Rebel Coffee Cake/Blogger Awards Nominations

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Coffee cake cooling on a rack, next to a pumpkin. Photo by Cecilia Kennedy

Burrito night just got topped off with a coffee cake in our house and Betty Crocker is appalled. She’s calling the police right now. She, and the Joy of Cooking, would probably suggest flan or fruit, reserving the coffee cake for brunch, but when my belly’s full of burritos, I’m not waiting around for brunch. So last night, I made burritos AND a coffee cake and the neighborhood Facebook page had better not have exploded with “information” about things they “saw” or “smelled” while performing a neighborhood watch on my street.   In fact, the very thought of disapproval stoked my rebel spirit to a “high alert” level that led to an unconventional addition. Yes, I did EXACTLY what you’re thinking: I made and poured icing all over the top. I was giddy with excitement—celebrating with reckless abandon the fact that I was nominated twice for the Blogger Recognition Award (which I’ll get to in a moment).

Nate, sensing danger, very tentatively ate a piece of the cake when it came out of the oven:

Nate: There’s icing on this coffee cake.

Me: Yasss!!!

Nate: Why?

Me: ‘Cause I’m crazzzay!

He said he liked the cake and Alex really liked the icing. In fact, I had to depend on their reviews because I’m getting over pneumonia, followed by raging allergies I’ve never experienced before, so my nose has lost its ability to actually smell things, which affects my taste buds as well. (Also, my ears are clogged, so I guess you could say I’m somewhat “senseless” at the moment.) But that’s just the kind of rebel I am. Without the senses of taste or smell, I would still bake something and serve it to my family. Even better, I’d post that recipe publicly to a blog. So, here’s the recipe, followed by an “ode,” and the Blogger Recognition Award stuff.

Ingredients:

3 cups of flour

½ tsp salt

1 cup of sugar

1 ½ tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice

4 tsps baking powder

1 ½ cups of skim milk (or regular milk)

½ cup of egg substitute (or two eggs—if you don’t want to reduce fact/cholesterol)

2 tablespoons “apple pie” wine/liquor

1/3 cup of reduced fat margarine, melted (Or: 1 stick of regular butter, melted)

1/3 cup of fat free sour cream (omit if you’re using regular eggs/butter)

1 cup of brown sugar

Powdered sugar icing made with powdered sugar and water. Mix until you have about a cup of icing the consistency of pancake batter.

Method:

–Preheat the oven to 350 and get a 9 X 13 pan ready for baking

–Mix the dry ingredients together in one bowl (Use a whisk.)

–Mix the eggs and milk and apple pie wine/liquor in a separate bowl

–Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix

–Add in the butter (and sour cream—if using)—mix well

–Pour the batter into the pan and top with the cup of brown sugar

–Bake for 30 minutes

–Top with the icing

This coffee cake is best served at night, with burritos—and you have to recite the following poem too:

Coffee cake at night,

Take a big bite.

Take another

‘Cause I’m one crazy mother.

I’m breakin’ all the rules,

Like I didn’t go to schools.

Eat it after burritos,

Or maybe some Doritos.

Coffee cake at night,

So wrong, so right.

I’m not sure if the content above is the kind of thing that “deserves” awards, but some absolutely talented and wonderful bloggers have nominated me for the Blogger Recognition Award and I’m very grateful. You must check out Bushra’s Lifestyle Blog and Mel’s Decorcraft Design Blog. On both of these blogs, you will find beautiful projects and the bloggers themselves are warm, kind, and welcoming.

Awards nominations are not “free” in the blogging world, so now I must follow some rules by first providing a brief history of my blog:

Back in 2014 or so, I started a DIY blog on blogspot and shamelessly told people at work about it, so that I could grow an “audience.” At boring faculty meetings, I passed around my blog’s web address, thinking my colleagues would open their laptops and have a good laugh, but they just didn’t. They didn’t want to get into trouble, I guess. So, when I moved from Ohio to the state of Washington, I decided that since I didn’t have a full-time job and I wasn’t really looking for one, what employer would care if I wrote about recycling underwear or not knowing the proper wine-tasting etiquette or rules? I then bought a book on blogging and tried to read it, but I kept falling asleep. The next thing I knew, I had my Fixin’ Leaks and Leeks blog site up on WordPress, but not the one that involves a knowledge of coding—the other one where people can help you if you need to overwrite the code for a picture or something. I soon learned that “liking” other posts, leaving comments, and following others all led to more followers.

Advice for new bloggers:

1) I have no idea how to make money from a blog. I’ve heard it’s possible, but I’m assuming you need a product to sell or something. The most “sellable” item I’ve made recently is a giant yoga ball spider, which someone somewhere may want, but I think I’d be unhappy making yoga ball spiders the rest of my life. It was really hard.

2) At first, I tried to write “professional sounding” blog posts and I tried to come across as “authoritative,” in case I got “discovered” by a company that needed a blog writer.   Now I really don’t care. (See the coffee cake poem above.) Write for yourself and the people you love.

I now have to nominate 15 bloggers or more. There are 12 listed here, so I’m adding: 1) Bloggers I already nominated in the following posts—particularly those who may not have seen their names/participated:

Spritzing with Lavender and Awards Nominations

Mystery Blogger Award

The Cranberries Runneth Over

I’m a Black Cat, Blue Sea Award Nominee!

and 2) Anyone who wants to take on the challenge. I follow so many wonderful blogs!!

(I know, 12 + 2=14, but you could count either 1 or 2 above twice. Also, I tried to pick people whose blogs are not “awards free.” If I chose yours by mistake, I apologize—feel free to ignore the nomination.)

1) Robert Parker: Upstate & Away

2) Whatsnonfiction

3) The Lockwood Echo

4) The Project: Me by Judy

5) Invisibly Me

6) Lynette d’Arty Cross

7) pvcann

8) dfolstad58: Life and Random Thinking

9) Yummy Lummy

10) Dragonspire

11) Anniegoose

12) thecedarjournal

Your Turn: What’s an “unconventional” dinner you’ve served at your house?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Published by ckennedy

Author of the DIY blog: Fixin' Leaks and Leeks. Paper/Rock Writing Consultation, Sole Proprietor.

32 thoughts on “Rebel Coffee Cake/Blogger Awards Nominations”

  5. Congratulations! And thank you for the nomination! I don’t do blogging awards but it’s really nice to be nominated! 🙂 I will check out your other nominations though and I will do a link.

    The recipe looks yummy. Coffee cake – yes. I agree, no need to wait for brunch. 🙂

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  7. I’m a firm believer that sugar and icing makes everything better 😀 (I’ve horrified my partner by adding sugar to baked beans before, but the beans were on top of a pancake and it tasted good, so I’m not too crazy, right?)

    Hope you’re feeling better, pneumonia is pretty hard to shake, and thanks for the nomination, I’ll add it to my list and come up with a post soon 🙂

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  10. Hi Cecilia. That combination of burritos with coffee cake, is pure brilliance. I wish I wasn’t on a diet. For some reason, I have not been able to ‘like’ you on your site. Unfortunately, I am not the most technically savvy person in the world, and I can’t figure out why this is happening. Know that I really enjoy your blog. Even when I’m feeling down, your writing makes me crack a smile.

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    1. Thanks so much! I enjoy your posts as well–and your BEAUTIFUL artwork!!!!! I sometimes can’t “like” posts on other blogs for a little while and then suddenly, I can like them again. Sometimes switching browsers helps-sometimes not. In any case,it makes me happy to make others smile–thank you for the kind words. Cheers!

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  12. Hahah I love that there’s a poem to recite while eating it, like a magical spell – “so wrong, so right” certainly sums up cake with burritos! “Write for yourself and the people you love” is perfect advice. Congrats on your award and thank you very much for the kind nomination 🙂
    Caz xx

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  13. Awards are always great places to find interesting peeps. Congratulations. That poem is a great example of why people are giving you awards 😉 Thankyou for the mention, I will be paying it forward, but I’m a rebel like your good self and usually make up my own rules ;).

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  14. You asked if anyone had served an unconventional dinner. I once had an indoor picnic…we all sat on the floor, and I laid out tablecloths and picnic food – potato salad, quiche, fruit etc. It was such fun and I have always meant to try it again. Good for cold or wet summer days!

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