Glazed Pear Cake

Yesterday I wanted to make a "dump" cake with some of the pears I canned this fall. I was getting so frustrated looking for recipes online because every one of them called for a cake mix instead of giving a recipe for making a cake. So I pieced a recipe together and it worked out great!
First I greased the bundt pan and lined the bottom with drained pears (save the syrup!!) For the cake I used my basic muffin recipe and just added some spices (2 tsp cinnamon and 1 tsp each of ginger and nutmeg).
1 1/2 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
mix and then add:
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup pear syrup
1/4 cup cooking oil
Pour this over top of the pears and bake at 350 for 20 minutes (may take just a bit longer)
Let it sit for a few minutes and then un-pan it and let it cool completely.
The Glaze:
Melt 2 Tbsp butter in a sauce pan. Add 2 Tbsp pear syrup and 1/4 cup brown sugar. Stir and bring just to a boil. Then add 1/3 cup powdered sugar and let it boil for one minute. Pour this over the cooled cake and serve.

cowl and pear jam

I'm not only prepping my cupboards and kitchen for winter, I'm also building my supply of neck warmers. I wanted to make this cowl last winter but never got it done. I love this blue yarn, so soft and pretty. I cast on 90 stitches in the round and am knitting it k1p1. So far I love it.



We have a pear tree in the back yard. I am always at war with the squirells over the pears. This year, I picked them a little early and so I won. I canned some a few days ago and today make pear jam/butter. I slow cooked the pears with some bourbon vanilla in the crock pot all day and then processed it this afternoon. It tastes awesome.

more pickles and new sprouts

Making pickles at my moms today. We make dill zucchini pickles, bread and butter pickles and bread and butter squash pickles.


Cucumber sprouts! Take that, ground hog!!!


I love how tomatillas look like Japanese lanterns at this stage.


I picked a bowl of pears to make pear butter with tomorrow.