Let them eat snack cake
I like to bake but not a great fan of dish-washing. My mother didn’t like dishes, either. Here are a couple of my mom’s recipes that are easy to make, taste great, and present minimal clean up. Prefect for an after school snack or when you want a not-to-sugary snack. Both serve 9.
Spice Snack Cake
1-1/4 Cup flour
1 Cup packed brown sugar
1/4 Cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon each baking soda, allspice, and cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon each ground cloves and salt
1/3 Cup oil
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1 Cup water
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In an ungreased 8 inch square pan place all dry ingredients and mix to blend with fork. Add oil, vinegar, and water. Mix briskly w/fork until thoroughly blended. Bake 30 minutes or until pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan. Spread with frosting or not.
Grandma Harriet’s Chocolate Vinegar Cake
(I think this is a WWII era recipe)
1-1/2 Cup sifted flour
1 Cup sugar
3 heaping Tablespoons cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon vinegar
6 Tablespoon melted butter
1 Cup cold water
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In an ungreased 8 inch square pan place all dry ingredients and mix to blend with fork. Make three depressions with spoon in dry ingredients. A vanilla into one depression, vinegar in the other, and butter in the third. Pour cold water over all and stir until well mixed. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until tests done. Cool in pan. Spread with frosting or not.
Carmel Frosting (great on either snack cake)
1/4 Cup butter or margarine
1/2 Cup packed brown sugar
2 Tablespoon milk
3/4 Cup plus 3 Tablespoon confectioners’ sugar
In small saucepan melt butter; add brown sugar. Stir over low heat 2 minutes. Add milk; bring to boil. Remove from heat; cool. Slowly beat in confectioners’ sugar until smooth and of spreading consistency. (Reduce sugar by 3 Tablespoon and add a handful of chopped nuts, you’ll have a yummy sauce for ice cream.)
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Just got these suggestions from my aunt and thought you might find them useful. There must be dozen more uses but these are some I’ll be using this summer in our RV (Space and weight are so critical in an RV, I hate to haul anything that is single purpose. Now, if I could only find a dual use for the coffee maker).
COFFEE FILTERS: Not just for making coffee. . .
1. Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave. Coffee filters make excellent covers.
2. Clean windows and mirrors. Coffee filters are lint-free so they’ll leave windows sparkling.
3. Protect China. Separate your good dishes by putting a coffee filter between each dish.
4. Filter broken cork from wine. If you break the cork when opening a wine bottle, filter the wine through a coffee filter.
5. Protect a cast-iron skillet. Place a coffee filter in the skillet to absorb moisture and prevent rust.
6. Apply shoe polish. Ball up a lint-free coffee filter.
7. Recycle frying oil. After frying, strain oil through a sieve lined with a coffee filter.
8. Stop the soil from leaking out of a plant pot. Line a plant pot with a coffee filter to prevent the soil from going through the drainage holes.
9. Prevent a Popsicle from dripping. Poke one or two holes as needed in a coffee filter.
10. Put a few in a plate and put your fried bacon, French fries, chicken fingers, etc on them. Soaks out all the grease.
