Moving on

Cherryfudge

badmemory said:

Our blue one is for glass & plastic.

The recipe is a very old Good Housekeeping book copyright 1963.  A much needed wedding present in 1969 as I didn't know how to boil an egg as I had never been allowed in the kitchen.  The pages are now this orange/brown colour.  Unfortunately it is too old for good curry recipes.  It is still the best cook book I have & I used to have a lot.  I still struggle to cook without a recipe though, it would never occur to me to just wing it.

You've had me down a Good Housekeeping rabbit hole now! I have a 1956 edition which doesn't seem to have any rhubarb recipes but was great fun to read. I wish I could remember when and where I got it: someone has left newspaper cuttings from Leicester, which isn't an area I know. It was fun, too, to discover that someone has been playing a version  of 'Snog, marry, avoid' on one of them! The names are 1950s-style so those people are probably a bit grown up now.

There are also some luscious-looking cakes in there. I still have pesto to make (today, I hope) and rhubarb cakes to guzzle, so multi-layered wonders with all sorts of decorations may not be about to happen. They do look good, though, as does one of the newspaper cuttings with someone's grandmother's mincemeat recipe:
One pound each of finely grated suet, currants, raisins, candied peel, brown moist sugar and chopped apples. One teaspoon each of powdered cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and mace. The juice and grated zest of two lemons, the juice and grated zest of one large orange, half a cup of brandy and half a cup of madeira.
The ingredients need to be well stirred so as to make an even mixture but must on no account be overworked. Store in jars and seal with a tight lid or tie down with greaseproof paper, two thicknesses. Made this way it will keep for several months maturing all the time.

I have no idea of the date of this recipe but the cutting could have been any time from the mid-fifties to the mid-seventies, judging by other things in the book.

Great rabbit hole.  

badmemory

I can't find it either.  Well I have this name for a reason - leaveit with me - like Arnie I will be back.

badmemory

*Pancake Batter
4 oz plain flour
Large pinch salt
1 egg
½ pint milk
15gm melted butter


Yorkshire Pudding

Pre-heat oven to gas mark 7
put 2 oz butter  in baking tin & heat until faint haze appears**

then for


Rhubarb Batter Pudding

Add 1lb rhubarb cut to 1” to baking tray & sprinkle with 4 oz caster sugar & 1 level tsp powdered ginger.
Pour in pancake batter.
Bake for 30 mins gas 7 then reduce to gas 6 for 15 to 20 mins


Dried Fruit Batter Pudding

Repeat from * to **.
Add 4 oz mixed dried fruit to baking tray & sprinkle with 2 oz caster sugar & 1 level tsp fine grated lemon rind.
Pour in pancake batter.
Bake for 30 mins gas 7 then reduce to gas 6 for 15 to 20 mins.


Apple Batter Pudding

1lb apples, 4 oz caster sugar & level tsp cinnamon


Plum Batter Pudding

1lb plums, 4 oz caster sugar & level tsp mixed spice


Bacon Batter Pudding
8 to 12 oz chopped lean bacon

I hope that works.

Cherryfudge

Those sound sooo good, thank you @badmemory! Were they Good Housekeeping? I think I may have a later copy somewhere, but of course I can't find it.

Why do I now want to make bacon batter pudding even though it's half past nine at night and I'm not at all hungry? I think it must be the smell - even if it is only in my imagination.

I had a look in my Good Housekeeping just now and no wonder I found nothing under 'rhubarb' - it's under 'Batter pudding'. There's a page just after Yorkshire Pudding with Baked apple batter, small batter puddings, dried fruit batter puddings and Spiced Apple Fritters. Interestingly, the dried fruit one has half the quantity of fruit as your of about ten years later, and has 'sprinkle with sugar' instead of '2oz caster sugar'. Rationing, I suppose.

The spiced apple one adds half a tsp of baking powder and a good pinch each of mixed spice, cinnamon and ground cloves, 4 oz finely chopped apple and 1 oz sugar and (a second?) egg with about 4 tbsp milk. It's fried in lard and sprinkled with sugar so I imagine it's very tasty and there are politically correct reasons it's not in modern cookery books!

My husband says I was born at the wrong time!  

badmemory

I was sure it was in good housekeeping but I haven't been able to find the rhubarb one.  It is a good job I typed it in word, printed & laminated it, so I could just do a copy & paste.  It must be in the dairy book of homecookery, which is almost as old & appears to have gone walkabout.

Sun_Addict

I’ve been a subscriber to the Good Housekeeping magazine since I was in my early 20s which was a VERY long time ago 🤣 Still going strong. 

redofromstart

Dairy book of home cooking is great @badmemory - my mum had a copy and I used to love reading it. I think my good housekeeping book is mid 90s so probably far less interesting. 

Cherryfudge

Today's been warm and windy, so there are lots of twigs and leaf buds blown into the roads. The car boot field was too wet for use again, so DH has occupied himself breaking up some more of the path and checking the brake pads on the car. We had salmon and chips for our main meal and I checked through the freezer and defrosted some bits and pieces to use up.

This afternoon I got a refund for the top I bought from the charity shop the other day and which turns out not to be right for me. I've also done some grocery shopping and sorted out an activity for the children tomorrow morning, which meant I went to buy yet more paper plates for them to do craft on. This time around it's a heart to colour and holes to thread bright yarn through. That should be interesting - I think the helpers will have their hands full showing three year olds how to thread yarn. I've learned from the last session I did to keep it really simple - these really are children who aren't ready for anything too complicated! In a few years they will be able to run rings around me, but at the moment I need to take care not to bamboozle them.

I put my scruffy trainers through the wash as everything's got muddy: there are currently three pairs that qualify as at least moderately scruffy. We went out for a walk and I didn't want to risk 'good' trainers so I put on some old running shoes which turned out to be coming out the other side of scruffy and heading for uncomfortable, so those have been binned. Then I found some old canvas shoes in the summer shoes box, which have actually been okay so they're back in circulation. I am so bad at letting things go that I'm quite pleased with myself for getting rid of one pair!

There are sausages defrosting for tomorrow (toad in the hole, I think, which is apt after the discussion above). I also got some discounted mushrooms and cauliflower at the greengrocer earlier, which I need to make a plan for, but it doesn't need to be today.

Expenditure:
Donation: £1.58
Housekeeping: £11.69
Also whatever DH spent on bits for the car.

Cherryfudge

I had some unsettling dreams last night, reflecting real life worries about doing the children's group this morning. It all went well in the end and I can see I'm gaining experience, but it was so stressful. I wonder whether I used to be used to living with more stress and have just got accustomed to a quieter life, and there's probably truth in that, but underlying it I feel there is an over-reaction as a result of the stresses I had in the past. Something to work on, though I've not decided how. The NHS says I don't have PTSD and didn't feel I should continue with CBT as it wasn't addressing the issues that bothered me, but perhaps more talking therapy at some point?

I decided against applying for the other cleaning job (it closes tonight). While it would probably be okay, I have a few concerns: would it be too tiring doing two physical jobs, would it mean I could only have holidays during school holidays, why was I not enthusiastic about it?

It's been less warm and windy, but still warmer and windier than normal. Dinner was toad in the hole. DH had a drive out to collect charity tee shirts for something he supports, and a walk which turned out to be rainy. I made parsley and walnut pesto, most of which is in the freezer now. I've also been doing some mending, and we had an evening walk once the rain had gone. There's nothing more to report!

milann

I think you did right not applying for the new job. You seem to be very busy already.