Month: February 2018

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What’s Going On In The Kitchen?

Hi! I hope everyone is well. I think we all are anticipating Spring at this point in the year. We have had some unseasonably warm temps lately in my area and for the most part the snow has melted away. I am not foolish enough to think it won’t be back before we are done with Winter.

I have tried a couple of new recipes this past week. The first one I saw on Pinterest multiple times and was just captivated by the name. The second one is simply because I love vintage recipes. I particularly have an affinity for recipes that were invented by resourceful homemakers during the Depression when some ingredients were hard to come by. In a previous post I featured the Mayonnaise Cake which is one such recipe.

Million Dollar Spaghetti

  • 16 Ounces Dried Spaghetti Noodles
  • 1 Large Yellow Onion , Chopped
  • 4-6 Cloves Garlic , Minced
  • 1 1/2 Pounds Sweet Italian Sausage , Casing Removed
  • 3 teaspoons Dried Italian Seasoning , divided
  • 2–24 Ounce Jars Spaghetti Sauce-Divided
  • 8 Ounces Cottage Cheese or Ricotta Cheese
  • 8 Ounces Cream Cheese , At Room Temperature
  • 1/4 Cup Sour Cream
  • 3 Cups Mozzarella , Shredded-Divided
  • 1/2 Cup Butter , Cut Into Slices-Divided
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package, drain well and return pasta to original pot. Add 1 jar of prepared spaghetti sauce and combine. Set aside.
  3. In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add sausage and 2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning to skillet, and cook until no pink remains. Drain well. Add 1 jar of spaghetti sauce to skillet. Set aside.
  4. In a medium mixing bowl, combine Cottage cheese or ricotta cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, 1 cup mozzarella, and 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning. Set aside.
  5. Place half the slices of butter in a 9×13 baking dish. Spread half the spaghetti in dish, then spread cheese mixture evenly over spaghetti. Spread remaining spaghetti over cheese mixture. Top with the remaining butter slices.Pour tomato meat sauce evenly over top layer of spaghetti.
  6. Top with remaining mozzarella and bake in preheated oven until casserole is heated through, about 35-45 minutes.

            

*from the Spend With Pennies blog by Holly

Notes: I used hamburger for this instead of Italian sausage. I love Italian sausage but burger is what I had on hand. Also, some of the children in my family prefer it and I planned on sharing with them. The overall response to this was great! Everyone loved it! It is sort of play on lasagna but with spaghetti noodles. I think your family would love it.

Tomato Soup Cake

Now, before you say YUCK, I want you to think of zucchini bread, carrot cake, etc. The fact of the matter is that this comes out very much like a spice cake. Everyone I served it to was asked what they thought it was when they tasted it. The answers varied with spice cake, zucchini bread, and carrot cake being popular guesses. It really is great tasting and attractive looking. Super moist!

  • 1/4 cup shortening or butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 10.75 oz. can condensed tomato soup
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/3 cups raisins (optional)
  • 1/3 cup nuts (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease the bottom of a loaf pan.

Cream together the shortening or butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and combine.

While the butter and sugar cream, add the baking soda to the tomato soup and stir. Add to the creamed mixture and combine.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, salt, and baking powder.  Add to creamed mixture and stir until just combined. Do not over mix.  Fold in the raisins and nuts.

Fill the greased loaf pan and bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Additional Notes:

If you like, top with cream cheese frosting. Just beat together 2 oz. cream cheese with 2 tablespoons of butter (both room temperature), then add 3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar and a few drops of vanilla extract. Beat until smooth, then spread on top!

      

*This recipe was taken from the New England Today magazine.
*Notes; I wouldn’t change a thing about this recipe. It is the old recipe but with a few tweaks.
I found a copy of an early recipe for Tomato Soup Cake on Pinterest from clickamericana.com.
Here is a link to the history of this recipe;
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and following week! We will meet again! Same Bat channel, same Bat time! Ha Ha!
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Teetotalers Unite!

Hello everyone! Do you like tea? Do you like regular orange or black pekoe? Or do your tastes run toward herbal or flavored teas? I like regular old tea that I drank as a child. My Mom would give us tea and toast when we were sick. I associate it with comfort and Mom. As a grown up a friend of mine, Rody, and I would get together for a cup of tea here and there. I learned to love Earl Grey and Constant Comment teas. I favor the ones made by Bigelow’s.

A couple of weeks ago I went to visit my son in Ithaca, NY. I wanted to have a cup of tea in the evening. (I have recently started doing that as a comforting little end to my evening.) He didn’t happen to have any flavors that I liked and didn’t have regular tea so when we were in the grocery store I picked up some Constant Comment. He asked what the flavor was. I told him I knew there was an orange flavor and some spices but that I wasn’t sure what spices were used.

Of course, I went right to Google to be able to answer the question. I didn’t find the answer because Bigelow’s only will say that “sweet spices” are used. However, I made a great discovery while researching. There is a “Constant Comment Cake”! Well, now, you know I had to try it! The result of my baking this cake can be summed up in one word; DELICIOUS! You would like it even if you don’t like tea. It is similar to a spice cake. See below for the recipe which also can be found at: https://www.bigelowtea.com/Tea-Tips/For-Entertaining/Recipes/Dessert/Constant-Comment-Spice-Cake#.WntBlainGM8

Constant Comment Cake

Ingredients

  • ½ cup milk
  • 5 Bigelow Constant Comment® Tea Bags
  • ½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 eggs, room temperature
  • 1-⅔ cups flour
  • 2-½ teaspoons baking powder
  • Confectioners sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease and flour a 9″” round cake pan. Combine milk and tea bags in a small saucepan. Heat over medium/low heat until bubbles form around the edge, stirring occasionally. (DO NOT BOIL.) Remove from heat and let cool (15-20 minutes); remove tea bags squeezing out liquid. Set aside. In large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until smooth. Add the eggs and whisk to blend. Add the cooled milk; continue to whisk until thoroughly combined. Add flour and baking powder; mix until a smooth batter forms. Pour batter into pan. Bake approximately 35 minutes, or until center of cake springs back when touched. Cool on wire rack before removing from pan. Let cool completely before serving. Dust top with confectioners sugar.

Notes: They recommend using the decaffeinated version for the recipe but I used “the leaded version” (That’s what my brother and I call the caffeinated version of coffee or tea) Constant Comment. I wouldn’t change another thing about the recipe. My oven took the full 20 minutes to completely bake the cake.

There are also shortbread cookies, cupcakes and banana bread made using Constant Comment tea. If you have been reading my blog you know that I am bound to try one or all of the other recipes. Ahhhhhhhhhh, Pinterest is a wonderful thing!

It has been kind of busy for me this week as far as little projects. I wanted to tell you about what’s new at my little bungalow!

I have been decorating for Valentine’s Day. I set up some of my vintage Valentine’s Day cards, as I usually do every year. These cards are from the 1930’s and 1940’s. A couple of them aren’t politically correct but it is fun to get a window into those decades by these mementos. I have collected them from household sales over the years and most have little messages to someone’s Valentine written on them. I display them on an old wire card display that I have painted gold with spray paint. The old finish was not visually appealing.

One new item to my Valentine’s decorations was a conversation heart “tree”. I made this using a Styrofoam cone. I painted the cone red. Then I hot glued conversation hearts onto the cone. It is displayed on an upside down, pink, depression glass as the tree trunk.

  

The only thing I would do differently is that I would paint the cone a pale pink if I did another one. There are bound to be small gaps between hearts here and there and I think the pink would blend better than the red.

Recently, I had an occasion to go to a new doctor. You know how you have to fill out the reams of paperwork when you first go to a doctor? Always included in that paperwork is a list of medications and surgeries. For a few years now I have carried a list with me in my wallet of medications of which most of mine are vitamins and supplements. It doesn’t matter, you still need to list them and the dosage (which is the part I don’t remember off the top of my head). The paper list always gets crumpled and worn. I decided this week to fix that. I used a spreadsheet to list medicines, dosage and frequency. Next to that I made a list of surgeries and the year. When I printed it out, I simply folded it in half so that now it was the size of an insurance card and two-sided. I then laminated it and it fits right in my wallet with my insurance cards! If you don’t have a small laminator at home you can use clear package tape to coat yours so that it doesn’t get worn. I was going to post a picture of my card but then decided that it might be a little to personal for me to show you my lists! LOL

I have 3 dogs. Now, don’t get excited.  I am not a “crazy dog lady”. Well, I might be………….. However, my dogs are all little. Together they only weigh  in at about 41 pounds. I am not even sure that counts as a good-sized medium dog. Anyway, there names are Duffy, Missy and Rudy. Like many pet owners, I worry about them when I am gone. I started leaving the radio on for them when I left but sometimes reception isn’t great. On Amazon (which has every darn little thing anyone could want or even conceive of) I ordered 3 music Cd’s to keep them calm when I am gone. Get this! There is even a holiday version! What a hoot! I put one in my stereo and press repeat so that it will play until I get home and turn it off. Before you even form the words to ask I will tell you, yes, I rotate through the Cd’s. We don’t want these little darlings getting tired of their music, do we?

Have a fantastic week! Trust me! Spring will come.

  Whoops! Forgot to mention Yoda, the cat who thinks he’s a dog!

 

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