Adventures With My Three Things: Grandma H's Dump Cake

So it's Easter today and we really don't have any plans. For the first time in weeks we don't have to get in the car and drive anywhere. It's actually kinda nice. I'm getting laundry and dishes done and just spending time relaxing. So as is the norm when I'm sitting around doing nothing, I get a hankering to do some baking.

When I was a kid I used to spend my summers at my Dad's parents house up in the mountains in California. The lived in a little town called Meadow Valley outside of Quincy. Grandma H (otherwise known as Grandma Doggy) was always cooking and baking. One of my favorite desserts she used to make is soooo yummy and soooo easy to make. Of my Three Things only Thing 1 ever had a chance to meet his Great Grandma before she passed away 4 years ago. So I like to be able to cook and make her recipes to keep a little piece of her specialness a part of my boys life.

So on account of the fact that it's Easter I thought I'd make something special today and Grandma's Dump Cake seemed to be calling my name. The only problem... I don't have any ingredients on hand, so it looks like we'll be making a quick trip to the store afterall! ;)

This recipe is a pretty standard Dump Cake recipe and it comes out great every single time! I have only very minorly modified it by adding in just teeny bit of vanilla extract. The best part about it is that it is so easy to make that my Things can help make it too.

Ingredients:

21 oz can blueberry or cherry pie filling
8 oz can crushed pineapple (the can pictured is a 20 oz can because they were on sale and it was cheaper to buy that then the 8 oz. I just measured out 8 oz)
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 box yellow cake mix
1/2 cup chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans work great)
2 sticks unsalted butter or margarine

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9 in square pan with baking spray.

Spread ingredients as they come from the box or can in order listed above (pie filling, pineapple, vanilla extract, cake mix, and nuts). Top with butter or margarine that has been cut into marble sized pieces.