Berry Upside-down Cake (with zucchini)

Let me just preface this with the fact that I'm a firm believer that you shouldn't put food where it doesn't belong. Pepper shouldn't be in cookies, cinnamon and sweet things don't belong in stew and raisins don't belong anywhere. That being my opinion I don't eat zucchini bread... ever. My mom sent me a recipe to use all my yellow zucchini I have in my garden, a CAKE recipe! Gross! But I tried it. It originally called for yellow squash but I didn't grow any this year. I made it and then I tweaked it and made it a few more times and loved it more each time. The last time I made it I was attempting to find a way to get the jam to stay on the inside of the cake. Then, when I dropped the experiment version of the cake on the open oven door and watched batter and jam run into the bottom of the oven, all over the door and through the hinge onto my kitchen floor I thought, "Screw it, let them conduct their own experiments! I'm done!" I renamed the recipe and updated it with all my tweaks. It is the moistest, tastiest amazing yellow cake I've ever had. I love it! I've eaten 3 of them almost entirely on my own justifying it each time by saying out loud to myself, "It's ok, it has zucchini in it!"

Berry Upside-down Cake

1 Box Yellow Cake Mix
1 C. Pureed Summer Yellow Squash or Yellow Zucchini
1/2 C. Water
2 T. Vegetable Oil
3 Large Eggs
3/4 C. Sour Cream
Boysenberry Spreadable Fruit Jam
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cut up squash or zucchini into chunks and puree in a food processor. It can be a little more than a cup. Mine always is. Add the water and puree some more.
3. In a mixer, combine the cake mix, squash puree, oil, eggs, and sour cream. Beat on low till combined. Beat in Medium for 1-2 minutes.
4. Spray 2 round 8 or 9 inch cake pans with cooking spray. Spray it thicker than you normally do. (or one pan and 12 cupcakes. Also 8 inch pans will make a thicker moister cake)
5. Add half the batter to the pan, then drop the jam all over the entire cake in small spoonfuls. The more spread out it is the more consistent looking it will be when you turn it out. I used about 2/3 of a smaller jar of jam.
6. Cover with the rest of the batter and bake at 350. 20-25 minutes for cupcakes and 25-30 for round cake or till it's light brown on top and springs back when you touch it.
7. Let it cool in the pan for about 15-25 minutes. Run a knife around the outside of the pan and turn it upside down onto a plate. Don't try to force it out or the jam will stick to the pan. Let it sit there upside-down till it drops out. Keep it covered or it dries out fast and gets really hard.

Almond Cookies

I concocted this recipe on my own. I loved it!!! Hopefully you'll like it, too. I may have just been desperate for cookies that day so anything would have tasted good....

3/4 c butter

2 1/4 c flour

1 1/2 c sugar

2 eggs

1/2 t vanilla

3/4 t almond extract

Just under 1/2 t baking soda

A little extra sugar for rolling

Sliced almonds

Softer butter with mixer. Add half of flour, 1 1/2 c sugar, eggs, vanilla, almond extract, and baking soda. Beat until combined and then add remaining flour. Cover and chill in freezer for about 20-30 minutes. Shape into balls and roll in sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Press about 4-8 sliced almond into top of cookie dough. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Skillet Baked Ziti

This is the recipe I made for dinner at the cabin. Even though it calls for a lot, I still prefer to add a little extra garlic... as you can all probably remember. Enjoy!

1 tablespoon olive oil
6 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
salt & fresh ground pepper
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
3 cups water
12 ounces ziti pasta(3 3/4 cups)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated (I like a little more)
1/4 cup fresh basil leaf, minced
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

Directions:

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 475.

2. Combine oil, garlic, pepper flakes, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in 12-inch ovensafe nonstick skillet and saute over medium-high heat until fragrant, about 1 minute. (If your skillet is not ovensafe, transfer the pasta mixture into a shallow 2-quart casserole dish before sprinkling with the cheese and baking).

3. Add crushed tomatoes, water, ziti and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

4. Cover and cook, stirring often and adjusting heat as needed to maintain vigorous simmer, until ziti is almost tender, 15-18 minutes.

5. Stir in cream, Parmesan, and basil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

6. Sprinkle mozzarella evenly over ziti. Transfer skillet to oven and bake until cheese has melted and browned, about 10 minutes. Serve.