A Look Back to Five Years Ago... and Cinnamon Swirl Cake

Jan here, suffering from a little bit of spring fever....

Last Wednesday our temperatures reached 60° with sunshine, birds singing, and beautiful blue skies. Then on Friday, we got nearly a foot of snow.

MUCH needed moisture, so I'm not complaining...

Wynter loves the snow. This is in April 2013, during
a lull in a record-setting spring blizzard.

But it made me think of other spring snow storms, especially the one five years ago. That was the beginning of a beautiful summer with plenty of rain...and led up to our October 2013 blizzard that was so devastating.

And that took me to thoughts of what else happened five years ago...

This was Thatcher on his "choosing day," when we visited the breeder and picked out our my puppy. Wasn't he a cutie? He shares a birthday with Ruthy's Jeter, and both pups are turning five years old at the end of the month. Time flies!!!

Thatcher now - I love how his face
has changed!

What else happened five years ago?

You can order the e-book here:
The Prodigal Son Returns

My first book was released! Yes, time flies!

It was also five years ago this spring that I shared this recipe. I was looking for it the other day, wondering if I should make it for Easter brunch. I hadn't realized that it had been so long since I shared it here!

This is a gooey, buttery, almost pastry-like cake that is absolutely delicious! Expect to wow your friends :)

Cinnamon Roll Swirl Cake (Pampered Chef recipe)

Ingredients:

For the batter -
3 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup butter, melted

For the cinnamon swirl (think Cinnabon....mmmmm.....):
1 cup butter, soft to the point of being almost melted
1 cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoons flour
2 Tablespoons cinnamon

For the glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
5 Tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla


In a large bowl, mix all the batter ingredients together except the butter. Once mixed, pour the melted butter slowly into the batter, stirring as you go (I had my mixer running on low as I poured the butter in). Pour the batter into a 9x13 baking dish.

Combine the ingredients for the cinnamon swirl, and drop onto the batter, then swirl with a knife.





Bake at 350° for 30-40 minutes. Mine took the whole 40 minutes to become brown and done in the center. Don't try the toothpick test for doneness - the cinnamon swirl will remain sticky. Look for slightly browned cake on the tops and sides.

After the cake cools slightly, but while it's still warm, drizzle the glaze on top. 

And the best thing about this recipe? It only took a few minutes to put together!

Can you remember five years ago? What's the best thing that happened?

Jan Drexler lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her husband and growing family. When she isn't writing, she loves hiking in the Hills or satisfying her cross stitch addiction.

You can find Jan on Facebook, Jan Drexler, author, or her website, Jan Drexler.com.

A Recipe for New Beginnings

Apple blossoms in Kansas, Spring 2010

It's been two years since I've had a garden.

That's when we finally sold our house in Kansas and were able to move to the Black Hills to join my husband after six months of living apart.

Being together once more was the best part of this story, but it broke my heart to leave my gardens behind. Again.

I had planted apple trees, raspberries, blackberries, and asparagus. There were four raised beds for vegetables.

We had also planted a bird garden outside the back door - flowering and fruiting shrubs, a bird bath and plans for an arbor.

After five years of back breaking work, the garden was finally beginning to produce.

Then my dear husband lost his job and I was going to have to leave another garden behind - and that was only the surface. Over those five years we had planted relationships, found our favorite restaurants, had learned to like the weather....

Moving uproots everything.

But after two years, it's time. A new garden is going in this week. Not a large one, but a beginning.

A new beginning.

It's spring, and time for new beginnings, right?



Another new beginning is so exciting I can hardly wait to tell you!

Joyce Wheeler, Jan Drexler, Jennifer Rogers Spinola

Saturday morning, a few of us met together in the FIRST EVER meeting of the West River Christian Writers.

All published authors, all ACFW members, all committed to helping one another on the journey and reaching out to bring others along with us (now where have I run into that concept before? Oh, yes, it sounds a lot like Seekerville!)

We had a great couple hours comparing notes, brainstorming, playing with Jenny's cute boys and planning the next several meetings.

And we ate, of course! 

Some bruschetta things from Sam's Club, a batch of the Cinnamon Swirl Cake I shared last month, and some orange juice. Oh, and milk, please, in the blue cup for the four-year-old.

It's the beginning of great things. Two years ago I didn't think I'd ever be part of a local writer's group, and now we are three. 

Sigh. Isn't God good? All the time?

But wait! There's more! Another new beginning! A new little bundle of fluff and pink tongue will be coming to live with us in three weeks!

Wynter isn't sure what to do with the smells we brought home from our puppy picking excursion on Saturday. She's been an only dog for nearly a year, and she'll enjoy having someone to boss around again...but a puppy? 

When my border collie, Connor, died last summer, I didn't think I'd ever have the heart to replace him. He was my dog more than any other dog I've ever owned. His eyes never left my face. When I was at home, he always - always - knew exactly where I was, and if I wasn't at home, he pined. How could he protect me if he didn't know where I was? I was his person.

And how would I ever find another dog to love as I had loved him?

Thatcher at 5 weeks old

But Saturday afternoon, as I held Thatcher in my arms and looked into his little face, I knew I was ready for yet another new beginning.

Cinnamon Swirl Cake

Jan here, just waiting for spring! Don't you love spring?

We don't have flowers...yet...but we do have these early signs that the yearly promise will be fulfilled:

Calves!

Geese migrating!

May book releases :)

And of course, don't forget puppies! Red-winged blackbirds hanging on the cattails! Sunshine!

I don't care if there's still snow in the yard, spring is definitely coming!






I tried a new recipe this week - I recently "liked" Cheryl's Pampered Chef Biz page on Facebook, and she shared this Cinnamon Roll Swirl Cake. I took it to Bible Study Wednesday night, and it got nine thumbs up!

This is a gooey, buttery, almost pastry-like cake that is absolutely delicious! Expect to wow your friends :)

Cinnamon Roll Swirl Cake (Pampered Chef recipe)

Ingredients:

For the batter -
3 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup butter, melted

For the cinnamon swirl (think Cinnabon....mmmmm.....):
1 cup butter, soft to the point of being almost melted
1 cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoons flour
2 Tablespoons cinnamon

For the glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
5 Tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla


In a large bowl, mix all the batter ingredients together except the butter. Once mixed, pour the melted butter slowly into the batter, stirring as you go (I had my mixer running on low as I poured the butter in). Pour the batter into a 9x13 baking dish.

Combine the ingredients for the cinnamon swirl, and drop onto the batter, then swirl with a knife.





Bake at 350° (thanks, Ruthy!) for 30-40 minutes. Mine took the whole 40 minutes to become brown and done in the center. Don't try the toothpick test for doneness - the cinnamon swirl will remain sticky. Look for slightly browned batter on the tops and sides.

After the cake cools slightly, but while it's still warm, drizzle the glaze on top. 

Yes, I put this picture in twice...it's that good....

And the best thing about this recipe? It only took a few minutes to put together! (And that's no April fool!) Win/win!