Potato Bread

This recipe is written in my mom's handwriting. This must be a copy she wrote out for Grammy. I recognize this recipe from watching my mom bake and going through her recipe box when I was a kid. I remember having this bread. It's delicious.

This is a great way to use leftover mashed potatoes

Ingredients:

• 5 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 packages yeast
• 2 tablespoons shortening
• 1/2 cup mashed potatoes
• 1/2 cup milk powder
• 2 cups hot water

Instructions:

1. Mix 2 cups of flour with sugar, salt, and yeast
2. Add hot water and milk powder and mix with mixer on medium for 2 minutes
3. Add shortening, potatoes, and 1/2 cup flour
4. Mix for another 2 minutes
5. Add remaining flour by hand
6. Knead dough for 5 minutes
7. Let rise for 1 hour until doubled in bulk
8. Shape into 2 loaves and let rise for 1 hours
9. Bake at 400°F for 30 minutes

When A Zucchini Gets Away From You

It's my fault. I was the one on "zucchini watch", and I failed in my duties. I failed to check the zucchini growing in the garden, and it got too big (as zucchini will do).

So what do you do if your zucchini gets away from you?

We decided to try the recipe, "Stuffed Zucchini", out of Grammy's recipe box. The recipe had been cut out of a magazine and looks like it's circa 1960s-1970s.

Hubby did the preparing on this one and found the recipe to be very easy to follow (which is a pleasant bonus when making a vintage recipe).

Here's what the recipe says (with our editorial comments in red italics):

Stuffed Zucchini
No browning or boiling, just bake and serve.
2 pounds zucchini [obviously, we just had one BIG one!]
1/2 pound ground beef
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons dehydrated onion flakes [Hubby used French's Fried Onions instead]
2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon oregano leaves
1 teaspoon salt [definitely needed more]
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2/3 cup spaghetti sauce [Hubby used Prego traditional]

Halve zucchini. Scoop out centers leaving 1/4-inch shell; place in shallow baking dish. Coarsely chop zucchini centers; mix with next 8 ingredients. Spoon into shells. Top with sauce. Bake in 350 degrees F in oven for 30 minutes. Serves 4. [If you use 2 pounds of zucchini]

In the future, Hubby suggests that browning the ground beef would be better. Why? Because brown food tastes better!!!! And it would also reduce baking time.

Hubby said that the baking aroma brought back memories of his grandmother's kitchen because culinary creations of this kind were common during the 1960s. After baking was over, Hubby let it cool a bit since it came out of the oven the temperature of "hot magma".

Once it had cooled a bit, the tasting commenced. The flavor of the sauce against the filling mixture was good, but it definitely needed more salt. Once Hubby pumped up the salt, the flavor came alive. Hubby said it's not something that he would be addicted to, but it is most definitely a great quick meal option for using up zucchini from the garden--particularly zucchini that's gotten out-of-control huge!

Got leftover mashed potatoes? Bake a cake!

This recipe is written in fountain pen in my Grammy's handwriting and has attributed her aunt Esther's name in the top right corner. The title is written simply "Potato Cake".

Okay...

Well, let's see what the recipe says (my editorial comments are in red italics):

2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1 cup mashing potatoes (warm)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 Tablespoons chocolate [Ahhhh! So it's a chocolate cake?!?!]
1 teaspoon each of ground cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg
1 cup chopped walnuts [Can't put those in because Hubby is allergic.]

Cream fat [I guess this means the butter], sugar, yolks, and potatoes. Add milk and dry ingredients. Add stiffly beaten whites and bake in layers. Temp 350 degrees 15 min., 400 degrees 3 min., 350 degrees 30 min. [HUH?] Serve with chocolate fudge filling and walnuts. [Can't find the recipe for the chocolate fudge filling... darn!]

The first thing I did was discard the baking times because I decided it was easier to make this into cupcakes. Then I realized I was out of cupcake wrappers, so I went to the store to buy some. That's when I found the mini cake pans by Wilton that let you put filling inside the mini cakes. Bingo! That's what I wanted!

Everything went smoothly once I got back into the kitchen. I used unsweetened cocoa powder for the chocolate that the recipe called for. Once the batter was made up, I filled the cupcakes and the mini cake pans and baked according to the instructions for the cake pans. The cupcakes baked for about 15 minutes. The mini cakes baked for a little over 20 minutes.

Hubby wandered into the kitchen after the cupcakes had cooled for over a half an hour. He said, "Mmmmm! These smell good!" I told him to try one of the cupcakes without any icing on it. These are his exact unedited words:

"They sure knew what they were doing back then... Nice chocolate flavor and then you get the cloves... That's good! The cloves thing kinda stays with you... And now I want more... And they're fluffy and moist... It tastes very autumnal!"

The cake is a hit! It is a very dense cake although moist and fluffy (as Hubby said). I'm sure that it would work well in a bundt pan best. The cupcakes have the weight of light muffins.

Now what to do about an icing and filling...

I dug through the recipe box and found another recipe for "Caramel Icing & Frosting".

It sounded like a possible match. The recipe reads:

• 1 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon butter
• Put sugar in saucepan, add milk and stir until dissolved. Boil 3 minutes. Take from fire, add butter. Turn into a cold bowl and beat until creamy. Add vanilla. May add chopped nuts.

I followed the recipe as written. Everything was going along fine until I started beating the mixture to make it creamy. The mixture started to cool and become more of the consistency of real caramel candy!

Thinking quickly, I decided to add a little more milk and a little more butter. That solved the problem but it was more of the consistency of a glaze then the filling I needed. Realizing that the fat content of our 2 % milk is almost assuredly lower than the fat content of the milk Aunt Esther used, I added a bit of half-and-half, whipped it for a few minutes, and then I added a full cup of powdered sugar. That made the consistency more like a filling I could use with the mini cakes.

With the mini cakes cooled and the caramel icing/filling fixed, I filled the wells of the mini cakes, stacked the two layers, iced the whole little cake, and then put it in the refrigerator to chill. Then I garnished it with whole walnuts (Hubby can easily pick those off).

Both Hubby and I agree that the combination of the flavors, spice and caramel, are a perfect match. Yum! But I'm sure that there are a lot of other combinations you could think up for this classic vintage recipe. Let me know if you come up with one and make it. I'd love to hear what you paired Aunt Esther's "Potato Cake" with. I still can't believe it has leftover mashed potatoes in it.