Recipes

Blueberry Mug Cake

~ MaryG ~ 11 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What are you doing this evening?
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Anyone who thought that Massachusetts was somehow exempt from the climate crisis (except for those hurricane-exposed coastal towns like Scituate), learned the truth this week. It’s coming for all of us.

We’ve been having incredibly heavy rains, thunderstorms, and floods. I couldn’t make it to a nearby town for a hair appointment last Friday because of downed trees, flooded roads, and non-functioning traffic lights. A town very near me, Leominster, is a total mess because of unbelievable, historic flooding from Monday’s storm. I grew up visiting cousins in Leominster, so these images are particularly upsetting. Leominster is inland Massachusetts!

Today we are again under an “Areal Flood Watch,” starting at 11am, until Thursday at 8am. I should really get outside for my walk now.

Anyhoo, I discovered an adorable and delicious dessert for one that you can make in about two minutes in your microwave. I have a feeling that I’ll be making another one of these tonight. Sharing the recipe and a few photos of the process. WARNING: do not make this dessert if you don’t have at least a little bit of vanilla ice cream on hand to top it off.

Recipe from the internet: thanks Pamela Reed, whoever you are
Step 1: mix it up in a mug
Step 2: nuke it for about 80 seconds and then let sit for a minute
Step 3: enjoy

The Old Recipe Box

~ MaryG ~ 5 Comments
Daily writing prompt
What’s your favorite recipe?
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I think my generation may be the last one to have recipe boxes. I got my mine as a wedding shower gift in the early 1990s. I still use it – all the time.

For those who don’t know, recipe boxes are small, rectangular boxes with hinged lids. They can be wood, metal or plastic. When you flip up the lid, you see they are stuffed with index cards sorted into various categories with pre-printed dividers: Appetizers & Snacks, Soups & Sauces, Meat & Fish, etc.

In the olden days (before the internet), if you liked a dish your friend made, you would ask her for the recipe and she’d write it out for you (by hand) on a lined recipe card. What an act of love! The recipe card would have her name on it somewhere. For example, many recipe cards were pre-printed with the words “From the Kitchen of” at the top.

I’ve scanned and transferred some recipes to my computer, but they’re always hard to find when you need them. Plus, who wants their laptop on the counter while they’re cooking? The recipe box really was an ingeneous invention.

Here’s one of my favorite recipe cards from my mother. This very simple recipe for rice pudding was her mother’s. It’s a great thing to do with leftover white rice.