King Arthur Flour's Original Cake-Pan Cake

I thought this was an interesting recipe to pass on. Do you have some other depression era/wartime recipes? (Like Mock Apple Pie made from Ritz Crackers.)

"This wartime cake has survived the intervening years for several reasons: it contains no cholesterol, it can be put together right in the pan it's baked in, and it is a dark, moist and delicious chocolate cake, despite being only about 138 calories per 2" square serving (or small wedge, from a round pan). And, if you make it with canola oil, it also contains a minimum of saturated fat. Over the years, this has been one of King Arthur Flour's most requested recipes."

1 1/2 cups (6 1/4 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 cup (7 ounces) sugar
1/4 cup (3/4 ounce) cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon espresso powder, optional
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) vinegar
1/3 cup (2 5/8 ounces) vegetable oil
1 cup (8 ounces) cold water (original recipe), coffee (next inspiration), milk (later inspiration), or 3/4 cup water and 1/4 cup rum (latest inspiration)

Preheat your oven to 350°F.

Measure all the dry ingredients into an 8" or 9" round or square cake pan; if you use an 8" pan, make sure it's at least 2" deep. Blend the ingredients together thoroughly with a fork or whisk and scoop out three holes, or indentations.

Pour the vanilla into the first hole, the vinegar into the second, and the vegetable oil into the third.

Take the cup of cold liquid (water, coffee, milk, etc.) and pour it directly over everything in the pan. Note: If you've used espresso powder, adding coffee will make this a mocha cake. Stir all the ingredients together with your fork until they are well blended.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Serve right from the pan; warm from the oven, this Cake-Pan Cake is wonderful with a big glass of milk (skim, of course!) Yield: 12 to 16 servings.

Some music from the 40's to listen to while you're making your cake.
http://www.rhapsody.com/playlistcentral/playlistdetail?playlistId=10652531

U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey

From the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life have you taken the U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey?
http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/

After you've taken the quiz you can read this article about it.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_rel_religious_literacy_poll

School Supplies Update - Agape Flights

Serving Christ By Serving His Missionaries - A Christian Aviation Ministry

I've received an email from Carol Leman, Director of Development at Agape Flights, that the school supplies we sent from St. Luke's have arrived and have already been put into backpacks to go to Haiti! She is so pleased and excited to hear some Hodgepodge readers are also sending boxes of supplies too.

Have you made up your little box to go out to Agape Flights?
(Send me a picture of you filled box by Sept. 30th)
Remember you can always do one of those "If it fits-it ships" boxes from the Post Office.

Here is a link Carole gave me if you'd like to check out some of the missionary blogs about their work.
http://www.agapeflights.com.php5-16.websitetestlink.com/meet-the-people/95.html

Here is a flyer she sent me where they funding Thanksgiving dinners for a missionary families. They are so grateful to have a real American Thanksgiving meal. If each church/organization reading this just sent even one check think how many dinners could be fulfilled!
Click here to print out a flyer.

Some Quotes on Autumn

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns." ~George Eliot

"I've never known anyone yet who doesn't suffer a certain restlessness when autumn rolls around... We're all eight years old again and anything is possible. " ~Sue Grafton

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. " ~George Eliot

"No Spring nor Summer Beauty hath such grace As I have seen in one Autumnal face." ~John Donne

"Autumn.. the year's last, loveliest smile." ~William C. Bryant

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves." ~John Muir

"Autumn asks that we prepare for the future—that we be wise in the ways of garnering and keeping. But it also asks that we learn to let go—to acknowledge the beauty of sparseness." ~Bonaro W. Overstreet

"The smile that flickers on baby's lips when he sleeps- does anybody know where it was borne? Yes, there is a rumor that a young pale beam of a crescent moon touched the edge of a vanishing autumn cloud, and there the smile was first born . . . . " ~Rabindranath Tagore

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower." ~Albert Camus

"For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together. For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad." ~Edwin Way Teale

"Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn." ~Elizabeth Lawrence

“But I remember more dearly autumn afternoons in bottoms that lay intensely silent under old great trees.” ~C.S.Lewis

"The goldenrod is yellow
The corn is turning brown
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down."
~Childrens song

"In the garden, Autumn is, indeed the crowning glory of the year, bringing us the fruition of months of thought and care and toil. And at no season, safe perhaps in Daffodil time, do we get such superb colour effects as from August to November." ~Rose G. Kingsley, The Autumn Garden

World of Jenks

Jenks Biography in his words:
"My name is Andrew Jenks, and I am a 24-year-old filmmaker."
"When I was nineteen years old I moved into a nursing home for over a month and documented what life was like when you are near the end. What began as a low-budget summer project turned into a feature documentary that went on to premiere on HBO and play in theaters around the world. As I received emails and letters from viewers who profoundly related to the senior citizens in the film, I couldn't help but think, "I also want to tell the stories of my generation. I want to be a filmmaker that is able to capture what my generation thinks, how they act and what they ultimately stand for." This became the inspiration behind my new MTV show, World Of Jenks."

"Along with a small camera crew, I embed myself in various worlds and live in the shoes of people my age from all walks of life. I try to understand what is at stake in their world, and ultimately, what is at stake in their lives. Over the last six months I have lived with an MMA cage fighter, a young man with autism, an animal rescuer, a rapper, a poker player, even a NFL cheerleader. On day one of filming, I always have an idea of what the story is for each character. I have an idea of what is at stake. But I always leave with a different perspective and thus a story that I never saw coming."

"Every young person I meet has a unique way of speaking to our generation. Their story is personal but their message is universal: to make a difference and leave their own unique stamp on society. 'World of Jenks' represents the voice of a generation and there is no better place to showcase this perspective than MTV."

The other night I watched the episode with Chad, the 20 year old young man with autism. I think this is something worth watching. If you don't have MTV channel you can watch full episodes online.

To the link to watch, or find out when episodes air - go to:
http://www.mtv.com/shows/world_of_jenks/series.jhtml

Q's Cat Food Factory

Picture to go with Barbara's eMo from 9/14/10
http://www.geraniumfarm.org/dailyemo.cfm?Emo=1255

HydroRight Drop-In Flush Converter

We bought this for a toilet that was "ghost-flushing". I installed it in just a few minutes. We got ours at Costco. Try your local home improvement store or Amazon as well.

Cute Girl Catchy Dance

cute girl catchy dance @ Yahoo! Video

Just something fun!

Air-Tight Bag Seal

(Thanks to Meryl from New Zealand for sending this along to Hodgepodge!)

Commemorating September 11 with Prayer

Selected 9/11 prayers and readings from various faiths to help you commemorate the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks from beliefnet.

http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/Movies/World-Trade-Center/Commemorating-September-11.aspx

Helen's Refrigerator Bran Muffins

1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup margarine or shortening
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups unsifted flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups buttermilk
(3/4 cup raisins - optional)
1 cup boiling water
1 cup Kellogg's Bran Buds or Post Grape-Nuts
2 cups Kellogg's All Bran Wheat Flakes or Post Bran Flakes

1. In a small bowl pour the 1 cup of boiling water into the 1 cup of of Bran Buds or Grape-Nuts. Set aside to absorb & cool.
2. Cream the sugar & margarine (or shortening), add the eggs one at a time mixing well.
3. Add flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, vanilla, and buttermilk (optional raisins).
Mix until smooth.
4. Blend in the 2 cups of flakes and the cup of moistened bran. Mix throughly.
Dip into the batter from container without stirring.
Bake 400' for 20 minutes.

The covered batter can be kept up to 3 weeks in the refrigerator. Do not freeze.

(P.S.-These are really yummy BUT, do keep in mind these are BRAN muffins, so don't go overboard eating them, if you catch my drift. . .)

School Supplies Challenge

Donated school supplies to be sent to Haiti. Five large boxes have been sent out to:
Agape Flights
100 Airport Avenue
Venice, Florida 34285

Phone 941.488.0990 Fax 941.485.3020
To contact: gomissions@agapeflights.com

The Hodgepodge Challenge:
Can you fill and send out even just one box of school supplies to Haiti?
Mail them right to the Agape Flights at the address above and
send me your pictures and I'll post them. Deadline: September 30th

Don't Quit

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will
When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must - but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns.
And many a failure turns about
When we might have won had we stuck it out;
Don't give up, though the pace seems slow -
You might succeed with another blow.

Success is failure turned inside out -
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt -
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit -
It's when things seem worst that you mustn't quit.

Author Unknown

This was sent to Barbara by reader JoAnne C. Thanks for passing it along.
To watch a video of it go here: http://www.thedontquitpoem.com/index.htm

CaregiverStress.com

Have a chuckle reminding us that laughter is the best medicine.
http://www.caregiverstress.com/2010/07/a-reminder-that-laughter-is-the-best-medicine/

If you are a caregiver you may find help and support from this website: http://www.caregiverstress.com/

Go to the website to check out the:
Caregiver StressMeter
Helpful Tips
Educational Videos
Other Resources