A Fabulous Cake

I can't believe I haven't posted a recipe yet. After all, I love all things Paula Deen, Ina Garten, and Ellie Kreiger. Can 3 women have more different cooking styles?! But I love them ALL!...and I love to cook. So I am always on the lookout for GREAT recipes, and the blogging community did not disappoint with this absolutely divine Strawberry Coconut Cake. I must give credit where it is due. I found this recipe at Dear Daisy Cottage. While there, I found out that Kim got it from Nancy at her Southern Lady blog. Nancy got the recipe while visiting Lulu's Tea Room in Powell, TN. So thank you Kim, Nancy, and Lulu. Here's my finished product:

Is that not one yummy looking cake? I made one small change to the original recipe. I was about half a cup shy of the amount of coconut the recipe called for, so I just used the amount that I had. It still turned out great, just not as coconutty. I think the filling/frosting would have been a little stiffer with the correct amount of coconut, though.

Here...I cut you a slice. Dig in! Hubby and I like it best with lots of fresh strawberries on the side.

If you're looking for a cake that's a real winner look no further. Happy baking!

Strawberry Coconut Cake

Cake:
1 -1/2 boxes of white cake mix

5 eggs
2 cups water

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 box (3 oz. size) strawberry jello
1/2 cup of chopped strawberries (I used fresh)

Icing:

1 - 16 oz. container sour cream

1-1/2 cups granulated sugar (you read that right, it's not confectioner's)

1/2 box (rest of the 3 oz. one) strawberry jello

1 - 7 oz. bag of sweetened, flaked coconut

1/2 cup of chopped strawberries (I used fresh, again)

1 - 8 oz. carton of Cool Whip, thawed

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix all ingredients for cake with an electric mixer. Pour into 3 (8 or 9 inch) round baking pans sprayed with cooking spray (I also lined the bottoms with parchment paper). Bake 22 minutes (mine took about 5 minutes longer until cake was set) . Let cake cool completely before icing.

Mix all ingredients for the icing, excluding the Cool Whip. Place one layer of cake on a platter and cover the top with 1/3 of the coconut mixture. Add the second layer and cover that layer with another 1/3 of the mixture. Take the remaining 1/3 mixture and add the 8 oz. carton of Cool Whip. Add the third layer and cover the entire cake with your Cool Whip mixture. Garnish with strawberries.
Recipe Courtesy of Lulu's Tea Room

This Garden's Progress

Remember when I planted my garden seeds last month, and it looked like this?

This is how it looks one month later. Green beans at left, Squash in the center, and four little Sunflowers next to the squash. The big, blue pot has a Tomato plant in it.

Here's a view looking down the row of Green beans. And, no, I did not plant a dandelion! That's a yellow marigold which looks far too similar to a dandelion. Note to self: next year, if you want to plant marigolds, you might consider the orange ones instead.

The long box at the left has Basil in it (from seed). Next to it, at the right, are a few Zinnias.

A dear friend gave me this wooden milk box when I was first diagnosed with diverticulitis. I drag it out every year and plant annuals in it. This year it holds blue lobelia and red geraniums. I decided to hang it on the fence. Makes it really stand out.

Close up of the Zinnias. Look at those weeds! Sheesh! Stop blogging and get out there, woman :)

The box o' Basil

I'm squeezing all I can out of every little strip of dirt in our backyard. This itsy-bitsy area is next to where the grass clippings get dumped. I threw down some seeds of parsley, lettuce, peas, and spinach. The lettuce and peas are the first...no, no, the weeds are actually the first...to come up.

My Tomato plant and 2 marigolds (masquerading as dandelions). Honest.

Can you see the little yellow tomato blossoms? I'm so excited!! I could never grow tomatoes in western Washington. With the climate being much hotter and drier here, I am anticipating lots of capresi salads with my Basil and Tomatoes. Yum!

I'll be checking the garden's progress in another month. Oh yes...and doing some weeding.

A Summer Poem

"In our book there's space for a summer poem:

With what luscious things shall we fill it?

with Water for splashers,

and Ice Cream on dashers,

and Root Beer so high that you'll spill it!

I'm glad there's a space for a summer poem,

though I'm sure that we'll soon run it over

With bikes right for racing,

And frisbees for chasing,

And picnics spread out in the clover.

Now pile the space higher!

Add a tent, add a fire ---

And drowsy-eyed papas and mamas

who chauffeur their crew

to a drive-in or two,

Before we need winter pajamas."

-anonymous

My House Is Crying

Do you think houses can cry? Or do they just look sad? Granted, this picture of Gopher Hill Place was taken a year ago when we lived there and life was settled. We moved away last March due to a job/life change. The house is going through a short sale. We have passed the original closing date waiting for bank approval and are now scheduled to close the last day of June. If the sale doesn't go through we are facing foreclosure. I admit it's been an emotional roller coaster. We go back as often as we can just to keep the place from looking abandoned. We mow the lawn, pull a few weeds, dust and sweep the inside, but the place just feels so lonely. It breaks my heart to see it this way. I think it would be much easier for me if it were a "normal" sale where the buyers move in 3 days after the closing date, a month or less after papers are signed, and life keeps humming along. But, since this isn't normal circumstances the house sits empty and all alone, waiting for someone to love it. I don't like empty houses. Or the thought of them. I think a house needs life breathed into it with people and activity and the daily routines whirling within its walls. I pray that this sale will finalize soon, and that this house will once again get its smile back.

Spring into Summer Flowers

Love, love, love these Red Hot Pokers. Only wish they stayed in bloom longer.

We were back at the Gopher Hill house this weekend to do some yard work, and look what was voluntarily blooming! Some of these beauties I had forgotten about. These orange pansies are REALLY orange. The photo doesn't quite capture their intense color. I love these!

This Calla Lily is in an area of the backyard lovingly called The Donation Station. It's when landscaping customers of ours had plants or shrubs they wanted to get rid of, and those plants 'mysteriously' ended up in our backyard. You know, one man's sick plant is another man's Donation Station treasure. Isn't that the saying?

This Japenese Maple is really getting out of hand, and desperately needs pruning, but doesn't it look beautiful above the tiny blue flowers of this ground cover? Sigh.

Here's a little wider shot of the area. Just disregard the garbage cans in the background. At best, I'm an amateur photographer just keepin' it real.