Luscious Lemon Cake

I'm hardly a foodie and don't do too many recipes here, but I've been on a roll lately so you might just see more food here for a little while.  This weekend I tried something a little different, something I made up by combining a bunch of ideas from Pinterest and all those recipes that are populating Facebook these days.  This is a lemon poke cake with raspberry cream filling and lemon cream cheese frosting.  Interested in this yummy summer cake?  Read on.

You need:
1 box lemon cake mix                             eggs, water and oil (to make box cake)
1 package Jello lemon pudding mix        milk (to make pudding)
1/2 container Cool Whip                         raspberry preserves (jelly is fine too)
1 container lemon frosting                      1 container whipped cream cheese frosting

Make the cake according to directions in two round (8 or 9") pans.  When cake comes out of oven, poke each round multiple times with straw (or other hole-making implement) and pour prepared lemon pudding over the holes.  Smooth and remove excess pudding.  Refrigerate (because I like cold cake when I apply frosting).

Mix Cool Whip and raspberry preserves to taste.  I used about half a regular size container of Cool Whip and about 1/2 a cup of preserves.  I honestly can't give exact measurements because I mixed until I had the taste and consistency I wanted.  You want the raspberry taste, but not too strong.  Smooth liberally over one of the rounds.

Mix the lemon and whipped cream cheese frostings.  Note that I used "whipped" cream cheese frosting which you can find in the prepared tubs.  Unfortunately for me, I had to make add real whipped cream cheese (not frosting) because I didn't have enough frosting after my growing son ate most of it!  Mix the frostings, again to taste.  I would use more cream cheese frosting than lemon because the consistency is better with whipped cream cheese frosting and it cuts the strong lemon taste a bit.

Put the other round on top and frost the cake.  Voila!

I wanted to show a cross section so you can see the filling.  Note the frosting is clumpy because I had to mix in real cream cheese to make enough frosting.  It still tastes great, just isn't quite as pretty.  You can also heat the frosting and drizzle it over the top.

I'm pretty proud of this one so I think it's a keeper.  If you like a flavorful lemon cake, give it a try.

Cindy

All About Arizona - Monsoon Season

Summer in Arizona - thunderstorms, dust, humidity and hopefully, rain.  Monsoon season adds humidity to already sizzling temperatures, which in turns causes nasty dust and thunderstorms.  It's probably the worst time of year to visit.  105 degrees can be bearable in early June, but in monsoon season it's downright miserable.

Most of Arizona's precipitation comes during monsoon season, which is officially between June 15 and September 30.  Sudden heavy precipitation results in our dry "washes" (think creek bed) running like raging rivers in less than a half hour.  If you are fooling enough to enter one of these in your car, you can violate Arizona's Stupid Motorist Law, which requires a person to pay for the costs of rescue assuming you aren't drowned in the meantime.  This recently became national news when a bus driver near Kingman decided to cross a running wash.

During monsoon season Arizona also experiences haboubs.  What's a haboub?  It's pronounced "ha-boob" and it's a sand storm.  If you want to see lots of video, you can easily find it on YouTube, but these are pictures from my backyard:

To the west - extending nearly 60 miles

A haboub looks like a large, slow moving cloud that rolls in a blanket of dust and turns dusk to pitch black in less than five minutes.  It leaves an annoying layer of dust on everything outside.  

Yes, monsoon season (when the "dry heat" isn't so dry) can be brutal to endure, but for someone who loves the desert, it's just another example of the enigmatic beauty of the southwest.  I love the smell of creosote on the desert floor, the beautiful purple Texas sage that blooms after a storm and of course, the rainbows after the rain.

cindy

No Good Doggone Deed Goes Unpunished

I have a soft spot for dogs.  I especially have a thing for dogs who are in the wrong places.   When I was 4, I spotted the neighbor's puppy in our backyard.  I bolted for the back door and ran my entire left forearm through the glass door.  Twenty five stitches later, I think the puppy found its way back to its yard.

On Tuesday my kids and I noticed a dog in the street in front of our house as we left for the day.  I opened the car door and an English setter jumped in on my lap.  We went door to door on our block looking for the dog's owners.  Leaving one of the houses, I missed the single step off their porch.  My right foot twisted and I went down hard on my left knee.  OUCH!

7 hours and a lot of crazy limping later, I went to urgent care.  I came home with crutches, a short boot, and hydrocodone.  The diagnosis was an acute sprain and a fracture of my fifth metatarsal, although it was not clear that the broken bone was caused by the fall.

On the drive back home, I found good news - fliers all over the neighborhood looking for our furry house guest.  I called the number on the flyer and SURPRISE!  The dog belonged to our new neighbors ACROSS THE STREET.  The dog, Beau, jumped the fence minutes before we found him.  They were frantically looking for Beau all day, and he was enjoying a play date with my dogs in the backyard pool.  I felt bad for them worrying, and they felt bad about my foot.

After visiting the orthopedic surgeon the next day, I had a revised diagnosis - ligament tearing but no broken bones, just a bone spur.  I also had a bigger boot to wear with my crutches.

{SIGH}

Here's what I learned:

1.  Watch where you step
2.  Introduce yourself to new neighbors
3.  Leave the dog in the street.

cindy