Monthly Archives: March 2020

Where’s Grandpa?…and Chocolate Depression Cake

29 Sunday Mar 2020

Posted by in Cake, Desseert, Nature, Photography

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As does most of the rest of our country, as does most of the rest of the world, we find ourselves confined for the most part to our homes and our yards. If we follow the guidelines we have been given, we can go out for groceries, medicine, gas, and a walk in a local park or our own neighborhood.

It is during this period of “Stay Home, Save Lives” that I am so grateful for the opportunity to go out into the natural world. It is during this moment that I am so grateful to be able to connect with family members on various social media platforms. Nature and family…my two favorite things. And that got me to thinking…

We went to our hometown conservation area the other day to look for spring. Spring is truly breaking out, so we walked and walked. I was on my way through the woods looking for wildflowers, when I turned around to see if Jim was behind me. He was, but I could not see him for a minute or so. And then, suddenly, I knew he was coming…it was his red St Louis Cardinals hat that gave him away (Oh, how I miss baseball!). And that gave me an idea for interacting with my youngest grandchildren. I sent them two pictures, and asked them to find Grandpa. It is so fun to find a way to be close to them, and give them the opportunity to respond in some sort of shared activity.

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Where’s Opa? Look for the red hat!

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Where’s Grandpa?

Since we are told we can safely go to parks and nature areas, Jim and I do so at least once or twice a week. Other days we walk in our neighborhood, or just visit our own yard. It is so nice to see spring unfolding, and new life returning. I hope you enjoy these pictures of what we have found…not too far from home.

I love encountering wildlife! These Canada Geese are a resident pair at Bray Conservaton Area. They return each and every year to build a nest and raise their goslings to the age when they are ready to strike out on their own. The little orange skipper was a special treat!

Walking in the neighborhood and in the conservation area, we find many wildflowers beginning to appear among the dry leaves of autumn and winter.

Mayapple
A spring Aster
Spring Beauty
Toothwort
Pussy Toes
Hairy Bitter Cress

But what I love the most on these early spring walkabouts are the lichen and the mosses.

Reindeer lichen is so pretty as it grows with the other mosses.
New growth
I love the small maidenhair fern coming through the moss.

Coming home from one of our walks to a lawn full of violets just makes for a big smile and a better day…

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…and then I always feel like cooking, or baking, making some kind of treat to end a great day, no matter what the news is reporting.

Using What I Have

I go shopping once a week during the seniors hour early in the morning. Tomorrow is shopping day, so we are low on a few things…like milk. My daughter-in-law mentioned that she had made a cake with out milk or eggs called Vanilla Depression Cake. That seemed like something I could pull off, and as I looked for the ingredients I would need I found some cocoa way in the back of the cupboard. Chocolate Depression Cake, why yes, thank you very much!

During the Depression years, homemakers tried to make tasty treats for their families even when the cupboard was almost empty. Depression Cake was first developed during this very hard time for our nation. It had to put smiles on otherwise worried and distracted faces, because it is really delicious. I like to think of Depression Cake as proof that you really do not need a lot to show your love, you only need the desire to show that love to those around you…and a bit of creativity.

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Chocolate Depression Cake

A great way to make a great treat with no eggs and no flour.

Credit: Adapted from Chocolate, Chocolate, and More

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
  • 1 c. sugar
  • 1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp. white vinegar
  • 1/3 c. vegetable oil
  • 1 cup water
  • confectioners sugar for dusting the baked cake

Directions

  1. In the bowl of your electric mixer, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, salt and baking soda.
  2. In another bowl, combine vanilla, vinegar, oil and water.
  3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until completely combined and no lumps remain.
  4. Bake in a greased 8×8 pan at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
  5. Allow cake to cool completely and dust with confectioner’s sugar.

Enjoy!

Remember, we are all in this together…God bless and keep each of us!

 

“We Plan Our Days, but…” and Apple Pudding

17 Tuesday Mar 2020

Posted by in Dessert, Life, Uncategorized

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As I was reading this rainy Saturday morning, I came upon this line from Before We Were Yours, by Lisa Wingate,

We plan our days, but we don’t control them.

The sentence seemed to strike right at the moment in which we, and the whole wide world find ourselves in this moment of time.

We had so many plans for the coming weeks. I teach a children’s nature study at a local conservation area. We just had our first spring class…maybe our last for a while.

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I was excited about attending training early in April to become a Xerces Ambassador and help educate citizens about the importance of saving our pollinators. That training has been postponed until at least June.

We were planning on traveling to Texas to see a bucket list item…Texas Bluebonnets. That trip has been put on hold.

Meetings, church services, get-togethers among friends have been cancelled.

And Jim and I find ourselves in that vulnerable over 60 crowd. So what to do?

The simple answer is…go outside! There is no virus in the woods, nor on the prairie, or by a stream. So we go out and look for the reassurance that a new season is coming. We find those signs for which we are searching, and it lifts our spirits, clears our minds, drives away despair, puts smiles on our faces…and tires us out for a good night’s sleep!

We begin in our own backyard…

The maple trees are beginning to bloom…
as are the forsythia.
My Blue Flag iris is up…
and my New England aster.
Our rosebush is anxious to get going…

But the very best find in the yard, one rainy afternoon is our first daffodils…

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Late in the evening, the full moon out our back porch shone through the thickening clouds long enough for me to get a picture with my camera’s moon setting…

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We traveled to a local state park where we could see green coming back with almost every step we took…

At the water’s edge, life is re-emerging.
The beavers and the turtles are active
The Lake at Montauk State Park

Just before we were all told to stay away from places where we might encounter large groups of people, we visited one of our favorite places, Shaw Nature Reserve, near St. Louis.

It was a very cold and very gray day, but we enjoyed every single second of our time outside. We were very lucky to have made the decision to visit on Sunday, because on Monday the reserve was closed until further notice to protect its workers as well as its many visitors. We had the park nearly to ourselves, and what a joy!

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We saw signs of things to come, even tough it was so very cold…

These Wake Robin will bloom in the next month. I hope the park opens again before then!
Found these by the pond.

I was really excited by finding our real reason for visiting. Each year, Shaw has literally thousands of daffodils that bloom throughout the park. The daffodils come up in the fields, they bloom on the hillsides, and they sneak out from within thick brush.They are amazing when in full bloom, and we caught them just as their bloom was beginning. The even more amazing thing this spring is that the park conducted a controlled burn. Yet, the daffodils came up…and they are blooming, even those that were temporarily damaged by the burn. Yup, there is always hope for better things to come!

The world is in crisis mode, I know, but going outside, smelling the fresh air, seeing new life, makes me sure we will weather this storm just as we have so many others.

Baking While Home-centric!

Being at home, with only parks and woods, forests and streams to visit gives one a lot of time to finish projects that have been on the shelf, sometimes, for years. It gives me time to clean…well, if I want to. And it gives me time to play with a new kitchen tool I got for Valentine’s Day and search out some new recipes in cookbooks I have wanted to explore for a long time.

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My new spiralizer, peeler, slicer!

I checked the apples that we picked last fall, and found the few we have left to still be in very good shape. So I checked for a good, new apple recipe. I found the perfect one in a book I bought from our church group some thirty years ago. The book is called Heritage of Cooking: A Collection of Recipes from East Perry County, Missouri. That is a long name given to a cookbook of favorite recipes from a group of Lutheran churches in east central Missouri. They are good old German recipes, from old German Lutheran families, like mine. This apple pudding is absolutely delicious!

Going with the theme of the present moment to do with what you have, I used some coconut sugar (not sure why I had that!) for the sauce in place of the brown sugar which I did not have, adding a half tablespoon of molasses. I am not sure if that is what gave it its deep brown color, but it was really delicious.

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Apple Pudding

Ingredients

  • 2 c. apples, peeled and cored
  • 1 c. sugar
  • 1c. flour
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/2 c. chopped walnuts (Missouri is famous for its black walnuts)

For the sauce:

  • 1/2 c. brown sugar
  • 1/2 c. white sugar
  • 1 c. water
  • 1/4 c. butter
  • 2 Tbsp. flour
  • 1 tsp. vanilla

Directions

Allow sugar and apples to stand until sugar is dissolved. Add egg and beat. Stir dry ingredients together and mix with apples and sugar. Add walnuts. Bake in greased 9″x 9″ pan for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

Note: You can double the amount of apples to make the pudding more moist. I used about 3 cups of apples.

For the sauce, bring sugars, flour, and water to a slow boil until it is slightly thickened and glossy (about 10 minutes). Add butter and vanilla and stir until smooth.

Stay safe, and enjoy!