That doesn't look right

Photo by Kimberly Hulst/hcvp '2010

This is why I do not bake.  I made a lemon cake the other day with a lemon butter frosting. And well... I never said my food was pretty. 
I'm also not a baker at all.  Try as I might, I just could not get the frosting even, it kept falling off and leaving empty spots on the cake.

Lemon cake:
 1 c sugar
1/2 c margarine or butter
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 c milk
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 c flour
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 lemons juiced and zested

Mix all
bake in a greased pan for 1 hour at 350 degrees


Frosting:
1/2 c butter
1 c icing sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
4 tablespoon lemon juice

Mix well with electric mixer for about five minutes

Vegan Pumpkin Cake

1 can pumpkin
2 cups oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups flour
1/3 cup water

Mix well. Put into greased or oiled cake pan and cook for 1 hour on 300, depending on your oven.

Grandma Perry's Banana Bread

1 and 3/4 cup flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 beaten eggs
2 bananas mashed

Bake for 50 minutes at 350

Do I need a kitchen exorcist?

I made the Chick Pea Curry again for dinner tonight. It did not turn out. This time I had the cumin but it just tasted salty. Never added any salt so have no idea what went wrong there.

Made cupcakes about an hour ago. They never rose and just ended up burnt. This is the first time since the oven was fixed that I tried baking, so I'm thinking I might just need to adjust the temp on the recipes from now on.

But two things in one day that just did not turn out. Do I need to sprinkle some salt and extra virgin olive oil (sacrifice in the kitchen) around and invoke the spirit of Julia Childs or something?

There is a table cloth in here somewhere

Only, I can't find it.

Back nearly 13 years ago, my Grandmother, who swore by table cloths, helped me sew one. Black and purple for a Hallowe'en dinner.
Now, I can't find what I did with it. It's one of the last projects Grandma did before her death.

I made Chick Pea Curry last night for dinner, and it turned out okay for a first try.
Heated up what was left for dinner, and made a Vegan Chocolate Cake and Vegan Frosting. Again, not bad for a first try. But not great.

But what I am wanting to know is, aprons, table cloths and toaster covers etc.
Yay or Nay?

Cinnamon Layer Loaf

Mom's getting ready for the holidays, was over her place and she made the first round of goodies.

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon cinnamon ground
3 tablespoon brown sugar

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs on at a time. Beat
Add vanilla,
In another container combine flour, salt and baking powder
Add this then to mix alternating it with the milk.
In another container mix the cinnamon and brown sugar.
Put 1/3 batter in bottom of pan and sprinkle cinnamon mixture over the batter. Continue to do layers of the cinnamon mixture and batter making sure you end up with the final layer being batter. Bake in a well greased pan at 325 F for one hour.

Sweet Bread vs Sweet Breads

I thought I better give a brief definition for anyone who has not cooked with Newfoundland hardbread/sweetbread.

Sweetbread : The thymus or pancreas from lamb or calf. The thymus is the throat sweetbread while the pancreas is the stomach or heart sweetbread. Mostly used for pates. May also be called Sweetbreads, with an "s".

Newfoundland Sweet Bread: Also called Sweet Tack. It looks just like the Newfoundland Hard Bread (Hard Tack) which is a no yeast bread designed to be used by sailors who were at sea for months at a time. Sweet Bread is not as hard and as it's name suggests, sweeter. It's used more often as a snack.

Both hardbread and sweetbread are sold in the same style bags.



Photos by Kimberly Hulst copyright hcvp'09

It didn't work

I tried making a butterscotch swirl loaf.
But it failed.
I have no idea what I did wrong either. Followed the instructions.

First off, it didn't rise.
Second, the chips just became this greasy mess.

It tasted like a pancake. Not what it was suppose to at all.


Here is the recipe, even though it failed,

1 cup sugar
1/2 c margarine
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 c milk
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 c flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 c butterscotch chips

Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees

Should have been simple right?
So what happened ?

Menu: Aug 17th 2009

Photos by Kimberly Hulst copyright hcvp'09

I had decided to make my apple and potato dish today so I went off to mom's.
Why have I not been doing the cooking in my own little kitchen? Because mom has air conditioning.

While I was there, we decided to make a cheese cake as well. (photo of Me)


Apple and Potato


2 apples
2 large potatoes or 5 small ones
1 medium onion
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons nutmeg

*peel potatoes and cut into smaller pieces (sliced or cubed it's up to you)
*peel apples and cut into smaller pieces (sliced or cubed it's up to you)
*slice onion

mix together in baking dish.
Spoon in butter
add nutmeg and mix all together

Bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees



The cheesecake was a simple one. We used a Kraft recipe for No Bake cheese cake.

*Premade Graham cracker crust

227 ml cream cheese softened
1/3 c sugar
227 ml cool whip
375 ml cherry pie filling


Beat cream cheese and sugar
Stir in cool whip
Spoon into crust

Put in fridge for 3 hours

Spread on the pie filling




The apple and potato dish can be made for under $10
The Kraft No Bake Cheese Cake can be made for under $15