Monday, May 13, 2019

Mothers Day Weekend

    Was really nice. Busy but nice. We were invited to share in 2 families get togethers. One on Saturday and another on Sunday.
It was really funny. The one on Saturday the instructions were to bring enough for whatever you family will eat. Well this bunch of folks like to make sure there is enough chow to feed the state ! Most of us brought way enough weenies for a few parties. LOL I was of course one of those folks bringing enough hotdogs and buns for 30 which is the normal amount of folks and then a couple of cases of root beer and Sprite to drink. At this place you never know how it's going to turn out so I just make sure and bring enough. That is 5#'s of weenies on the bottom with 14 sausage links on top of that and for me the allergic person I thought I would try turkey weenies. (By the way..... they're not near as good as the real things but better on a grill and better than nothing)



As we all know I always bring dessert!
This is what went to the first party listed above. I made Lemon Wacky Cupcakes with blueberry filling in the middle and lemon icing on top. It was good. They call it a wacky cake because it is a recipe from the depression era when people couldn't get their rations. It is made without eggs butter or milk normally. I did use coconut milk. Today this would be called a vegan cake. I am not vegan but some of the folks at the party are so I do it for them.


    I don't make vegan food out of those ingredients you have to go someplace special to get the ingredients. I like to use what normal everyday people use in the cabinet. So far the things I make are just as normal tasting as anyone would fix. These cupcakes disappeared so fast! I had 24 and I was lucky to be able to find 4 to bring home to share with other people.  I got rave reviews so I guess I can do these again. One person I saw at the next party and she said she went back for more and she couldn't believe they were all gone! LOL
    Sundays party I was not asked to bring anything but I did bring some dessert. They had really nice ribs and corn on the cob at this place. Other folks brought some sides and I brought some vegan brownies with peanut butter fudge on top of them.
   See the pretty wild flowers ? Nikki's thoughtful husband picked them and all the moms got a beautiful wildflower bouquet to enjoy !


    Although these brownies also disappeared just as quickly I don't think I will do this combination again unless asked. The peanut butter fudge just totally over powers all the good stuff in the brownies. Evidently I don't do homemade fudge on the stove that you boil and all that stuff too good. It turned out grainy but it was a frosting so I could get away with it. LOL
    Now the brownies! I can do those again. I used applesauce instead of eggs. These are what you call fudgy brownies. I mean they were soooo gooey and a little chewy ! They were not like those little debbie brownies I mean these were really gooey and fudgy! Now Nikki says she likes a cake like brownie that cracks on top and has tried several recipes without luck so that may be the next challenge.
    I tripled this recipe for a 8x8 pan thinking that isn't enough for a party. It filled up a 10 X 14 pan. Still it was only about 1" high. When done I made the peanut butter fudge. I cooked it on the stove and it looked sooo runny I chilled in the fridge a bit to make sure it would work out. I knew it would be a pain to cut all together so I cut the brownies then turned them out to separate in hopes of letting the fudge be on the sides. I soon could see that runny fudge wouldn't work. I had to put it all back in the pan then pour the fudge over and place in the fridge to chill. I pulled out the next morning turned upside down and quickly cut the previous pieces out with the fudge now. I turned them all right side up and arranged on the try. I had at least twice as much as what is in the tray after filling it up left over in the fridge so maybe the 8x8 would have worked I thought, that is until Nikki said don't send the leftovers to her house ! She didn't want to fight resisting them. Well her husband LOVES dessert! I handed him the big container since she didn't want to touch it and he took it out to the truck snitching a piece or 2 on the way. LOL I know folks love peanut butter and chocolate together but I need to figure out something easier and has a prettier look to it next time.
     It was all a nice weekend getting to visit folks. Saturday was a little rainy and Sunday was perfect but cold for some, still we could spend the gathering outside and enjoy. I am so worn out between the running and the cooking and kitchen wrestling. I cleaned it up to cook. Then I cleaned up the cupcake mess that somehow just took over the kitchen! Saturday afternoon I couldn't wiggle but that night worked on the brownies until 2 am. My kitchen is still totally upside down. I am cleaning some. Sit down to rest the back some then get up and do some more. I told my husband I don't know how in the world these ladies do these specialty wedding and birthday cakes in there home kitchen! Hubby said for one they aren't having to experiment with a new recipe every time they cook something. That is true. As I have said before I don't have any handed down recipes from Mom or anything. I don't usually open up cake mixes and go like that so it is more messy and difficult right out the git go. I am having fun though. I do have to admire these home business bakers. Just transporting goodies somewhere is a talent that is learned the hard way. Then how about all the refrigerator room you need when you have a project you want to keep fresh and how to keep those items from drying out?!
    It's like I have a shelf in the refrigerator door that will fall on occasion. I keep unbreakable stuff there. Hubby came walking through one time just when one of those fell in the floor to clean up. He asked if there was something he could do..... I said..... YES ! ! Get me a new !!@#$ refrigerator !!!
    I was planning on getting me some base baking recipes established but I wasn't planning on going at it from a vegan angle though. Oh well, if I just use regular kitchen stuff and nothing weird or fancy it should taste as good as regular cooking. So far so good you can't tell the difference unless someone tells you. Nikki said I need to open up a vegan sweet shop because you can't get those things around here. I told her I got a long way to go before I have enough recipes and talent to go that far.
  Ok, Got to get back to the kitchen detail........
Hope everyone had a nice Mother's Day weekend and enjoyed family and friends company.

Love
Ranchmama


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