Don't let the difficulties of the present moments overshadow the reality of God's promises. God's promises still stand. And God's promises are stronger than our failures.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

A Little of This, A Little of That

I'm not a very good cook. Really. Don't try to defend me because it just won't work. I don't know why I'm not although I daresay practice would help. Now there are those who, upon meeting my husband the first time, would say, "Surely this woman must be a great cook!" :) Not so! He's just a big guy and he owes it all to his mother who was a wonderful cook, and to his high school football coach who told him he needed to put on weight so he should eat a peanut butter sandwich and drink a glass of milk every night before going to bed. While he gave up the sandwich and milk he still has a spoon of peanut butter most nights.

I have a point to this story. Usually I have a point but I spend a lot of time getting around to it. Anyway, last week I was doing some hand stitching and turned on the tv to hear a little noise. I was going to watch a rerun of NCIS, the very best television show ever, but I caught a glimpse of Rachel Ray and wondered who was on her show that day. It was "The Hungry Girl." Ever heard of her? Me either. But she had some interesting things to say even if I didn't plan to follow her fat-busting advice. She suggested we bake a chocolate cake by mixing one chocolate cake mix with one can of pumpkin. Period, the end, nothing else. It cuts out the oil and the eggs and adds fiber and tastes good, so she said. I figured that would be easy to remember and easy to cook and besides I had all those cake mixes that I got for $.78 at Walmart on sale so what the heck. Friday was the day I chose to do that because I figured I could take part of it to my son's house when I went because with three kids they'll eat most anything and if it wasn't good it wouldn't matter.

I mixed the cake. I didn't remember if she said to use a mixer or just stir so I decided to treat it like a brownie and stir. And stir. And stir. It took a little while but it mixed. I sprayed a 11 x 13 pan and dumped it in. I spread it out a little, but not enough because little did I know it wouldn't rise and it wouldn't spread when it got hot. Where I put it was where it stayed. Result, thick spots and thin spots. Since it looked a little funny I thought I'd just put some icing on it. After all, I had all that icing I got for $.78 at Walmart on sale. :) Ya'll, you need to go out right this very minute and buy a cake mix and icing and a can of pumpkin. I could have eaten that whole pan by myself. I didn't even want to take any to my son's, that's how good it was. You know it was good if it made a Mama wish she could keep it all for herself. I suppose the can of icing completely negated the whole fat-busting idea The Hungry Girl was advocating but hey, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!

I was so inspired that today I tried a couple of new recipes! Stay tuned, I'll tell you more about those tomorrow.

16 comments:

Amelia said...

I know this tastes good as my beauty operator brought some cupcakes made like this...she said something about being a recipe she got at Weight Watchers or something along that line.

I made Cake pops the other day...they are great tasting too...so guess it does not hurt us old cooks to try a new recipe from time to time.

Adrienne said...

I'm going to try this in the next few days. It sounds delicious! WalMart, here I come! ~Adrienne~

Anonymous said...

I love reading your blog! You are a kick in the pants! Funny! I will give that recipe a try - hopefully when I have company coming so I won't be tempted to eat the whole thang too! Thanx,Linda at rgranch@pioneer.net

Michelle said...

Thanks. Just the information I needed.....NOT!

Linda - Behind My Red Door said...

Chocolate and low fat? How can you go wrong! YUM!

Suze said...

large can or small can of pumpkin? cuz I suspect it WOULD make a difference!!

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

weird recipe but I have heard of some crazy - yes what size can of pumpkin? and you bake as instructions would state on the cake box? Did it turn out like brownies?
Karen
http://karensquilting.com/blog/

Sandy said...

Wow, got to try that one for sure! Maybe I'll use a mixer.

Sandy said...

I'm wondering also....lg. or small can of pumpkin??

Angie said...

Marlene, this was a wonderful post. We'll make a foodie of you yet (just kidding)! Consider this: no cake you make is ever A MISTAKE. No it isn't. You can pass anything off as perfect, just call it something else. Tell 'em it's ethnic they'll love it. Specially if there's any earth mothers about! Pumpkin in it? Well it's just LOADED with fruit. Very good for you.


love, Angie, xx

peggy said...

Sorry to use the comments section for this, but I was wondering if you have an "about" that I'm missing. I like your blog a lot, but I like to know a bit about the blogger and where in the world you are. I found you through a comment on Judy's "Patchwork Times."

Val said...

This is such a cute story and it ended so well. I can't wait to try this recipe. What kind of cake mix? White? What kind of icing? I can't wait to hear your other recipes.

molly said...

If it's not good, get your running shoes on!

Grammy Staffy said...

What a fun recipe...and as always a fun post as well. Like others I would like to know what size of a can of pumpkin. I suppose it is a small can but I could be wrong. Let us know. Thanks.
Have a great week. I will for sure try this recipe. Can't wait.
Hugs, Lura

Jacquie said...

A few weeks ago a friend mentioned the pumpkin and cake mix trick... but they made muffins with them. She said they turn out HUGE and delish! I am so going to try this, though!! Do you cook it at the same temp and same time as you normally would a cake??

Tracy P. said...

WOW! How easy can you get?? That has to be a serving of vegetables too, right? And if you used a carrot cake mix??? Oh, the possibilities are endless!

I often use applesauce as an oil replacement, but this sounds even better.