Brown Sugar Peach Pie

Posted on August 19, 2011 by Veronica

This was another of the pies Teri and I made during the great pie making adventure several weeks ago. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves, but will add that yes, it’s every bit as good as it looks. And the crust recipe makes a lot, so you will have some leftover for pie crust cookies. Or do what my nephew and I did: cut animal shapes out of it, fill with jelly, press another shape on top and bake!

Brown Sugar Peach Pie

Printable recipe
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Crust
2 2/3 cups flour
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup vegetable shortening, chilled in freezer
6-8 tablespoons ice cold water
1 egg, beaten, for brushing on the crust
1 teaspoon white sugar, for sprinkling on top

Filling
7-8 large fresh ripe peaches
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 teaspoons butter

In bowl of food processor, combine flour, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon; pulse until combined. Scoop out the shortening and add it to the flour mixture; pulse until mixture resembles large peas. Add water, one tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together. Form into two discs, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 425. Peel*, pit and slice peaches; place in a large bowl. Add lemon juice, brown sugar, flour, and vanilla, and mix well; set aside. Roll out one pie dough disc on a floured counter and fit into pie plate. Brush with egg to create a barrier between it and the filling and keep it from becoming soggy. Pour peach mixture into crust and dot with butter. Roll out second disk for the top of pie and place on top. You can make a lattice design or just make slits in top crust. Brush with egg & sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 10 minutes. Turn temperature down to 350 and bake approximately 40 minutes longer, or until filling is bubbling and crust is golden brown. Halfway through, or when it starts browning on the edges, cover edges with aluminum foil or a pie shield to keep it from burning.

*To easily peel peaches, score an X into the bottoms, drop them 2-3 at a time into boiling water, let boil for 30 seconds – 1 minute, then remove and place in a bowl of ice water. The skins will just slip off when you rub it away from the cut.

Recipe source: Foodin Life in New England

Owen with his butterfly pie crust cut out.

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After the filled cookies were baked, I spread more jam on top instead of making a glaze because it was easier. :)

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Posted in Pie and tagged baking, brown sugar peach pie, dessert, recipe, summer. Bookmark the permalink.

Thankful Thursday #38: a drugged-up Dad ;)

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Veronica

I’m glad I made a thanksgiving resolution to find something to be thankful for every day because it makes even the hardest days a little easier. I am under more stress now than I have been since I went into hiding to leave a cult in 2001. I have developed an eye twitch for the first time in my life and my monthly cycles have gone wonky on me. But I don’t feel crazy, or desperate, or depressed, because at the end of each day, despite some of them being very bad days, there is always many things to be thankful for. And it helps me have a happy and content heart in the face of the stresses of life. Anyway, with that said, let’s get on to what I’m thankful for this week!

Thursday: The buy one, get one for a penny special McDonalds was having on Big Macs. I think this is the first Big Mac I’ve had in the last fifteen years. I don’t like to waste calories on an extra (and unnecessary, IMHO) piece of bread, but I have to admit the Big Mac is pretty tasty.

Friday: In an effort to improve my keying accuracy at work, I’ve begun listening to more music than audiobooks because it doesn’t take as much attention. I was feeling very human and imperfect because of a mistake I made that might cost me my job (my supervisor gave me the impression she was going to let me complete my probation before making a decision), and Pink made me feel a little better. Since most of you have probably heard the original, I want to share this cover that I fell in love with (mostly for Julia, my new voice crush, but Jake compliments her well

Saturday: Lunch with a friend that we were missing.

Sunday: A home-cooked meal. I now work until late in the evening and usually zap a burrito or something equally pathetic in the microwave when I get home, but today a home-cooked meal was waiting for me. I missed a friend’s birthday party since I had to work, and Dennis brought me home a ton of the delicious food served there, including smoked turkey, ribs, barbecue beans, cabbage and bacon, sweet potatoes and peach cobbler. What a nice change of pace from the cheese and crackers I had planned!

Monday: The avenue of prayer God has given us to reach out to him, and for the comfort only He can give.

Tuesday: My diabetes doctor gave me a thumbs up at my quarterly check-up for the control I’ve been keeping over my blood sugar and health. Although he did tell me to watch my weight, because I’m up 4 pounds since the last visit. Um, I’m up more than that b/c I actually lost four pounds since then, and then regained it plus four more! I quit Weight Watchers due to finances but should be able to afford it again soon since I got a raise. :)

Controlled with no complications! :)

Wednesday: Praise the Lord, my father’s doctor and I were able to convince him to go back on his meds! He had a stroke in 2008 and I have helped with his health care and finances ever since and two months ago, he went off his meds and I couldn’t get him back on them. Well, he had his three month check-up which showed elevated blood pressure and cholesterol. Working together, me asking questions and addressing the concerns my father had about the medication, the doctor and I were able to convince him to a return to a (reduced) medicine regimen to prevent future health problems. He is not happy about it, but he’s able to acknowledge that not taking it is more harmful to him than taking it. This has been such a source of stress for me because I’m not ready to lose my Dad, and is a great relief that he’s willing to take his medication again.

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Caramel Banana Amish Friendship Bread

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Veronica

Have you ever heard of Amish Friendship Bread? This is how it works. A friend gives you a bag of starter and instructions with a recipe, and over the next ten days you knead the bag and add more flour, sugar and milk to it. On the tenth day, you take out three cups of the starter and put one cup each into three bags to give to friends along with instructions and recipes. Then you add stuff to your leftover starter to bake two loaves of Amish Friendship Bread. It’s the bread that never dies!

Back in 2000, I got burnt out on Amish Friendship Bread because it spread like the plague among my friends. We couldn’t seem to get rid of it. I finally had to stop accepting bags of the starter because I couldn’t bear to eat one more piece of the bread. Eleven years later, I was finally ready to make another go of it, although the thought of it made me feel a little ill. When I eat something until it makes me sick, I can hardly ever enjoy it again.

Thankfully, Amish Friendship Bread is proving to be an exception. Perhaps because I flaunted the usual recipe instructions that comes with the starter, which always includes a pudding mix, or perhaps because I gave myself enough time to recover from the AFB overload, but my love for the bread has been fully restored.

This variation was inspired by the circumstances that inspire me most frequently in the kitchen: what I had on hand. In this case, homemade caramel sauce and overripe bananas. The bread is very moist, almost like a pound cake, with plenty of banana and caramel flavor. OK, so mine was heavier on the banana flavor because I happened to add some banana extract to it, believing that 1 1/2 cups of caramel sauce in the recipe would surely overpower the flavor of banana, but the extract was completely unnecessary, so I omitted it from the recipe below.

I chose to dust my pans and the tops of the loaves with cinnamon sugar, which I thought was nice, but you could simply grease and flour your pan and maybe swirl some dulce de leche on top before baking. Mmmmm. Or serve with extra caramel sauce. Double mmmm. No wonder I kept a starter for myself from the batch I made! I can’t wait to make this again.

Caramel-Banana Amish Friendship Bread

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¼ cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
Remaining Friendship Bread starter
1 ½ cups caramel sauce, room temperature
1 1/3 cups mashed banana (3 medium)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine sugar and cinnamon in small bowl. Butter two loaf pans and dust with cinnamon sugar. Shake excess out onto a sheet of wax paper, or a large dish, and reserve extra for topping.

Put the friendship bread starter in a large bowl and beat in the caramel sauce, banana, eggs, and vanilla. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; stir until blended. Pour into prepared loaf pans and sprinkle remaining cinnamon sugar over the top. Bake for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

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Caramel Sauce

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Veronica

When I need caramel sauce as an ingredient in frosting or in baking, I prefer to use homemade because the flavor is more pronounced and comes through better in the finished product. It is wonderful as a garnish on top of ice cream or cake, and I’ve successfully added it to frosting to make caramel buttercream, and to Amish Friendship bread, which I’ll be posting the recipe for tomorrow. And since it’s so useful and beloved in our home, my recipe makes a rather large batch so I always have some in the refrigerator, but if you only need enough to garnish ice cream, you might want to halve the recipe. Then again, this stuff will last months in the refrigerator so it wouldn’t hurt to have too much. Who knows what delicious creativity it might spawn in your kitchen!

Caramel Sauce

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2 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons corn syrup
¼ teaspoon salt*
1 teaspoon vanilla
12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, cut into cubes*
1 cup heavy whipping cream

Measure sugar into a large saucepan and measure corn syrup over the top. Set the heat to medium-high.

When the corn syrup starts to bubble around the edges, stir with a spoon or silicone spatula.

Allow to sit again without stirring until it starts melting around the edges.

Stir infrequently until the sugar really starts melting, then begin to stir constantly.

Now we’re getting somewhere!

Now it’s completely melted, but I want mine to be a little darker before I remove it from the heat. The darker the color, the stronger the flavor. Just be sure not to burn it.

When the sugar is completely dissolved and deep amber in color, remove from heat and stir in the salt, vanilla, and butter. The mixture will bubble up a lot.

When completely combined, add the whipping cream and stir until combined; mixture will bubble up again. Keep stirring until smooth and uniform in color.

Pour into a heat-safe dish and allow to cool to room temperature. Your pot will have a ring of crystallized sugar around it–don’t try to scrape it into the caramel sauce because it will make it grainy–just soak your pan in hot water and it will come right off.

Cover and store in the refrigerator once cool.

*Omit salt from recipe if using salted butter.

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My Week as a Farmer, part II: When Arliss Attacks

Posted on August 15, 2011 by Veronica

Continued from My Week as a Farmer, Part I.

Last week, I introduced you to all the animals on the Allen family’s farm, except for one. There is one canine that they couldn’t leave out with the others. Because he’s a menace and a danger. A chicken murderer, and as we would soon discover, a thief to boot. Meet…ARLISS! (Cue scary music.)

Don’t let the smile fool you. This boy is a trained killer and is frequently unleashed to go hunting. Failure to recognize the danger could result in serious mayhem and injury. Knowing the risks, we disregarded our better judgment and let him out every day to get his exercise. The first sneak attack came when Dennis decided to rest in the hammock. Arliss went straight for the jugular.

He didn’t count on Dennis knowing kung fu and putting up a fight, however.

So Arliss changed tactics and decided to come at him from the other side.

But Dennis was ready for him and put up a good defense.

The battle was fierce, but the match so even that in the end, they called a truce.

Trouble started again when Dennis picked the summer squash and threw it to dislodge the bugs that were crawling on it. Arliss saw his opportunity and went in for the kill.

Utterly thrilled with his catch, he proceeded to roll on his back with the squash in delight.

After his victory roll, he wasted no further time in devouring the squash.

“I is Arliss…”

“I crush mines enemies…”

“I takes no survivors.”

Later in the week, he managed to paw an egg that Dennis had placed on the other side of fence so he could roll it in closer to eat it!

His next attack was focused at a female of his species. Unfortunately for him, it was our Jessie! He was determined to pick up a scent on her that she has never had, since she is spade, but he wouldn’t give up trying and things got ugly fast.

It started in the pool. They circled each other, forming a yin yang in the murky water as his nose grew ever nearer to her butt and she went ever faster to avoid his invasion of her personal space.

Arliss made no bones about what he was after.

The constant presence of his nose in a private area started to irk our girl. She promptly jumped from the pool and he chased after her tail. Pun intended. And we soon had to break up a dog fight!

Sorry, Arliss, this is one battle you will never win with a spade female.

Jessie found a private corner to herself and the peace was restored.

Feeling pretty pleased with himself, Arliss rewarded a hard day’s work with a soak in the pool as I filled it with fresh water.

Until I made the mistake of putting myself in a prone position. And again, he goes in for the kill!

After taking a siesta in the sandbox. Of course.

Wet dog + sand box = messy human that receives his love. I went home each night covered in mud, dog hair, and scratches.

And I wouldn’t trade my week as a semi-farmer for the world! I hope one day we will have a little farm of our own so I can come in each night covered in mud and poo, feathers and fur, thorns and blisters, each blissful, horrible, exhausting day. God love the farmers.

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My Week as a Farmer, Part I

Posted on August 12, 2011 by Veronica

Most of my life I’ve fantasized about being a Midwestern pioneer woman in the 1800s, living a hard and fulfilling life on the prairie. (If they had a more moderate farmer-woman type outfit, I surely would have picked that for the above photo, and forced Dennis into overalls.) It started with the Little House on the Prairie books when I was in elementary school, and it was kindled again when I started watching the PBS television programs where they send people back in time, to live in the colonial era, as pioneers in Montana, in England during World War II, in a Manor House in Edwardian times, etc., doing the types of things people did in those times, wearing the style of clothing, living in the type of house, for months at a stretch. It is utterly fascinating, at least to me. My favorite of the programs is The Frontier House. (If you’ve never watched or heard of these, I highly recommend renting them from Netflix or your library. There is a complete list of these programs at the end of this post.)

Last month was the closest I’ve ever come to living out my fantasy. Our friends, Ben and Ashley, went on their family’s annual camping trip, and they asked us to take care of their birds and garden while they were gone. Now, I’m not talking parakeets or parrots, I’m talking chickens and ducks. Being a city girl all of my life, to me, having chickens equates to living in the pioneer days so, of course, I readily agreed before Dennis had a chance to say anything.

Every day, we arrived to the happy sound of chickens squawking and clucking. If I could define the sound of peace, those squawks and clucks would definitely be in the mix. It’s the sound I awoke to as a child, during the summer on my Grandparents’ farm.

Our first priority was to feed the birds. Because if we didn’t, they tried to eat things like my toenail polish, or the back of my ankle, where I cut myself with a razor one morning.

When they started pecking at me, I turned the other cheek and tried to pet them, which really freaked them out and they steered clear of me after that. But I still tried to pet them. It’s my instinct with animals, I can’t help it.

After we fed the chickens, we checked around for eggs. The white duck was reliable, pumping out an egg every day. We missed the first one, so we found two on the second day. We got to keep any plunder we found while the Allens were away, including eggs and vegetables. Score!

The chickens are young and only one is laying, but we never found her eggs. When Ashley and Ben came home, they found seven eggs in the mama duck’s nest! She had been stealing the chicken’s eggs every day and rolling them into her nest. Talk about an overactive mothering instinct. Here she is with her baby. I guess she didn’t want him to be an only child!

We also washed out their water pans and refilled them, then moved on to the garden. Jessie came with us to supervise.

“It’s looking kind of dry, Mom. Time for another soaking!” OK, sweets, just don’t think about lifting your leg while you’re in there!

While caring for it, we harvested a yellow summer squash and two tomatoes. I think this was a pepper plant but we left it alone. I don’t think they were quite ready.

The temps were in the 110s and even made it to 115 while they were gone. We tried to save this squash plant but couldn’t revive the poor thing.

Once we finished the duties were were commissioned for, we went onto those which we most desired but weren’t required: tending the livestock. AKA, the canines. :) Another friend was feeding them, but we were compelled to stay and extra hour or so to give them some companionship while their humans were away. They greeted us at the fence every day with cheerful barks.

From left to right, Little Anne (aka Big Girl), Beans, Daisy, and Scout.

Little Anne is the eldest and mildest in manner. Undemanding, unassuming, and grateful for attention.

We love hanging out with the black girls. :)

The dachshund on the ground, looking up at me, is Beans, I believe, but it’s hard to tell her and her mother, Scout, apart. Meet Beans and/or Scout, up close and personal.

The best part about Scout and/or Beans is watching them run. Their ears stick out and flap like bat wings!

“You talkin’ to me?”

What I loved best about Scout in particular was her velvety soft, squishy chest. You would not believe how soft it is.

And then there’s Daisy. AKA “Diva Daisy,” as I call her.

This pooch demands to be carried at all times. No compromising.

I’m convinced her destiny of being adopted by a celebrity and toted in a purse around Hollywood was cruelly thwarted when she was adopted by an upstanding, hard working, and practical Midwestern family that would scoff at such a notion as carrying her in an oversized handbag. Or better yet, baby sling.

“Sigh. I was never meant for farm life. It’s so hard to keep a clean manicure when I have to walk on grass every day!”

But there is one canine that they couldn’t leave out with the others. Because he’s a menace and a danger. A chicken murderer, and as we would soon discover, a thief to boot. Meet…ARLISS! (cue scary music)

To be continued…

Read “When Arliss Attacks” on Monday!

Check out PBS’s living history reality television programs:

*My favorites

Posted in Life and tagged chickens, dogs, farm life, garden, pioneer life. Bookmark the permalink.

Thankful Thursdays #37: nephew time

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Veronica

I made a thanksgiving resolution to find something to be thankful for every day until next Thanksgiving. Here’s what I am thankful for this week!

Thursday: Day off! Day off! I got a day off! Squeeeeeeeeeeee!

Friday: Some down time chatting with my youngest sister. We have never been close because of the gap in our ages, so we now live very separate lives and rarely talk, but I had the day off and happened to be at my parents’ house when she came over so we chillaxed together, eating brie and fig jam on crackers. Lovely.

Saturday: The discount meat shelf at Dillons. It’s the main reason Dennis ever gets his meat requirement fulfilled. If it weren’t for that shelf and my love of a sale, our weekly meat purchases would be rather pitiful. I just don’t need it the same way he (thinks) he does. :)

Sunday: Rosemary & Olive Oil Triscuits. And cheddar cheese. Together.

Monday: Glee. I admit it. I’m hooked. I LOVE MUSICALS! To me, Glee is like an ever-evolving musical. I think the only way to make it better is to have all the show in song. OK, that would probably be awful, cheesy, and really hard to do, but the more singing, the better, I say! And this cast is mega-talented.

Tuesday: A wonderfully exhausting day with my precious nephew, Owen.

Wednesday: That I got to return my nephew back to his parents. I tell you what, kids are exhausting! lol

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Cool Strawberry Pie

Posted on August 10, 2011 by Veronica

A couple weeks ago, my friend, Teri, came over to learn how to make pretty pies. Being the organized (except when I’m not) person I am, I developed a pie lesson that included pies that required all four types of crust: single crust, single pre-baked, double crust, and double crust with a lattice top.

I saved a recipe for cool strawberry pie from a myspace friend, Kim D., in 2009, and was so ecstatic to finally have an excuse to make it! It’s the pie I chose for the single pre-baked pie crust. Instead of making a regular-sized pie, we made two smaller pies for most of the recipes so that we could each have one for ourselves to take (or keep) home.

The recipe, like many pie recipes, is very simple with only a few ingredients. But it’s utter magic! This was my favorite pie of all four that we made. It is just perfect for summer–cold, sweet, and refreshing. It even seems light, though I don’t dare calculate the calories. :)

I want to note that making your own pie crust does take the recipe from simple to time-consuming, so if you’d rather stick with simple, buy Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts or a frozen pie crust in a tin and follow the directions on the package for a pre-baked crust. My favorite pie crust recipe does not work well for a pre-baked crust, as there is a large ratio of butter and shortening to flour, which causes it to shrink substantially if baked without filling. I modified a shortening pie crust recipe from the back of a Kroger flour sack to include butter, and it worked much better.

Cool Strawberry Pie

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2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter, cold
1/3 cup shortening, chilled in freezer
5-6 tablespoons ice-cold water
1 egg white, beaten

6 cups strawberries (about 2 containers), sliced
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup water

1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Combine flour and salt in bowl of food processor fitted with blade attachment. Pulse a couple times to combine. Cut butter into cubes and add to flour along with the shortening. Pulse until until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add water, a tablespoon at a time, pulsing until all the flour is moistened. Form dough into ball; divide in half, shape into two discs, and wrap one in plastic wrap to freeze for later use. Sprinkle counter with flour and roll pie dough out toto 1/8 inch thickness. Fit pastry into pie plate, leaving a 1/2″ overhang. Tuck overhand under until edge is even with plate, then flute the edges. Prick bottom and sides with fork and place a sheet of parchment or wax paper over the bottom, cut so that it sticks up well above the sides. Fill with dry beans and bake 10 minutes. Gather the corners of the parchment and pull out the beans. Return crust to oven to bake for another 5-10 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow to cool for a minute, then lightly brush beaten egg white over the bottom and sides of the crust to create a seal. The residual heat will bake the egg white. Allow to cool while you prepare the filling.

Mash enough berries to measure 1 cup. Mix sugar and cornstarch in 2-quart saucepan. Stir in the water and mashed berries. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 1 minute; cool.

Fill shell with remaining berries; pour cooked strawberry mixture over top. Refrigerate until set, at least 3 hours.

Just before serving, beat cream in a chilled metal or glass bowl with chilled beaters on high speed until soft peaks form. Add powdered sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks. Pipe or spread onto pie.

Recipe source: Kim D.

Since I’ve already shared the recipe for Triple Berry Pie and won’t need this picture for a post on it, I thought I’d just share it with you anyway! The Triple Berry is the pie I chose to teach the lattice-top crust. As you can see below, Teri did a fabulous job on hers! We had so much fun.

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Posted in Pie and tagged cold, cool strawberry pie, refrigerated, summer. Bookmark the permalink.

Warm Chorizo & New Potato Salad

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Veronica

This is a very simple summer-friendly recipe that is also, shockingly, husband-friendly. My poor man just does not get the amount of meat and potatoes he believes he requires, so when I served him this salad, he was so ecstatic to be eating meat and potatoes, that he didn’t even care there was a bed of lettuce underneath.

The meat and potato mixture is substantial and satisfying, but I really think you need the egg on top to complete the salad. Jenna said it was optional, but I’m not going to tell you that. You need the warm yolk to run out over the salad and serve as a dressing. It really pulls the whole thing together quite nicely.

Warm Chorizo & Potato Salad

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1.5 lbs new, red, or gold potatoes (I used gold)
Salt and pepper to taste
15 oz chorizo sausage
16 oz mixed salad greens or shredded lettuce
1 lemon
4 poached or over-easy eggs

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, cut the potatoes into bite-size chunks; add to the water and once boiling, reduce heat a bit and continue to boil until fork-tender, but not mushy. Meanwhile, start your sausage to cooking. Add to a skillet and cook over medium heat, breaking it and crumbling with a spatula as you go. Remove from heat if it gets done before your potatoes are ready. Once the potatoes are tender, drain and add to the sausage. Stir well and cook another minute or two. Season with salt and pepper. Divide salad greens among four plates, then divide sausage and potatoes on top of each. Top with a poached or fried egg and serve immediately.

Recipe source: slightly modified from Jenna’s Everything Blog

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Posted in Meats, Mexican, Salads and tagged chorizo, easy, hearty, potato, recipe, salad, satisfying, summer. Bookmark the permalink.

Wacky White Cake {Vegan}

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Veronica

I recently had a request on facebook for a vegan white cake recipe from a lady whose daughters both have extreme food allergies. Since I don’t have one, I decided to try making one up, and unlike many baking experiments, this one turned out great the first time! I combined my recipe for Wacky Cake with the Dairy-Free White Cupcakes recipe and although the resulting cake is heavier than a regular white cake, it is very moist and has a great flavor. I have no pictures of the whole cake because I hate a whole row of the cake while it was still warm. Oops!

Wacky White Cake

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3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (use clear to keep the cake white-I didn’t)
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 cup cold water

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray and set aside. Sift all dry ingredients together into a large bowl. Make three wells and put the oil in one, the vanilla & almond extract in another, and the lemon juice in the last. Pour water over it all and mix until well blended. Pour into prepared pan and bake 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Frost with white celebration frosting, or your favorite recipe. (I made a simple glaze with lemon juice, water, and powdered sugar.) Serve at room temperature.