Orange-Rosemary Bundt Cake

Disclosure- I received the mentioned product courtesy of the sponsor for the the purpose of this review. All opinions are genuine, based on my experience with the product, and have not been influenced by promotional items.


I went back and forth on what Golden Blossom Honey recipe I should share with you this week. Should I do another grilling type post for the upcoming July 4th holiday, or maybe do a fruit pie? I kept waffling between some of the recipes I've saved from their site, but for some reason kept coming back to this Orange-Rosemary Bundt Cake recipe. 

It's been really hot here this week and the thought of using the oven wasn't high on my list, but I did have some rosemary that was growing out of control and some oranges that needed to be put to use, so what the heck. I threw caution to the wind, cranked up the oven, and went to town whipping the ingredients together to create this beautiful cake.

I don't know what it is about bundt cakes, but I always find them irresistible. They are so good for an afternoon treat paired with a cup of tea or coffee and a little side of fruit. If your area is relaxing the social distancing guidelines, this would be a great recipe to have on hand for any get-togethers you may have planned for this summer. Save it for the 4th, or if the kids get to go back to school this August, as a special treat for enduring this extra long summer cooped up with them LOL.

Ingredients

1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup SILVER BLOSSOM HONEY
5 eggs
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1 1/2 teaspoons orange juice
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups cake flour (not regular flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped
Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered confectioners sugar
3 teaspoons orange juice
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
CLICK HERE FOR FULL RECIPE

You can find this recipe, as well as many more delicious recipes right on the Golden Blossom Honey recipe page! Be sure to follow Golden Blossom Honey on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on new products and promotions.

If you like this recipe, be sure to come back every Friday, where I feature a new recipe from Golden Blossom Honey!

What's your favorite flavor for bundt cakes?

 

Iceland's Seljalandsfoss Waterfall

Our first Icelandic waterfall sighting wasn't what I had hoped for, but I wasn't giving up that easy. I had less than a day to get my sightseeing in, so I forced my family out of bed at 2am so we could hit the road and find as many waterfalls as we could before we had to return our rental car. Thankfully, Iceland offers about 20 hours of daylight in July, so we weren't fumbling our way through the country in the wee morning hours in pitch darkness. The first stop I had mapped out was to Seljalandsfoss, and y'all, this time I was not disappointed!

The thing that I love about Iceland is that it is so tourist friendly. You don't have to go on complicated hikes to see the most amazing sites in the country. Usually, you roll right up to the parking lot and you're exactly within view of the site you came to see. As soon as we turned onto the road where Seljalandsfoss waterfall was located, boom. We were looking right at it!

We arrived at about 3 am, so we ended up having the entire place all to ourselves. It was cold and raining, but that didn't stop us from getting out of the car to get an up close and personal view of the massive waterfall.

There were beautiful bridges and pathways to cross or climb for optimal waterfall viewing...

We just stuck to the gravel pathways though and were still able to get spectacular views.

We had just wrapped up a tour of Ireland, which really disappointed me with their sheep. I had visions of free roaming sheep all over the country, but we ended up seeing more cows than anything there lol. But what Ireland was lacking in the free roaming sheep department, Iceland more than made up for it. To my delight, this little trio of sheep were happily grazing on the foliage the whole time we were wandering the grounds.

Our first stop of the day at Seljalandsfoss was truly magical. It was the first time I've ever been that close to such a beautiful and powerful waterfall, I couldn't wait to see what the rest of our travels that day were doing to bring. Stay tuned. I can't wait to show you more of this amazing country!

What's the earliest time you've ever started a road trip?

Orange Glaze for Grilled Chicken

Disclosure- I received the mentioned product courtesy of the sponsor for the the purpose of this review. All opinions are genuine, based on my experience with the product, and have not been influenced by promotional items.


Anyone else still on the "let me see what I can make with what I already have in my kitchen" meal plan because they just don't want to make the trek to the store ever since Covid-19 hit? We've been having some interesting dinners here lately, that's for sure. I decided to dig deep into the freezer to see what we had buried down there and pulled out a stash of chicken thighs and legs. Funny thing is, I don't know why I even bought them in the first place because dark meat usually isn't something that my family is very fond of. But, here we were with a bag full of chicken that I needed to figure out what to do with and a few hungry mouths to fill. I knew I needed to find a simple recipe with ingredients that I already had on hand. Thankfully, Golden Blossom Honey never disappoints because I found this super simple Orange Glaze for Grilled Chicken recipe that allowed me to work some magic on an otherwise boring dinner.

I'll be the first to admit that I have no idea what I'm going when it comes to grilling anything other than chicken breast, but I surprised myself when I was able to pull off this meal without a lot of effort. The glaze did all of the work, caramelizing as it cooked, leaving a sweet and tangy coating on the chicken that both Jason and Allison went for seconds on. Three simple pantry staples is all you need to take a meal from eh to wow.

Ingredients

1/4 cup SILVER BLOSSOM HONEY
1/4 cup orange marmalade
1 tablespoon soy sauce
 

CLICK HERE FOR FULL RECIPE

You can find this recipe, as well as many more delicious recipes right on the Golden Blossom Honey recipe page! Be sure to follow Golden Blossom Honey on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on new products and promotions.

If you like this recipe, be sure to come back every Friday, where I feature a new recipe from Golden Blossom Honey!

What creative meal ideas have you made with what you're finding in your kitchen lately?

 

But, Is It Really A Waterfall?

Once we landed in Iceland, we immediately headed for the Blue Lagoon for a little end of our travels r&r. We had planned to eat dinner afterwards then head straight to bed since we wanted to get an early start on our road trip, but ended up changing our plans by taking a small tour around where our hotel was located near Reykjavik instead. "Look. I just want to see some cool waterfalls while we're here," I told Jason. "Can you find one on the navigation?" 

"Hey, Siri. Find a waterfall near me," he chirped into his phone's navigation. The girl worked her magic and found one within a 15 minute drive of our current location. How lucky were we?! We drove along admiring all of the beautiful foliage Iceland had to offer.

Even though they aren't native to Iceland, these gorgeous lupine are in abundance there and I simply loved them! I had Jason pull over so I could take a few pictures so I could remember to look into maybe planting a few in our yard once we returned. Anyhow, we coasted along this stream until Siri finally told us we had arrived at our destination. "Um, where's the waterfall then, Siri?" I mean waterfalls are supposed to be eye grabbing and we looked around and didn't see any cool, towering waterfall that Pinterest said we'd run into all over Iceland.

We looked around, then looked around some more wondering if we were missing something, but Siri was adamant that we were exactly were we needed to be for waterfall viewing. Eventually, we figured that old girl was offer her rocker when we realized that this little dip in the stream was considered a "waterfall" in navigation terms.

Either Siri is a real bitch or she's got one wicked sense of humor sending us on this wild goose chase when we just wanted to see a cool waterfall before calling it a night. Either way, Jason and Allison got a real kick out of this "waterfall".

I mean, I would consider this more of a waterfall, but she had us drive right on by to check out her version instead.

Needless to say, we went back to the hotel without a real waterfall sighting, just hoping we'd find a good one the next morning and this wasn't a foreshadow of what was to come on the last leg of our journey.

Would you call that a waterfall?

Cherry Soup

Disclosure- I received the mentioned product courtesy of the sponsor for the the purpose of this review. All opinions are genuine, based on my experience with the product, and have not been influenced by promotional items.


I love that it is cherry season almost as much as I love that it is berry season. This year I'm a bit miffed though because the stupid up and down winter that we had killed off a few of my plants and stunted the growth of many others. My lilac bush and cherry tree went straight to leaf and my blueberry bush kicked the bucket. So much for garden to table smoothies this year. I did have a couple of canned cherries in my pantry that I thought about making a smoothie with recently, but opted to use it in this Cherry Soup recipe from Golden Blossom Honey instead. 

I've made this Chilled Blueberry Soup from Golden Blossom Honey many times over the years, and I figured I'd probably like a cherry soup just as much (I did!). The only thing I did different was add in a little more cornstarch/water mixture because mine wasn't thickening up as much I thought it should, then let it boil a few minutes longer. But you do you. If you like a thinner soup, leave the recipe as is. That's what I love about being in the kitchen. You can make the rules up as you go along, putting your own spin on recipes for what fits you best. 

Ingredients

2 (16 ounce) cans tart red pitted cherries
3 cups water
1 cinnamon stick
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 strip lemon peel
1/2 cup GOLDEN BLOSSOM HONEY
1 cup dry red wine
1 Tablespoon cornstarch

CLICK HERE FOR FULL RECIPE

You can find this recipe, as well as many more delicious recipes right on the Golden Blossom Honey recipe page! Be sure to follow Golden Blossom Honey on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on new products and promotions.

If you like this recipe, be sure to come back every Friday, where I feature a new recipe from Golden Blossom Honey!

Did your garden or yard greenery survive the winter in tact this year?

 

Almond Streusel Peach Pie

Disclosure- I received the mentioned product courtesy of the sponsor for the the purpose of this review. All opinions are genuine, based on my experience with the product, and have not been influenced by promotional items.


Sweet tea and peach pie, that's a staple in a southern girl's diet when summer rolls around. Yeah, I know I live in the Midwest now, but I'll always be a southern girl at heart. When the virus hit, Jason decided he'd be taking over grocery duties, so March was the last time that I had to make a grocery run. Last week I finally broke down and went to the store and let me tell you, I don't miss it LOL. However, I did miss browsing the produce section and went nuts stocking up on fresh peaches to use in this ah-mazing Peach Pie with Almond Streusel Topping recipe from Golden Blossom Honey. 

Since the weather warmed up, I've been waffling between making a fruit crisp or a fruit pie, but with this streusel topping, it's like getting the best of both desserts all in one. If you opt to use a store bought pie shell, this is a very easy and quite quick to toss together recipe. I made my own pie crust, because you really can't beat a homemade crust, so it did take me a wee bit longer going that route. But no matter which option you take, you're gonna love this pie. Serve it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Then, grab some sweet tea and head out to the porch and enjoy basking in the summer sunshine. 

Ingredients

Crust:
1 (9-inch) unbaked piecrust, found in the frozen section of your grocery store
1 egg yolk, beaten

Filling:
5-6 fresh peaches, peeled and sliced 1/2-inch thick
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup GOLDEN BLOSSOM HONEY
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Topping: 
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons GOLDEN BLOSSOM HONEY

CLICK HERE FOR FULL RECIPE

You can find this recipe, as well as many more delicious recipes right on the Golden Blossom Honey recipe page! Be sure to follow Golden Blossom Honey on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date on new products and promotions.

If you like this recipe, be sure to come back every Friday, where I feature a new recipe from Golden Blossom Honey!

Do you have plans to make a fruit pie this summer?

 

Castro - Live Colorfully

I still have a few more Iceland posts to share with you, but I thought in honor of Pride Month, I'd steer a little off path today and fast forward a bit to our most recent west coast road trip. Back in January, we set off on a 2 week road trip with almost no destinations plotted on the itinerary. My first stop though was to visit family in California who gave us a few insider suggestions on what we really should see on our route up the coast. One of those suggestions happened to be Castro, one of the first openly gay neighborhoods in the US.

Just 20 miles from San Francisco sits this super bright, colorful and lovely little neighborhood. It was a rainy, gray day, but that didn't stop us from feeling joyful as we walked the streets. I did know from a quick research session that I wanted to find the rainbow crosswalk because it just looked so dang cheerful. I couldn't help but think that maybe the world would be a happier place if all crosswalks were rainbow themed.

We did a little window shopping and I couldn't help but giggle over the spicy names of many of the shops in the neighborhood.

And I really couldn't resist a stop at Hot Cookie to pick up some cookies. Lil Bitch was calling my name, but Cranberry Queen, Basic Bitch, and Funfetti Sugar Baby looked pretty tempting too LOL!

The district isn't very big, 5 streets in total if I'm not mistaken, so we were able to briskly walk the area in under an hour, which was about all we had time for anyway because we were worried about getting our RV towed. (It didn't but we still got a $150 parking ticket. Whoops!)

There is a free walking tour (tips are encouraged though), which we did not take, but if you have the time I hear it is quite educational. If you have a day to kill while out in the area, I'd recommend planning a few hours to walk the neighborhood and to check out the shopping boutiques, eateries and bars. It truly is a happy little place for all.

♥ Happy Pride Month ♥