Pineapple Rum Cake

Pineapple Rum Cake! Doesn't that just sound delish????

This Christmas I cooked two hams in my roaster oven and I have to tell you they were the best hams I've ever cooked! I got the recipe from Jennifer. All you do is pour a can of coke, 1 1/2 cups of pineapple rum and squeeze fresh lime over the ham. Delish!

Anyway, the pineapple rum was so good, it got me thinking about changing my rum cake recipe and adding pineapple and using the pineapple rum. So, let's try it!


Here's all you need.

Oops, I left out the sugar for the glaze in the picture. Sorry.


Put the yellow cake mix and the pudding mix into a mixing bowl. Add 4 eggs.



Add 1/2 cup buttermilk and 1/2 cup oil




Now add 1/2 cup pineapple rum



Wait a minute, take a better look at that.




This is so good! And not just because Cruzan sponsors this cutie:





It's really good! In fact you can sip on it all by itself or add a little sparkling water to it, pour over ice and add a fresh wedge of pineapple. Fantastic.

Now, back to the cake. Add the drained pineapple. And mix all ingredients. Put the chopped pecans in the bottom of a greased and floured bundt pan. Now pour batter over the nuts.





Bake in a 325° oven for one hour. Cool. Now poke holes all in the cake. I use bamboo skewers rather than toothpicks because they're longer.






Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in water and sugar and boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 - 1/2 cup pineapple rum. Slowly pour over cake.





Let the cake completely absorb all the glaze.






Now cut you a piece and sit back and enjoy! Wow, not bad if I do say so myself. Uhmmm, I wonder what it would be like to add coconut, then you would have a very tropical pineapple coconut rum cake. I may have to try that next time. Excuse me while I cut myself another piece.

Pineapple Rum Cake

1 cup chopped pecans
One box yellow cake mix
One box instant vanilla pudding mix (3.5 oz package)
4 eggs
1 small can crushed pineapple, drained (and reserve juice)*
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup pineapple rum

Preheat oven to 325°. Grease and flour a bundt pan. Sprinkle nuts over bottom of pan. Mix remaining ingredients together. Pour batter evenly over nuts. Bake for 1 hour. Cool. Invert on plate. Prick top with toothpick or long wooden skewer. Drizzle glaze evenly over cake top and sides. Allow cake to absorb glaze.

Glaze

4 Tablespoons butter
1/4 cup water (or use reserved pineapple juice)
1 cup sugar
1/4 to 1/2 cup pineapple rum

Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in water and sugar. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in rum.

*The next time I made this, I reserved the pineapple juice and used it instead of the water for the glaze.

How Much Things Have Changed!

Okay, I'm really about to show my age here. Back in 1984 we got our first car phone! Only back then they were called mobile phones. I was trying to find a picture of one to show you, but this is about the closest one I found.

Ours was black and we paid $2500.00 for it. The brain or transformer had to be mounted in the back of the car and it had thick cables that ran to the phone that was bolted to the floorboard in the front of the car. We had a Dodge Ramcharger and had to have the phone professionally installed.

We had a book that came with it, and when we traveled, we had to switch frequencies to find the closest towers. You had to have the book with you to look up the different locations of the towers. It had all these extra buttons that you had to push to change the frequencies. It was soooo cool! Mike had to do a lot of traveling, so he got new cars or trucks every two years and of course, we always had to have the phone installed again.

I was so glad when they finally came out with the "bag phones"! What an improvement!!!! Oh, they were so much more convenient then the old mobile phone!!! How could they ever improve on those???? Well, they did. It seems with each passing year they got better. And now with each new month, there's always a better cell phone coming out.

This is my phone now, and I'm loving it! Oh the things I can do with this!!!!






Learn a foreign language. I've always wanted to speak french!





And the games I can play!!!! Sudoku!!! Pac Man!






And with all the traveling I'm going to be doing, I have to know what the weather's going to be like so I'll know what to pack.





With my New Year's resolution to lose weight and exercise, what better way to keep track of everything????



Oh! I'm loving my phone!!!!


Now if only I could figure out how to call my friends with it and tell them they really need to get one of these!!!!

What I do Best!

Piddle!

Yep, that's what I do best.

The definition: Verb. To spend time aimlessly; to squander; to diddle.

That's me! I can waste more time just piddling and get absolutely nothing accomplished! The problem is, I enjoy doing just that. When I'm rushed and have a million things that have to get done, I feel cheated that I don't have time to just piddle. Why is that? When I piddle around the house, I feel so well-rested. This is the one thing I do that is so out of character with my overly compulsive, organized life.

This past week I've had time to dawdle or piddle around the house and it's been great. I'm trying to organize my sewing/craft room. I finally unboxed my mother's china. I had forgotten just how pretty it is. Here's a picture of the tea pot, cup and saucer, and sugar bowl.



It's by Royal Doulton and the pattern is Kirkwood. Just look at this creamer:




There's a tureen in this pattern that I would love to have, but I checked on it at replacements and it's $699! Yikes! I'll just have to do without. I'll just be happy with the 8 place settings and serving dishes that I have. Of course, I had to make more room for this china. I had already put all her crystal in the laundry room cabinets. I'm thinking I'm going to have to find more ways to store dishes. After all, you can never have too many dishes!!!!!!

Just Barely Made It!

Whew! I almost let a whole month go by without a single post!!!!! There's just no excuse for it! It doesn't matter that I had company three different weekends, throw in two holidays (yes, I know Thanksgiving really isn't in the same month, but it sure felt like it). There's also the fact that this is the first Christmas I've ever gone through without my mother. December was also the month she would have celebrated a birthday and another anniversary, so emotions were running a little high for me. But I survived!

Here's a few pictures of our Christmas:

Kaylee and Nolan made sure they sprinkled lots of reindeer food for Santa and his reindeer.








The food must have worked, because Kaylee and Nolan got lots of toys.




Nolan was a little unsure what to expect:



but at 5, Kaylee was an old pro:



It didn't take Nolan too long to understand that presents were fun!




We had a true Texas Christmas, Nolan got a pair of boots (which he wore the rest of the weekend)



and Kaylee got a pair of pink and blue cowboy boots. (I know this picture isn't the best, but it's the best I've got of the boots.)



The weather was pretty, so Nolan got to ride his new kawasaki outside.



Brother and sister got to share some good times together:



My daughter-in-law's mother and I had fun playing the Wii.






And at the end of the day, Nolan still had his boots on and a smile on his face.




Thanks for letting me share some precious time spent with family. And now my wish for you:

H ours of happy times with friends and family
A bundant time for relaxation
P rosperity
P lenty of love when you need it the most
Y outhful excitement at lifes simple pleasures

N ights of restful slumber (you know - dont' worry be happy)
E verything you need
W ishing you love and light

Y ears and years of good health
E njoyment and mirth
A angels to watch over you
R embrances of a happy years!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

And The List Grows and Grows

I just added the Christmas countdown to my sidebar and I think I'm experiencing an anxiety attack! I've never had one before, but my chest is tightening and I'm finding it harder and harder to breathe. All I can think about is what I need to be doing and yet, I can't seem to make myself do anything. We did get all the Christmas down, but they're still in their boxes. Perhaps I'll get started tomorrow.... and then again, maybe not. Or dear, I'm getting short of breath again.

Pineapple Coconut Chess Pie

I realize everyone is getting ready for the holidays and thinking about pumpkin or pecan pies, but I made this pie this weekend and it was soooo good, I just have to share it with you!



Pineapple Coconut Chess Pie

2 cups sugar
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup of butter, melted
1 heaping teaspoon of flour
1 heaping teaspoon of cornmeal
2 cups coconut
1 cup crushed pineapple, well drained
1 10 inch unbaked pie shell

Mix sugar and eggs; add butter, flour, cornmeal, coconut and pineapple. Mix well. Pour into unbaked pie shell and bake at 350° for one hour.



Enjoy your week!

Fun Weekend With the Grandkids

It's that busy time of year!!!! I've been so busy lately that I haven't even gotten to catch up on all the blogs. It sure would be nice if I didn't have to work and I could just play all day and visit all you nice people out in blogland. But, I guess I should be thankful that I've got a good job and good health. Hopefully the good health will still be with me when I finally do get to retire!

The kids came in to visit us this weekend. Here's a few pictures from their visit. We had a good old chuckwagon lunch out at Mike's brother's ranch. The kids had a great time. Here's Nolan checking out the chuckwagon with Papaw Richey.














And here's Nolan and Kaylee with Uncle B waiting for the cows to come up.




Isn't she a cutie????




Whoa! Those cows are big!!! I'm outta here!!!




We are havingt a serious hog problem out at our land, so Mike and Brandon had a hog trap built. Wouldn't you know it?? The kids loved it!!












And here's Kaylee with Emily and Ryan. They really had a great time!!!





Just a few quick pictures. Hope all of you are enjoying your week!

Hunting Season

Yesterday was the opening day of deer season. Here in Texas, that is almost considered a national holiday! The hunters have spent many hours getting their food plots in, keeping the deer feeders full, checking the pictures from their game cameras and anticipating getting the big one! With all the excitement going on around here, you would think it was Christmas! They don't know it, but I enjoy deer season as much as they do. I get to have the weekend to myself. I can sleep in and eat anything I want for lunch. I also get to go shopping and spend as much time as I want at places like Hobby Lobby or the fabric store.


Well, guess what I got yesterday? I bought myself one of these:





A serger. I've never even used one and truthfully, I'm not sure I really needed it. So to justify my purchase, I thought about all the money Mike has spent on his hunting stuff. And then I put it in my basket and ran to the checkout before I changed my mind.

It's a little intimidating, but I did make a couple of small things last night, and I think I might be able to actually sew with it. It wasn't one of the really expensive ones, but it will be just fine for me. Now I've got to get busy on some Christmas projects! After all, it's only 53 more days 'til Christmas!!!!!