Blueberries and a 4 year old's Dream

My kiddos LOVE fruit...especially blueberries. They could eat pounds and pounds of blueberries. The other day, my 4 year old, Luke, opened the fridge looking for the big white bowl of washed blueberries and to his dismay, they were GONE! He was so disappointed. He said to me "Mom, I want to grow a whole bunch of blueberries so I can have them forever and ever". What a GREAT idea!

The problem...I have no garden and I live in Arizona. I guess that's two problems. I have an area reserved to start a garden at the end of the summer. But I have to be honest, I have never heard of anyone in this horridly hot state ever growing blueberries. Does anyone out there know how you grow blueberries and where they actually grow the best? Luke would love you forever if you give me any tips. Thanks.

My very adventerous and future gardener, Luke.

Bacardi Rum Cake

Many moons ago when I worked as a legal secretary, before I was a mom, there was this guy that came around to our office all the time selling books. I bought the coolest cookbook from him. I've seen similar cookbooks pop up all over the place but I don't think I've ever seen one quite like this one. It is LOADED with recipes. It's called the Best Recipes From The Backs of Boxes, Bottles, Cans and Jars. I bought one for me, one for my mom and one for my greasy granny. Actually I didn't buy one for my greasy granny...I just like to say Greasy Granny.

Anyhoo, this recipe was in the book. After each recipe in this book, there is a little blurp where the recipe came from or some significant fact about the recipe. The blurb underneath this particular recipe reads: "Here's the very first cake to incorporate a pudding mix. It's simply fabulous".

I made this cake and it was GREAT! I think I put too much bacardi in it though because I was totally drunk afterwards...AGAIN...fibbing...I wasn't drunk but there was WAY too much bacardi in the glaze the first time around so I had to half the amount the next time. I also used dark bacardi which could have made a big difference in the taste. Maybe next time I'll try the light bacardi.

Cake:

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (I used pecans)

1 18 1/2 ounce package yellow cake mix

1 3 3/4 ounce Jell-O Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix

4 eggs

1/4 cup cold water

1/2 cup Wesson oil

1/2 cup Bacardi

Glaze:

1/4 lb. butter

1/4 cup water

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup Bacardi

Preheat oven to 325 dgrees. Grease and flour Bundt pan. Sprinkle nuts over the bottom of the pan.

Mix all ingredients together.

Pour the batter over the nuts. Bake for 1 hour
.

Cool. Invert on serving plate.

While the cake is cooling, make the glaze:

Melt butter in saucepan.

Stir in water and sugar. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove the heat. Stir in the rum.

Poke holes in the top and the sides of the cake.


Pour the glaze all over the cake.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm....ENJOY!!!