Little Brown (Sugar) Lies

I have been M.I.A. for quite some time. Booo. But believe me, I have not been trying to give my blog the finger.

I have really missed my blogs, but I have just been overwhelmed and super swamped with (trying to keep up with) school work, watching the baby learn how to walk, volunteering, handling Board member duties, soothing the baby's teething fever, balancing out of town trips, and hitting the Capitol for an advocacy training.

 

Whew!

But enough with the excuses. I'm back, toots, so let's get into the swing of things again!

Besides the aforementioned crap going on in my life, the silver lining is that my mom came into town to visit the Grandbaby!

Grandmommy Mary & Baby Willow

at "Cooking with Kids Night" at the Daycare

She hasn't seen my daughter since she was 3 weeks old. My mom, Mary, flew up to see us from my homeland of Nashville, TN. I should really be calling Nashville the "mothership" because I feel like an alien whenever I go back to visit. Everything has changed so much in the 10 years since I've moved to Yakima, so much so that I feel lost in my old stomping grounds (which have are now gentrified and countrified, with Matt Hasselbeck and Nicole Kidman laid to the side.)

But don't get it twisted. I am so thankful for all of my Tennessee upbringing, such as knowing that there IS a difference in hot water cornbread and cornbread.

Hot Water Cornbread(yum!)      

Skillet Cornbread (weaksauce!)

Knowing that it DOES matter what hot sauce you use (it's either Tabasco or Lousiana). 

And knowing how to squeeze a good recipe out of your mom when the need calls for it.

I squeezed the most delicious recipe for Pineapple Upside Down Cake from my mom! We had been invited to an Oscar Viewing Party at one of my bffs and my mom requested that my friend make her great chicken lasagne. So I kind of told my mom (read, lied to) and told her that she needed to make her famous cake.

My mom looked at me like I had sprung two or three heads and then replied, "You told her I would make WHAT?"

In hindsight, it really wasn't that hard to get her to make it. I just told her (the truth) that one of my favorite childhood recipes was her pineapple upside down cake. (The others are the homemade biscuits  my dad used to make, collard greens served with macaroni & cheese and tomato slices, and sweet potato pie!) I told her that she made the best cake, hands down! So into the kitchen she went, and into my belly went the cake! It was a hit at the party, with one of our friends exclaiming: "Man, that pineapple upside down cake was ROCKIN'!"

Let's see if I can recall the recipe because in all of the excitement, I forgot to write it down!!

Grandma Mary's Pineapple Upside Down Cake

• 2 cans of crushed Pineapple
• 1 box of Yellow Cake Mix (easy does it, pal!)
• 2 Bags of Brown Sugar
• A pinch of baking powder
• Bake in a 12 inch pan for about an hour or so until the knife comes out clean (I didn't look to see how long it was in the oven, okay!)

1.   Layer:

• Brown sugar
• Pineapples
• Pineapple juice from the can mixed with a touch of water to dilute

**
2.   Mix:

• In a mixing bowl, prepare the cake mix batter (make according to box directions), then pour on top of the layered stuff.
• Bake at 350 degrees til cake is done.

**
3.   Serve & Eat:

• Let it cool, uncovered, for about half an hour before you turn it over onto a serving plate.
• Then flip that puppy over and voila!
• Eat!