will turn into a nice mush).
2. In another bowl cream the butter, white sugar, brown sugar and cream together. Once it is mixed and fluffy, beat in the eggs and vanilla.
3. Mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon.
4. Add the flour mixtures and the rolled oats to the butter sugar alternating (1/2 the flour, ½ the rolled oats, ½ the flour, ½ the rolled oats).
5. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.
6. As the cake bakes, cream together the butter, sugar and milk for the topping. Mix in the coconut.
7. Spread the topping on the cake and return to oven for 10 minutes.
8. Cool, serve and enjoy!

Variation:
You can make the topping with 1 cup coconut and 1 cup of chopped nuts as well if you prefer.

Reviews:
This cake is moist and delicious. I love the cinnamon in the cake mixed with the golden coconut crust on the top. Everyone who tried it like it, and for me it is a great comfort food.

A Crazy Quilt

A Crazy Quilt

Remember these brown squares from before Christmas?

Well I finally got the quilt finished for my Mother - in - law! It didn’t take nearly as long to put all the quilted squares together as I thought it would and I must say, that although I was unsure about the squares while they were in piles on the floor I do like the final product.


This is the largest quilt I have made so far, it will be on a double bed! I can’t wait to see it in its new home this summer when I go out to visit my in laws. I used the method from Crazy Shortcut Quilts. It was really easy and it would be easy to make each quilt unique.

On the back of the quilt I decided to do stripes of colors so you can flip it over if you want something a little less busy.

BBQ Pizza

I finally have a yard - after 7 years I no longer have to BBQ on a tiny camping BBQ out my living room window (seriously, this is how I did BBQ for 7 years!). Now I can comfortably stand on my deck and use my real BBQ while enjoying the outdoors. The result is that I have been doing a lot of cooking on the grill lately (which is awesome as my house doesn’t heat up from the oven). I decided to try pizza one day, and was surprised at how easy it was.

Pizza Dough
¾ cup warm water
1 ½ tsp yeast
½ tsp sugar
1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsp oil

Toppings:
Cheese
Veggies ( I used a red pepper, green pepper and onion)
Meat (I used some fried pepperoni sausage)
Pizza sauce

Method:
1. In a bowl combine the water, yeast and sugar. Let sit for 10 minutes, the mixture should appear slightly foamy as the yeast starts to activate.
2. Add in the flour and oil, combine until it forms a ball. Cover and let rise for about an hour - the dough will about double in size.
3. After the dough has sat for about 30 minutes, start preparing the vegetables. Cut them into strips (makes them easier to work with).
4. In a vegetable basket on the BBQ cook the veggies until they are crisp tender. (about 10 minutes depending on the size of vegetable pieces.
5. When the dough is done divide into 4 equal parts (or 8 if you would like a smaller pizza). and roll out until they are about ¼ inch thick.
6. When you are ready to start the pizzas, but the dough directly on the grill and let them cook for about 5 minutes. when they are done they will easily lift off the grill and will be soft on the top, a little puffy, but firm on the bottom.
7. Remove dough from grill and assemble the toppings on the firm cooked side of the dough.
8. Return to the grill until the dough is finished cooking and the cheese has melted (about 5 to 8 more minutes).

Enjoy.
Reviews:
This is a great way to enjoy pizza in the summer - you don’t have to heat up the oven or the house as all the cooking can be done on the grill. Also the grill gives the pizza dough a bit of a different texture that I love - a little crunch on the outside with a soft yummy inside! The flavor added by BBQing is great. I will be doing this more often this summer as the weather heats up!

The bonus with the smaller pizzas is that everyone can have their own - have them put their own toppings on to make them personalized.

Gardening!

We are in the new house and I decided that I didn’t want to deal with trying to plant flowers and grow them in the planters in the back yard all summer. I will do the one in front, but other than that, I don’t want to be dealing with growing plants that don’t really do anything. I instead decided to see if I would be able to get some vegetables growing - they will look great and I should get some yummy produce if everything turns out well, so wish me luck!

I have two beds in the back yard that get various amounts of sun. In the sunniest i have planted beans, carrots, onions and garlic (which is already up a little bit - yay). In the shadier of the beds I have putting in peas and thinking of adding some lettuce as I have been told these do well in partial sun.

I also have a large deck and lots of space for pots, so I am trying out some pot bush beans (we will see how that goes), peppers, tomatoes and herbs! The herbs are doing great (I bought them already started) and some of the peppers already have flowers!

The last bed in the back i have left planted with the plants I found there - strawberries! I will be adding a couple of plants to replace those that seem to have died in the winter, but the remaining plants are already up and doing well. There is already a flower on a couple of the plants.

I am looking forward to see what I get out of the garden and being able to cook (hopefully) with some fresh veggies this summer!