Satisfying Cravings with Pound Cake

by Jan Drexler

We've all been there.

Sometimes, no matter how good our intentions are, we just have to satisfy the cravings we've been denying for days. Weeks. Maybe even months.

Sometimes, we just want CAKE!

I had one of those undeniable cravings last week, but I also had no time. I have a deadline creeping up on me, plus a house to organize into some semblance of anti-chaos. So I went diving into my old cookbook.

The one that has you use real butter instead of margarine. The one that didn't worry about carbs or fat, or even calories.

You guessed it: my old trusty Betty Crocker Cookbook from 1950.

My mom received a copy of this cookbook when she got married sixty-eight years ago, and I'm still kicking myself for not snagging her copy before it was sold in a garage sale back in the '80's. (I do have all of her Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks, though!)

Even though a facsimile edition was reissued several years ago, I was happy to find an original on E-bay. I love this cookbook, and this is one of the reasons why:

My career has always been homemaking. Yes, I've done other jobs, but my heart has always been in the home. This cookbook and others like it - even though they are dated and sometimes clash with our modern sensibilities - took homemaking seriously. It wasn't something to do as an afterthought when your "real" work was done. It was a priority. It had merit. It was respected.

This page gives good advice on taking care of yourself, and it's applicable no matter what your job is. It advises having regular medical checkups, getting outside in the sunshine and fresh air on a regular basis, and planning (and taking) time off for refreshment and recreation.

But my favorite piece of advice is this one:

I call this my power nap! :-)

Anyway, on to cakes!

This is one of the most basic recipes I have, so it's perfect for a busy day. It took only a few minutes to mix up, and it was ready for my afternoon snack.

Betty Crocker's Pound Cake

ingredients:

1 cup soft butter
1 cup sugar
1 T. lemon juice
4 large eggs
2 cups flour
1/4 t. baking powder

Cream the butter thoroughly, about one minute.

Add the sugar gradually while the mixer is running, beat for an additional three or four minutes.

Beat in the lemon juice, then add the eggs one at a time, beating for about one minute between adding each egg.

Add the flour and baking powder and mix just until combined.

Pour the batter into a greased 9"x 3" loaf pan.

Bake at 300 degrees for 75 to 90 minutes, or until golden brown (test with a toothpick).


One bite of this and I knew I had something special. It satisfied my cake craving, but it would also be a perfect base for a fruit dessert! Strawberry Shortcake, or peach pie filling, or mixed berries... Yum!

So tell us. Do you have a favorite retro cookbook in your collection?

Jan Drexler lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her husband and growing family. When she isn't writing, she loves hiking in the Hills or satisfying her cross stitch addiction.

You can find Jan on Facebook, Jan Drexler, author, or her website, Jan Drexler.com.

Corn-on-the-Cobb the Easy Way

Missy Tippens

I was going re-share this preparation method but couldn't find my old post! So instead, I'll just share a video where I learned how to do this. I love this method!




I usually put 4 ears on a microwave-safe plate and cook for about 8-10 minutes. This past week, I did two ears (that had actually already been shucked) for about 4 minutes and that worked just fine.

Of course, add butter and salt (the best part!). I've really enjoyed sprinkling my corn with Maldon Sea Salt flakes so that we get nice occasional crunch.

Hope you enjoy trying this!

www.missytippens.com

Veggie Carbonara!

Okay, Kav will love this! Veggie carbonara, summer style!

And it was so good, I didn't even miss the meat, but if you wanted to throw some bacon or ham or chicken into this, you surely can... but we went veggie this time.

We have a plethora of squashes. Zucchinis, summer squash, sunburst squash and green beans. But I didn't want beans, so I used a pack of frozen peas instead.

A handful of small halved or quartered tomatoes would have been nice, but they're not in yet, so I used some sundried tomatoes for a "sweet" balance.

1 medium zucchini
1 medium summer squash
1/4 sweet onion, chopped
Cherry or plum tomatoes, halved OR
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes

Garlic
Salt
Pepper
1/2 lb. Cooked pasta

Cut zucchini and summer squash into bite-sized pieces.
Chop about 1/4 sweet Vidalia onion
Halve tomatoes.

Cook pasta. About seven minutes before it's done, heat 1/4 cup olive oil in frying pan.
Add onion. Cook for about two minutes over medium/medium-high heat.
Add squash. Cook on medium high for about 4 or 5 minutes.
Add peas. Frozen or fresh snap peas. I had frozen.

Heat through.

Drain pasta. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with garlic to taste. Add salt and pepper. Toss in veggies. Toss. Add 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese.

Toss and serve. 

Seriously an eleven minute meal that we loved. Happy faces everywhere!

And this is us getting ready for weekend business: Making strawberry jam...

Strawberry jam, ready to go:

Very Berry jam, ready to go!

Such a crazy busy time of year.... but on a plus side God watered the mums TWICE this week, and that's the first time since they came!

GO GOD!!! :)

So that's how things are going here.... planting is done.


Spraying and weeding and watering is at hand.
And picking now! Summer squashes and beans... and so it begins.

Sneaking in writing time.... and rainy day cleaning time... and the swing! To go on the side porch with the nicely painted floor, I washed and bleached and refinished the old swing:

It came back to life! So pretty... and the perfect swing to rock babies, or for kids and icies or Popsicles...

There is something just right about a swing... or a rocker...

And a porch. :)

Multi-published award-winning author Ruth Logan Herne is currently hiding whenever she can so that she can write the sweet books that folks have come to expect... and when she's not writing she's living on a WNY pumpkin farm with kids and grandkids and donkeys and dogs and  cats and some chipmunks and mice and a lot of birds.... but that's okay because Ruthy loves kids and critters!

E-mail her at loganherne@gmail.com, friend her on facebook or follow her on Twitter where folks tend to get a little riled far too often.... And why is that, do you s'pose??? ;)

Tex Mex NY Style

How's that for a blog post title?

I'm under deadline this week, so the other night my daughter and I decided to have dinner out. I'd been writing hard all day and was happy for the break (and not to have to cook). She had a few days in a row off work and was getting restless.

There's a TexMex place in my neighborhood that I've been wanting to try (even though it's been here a long time, I hadn't managed yet!), so we went to The Santa Fe Grill.


At this point, I'm thinking how little I know about this stuff. Why is it called Santa Fe if they serve Tex Mex?  Mindy???? Yoo hoooo. Help, please.

To be fair, the restaurant calls it southwestern food. It's the Yelp reviewers who call it Tex Mex.

But who cares. The food was great.

Unfortunately, I didn't think to take a photo.

My daughter ordered Steak Quesadilla and I had a Cheese Enchilada. Both came with rice and refried beans. Yum!

I could easily have gorged myself on it, but I decided I'd rather save the leftovers.

But then I nibbled more, so there really wasn't much for leftovers. I needed to come up with something to add to it for dinner.

One other menu item was a roasted vegetable quesadilla. That gave me an idea.

So, tonight, I roasted some zucchini (yellow and green) and mushrooms. I already had some broccoli that I had roasted with garlic, so I threw that in and dusted the whole thing with Parmesan.

I bought a bag of soft corn tortillas and heated them in the pan before loading with the roasted vegetables.

Here's where I confess to the big oopsie.

When I was buying my veggies, I bought a container of shredded cheese.
When I got home from the store,  I forgot about the cheddar cheese - for hours in really hot weather.

I'm on deadline. I was not taking any chances with yucky cheese.

So we went a little international with the Parmesan and some Mozzarella that I had on hand.
Trust me, it was good.

You'll be able to tell what I did from the photos, but basically I heated the tortillas, smothered them in pre-roasted vegetables. covered with cheese, and baked until the cheese was gooey.


I doubt this was authentic anything, but it was so delicious!

Final product along with the leftovers.

Conference Memories

Last week at this time I was jetting to Denver for Romance Writers of America's annual conference. So, having been gone all week, I didn't do any cooking other than the leftover breakfast I nuked in my hotel room microwave and the frozen pizza I tossed in the oven when I returned home Sunday evening. However, that doesn't mean there isn't food to talk about. Like the incredible Fried Cheese Curds I had at one of the hotel's restaurants. No pictures, but trust me, they were awesome. If you don't believe me, just ask Mary Connealy. 

For me, the highlight of any RWA conference is always the Harlequin party. Every year, they treat their authors to an indulgent night of desserts and dancing at some exclusive hotel that makes us feel so special. 

There's fun with friends. Don't we clean up well?

From left to right, LIS author Christa Sinclair, me, LI author Jill Lynn and LIS author (and my roomie) Sharee Stover.

And did I mention desserts?

Decadent.

Indulgent.

Incredible!

Insert your own adjective. 

Yeah, there's only one way to top all of that.

Does Beauty and the Beast seem rather apropos? Though he's the cutest beast ever. I mean everyone knows that spaghetti sauce makes the best face mask and hair gel.

Now it's your turn. Which dessert intrigues you the most? What would be your first sampling? And are you one of the many caught in the clutches of summer's heat?

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Three-time Carol Award finalist, Mindy Obenhaus, lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband, the youngest of her five children, two dogs and countless cattle. She's passionate about touching readers with Biblical truths in an entertaining and sometimes adventurous manner. When she's not writing, she enjoys cooking and spending time with her grandchildren. Learn more at mindyobenhaus.com.