Don't Knock it till You've Tried it!

I've been wanting to try this depression era recipe I've seen on Pinterest for a while now- called TOMATO SOUP CAKE- but keep putting it off because, quite frankly, it sounds utterly disgusting! Well tonight I finally made it. Maybe i had a change of heart because I was running on fumes after only 3 hours sleep last night... Who knows, but there I stood in the kitchen mixing up a batter that closely resembled that stuff you see after giving birth.. Yeah, I said that. I really didn't have much hope for it even as I poured it into the baking pan, but alas, while in that oven for exactly 35 minutes, it transformed into pure deliciousness! I used a recipe I found on Pinterest that happened to have a super sweet caramel frosting, but there are others that use a cream cheese frosting. I also added a handful (or two) of chopped walnuts- because that's just how we roll here! 

http://chindeep.com/2013/08/06/tomato-soup-cake-with-boiled-caramel-frosting/

Ingredients

1/2 cup softened butter

1 cup sugar

1 lightly beaten egg

1 can tomato soup

1 1/2 cups of flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ginger (ground) 

Directions

Mix the butter and sugar. Then add the rest. The directions said to sift the flour, baking soda and salt- so of course that didn't happen! Not sure I even own a sifter! Throw that hot mess into your baking dish and pop it in the oven- 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 35 minutes. Stick a butter knife in it to make sure it comes out clean. 

To make the caramel glaze- grab the following:

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup milk

1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

Throw it all in a pot. Heat until it's boiling. Then boil for one minute. Make sure you're whisking it the whole time. You'll have to keep moving it off the heat intermittently because that shit was starting to boil over. Anyway after you've babied it for a minute. Take it completely off the burner and keep whisking for 5-10 minutes till it thickens a bit. I went middle of the road and whisked for about 7 minutes. I was bored. Then pour it over the cake- YUM!!!!!! 

Depression Era Crack... I mean CAKE ~ pure deliciousness!!!!

Okay so I am always trying to make new recipes but keeping the cost LOW! And when they taste good, then that's a WIN for me! I started looking up "depression era" recipes on google and pinterest and found some pretty cool recipes. One of my favorites is this Depression Era Cake recipe- which should really be called Depression Era Crack, it's that good. When I make this cake it is gone in a day! I even made one and took it to the town historical society annual picnic and it was a huge hit. So, give this a try and let me know what you think.

Ingredients:

1 cup packed brown sugar
1.5 cups water
1/3 cup oil
2 cups raisins
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 cups flour
pinch salt
1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking SODA
2 tsp water

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat your oven to 350. Lightly spray 9X9 pain with some cooking spray. In a saucepan (a pot) combine the brown sugar, water, oil, raisins and spices (everything from the first section of the ingredients!). Bring this to a boil and stir frequently for about 3 minutes. Not sure why it's three minutes. I did it for 2 just to see what would happen and it turned out just fine!

So let this cool a bit... (just turn the burner off)

Mix the baking SODA with the little bit of water and put that in the mixture... let the kids watch because that shit will foam and it's super cool!

Then dump in the flour, salt, and baking powder. Original recipe said to mix them all together in a bowl first... but of course I didn't do that. Just dump that stuff right in the pot.

Dump this whole mixture into your greased baking pain and bake at 350 for 34-55 minutes. This is SO delicious!!!! Enjoy!

(picture is NOT mine... it's from Pinterest from JoandSue.blogspot.ca.... because I kept forgetting to take a picture of mine before us heifers dug into it!!!

Cheesy beef casserole- NOT a HIT in my family!!!

OK~ here's the deal- I started this a few days ago and wasn't sure if I wanted to post it or not. You see, I made this recipe and it was not a big hit at the dinner table. OK... so I figured the fam must not have been that hungry that night. I put the leftovers in the fridge thinking they'd be gobbled up in a day or so. I was wrong.... this stuff sat in the fridge for days, until garbage day in fact! Now, you may have a completely different experience with this so I'm going to share it anyway. It was something I found on Pinterest and since my kiddos usually love anything cheesy, I honestly thought this would be a hit. Let me know if you make it and end up with a totally different opinion! And let me know if you did anything different to make it into something more fabulous!!!!

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

1 cup cooked rice

1 can peas

Spices: pepper, cumin, garlic, celery seed (to your liking)

1 cup chicken broth

1 small can of tomato paste

1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese

"Extra cheese"- 1 cup shredded mozzarella, cheddar slices, smoked Gouda slices. 

Layer cooked rice in greased baking dish. Then layer peas on top. 

Brown meat with spices. Add chicken broth, cheese and tomato paste. Simmer for 2 minutes then add this as the top layer of the casserole. Layer extra cheese on top. 

Bake at 350' for 30 minutes.