Enough about me, what do you think about me?

You need to know a few things about me to appreciate my posts about things that make me happy. Firstly, I am crazy about my four daughters, Gwynne (26), Rebecca (23), Anna (20) and Meghan (17). Secondly, I am incredibly frugal at heart (ie. CHEAP). I think I inherited this quality from my parents... and I'm not ashamed of it :). Thirdly, I love to make things with my hands. While my girls were little, my only creative outlet was cooking, but now that they are all growed up (boo hoo and yay yay) I have become super crafty and over the weeks, I hope my blogs will reflect that. And finally, I LOVE FOOD! This worked well for me all my life until I turned 45 (nine years ago) at which point my love of food began to catch up to my tall lanky body (which is still tall and lanky but with a inner tube around the middle... ) Ah well, life is short and you can't change a live to eat person into an eat to live person!

So this blog is about my favorite meal this week. So, I made Carolyn Reed's California chicken this week - YUM and served it over Farfale, my favorite pasta. The recipe is:

Boneless chicken breasts or chicken tenders thawed (you can cut these in chunks if you want) and placed in roasting pan
One can of artichoke hearts drained and cut in quarters add to chicken
Pour one batch of good seasonings italian dressing (made from envelope) over those.
Marinate for a while.
Add: one can of diced tomatoes, one cup of pitted kalamata olives (or fresh button mushrooms or both)
Sprinkle one envelope of onion soup mix over all and bake for 45 minutes at 350. Serve over pasta with fresh grated Parmesan.

But there is more!  After eating leftovers of this 2 times, I felt like I couldn't serve it again. So... I mixed the small amount left with 3/4 of a jar of leftover vodka sauce. I spread a cup of Basmati rice in a 9X13 in pan and poured 1.5 cups of water over it, I added my leftover "sauce" evenly on top, covered with foil and bake at 350 for 50 minutes.

Meanwhile, I followed my friend Lynne's recipe for eggplant. Slice eggplant about 3/8" thick, spread each slice with mayo then top with 1/2 T Parmesan (from a can works well for this) and 1/4 tsp Italian seasoning. Bake for about 20 minutes until soft.

Served together with a nice lightly dressed green salad and voila! Frugal meets delicious.

A Conversation about Boy Scouts

A few days ago, while Barth was eating Gwynne's birthday carrot cake, he said to me "We used to include Spanish Bar cake on our shopping list for every boy scout camping trip we went on."  He described a dense cake with raisins in it and I was intrigued...apparently so was he. We both began googling for recipes and low and behold (what an amazing time we live in) not only did we find recipes but some were specifically for the version that he remembered buying with his Dad at the A & P!! Well, I began collecting the ingredients this week and whipped up my first A&P Spanish Bar cake. I was so happy to be able to ice it with leftover cream cheese frosting from  Gwynne's birthday party (celebrated early, the night before Easter when three of four daughters were home). We missed you Anna!  This week in particular, I felt the lack of Becky and Gwynne once they were gone. The time is too precious and too short and I wish you all lived in Ithaca... So, missing my three oldest girls (now that you mention it, I miss Meghan too - she's spending the night with some girl friends) inspired me to finally write a blog... because I really think y'all are gonna love this moist, spicy cake made with applesauce and only 1/2 cup oil!! Take that carrot cake.

Spanish Bar Cake – Rhonda’s version:

Dry ingredients- mix these together first in a large bowl:

1 cup white flour

½ cup whole wheat flour

½ cup gluten free flour blend – obvi use 2 cups total flour of your choice!

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 tablespoon cocoa

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon allspice

Then add these:

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 cups organic, unsweetened applesauce

2 eggs

1 cup raisins (plump in boiling water first, then drain)

1 cup chopped walnuts

Frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

4 tablespoons butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

1/3 cup milk

1 tablespoon lemon juice or lime juice

Mix all ingredients together and beat well. Beat in more milk if needed for easier spreading.

Bake at 350 degrees 40 minutes in a 9x13 pan, or 50 minutes in a bundt pan, or until knife comes out clean. Cool thoroughly before frosting.