Peanut Butter Bread Recipe-Late 1800's

This week, at our house,  is the countdown to Ben's graduation and life is buzzing!!  I'm running around in a flurry of cap, gown, tassel, blue and white napkins, blue and white balloons, batteries for the camera....you get the idea!  Today is the day that I order his cake.... and accomplish  the rest of  the items on the "Today List".....tomorrow will have its own list!  I'm making my case for why this posting is going to be brief, but hope you enjoy this very old recipe from a Clabber Girl Baking Powder pamphlet entitled,  "Clabber Girl Baking Book"  that I bought  at an estate auction.
Fun Fact:  Did you know that Hulman and Company, the makers of Clabber Girl Baking Powder, was founded in Terre Haute, Indiana in 1848?  When my pamphlet was printed, the ad inside says that it was, "10 cents for a 10 ounce can at all grocers".  The ad slogan at that time was, "All's Well That Ends Well".  I'm hoping that applies to high school graduations, too!    ~Marcia

Peanut Butter Bread

2 C sifted flour
1 1/2 tsp Clabber Girl Baking Powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 C sugar
1 C milk
2 eggs
1 C peanut butter

Sift dry ingredients together.  Beat milk, eggs and peanut butter together with egg beater, then add gradually to dry ingredients while beating with a spoon.  Pour into a greased and floured loaf pan, size about 8 1/2 inches by 4 1/2 inches by 2 1/2 inches.  Bake 1 hour in a moderate oven (350 degrees F).


Swaps:
All The Small Stuff
Blessed with Grace
33 Shades of Green
My Sweet and Savory
Balancing Beauty and Bedlam

Easy Jello Milkshake

I went to the grocery store today.  Tuesdays and Thursdays are the best days to find specials in my area!  It was just such a hot day here that as I hurried up and down past the rows of  boxes and canned goods in Walmart, all I could seem to think about was cold drinks, ice cream and watermelon.  I came out of there with lots of cooling items, needless to say!  Today, as I brace for another Texas summer, I'm happy to share a quick little recipe for a milkshake that's cheap and easy.  I like to change the directions up a bit;  I replace the ice cream with vanilla frozen yogurt or ice milk (less fat and calories) and use sugar-free jello pudding.  You can get really creative with this....banana cream pudding-then top the finished shake with whipped cream and crumbled Nilla wafers!   How about a  chocolate shake with whipped cream and Oreo crumbles.  Oh!  So many possibilities!  Enjoy :)

Jello Milkshake

1 C milk
1 pkg. (4 serving size)  Jello pudding mix
1 pint ice cream (vanilla)

Put all ingredients in the blender and give it a whirl for 30 seconds.  Happy summertime sippin'!  Put the cushions on the wicker chairs;  it's time for some porch-sittin'.

Swaps:
Blessed with Grace
All the Small Stuff

Baby Ruth Cookies

After this graduation hoopla is over and life is back to "normal", I need to do some  organizing.  I realized while searching for a recipe last weekend that my notes and recipes are a mess.  I've just been tossing them into the drawer in the wooden file cabinet because I don't want to take the time to file them properly.  I never did find the recipe......and had to look it up with the search box on my blog!!  This blog has saved me on numerous occasions when a favorite recipe card  is missing.  As I was digging through my wooden file though, I was lucky to find a great old candy bar-cookie recipe for us.  Hope you like this one!  Have a good week.

Baby Ruth Cookies

1 1/4 C flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C (1 stick) margarine
3/4 C sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 C chopped Baby Ruth candy bars

Sift together flour, baking soda and salt;  set aside.  Cream together margarine and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg and vanilla.  Stir in candy bar pieces and dry ingredients until well-blended.  Chill for 30 minutes.  Drop dough by 1/2 tsp onto greased baking sheets.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until done.  Remove from sheets and cool on wire racks.

******Congratulations to our son, Blake,  for finishing his classes for grad school with an overall  4.0 GPA!!! Way to Go!!******

Swaps:
All the Small Stuff
Blessed with Grace
My Sweet and Savory

Texas Cake for Mother's Day

Mother's Day is this Sunday and how nice it would be to bake a special cake for the occasion.  I happen to have a recipe that is used at the Governor's mansion here in Texas.  It does not include a recipe for icing, but I believe that is because they serve it with fresh fruit (like a pound cake).  Strawberries or blueberries would look pretty on the side with some whipped cream!  My mom would like it with chocolate icing......like mother,  like daughter :)  Happy Mother's Day, Mom.  Love you bunches!

Bishop's Cake
Governor's mansion:  Austin, Texas

1 C (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 C granulated sugar
2 C unbleached flour
1 TBSP fresh lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
5 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour 10"  Bundt pan.  Cream butter and sugar;  add flour (stir just enough to blend).  Add lemon juice and vanilla;  stir well.  Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each.  Pour batter into the pan.  Bake for 30 minutes;  loosely cover pan with foil and bake for another 45 minutes.  When cake is done, cool in pan on top of a rack for 10 minutes.

Swaps:
Home is Where My Story Begins
Shabby Nest
Simply Sweet Home
Ann Kroeker

No Noodle Lasagna (and the "Baby" is Graduating!)

I hope your week is going well.  Around this house, we're gearing-up for our youngest son's high school  graduation (and the visiting family members).  It's an exciting yet sentimental time for all of us.  I was digging through boxes of old photos this weekend for "Senior Sunday" at church.  It's a time when the congregation recognizes its graduating seniors;  there's a slide show in the foyer and tables with their photos and accomplishments.  Our  Ben is "the baby" of the family and his momentous occasions are always a jolt for me.  I don't know why, but expectations are that the first-born and middle will start school,  get their driver's license, date, attend college.....but, not the youngest.  In my mind he will remain in a perpetual state of youth, I guess!  I always get a wake-up call, though,  when I realize that he works  summers as IT support for a school district,  knows his way around technical equipment  at the radio station, created a  mobile  app  and runs a small business.   Why then, do I always picture him, in my mind,  as a 4-year-old  dressed in  cowboy boots and a Batman cape.....running through the back yard at full speed, as he feeds the neighbor's dog the PBJ I just gave him for lunch!    I know why!......It's because he's my "baby"!    Sorry, Ben, you can't reverse birth order.  Justin is the "responsible one";  Blake is the "diplomat"  and you will forever be  "the boy of summer".  Love you. 

Here's a different recipe for lasagna.  Hope you like it!

No Noodle Lasagna

1 1/2 lb. ground beef
1/2 C chopped onion
1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste
1 TBSP parsley
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
dash of garlic salt
1 egg
1 1/2 C small cottage cheese
1/4 C Parmesan
2 tubes of crescent rolls
1/2 lb. mozzarella
1 TBSP milk
1 TBSP sesame seeds
Cook meat and onions;  add seasonings and tomato paste.  In bowl, combine egg, cottage cheese and Parmesan.  Roll out 2 crescent roll packages to 15x10 each.  Put 1/2 meat mixture and 1/2 cheese mixture in the bottom of a greased casserole dish.  Top with one of the crescent crusts.  Repeat.  Top with second crescent crust.  Brush with milk and sprinkle with sesame seeds.  Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.  Makes 6 servings.

Swaps:
Flour Me With Love
Blessed with Grace
Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
33 Shades of Green
All the Small Stuff
My Sweet and Savory