Monica - Café Con Monica

Pineapple Upside Down Cake!

April 3, 2018

Sharing my Pineapple Upside Down Cake recipe today!

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Butter, melted

1/2 Cup packed brown sugar

1 can Pineapple Slices in 100% juice (save the juice)

1 small jar maraschino cherries

1 4oz box of vanilla pudding

Milk(of your choice..I used some coconut milk we had)

1 box of yellow cake mix

-**ingredients needed on cake mix (eggs,butter or oil, water)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F

2. Prepare pan w/spray or grease along edges

3. Melt butter and pour into bottom of bundt pan. Sprinkle with the brown sugar.

4. Cut pineapple rings in half and alternate with cherries around the pan

5. In large bowl mix cake mix and vanilla pudding mix together. Pour remaining pineapple juice into 1 cup measuring cup then fill with milk to equal 1 cup of liquid. Add to the cake mix along with ingredients needed on the box. Mix all together

6. Pour batter evenly over the pineapples & cherries and place bundt pan on a baking sheet.

7. Bake for instructed bundt cake time on box

8. When done, let cake cool for 10 mins in the pan, slide knife around edges if necessary and invert over plate.

Three on Thursday!

March 29, 2018

Another Thursday post of Favorites thanks to Steph @ Not Entirely Perfect

1. Chicago Street fests…every year spring time I get super excited for the list of Chicago Street Fests to come out. When it does I all the ones I want to try and get to in my calendar and prepare myself for a lot of drinking on the street and listening to bands while eating food I shouldn’t be eating. If you are visiting Chicago over the summer/early fall I always suggest getting to one and really enjoying the vibes!

2. Lollapalooza…I love music festivals. I really do. I bought a full weekend pass for the first time last year and had an amazing time. (as I was typing this I realized I have not shared my Lolla photos with this blog so look out for that soon) So this year I purchased another full weekend and they released the daily lineup this morning and I nearly shit myself with excitement.

Along these lines #3 would be Summer in Chicago. I love love warm weather and there is so much to do! I do my best to be outside as much as I can even if it is just to go to the lake and sit in the grass to read after work. Being out, getting all the sun and just taking advantage makes winter worth the wait!

Cooking Adventures: March Edition!

March 27, 2018

I really do. So back again sharing some foods I’ve cooked and foods Ive eaten since the last time…which you can see here & here.

Chili Lime Chicken Quinoa Bowls

another pizza night

*In an effort to maybe do something healthier for once I accidentally picked a SUPER thin crust that actually turned out to be basically a wrap. So I put the 3 in the package together to form a semi decent crust. Lesson learned…stick to my normal crust.


Pepperoni, italian sausage, pineapple, onions & jalapenos(one w/cheese, one w/out)

Udon noodles w/chicken or salmon & Peanut sauce

*this was probably the least appetizing looking meal i’ve made in a while but I kind of threw it all together. I wanted Fish and my roomie wanted chicken. I had to improvise the peanut sauce because I was missing ingredients. BUT all delicious anyway!