by Kay Rice | Jul 8, 2017 | Healthy Recipes
I haven’t made one of these in a while! I find it rather ironic that while I am preparing for a 30 – Day Extreme Self-Care Program (including a Healthy Eating Plan) that I’m making this recipe, which I always reserve for holidays or special occasions! This is one of my family’s favorites!

Pineapple Upside Down Cake Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup (1 Stick) unsalted butter
- 1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
- 1 can sliced pineapple, packed in its own juice
- Maraschino cherries
- Pecan Halves (optional)
- 1/2 Recipe of 1-2-3-4 Basic Yellow Cake (which you will find below), substituting pineapple juice from the canned pineapple for the milk.
Directions:
- Preheat Oven to 350°
- Melt butter in a 12″ cast iron skillet. Spread brown sugar over butter and arrange slices of pineapple, cherries and pecans over it.
- Arrange one whole pineapple slice in the center, then arrange pineapple half slices around it with maraschino cherries in the center of each of the halves and in the center of the pineapple circle. Add pecan halves around the edges, one between each half slice of pineapple (optional).
- Pour the 1-2-3-4 Basic Yellow Cake batter over the pineapple slices in the skillet.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- When you remove the cake from the oven, turn it out upside down over a cake plate lined with parchment paper.
1-2-3-4 Basic Yellow Cake Recipe
This recipe has been in my family for more than four generations, originating with my great-great grandmother Mary Eunice Lilly Davis. Originally it was cooked in a wood burning stove!
Ingredients:
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 4-6 eggs (the original recipe called for 4, but I generally use 6)
- 1 cup milk
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour 3—8 inch cake pans and line the bottom of the pans with parchment paper.
- Cream butter, sugar and vanilla together, add eggs one at a time beating together after each addition. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture alternately with milk (or pineapple juice if you are making half a batch of this recipe for Pineapple Upside Down Cake).
- Bake cake layers for approximately 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.
My grandmother used to always back a cake using this recipe when we would come to visit. She would cover it with either Chocolate Frosting or Caramel Icing. You can find those recipes, along with all of the rest of my family’s favorites in my cookbook, Your Holiday Feast:

by Kay Rice | Jul 4, 2017 | Healthy Recipes
Our Secret WAR EAGLE Barbecue Sauce Recipe

This is one of our family favorites for any time of the year. Lots of us grew up or spent time at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama and there was a local Barbecue place that served a sauce like this one. This is a our Secret Sauce recipe similar to theirs. It’s not sweet at all, and it is delicious! This recipe makes a large batch to keep on hand any time you have pork or chicken. Pour over shredded cabbage fore Barbecue Slaw. Makes 2 Quarts
Ingredients
- 32 ounces ketchup
- 16 ounces mustard
- 16 ounces water
- 5 1/2 ounces Worcestershire sauce
- 1 1/2 ounces white vinegar
- Dash of red pepper (to taste)
Directions:
Mix ingredients together and store in a glass or plastic jar..I use a 1 quart mason jar with a plastic lid for storing half the sauce, and I also use the 32 oz ketchup bottle to store. I’ve found if you use a metal lid the sauce will corrode it and if you use plastic storage containers the sauce permanently stains them. 
For an official A.U. Family Barbecue Sandwich—Hickory smoke a boneless Boston pork butt. Chip the meat and serve on a bun with our sauce. For slaw, to go on your sandwich, mix shredded cabbage and sauce. Serve with dill chips. Yummmmm!
By the way … the place we designed our sauce after was called “Chuck’s” … so we still call it “Chuck’s Sauce” … I don’t know if Chuck’s is still around in Auburn or Opelika … but if you happen to be down that way and find that they are, please be sure to stop in and enjoy one of the best barbecues you ca find in the south!
by Kay Rice | Jul 2, 2017 | Coffee With Kay
Your Holiday Feast Cookbook & Planning Guide
by Kay Rice, M.Ed.
Your Holiday Feast was the very first book I published. It was an experiment into Self Publishing from start to finish. Since the publishing of this book, I’ve gone on to contribute to other books and have assisted other authors with creating, publishing and marketing their books.
Holiday Recipes and Planning
When I began cooking and planning holiday dinners and reunions for my family I quickly realized how overwhelming the task could be for someone who had never done this before. Through the years I assembled a file of our favorite family recipes. I saved shopping lists, time lines and kept notes about what worked and what didn’t from year to year. Ten years into doing this I put together a notebook and handed out to other family members. My mission was to make certain if I ever stopped putting together these family holiday reunions everyone else in my family would have all the recipes, lists and tips I used each year. They would have the blueprint to put on their own Holiday Family Reunion. They loved it so much that they encouraged me to publish it. NOW, more than 15 years later and a considerable amount of nudging and prodding I have done just that. I hope that Your Holiday Feast will help many who are planning and preparing a Holiday Event for their family to make it fun delicious and memorable!
Your Holiday Feast is a holiday cookbook & planning guide which is full of my family recipes and tips that I used for decades while hosting our annual Thanksgiving Family Reunion.
Guests arrived early in the week and stayed until the weekend. It is so nice to have all of our family recipes in one place, and it has been fun to share. ELEGANT & EASY HOLIDAY ENTERTAINING Whether you are entertaining during the holiday for the first time or whether you are seasoned holiday host or hostess, Your Holiday Feast cookbook and planning guide was created for you. If you have never made a traditional Holiday Dinner, this book has all the information you will need in one place: –Traditional recipes & family favorites –Organizational tips –Suggestions for making things ahead of time –Shopping and planning lists –Tips for making everyone feel welcome and at home You will learn how easy it is to make your holiday entertaining stress free, elegant, and a time for everyone to look forward to and remember long after the event. Whether you are hosting a small gathering or a large crowd, you can consider Your Holiday Feast your holiday entertaining blueprint! You will find suggestions to make your holiday a time to enjoy family and food, and will create memories and traditions that will last for years to come. Have your guests raving about how delicious everything is and be amazed at how easy you make it look. It is all in the planning and preparation, and of course, the delicious recipes!
Your Holiday Feast, Cookbook & Planning Guide is available at Amazon.com—to order your copy, click on the image below.

Recent Comments