Quick, Eggless, (and Totally from Scratch) Strawberry Cake

My first attempt at this was an utter failure.  I substituted sour cream for the eggs, added some extra baking powder, macerated the strawberries before I pureed them. I really tried to jazz it up.  The batter tasted like strawberry ice cream.  I thought I was on to something, but then... It didn't rise, not even by a hair.  I had a strawberry brick.

This time around I thought I needed to employ the K*I*S*S strategy-Keep It Simple Stupid.  I started with a simple busy day cake recipe and just substituted a simple strawberry puree for the eggs with a little extra baking powder and ta-dah: Success!  The cake rose nicely and had actual (not fake) strawberry flavor through out.  It isn't that strawberry pink color that the boxed mix is, but that didn't bother me.  All that comes from artificial junk, none of which is in this cake, and isn't that part of the point of doing things from scratch.  I didn't bother to ice it, but I am sure a little strawberry cream cheese frosting would turn this simple cake into something special.  I saved this for a book club meeting a couple days later and used it as the base of strawberry shortcake.  It was a big hit!

I am sure you could double this as well and turn it into a nice layer cake.  I am also thinking about all the fruit possibilities: peach, apricot, raspberry... If you experiment and have success let me know.

Quick, Eggless, (and Totally from Scratch) Strawberry Cake

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup fresh strawberries halved
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine flour, sugar, and baking powder in a bowl.  Puree the strawberries. My 1 cup of halved strawberries turned into just over a 1/4 cup of puree.  Add milk, butter, vanilla, and 1/4 cup of strawberry puree to the bowl. (If you have an extra teaspoon or two of puree go ahead and that too. Any more than that and save it for something else, like frosting.)  Beat with an elictric mixer on low until the mixture is combined.  Then beat on medium for one minute.  Pour into a greased and floured 8 inch cake pan.  I also like to put parchment in the bottom, so it releases more easily.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle come out clean.  Cool for five minutes and remove from pan and cool thoroughly before frosting, if you desire

ENJOY!

Eggless Orange Rhubarb Muffins

Last week we got our first Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) box of food from Olden Produce in Ripon, WI.  The email they sent out letting us know what we were going to receive mentioned rhubarb.  I had visions of  bunches and bunches of rhubarb.  I was planning pies and preserves.  I don't know why.  Our rhubarb at home has done pretty poorly due to the early hot, dry summer.  Did I think they had some magic rhubarb at the farm?  I don't know.  What I do know is that we only got 3 stalks of rhubarb.  Not enough for one pie, or half a pie, or half a strawberry-rhubarb pie.

What to do with this rhubarb?  So I got to thinking; the one thing that hardly ever goes uneaten at our house is muffins.  I started looking for recipes for inspiration and came across Orange-Rhubarb Muffins at the Rhubarb Compendium online.  Perfect!  I love citrus with rhubarb.  The two flavors play so well together!  I always add a little orange zest to my rhubarb pie.  What could be better?

So here is my egg-free, nut-free version. (This one also happens to be milk-free.)  I also tweaked the amount of rhubarb.  They came out just about perfect.  Everyone enjoyed them, even my hubby who is not in love with rhubarb in quite the same was as my son and I are.

Eggless Orange Rhubarb Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 up vegetable oil
zest of one orange or to taste
3/4 cup orange juice
1 cup rhubarb, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare muffin tin by either lining with paper liners or coating with non-stick cooking spray.  When making muffins without eggs, I prefer to use cooking spray.  For some reason eggless muffins don't seem to come out of the paper liners very well, making a mess and leaving everyone feeling cheated because half the muffin is still on the paper.  If you coat the muffin tin well, including the top, they should slide out nicely.

Combine the first five ingredients (the dry stuff).  Mix the applesauce, oil, and orange juice until well blended.  Add this to the dry ingredients.  Stir to combine being careful not to over mix.  Fold in the rhubarb. Spoon into muffin tins, and bake for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Let cool for about 5 minutes, and then remove from the tin and place on a wire rack to continue cooling.

ENJOY!!!!

Mason Jar Straw Lids

After I made a dish soap pump from a mason jar, I got to thinking about other things I could use them for.  They are so ubiquitous and inexpensive, especially at the thrift store on half off day.  While I was using one to drink from, I thought, "I need to put a hole in the lid so I can stick a straw in it."  Then the problem of the sharp edges around the hole quickly made itself apparent.  Enter the RUBBER GROMMET, found in the "hard to find" drawer of small parts at the hardware store.  For an extra $0.30 I had my solution.

You will need:

Mason jar, lid, rim
Drill bit 3/8"
drill with clamps/ vice or drill press with clamps
wire cutters
rubber grommet- diameter of  9/16" (pictured below)

Set your lid on your drill press and clamp it down so that the bit hits the center of the lid.  If you are not lucky enough to have a drill press lying around, (I don't think any of my friends do) you will need either gently clamp the lid in a vice, you don't want to crush it, or clamp it to the edge of a table so that it is secure but the area of the lid you want to drill is hanging off the edge of the table.  Now drill your hole.

Once you are done, the back edge of the hole will probably have some sharp edges hanging off.  Take the wire cutters and trim as much of it off as you can.

Now work your rubber grommet into the hole.  I usually come at it from the side.  Once it's done, give it a good washing, fill your mason jar with your beverage of choice, screw on your lid and rim, insert straw and enjoy.

I love these.  The lids are interchangeable between sizes, so I can put one on an 8 ounce jar for my kid or, on a hot summer day (like today), a big quart size one for me. Not only do they make your jar a spill resistant cup, but they keep the bugs out of your lemonade. They would be fun for parties.  You could paint the jars for favors or just to make them more festive. I have also run these lids with the grommets through the dishwasher without any ill effects so far.

Tie Top Ribbon Valances tutorial

My kitchen valances were a long time in the making mostly because my hubby and I couldn't decide on a fabric.  I had so many fabric scraps by the end we joked that I could just make a patchwork valance (maybe another time).  However, I knew I wanted to use a spool of ribbon I've had in my craft supplies for awhile, and I wanted to try to sew them so that the face of the fabric folded over to the back so you wouldn't see the lining.  Here is what I came up with.

Materials
(for ease of explaining I will tell you what I used for the valance pictured above.  You may need to alter measurements based on the size of your window and effect you are after)

Fabric- 10" of 45" fabric
Lining- 9.5"x44"
Ribbon- 7 pieces of 1" wide ribbon cut 21" long each
Thread



All seam allowances are .5"

Your valances should be about 1.5 - 2 times the width of your window depending on the look you are after, although I often don't follow this rule.  My main window is about 33" and my fabric was 44.5" wide.  So I just used the whole width of my fabric and cut it 10 inches long.  Cut your lining 1" shorter on the width and .5" shorter on the length.

Determine the top of your fabric.  With right sides together line up the top edge of your fabric and lining.  Pin the sides together so the edges are even and the top is even but the bottom of the fabric hangs lower than the lining.  Once pinned it will not lay flat.

Sew the sides.  Turn the fabric right side out.  Center the lining so that about .5" of fabric comes around the back and press the edges so you get a nice crease.  When you turn your fabric inside out again, you will use this crease as your finished edge NOT the seam.

Turn fabric so right sides are together again.  Use pins to mark along the top edge where your ribbons will go.  They should be about 6-8" apart, but you could certainly put them closer or further away depending on the look you are going for.  I put my first and last ribbon .5 inches from the edge.  I spaced the rest 6 13/16" apart so that I had seven evenly spaced ribbons.  Fold each piece of ribbon in half, and pin it BETWEEN the lining and fabric with the folded edge lining up with both raw edges at the top.  (Last ribbon placed on top is to show you what it looks like before you put it between the fabric and the lining)

Once they are pinned sew along the top edge.  Be sure your ribbons are not twisted when you sew over them.  Next, trim a small square from your fabric at the bottom edge up to the lining and sewn seam on each side as shown below.

Then, line up the edge of the lining with the bottom edge of the fabric.  This is tricky at the corners, but it should look like this.

Sew along the bottom edge and leave a 4" opening somewhere so you can turn the whole piece right side out.  Also, make sure you do NOT catch any of the ribbons in this seam.

Turn it right side out, and use your fingers to straighten out the corners and seams. Your corners should look like this.

Place valance face down on the iron and press a crease in the bottom edge so that about .5" of fabric wraps around to the back. (See picture above.) Hand sew the opening closed.  I used a blind hem stitch, don't know if that is really the best one for this application, but it worked. Use a lighter to slightly melt the ends of the ribbon so they won't fray.  Ta-dah!  Now you are ready to tie it to your curtain rod.

I see all kinds of possibilities here: longer ribbons for making pretty bows, multiple thin ribbons for a festive look, or a full length curtain.  Don't be afraid to experiment and share!