Monday, April 15, 2013

Weekends, Friends...And a Quick (60 seconds?) Cake!



Cape May Sunset on the Bay
The 48 hours wedged between Friday and Monday are never long enough, and yet, they can be amazing if you jam the right people, the right activities and the right recipe into the 2880 minutes that we wait for all week long. And if you add the word “girls” in front of “weekend” you know that it is going to be something very special. As Sunday evening closed in on me, I sat exhausted and grateful that I spent the last two days with five of the most amazing women I fortunately get to call my friends.

We met up in Cape May, NJ, where our longtime friend Pam recently purchased a summer home and needed a little help with the nasty chore of scraping off wallpaper. Since most of us will be spending occasional weekends with her there, we figured it’s the least we could do. Three of us, Pam, Lynne and myself, are of mostly Italian heritage and it is our job to make sure that everyone has enough to eat…and we do our job well. 

Hey, at least we let her wear her robe!
Funny lady Judy, the tallest of the group, provided the right arm span we needed to reach the ugly boarder that was hiding under the first layer of metallic laced paper. It was our friend Karen’s first weekend away since suffering a serious stroke last summer. We were excited to get her back but cut her no slack when it came to pulling her own weight and pulling wallpaper off of the wall!  (i.e. see picture to the right). 

After a morning of work, we headed into historical downtown Cape May for an afternoon of shopping, followed by dinner. It was a great spring afternoon. Perfect weather and companionship. While browsing in a card shop I found one with a picture of two little girls holding hands. It read "Girlfriends are the ones who hold you up when the world has fallen from beneath you". So true. There isn't one of us who hasn't needed to be "caught" at one time or another, and it was the arms of friends that formed the safety net. And that makes fun weekend gatherings even more special!

After a fabulous dinner, followed by an amazing sunset, we headed home to our pajamas and the anticipation of a new found recipe for a 60 second cake. That's it! One minute and done! When a friend emailed me the recipe, I did a little research and found it under "1-2-3" cake, and a Weight Watchers, "No points" cake recipe. So a tip of the hat to who ever came up with this because it is pretty good. And if your not a baker, or are someone who is hesitant to whip up fancy desserts, this one is for you, because all it takes is two boxes of cake mix, a little water and a microwave. That's right!

Directions:

Purchase one box of Angel food cake mix and another box of whatever variety you chose, but one of the two boxes has to be Angel food cake. Now, mix the two boxes together to store in an air tight container.

Next, grab a coffee mug and mix in 3 tbs of cake mix with 2 tbs of water. Place the mug and the microwave and cook on high for 60 seconds. Viola! A warm spongy cake in seconds. No oil (no fat), no eggs (no cholesterol) no points (for those of us on Weight Watchers)! But, just to be honest, it needs a fabulous topping to make it almost decadent. The five of us opted to add a small scoop of Breyer's Rocky Road Ice Cream. (Okay, now we have some fat and points - but not that much). The cold ice cream melted slightly on the warm cake and made for a mighty fine small dessert.

Another friend who made this, used a vanilla cake mix with the angel food mix and then added chopped strawberries, when it was done, she added whipped cream for a mock strawberry short cake. She said it was delicious! The only thing stopping you from creating a very lo-cal concoction is your imagination! As blueberries come into season, I'm planning on making some 60 second blueberry muffins.

The weekend seemed to end almost in the time it took me to introduce my friends to my new found one minute dessert. I thought of them on the way home, curled on the couch, in their pajamas, under afghans, eating from a coffee mug, all talking at once! Ya gotta love 'em!

The wind-blown ladies of Cape May!


Photos by Jo Ann Phelps and ImageGoggle
   

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