What a beautiful weekend we had!  One of our favorite things to do is to sit outside, fire up the Weber grill and just enjoy the outdoors.

I love you Tony! We’ll have to get you some fresher cigars 😀

And Eddie loves soaking up the sun:

I may have enjoyed a glass of wine – Hannah caught me after a sip:

I did a pork roast on the Weber.  I decided to do a mustard rub:

  • 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 3 gloves minced garlic
  • 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary

My mom has recently been going through her belongings.  She was contemplating buying a smaller house.  She definitely is not the “retirement community” person.  She loves having her own space, her garden etc.  On one of my last visits to her house, she had a bunch of books laying out and asked if Hannah or I would want any of them.  Hannah took all of my Dad’s Disney art books.

This one caught my eye:

This was given to my Mom from her Grandma on her 22nd birthday – just three months after her June 1962 wedding to my Dad.

I adore old books. I love their smell.  I imagine where the book has been, how many times it may have been loaned to someone else.  I had a laugh though when I read the preface.

The wife who balances a career and a home and makes a success of both has her own particular need which we have tried to meet in this book.  She must budget her time, money and energy but she is too efficient to tolerate make-shift meals.

Accolades aren’t always easy for the wife-with-a-career to win.  She must plan carefully, use many ready-prepared foods and allow for somewhat higher living costs because of this fact.  But deft touches and well-worked-out menus mean an adoring husband across the table so the rewards are worth striving for.

I grew up in a family that ate dinner together nearly every night until probably we got to high school and were busy with sports and school – even then we still ate together as a family at least three nights a week.  It would never fail that as soon as we sat down, my Dad would look at my Mom and say “where’s my coffee?”  And she would jump up and get it!  It’s just such a different generation.

One recipe that caught my eye was a Coffee Crumb Cake.  What I liked about it is that not only was it easy, but low in sugar.  This would be nice to have on Easter morning! 😀

Coffee Crumb Cake:

  • makes 9 square servings – 5 PointsPlus
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 2/3 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Crumb topping:

  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 3 tablespoons flour
  • 2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons melted butter

Cream the butter, sugar and eggs.  Add the baking powder, salt and flour.  Mix well.  Add vanilla and mix well.  Put in a 8×8 greased pan.  Mix crumb topping together and spread over the top.

Now hear is where it got interesting – they said bake “in a moderate oven” which is 350 degrees, but no time was mentioned.  Just “bake in a moderate oven.”  Tony found a similar crumb cake recipe online, and I started with 25 minutes based on that recipe, and ended up baking it for 30 minutes, and then a couple minutes under the broiler to caramelize the crumb topping.

We loved it.  It is just slightly sweet, very moist and tender.  Tony made a suggestion of adding a bit of lemon to the batter next time, and I think I’ll add lemon zest to the crumb top.  Yum!

I decided to run my Cabot Cheese giveaway another week – I’ll announce a winner on Saturday for the $25 gift basket.  Just leave me a cheese recipe comment in this link – either your favorite cheese recipe, or a link to your favorite cheese recipe.  Good luck!

Hope everyone had a great weekend.  See you tomorrow for Clean Eating’s Sesame Chicken Salad and Pretzel Bun Burgers!

Updated:  Check out the BSI Mango Recap at Nutmeg Nanny. 😀

Next weeks hostess:  Veronica from Recipe Rhapsody – she chose . . . cream cheese!