Coffee Cake is my Favorite

Now that I'm in my second trimester and feeling so much better, I can't stay out of the kitchen. A few weeks ago, I decided to try out this new coffee cake recipe I found on another blog. I was so excited to find it because I absolutely LOVE coffee cake but don't have a recipe for it. Here it is:

sour cream coffee cake

2 sticks butter. cream.

2 C sugar

2 eggs

1 t vanilla

1 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

1 c sour cream

2 C flour

cream margarine or butter and mix in eggs and add all ingredients in order.

in separate bowl mix:

1 c chopped nuts (but i don't)

8 T brown sugar

2 t cinnamon

grease bundt pan well and put enough cake batter to cover bottom; add 1/3 of dry mixture. add layer of cake batter and then more dry mixture and rest of batter and the rest of the dry mixture. cook at 350 for 45-60 min.

Ok, I never claimed that it was healthy or low on calories! But it's absolutely delicious. This is what it looked like when I took it out of the oven:

Unfortunately, I forgot to grease the bundt pan. So this is what it looked like when I dumped it out on a plate:

My mom, dad, husband and I laughed and laughed. We stopped laughing once we tasted it, though, and ate the ENTIRE cake in one sitting! I can't wait to make it again. Hopefully this time I will remember to grease the pan so that it will look just as wonderful as it tastes.

This next holiday favorite is not new to me, but this was my first time to actually make it myself. It's great for parties or anytime you're having guests over. My grandmother makes these pretzels for a lot of occasions. I remember them most during Christmastime and in the summers when we all go to the beach together. It's really simple and tasty and not at all low fat or healthy. Noticing a trend in my cooking? Ha. This is the recipe:

holiday pretzels

1 cup Popping & Topping Oil (Orville Redenbacher's)

1 pouch Ranch salad dressing mix

1 bag tiny pretzels

mix oil and dressing mix in bowl. place pretzels in a sealable container. pour oil mix over pretzels, seal container, and roll around to even coat pretzels. let soak for a day before eating.

Laney found me in the kitchen during this little cooking spree of mine. She just walked over and sat her cute little bottom in my lap. So I fed her Mac 'n Cheese for dinner right there that night. Luckily Daddy snuck a picture. :)