Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding...Here Comes the Firetruck!

First, let me give you a little background. When I was a freshman in college, I had a very small incident with the flame of a candle and a senior's jeans during pledge week. Long story short, the incident was not soon forgotten, and any time fire or smoke was mentioned, the "ding, ding, ding..." had to be sung.




Anyway...



I decided to bake this weekend. (Probably enough said there, but I'll elaborate, nevertheless.) We were going to dinner at some friends' house down the street. They made steaks and all the fixins' and I took dessert. I made a Blueberry Pound Cake (recipe to follow) which is so yummy, and even better, it's easy easy!!! Well, the recipe calls for 8 ounces of cream cheese at room temperature. I had just gotten the cream cheese from the grocery store when it was time to bake, so I decided to help it along in the microwave. I unwrapped the cream cheese, but only partially. I warmed it for 9 seconds at a time about 3 times. Then, I thought that wasn't enough, so I increased the time to 15 seconds. The next thing I know, my microwave looks like the Fourth of July!!! There were sparks galore! I was afraid that touching the microwave would shock me, so I just let it go. Smart, Les! The wrapper CAUGHT ON FIRE in the microwave! It was so scary. Fortunately, I was able to blow the fire out before it hurt anything (cream cheese included!)

Blueberry Pound Cake

1 Box of Yellow Cake Mix

8 oz cream cheese at room temperature*

3 Eggs

1/2 Cup Oil

2 tsp. Vanilla

1 15 oz can Whole Blueberries (Drained)

With an electric mixer, thoroughly combine all ingredients BUT the berries. Once it is mixed, fold in the blueberries. Pour batter into a greased and floured bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Dust the top with powdered sugar if desired. Great for dessert or brunch.

*If you need to microwave your cream cheese, be sure to discard the wrapper first...just a hunch!