{summer}

Summer is definitely here. It's been a little too easy of a transition to summer mode for me. Gone are the crazy schedules we follow during the school year. Gone are the am alarms. Gone is the structure that I had gotten used to creating for myself for {afd}. Here are early morning runs to beat the heat, not much cooking or cleaning, creating non-biz related crafts. Here are vacations, reading, movie watching, entertaining under the shade of our beautiful backyard tree.

I have a pretty good summer entertaining menu. Ask anyone who's eaten it over the years...you don't have to take my word for it. Hummus, rosemary cashews, chicken skewers, lemon rice, pitas, vegetable salad. They go together beautifully.

And dessert is always a hit. No one needs to know it's super easy. I found the recipe for Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake in an old issue of Southern Living magazine. It's so easy, in fact, that I haven't changed a thing. Except that I always double the lemon glaze recipe and garnish the cake with a lot of sliced strawberries. Oh, and don't skip the grease & flour step at the beginning. Or, just buy the non-stick spray for baking that already has flour in it.

I hope your summer is off to a great start! Expect to hear from me more often. How often, I don't know. It is summer, after all! What have you been up to?

Here's the recipe ::

{click here for a printable version}

Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake

Ingredients

·         3 cups sugar

·         3 cups all-purpose flour

·         1/4 teaspoon salt

·         1/4 teaspoon baking soda

·         1 cup butter, softened

·         1 (8-ounce) container sour cream

·         6 large eggs

·         2 tablespoons lemon juice

·         1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation

·         Place first 9 ingredients in a 4-quart mixing bowl (in that order). Beat at low speed with a heavy-duty mixer 1 minute, stopping to scrape down sides. Beat at medium speed 2 minutes. Spoon batter into a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan.

·         Bake at 325° for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes; remove from pan, and cool on wire rack. Drizzle evenly with Lemon Glaze.

YIELD: 1 (10-inch) cake

Lemon Glaze

Ingredients

·         1 cup powdered sugar

·         2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

·         1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

·         1 teaspoon grated lemon rind (optional)

Preparation

·         Stir together first 3 ingredients and, if desired, lemon rind until glaze is smooth..

from Southern Living Magazine, May 2001