Fresh Orange Cake

I recently got in the baking mood and leafing through a few cookbooks found this recipe for Fresh Orange Cake...wow, is it ever good! You don't need fancy ingredients for it either. I found this recipe in "The Cake Doctor" by Anne Bryn.

Fresh Orange Cake

Vegetable oil spray (I use Pam)

Flour for dusting pan

1 package yellow cake mix with pudding

1 cup fresh orange juice (about 5 oranges or from the carton)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup sugar

1 t. vanilla

4 large eggs

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a Bundt pan with spray and dust it with flour. Shake out excess flour.Set aside.

Place the cake mix, orange juice,oil, sugar, vanilla and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low for 1 minute. Stop and scrape down sides, Increase motor speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes more, scraping down sides as you need to. The batter should be thick and well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan and place in oven.

Bake the cake until its golden brown and just starts to pull away from pan. 45 to 47 minutes. Remove pan from oven and let sit for 20 minutes. Run a long sharp knife around the edge of the cake and invert it onto a rack to cool..let cool for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile prepare the glaze.

1 cup powdered sugar

3 T. fresh orange juice

1 t. freshly grated orange zest

Combine into a small bowl and stir with a spoon until well blended.

Place the cake on a platter and drizzle the glaze over the top and let it dribble down the sides and into the middle. Let it set for a while before slicing. 

Store this with a cover or cover it with plastic wrap at room temperature for up to a week. Or it can be frozen.

We are getting oranges here at our local fruit stand for around $5.00 for a 5 lb. bag and they are local. So sweet and good! We're enjoying them like candy.

A Giveaway

Just a short note today. We had 3 jobs and a total of 20 locks to re key. Plus we got some payments which was nice. We're both home now and feeling tired after the day but its a good tired.One realtor we do alot of work for said her son fixes computers and often has ones he gives away. I told her I really needed a new one and she said she'd talk to him! Praying that something good happens.

I also wanted you to know that Nancy is having a giveaway. I signed up and you win two movie tickets of your choice. The giveaway is sponsored by General Mills cereal. We could sure use a night out and you probably could too, so please go over to Inside Nana's Head  for more information. Good luck!

Girls with pets, and a Giveaway Win

 

I recently listed the last of the Valentine postcards in Ebay. For the first time, one of my winning bidders was from outside the United States, in Austria. I was hesitant to send it to him but he was very gracious, paid for the extra shipping and he got the card in just a few days. Actually, the shipping wasn't bad at all. 

The proceeds from my Ebay and Etsy sales goes to helping us get things we need around our home. Last month, I made enough to get a new vacuum which we really needed. Our old one had died, and I was using a shop vacuum for inside which was alot more work. Next I'm saving for 4 new patio chairs for our little outdoor table. 

The above cards are my absolute favorites of the collection. I just love these sweet little girls and their pets. You are welcome to copy these onto your computer if you wish. The originals on for sale on Ebay

I also wanted to share that I won the January giveaway from Brenda ( The Rusty Thimble) I was delighted to get this wonderful cute primitive bunny.

This photo is one from the giveaway. she is so much cuter than the photo. Brenda has giveaways every month so if you haven't signed up for her February, you can find it here. 
My computer isn't letting me download photos right now. Sadness as I have so many I'd like to share. Hope to get this problem fixed soon, part of the reason I haven't posted as much. We had a hot air balloon fly overhead last week, and sky divers jumped from it. I got photos of that, plus a fabulous rainbow that I was able to photograph after a storm.

Stone Soup

I found a interesting website you might like to visit, its called Stone Soup and has healthy recipes most of which are only 5 ingredients. I am enjoying it and if you sign up, you will get a free Ebook with recipes too. What I like is that if you have allergies or other health food requirements, these recipes are quite flexible. As my husband is diabetic, we are always concerned with healthy recipes for him and its not easy to find them with everyone talking about bacon and carbs. Plus alot of recipes have tons of ingredients and frankly, I don't want to buy an expensive spice or something else for one recipe that we may or may not like.
 Today Jules talked about shaved salads which intriqued me. We love coleslaw and make it often but this recipe sounds really good too....Shaved Ham and SnowPea Salad..
she also speaks about different kitchen gadgets to use to get shaved vegetables and suggestions on how to use them. 

 

Just click on the above link for the recipe and also you can sign up!

Friday in My Neck of the Woods

I know I mentioned some time ago that I was stitching a pillowtop for Nancy Huggins daughter as a birthday present. I sent the top to Nancy and she made this wonderful pillow out of it...what do you think?

The fabric is a Civil War reproduction fabric and the vintage graphic I got from PrimRose Design. I think it turned out nice.
I'm not stitching as much as I used to as its awfully difficult with our grandson running around the house. He's at that age if you know what I mean. I started some towels but its hit and miss most of the time.

We were fairly busy this week doing escrow re keys which is nice..much nicer than foreclosures as people are actually moving into their new home. All of these have been anywhere from 40 to 80 miles from home in San Diego County. We got up really early this morning for another type of job, a foreclosure, again in S. D. county. Got at the house at 7 in the morning and got it re keyed for Fannie Mae. We were finished before 8!

and last but not least,,a few funnies