Homemade Rum Cake

Rum Cake courtesy of Good Cakes and Bakes here.

Perhaps it’s because of the endless daylight that causes me to bake more cakes in the summertime. I also like to do more hosting and entertaining in the summer, so there lies the excuse to bake a cake. I also like to try new recipes. Baking a rum cake seems easier than making a 2-layer cake (at least psychologically).

Homemade Rum Cake

 

Cake Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

1  cup dark brown sugar (or use half granulated and half brown sugar if you wish.)

3 large eggs

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup buttermilk (Sour cream can be used.)

1/3 cup rum

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup of chopped nuts - pecans or walnuts

Directions:

1) Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs and beat.

2) Add the buttermilk and rum.

3) Mix the dry ingredients in one mixing bowl and slowly incorporate them into the wet mixture.

4) Add the vanilla extract.

5) Toss 1/2 cup of chopped nuts onto the bottom of a buttered bundt pan. Bundt pans are traditional for rum cakes, but use a round or square pan if you wish.

5) Pour the batter into the bundt pan evenly.

6) Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 60 minutes or more until done in the middle.

7) Let the cake cool, but remove it while still warm by loosening and turning the bundt pan upside down.

Rum Cake Frosting Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter, softened

3 tablespoons rum

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Powdered sugar, start with one cup 

The rest of the chopped nuts

Directions: 

Mix all the ingredients. Use as much powdered sugar as needed. Start with a cup. After the cake is completely cool, frost it. Top the frosting with the remaining chopped nuts. Roasting the nuts on a cookie sheet before using them improves their flavor, but I’m often too lazy to do it.🎂

You may also enjoy:

Heath Bar Cake

Easy Homemade Strawberry Cake

Swedish Cardamom Cake With Caramelized Topping

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Tools For the Elderly To Keep Clean

For 4 years, I’ve been my mom's caregiver. She has old age dementia, a condition that takes many forms. However, unlike Alzheimer’s patients, she recognizes faces and remains mentally sharp in some areas. Lucky me, my mother can still walk using a walker indoors, and I can bring her to my apartment, so I can attend to my own affairs.

Yet, I notice she has declined mentally and physically with each year. When we began, she walked unassisted on her walker, but now I take her to the bathroom and tend to walk beside her if she rises from her chair because if she loses her balance, she cannot catch herself and sometimes falls. Four years ago, she got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom alone, which is now too dangerous. She can drink hot coffee from a mug, but has more spills. She can feed herself, yet is messier and won’t always finish her meals without help.

This brings me to today’s blog. I find myself ordering more and more tools to make our lives run more smoothly. I’ll list a few items that help us stay tidy:

1) Qancesed Adult Sippy Cup (↑top of blog image) - A 12 oz size for cold drinks. If dropped, nothing spills through the straw. The lid will come off if thrown across the room, but not if the cup falls off a chair onto the floor. Yes, she tossed her cup across the room once, but after a lecture about taking care of her special cup, she hasn’t since.

2) Aloufea 12 oz Stainless Steel Insulated Coffee Mug With Handle and Lid - For hot drinks, its lightweight and sturdy, and she likes handles. She can’t consistently remember to line her lips up with the lid hole (I don’t see that one coming!), which lets a bit of the coffee run out over the top and down onto her clothing, so we don’t use the lid.

3) Helishy Gel Cushion for Long Sitting - I selected an extra-thick cushion to support her back in her living room chair or in the seat of her transport wheelchair. Placing the cushion behind her back in her chair helps her not to slouch but to have good posture for a stronger back. Nothing good comes from slouching except a bad back and accidents.

Next, let’s discuss my mom's staying in bed during the night instead of getting up to go to the bathroom. Her legs are strong, but her balance is unsteady, and I can’t stay awake all night to walk her to the bathroom. So I put a safety rail + barrier on the side of the bed she’s accustomed to rising from, so she doesn’t get up groggy to fall and hurt herself. And over my 4 years of caregiving, I’ve added 4 incontinence products to our repertoire: washable bed pads, adult pull-ups, adult nylon plastic pants, and booster pads. The booster pads, I didn’t know existed one year ago. The nylon plastic-coated pants look just like pajama bottoms. They make no noise, and paired with a t-shirt, she looks cute!

The idea is to keep my mom safe, clean, healthy, and as independent as possible, which also makes my job easier!

Usually, I’ll help my mom eat her dinner, but I've come up with 2 breakfast bowls she can eat by herself --

These bowls are from Healthy Choice frozen meals. We stopped buying the meals, but I saved the bowls since they microwave food without sticking.

1) An omelette, diced: 2 scrambled eggs, 2 - 4 slices of smoked ham or smoked turkey, cheese, and a slice of whole grain bread (whole wheat or rye). Usually, I add a little bit of milk to soak the bread to make it easier to chew. A dash of garlic, nutmeg and pepper.

2) Oatmeal - 1/4 cup oatmeal flakes, milk, a handful of walnuts, chopped fruit (alternate: apple, banana, strawberries, blueberries, a peach, a pear, pineapple, etc.), a tablespoon of peanut butter, sometimes a sprinkle of brown sugar or a drizzle of honey. A dash of nutmeg and cinnamon. My mother taught me that spices had health benefits. Sometimes I toss in a handful of Chex cereal for a crunchy texture.

She has one or the other nearly every morning, and I can make the beds, take a shower, and get dressed while she eats her breakfast.

I got her an adult bib, but she doesn’t like it, so we simply use a tea towel.

Caregiving for an elderly parent is very similar to caring for young children. You can’t lift an adult like a toddler, yet you can leave them alone to grocery shop and run errands. Caring for the very young or very old each has its unique challenges and ease, and stepping up for family is sometimes by trial and error. We learn as we go along and do the best we can with what we know at the time. Friends say my mom is looking good, and I know she’s happier living with me than in a nursing home. But what if my mother didn’t have a daughter? After 75+ years of paying taxes, our country should provide meaningful benefits for the elderly. Meals and visiting nurse practitioners could keep many seniors in their own homes. One day that elderly person will be you, so vote wisely!

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Spicy Shrimp With Artichoke

Our leftovers for dinner tonight. A light yet filling meal.

I made shrimp at home for the very first time. A one-skillet dinner, it was easy and delicious, so perhaps we’ll eat it again. I made up the recipe as I cooked it; therefore, I'm posting it below to remember how to make it again:

Spicy Shrimp with Artichoke

Ingredients

16 oz shrimp, frozen (Any size of shrimp works, but small is bite-sized without being too small.)

12 oz artichokes, frozen, quartered

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 of an onion, chopped

1/2 cup celery, chopped (I eyeballed it.)

red bell pepper, about 1/2 cup, chopped

 1/2 cup carrots, sliced

A handful of nuts - I used almonds and walnuts, chopped

My homemade Hoisin Sauce --

4 tablespoons soy sauce 

2 tablespoons peanut butter

A squirt so about a tablespoon of honey

2 tablespoons organic cider vinegar

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon hot sauce

A sprinkle of cumin

A sprinkle of salt

Directions:

1) I defrosted the frozen shrimp by tossing it into a bowl with water, vinegar, and lemon juice a few hours before cooking it.

2) Into a 12-inch skillet, I melted the butter and tossed in the diced onions, celery, carrot, and bell peppers. I let it cook covered on medium heat for about 8 minutes before tossing in the bag of frozen artichoke quarters to simmer for another 4 - 5 minutes. 

3) Chop and toss in the nuts. Lift the lid and stir occasionally.

4) Add the shrimp to the skillet and cook for another 3 - 4 minutes. If the mixture gets dry, pour in 1/4 cup of water. I proably added 1 cup of water - 1/4 at a time.

5) Next, I used the ingredients of my homemade Hoisin Sauce, tossing them into the pan: 4 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons peanut butter, 1 tablespoon honey, 2 tablespoons organic cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, and 1 teaspoon hot sauce.

6) I added a dash of salt and cumin near the end, but before the dish finished cooking. Do so to taste.

Hours before cooking my shrimp dish, I separately tenderized 2 cups of dried brown rice in a rice cooker. It takes about 30 minutes but can sit for a while. Brown rice has slightly more fiber than white rice, yet I think people can eat the rice they prefer. I like the chewiness of brown.

We don’t have a Walmart in Manhattan, and I wish we did. Its house brand, Great Value, is excellent and lives up to its name!

On plates, spoon the spicy shrimp with artichoke and sauce over the brown rice. Bon Appétite!🍤🦐

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Why You Should Eat Walnuts Everyday

I won’t lie. I prefer other nuts like almonds and pecans over walnuts, but after I learned walnuts have several health benefits that other nuts don’t, I started using walnuts in place of pecans in many baked goods. Walnuts are cheaper, too. I also make a practice of popping a few walnuts into my mouth and putting a handful into my mother’s oatmeal each morning. 

As it turns out, medical evidence suggests a daily dose of 1 - 2 ounces (i.e., a handful) of walnuts supports heart health, cuts bad cholesterol, supports gut health, and sharpens brain function, plus they may improve sleep with a natural infusion of melatonin.

Walnuts contain essential omega-3 fatty acids (ALA), magnesium, and antioxidants. They reduce inflammation and lower bad LDL cholesterol. Studies show that people who eat walnuts have faster brain reaction times and delayed age-related cognitive decline. Walnuts act as a prebiotic to improve the gut microbiome by increasing good bacteria. Although walnuts are energy-dense, they don’t tend to cause weight gain because they help to manage our appetites.

Here are tips for eating  a healthy dose of walnuts every day:

1) Stick with a serving (1 oz to 2 oz) to control calories. 1 oz = 14 halves. Easy enough, as we don’t tend to gorge on walnuts. 

2) Eat them raw, roasted, soaked in water, or added to cereals, salads, smoothies, or yogurt.

3) Walnuts are beneficial at any time of the day, yet studies show they improve cognitive performance if eaten in the morning.

4) I find Diamond of California to be the better-tasting walnuts without any bitterness. Walmart sells this brand at a cheaper cost then its own store brand, also. I always have a 32-oz bag in my refrigerator or freezer (as well as a big bag of lightly salted almonds as snack staples)

🍍🥚🍍🥛🍍🥚🍍🥛🍍🥚🍍🥛🍍🥚🍍🥛🍍🥚🍍🥛🍍🥚🍍

Here’s a once-in-a-while treat (due to the sugar), perhaps for Sundays or holidays like Easter, to bake using walnuts. If you’re ambitious, you could toast the walnuts for added flavor before using. It’s a scaled-down, less sweet Hummingbird cake:

Pinnapple and Walnut Sheet Cake

2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour

1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 20-ounce can of crushed pineapple with juice
1 cup of finely chopped walnuts

Directions:

1) Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.

Photo: Indiana Connection

2) Beat in the eggs, then add the vanilla extract and pineapple with juice, and fold in the walnuts. Do not overmix, just enough to incorporate all the ingredients, so the batter doesn’t produce a tough cake.

3) Pour the batter into a well-buttered square baking pan.

4) Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 30 - 35 minutes.

Cream Cheese and Nut Frosting

Ingredients:

8 oz cream cheese (I use low-fat)

2 tablespoons of butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups of powdered sugar or more

1/2 cup of chopped walnuts (These I don’t chop as finely as the walnuts in the batter.)

Mix together except the walnuts. Spread the frosting on a cooled cake and top the frosting with the chopped nuts.

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Breakfast Oatmeal Carrot Apple Cake

We violated this cake before I knew I’d post a photo of it.

I tweaked a recipe for a (no fat, no flour, no sugar) healthy cake because had I not done so, it would have been a big, uneditable glob of gooey mess. There is no way you can make a fluffy cake with just fruit, applesauce, and oatmeal. Oatmeal will always be chewy, and not in a good way, if you transform it from cereal to cake! Moreover, cake is not good with zero sweetness. Still, I was intrigued by the recipe. Life is not always an either-or situation! Sometimes you can eat a no-compromise, full-out, high-calorie cake, and at other times you might choose to eat a little healthier. IMHO, you’ll want a real carrot cake when hosting dinner guests; to satisfy a dessert craving, or on your birthday ... and the following Oatmeal Carrot Apple Cake for a Sunday breakfast:

Breakfast Oatmeal Carrot Apple Cake

oatmeal flakes, 2 cups ground in a food processor (Grinding makes oatmeal finer and less chewy because it absorbs more moisture.)

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 eggs

1 teaspoon lemon juice (Lemon juice, vinegar, or buttermilk are 3 ingredients that causes baking soda to rise.)

1 cup applesauce

1 cup milk

2 small apples, shredded (about 1 cup)

1 cup carrots, shredded

1/2 cup walnuts

1/4 cup raisins (I add to keep a sheet cake moist for extra days.)

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 teaspoon of pumpkin spice (or the equivalent of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and allspice)

Butter to grease the baking pan.

Directions:

1) Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl, one by one. I stirred with a fork.

2) Thickly butter a 9” by 9”  square baking pan. There’s no other fat in the cake!

3) Pour and spread the cake batter, then pop it into a preheated 350 degree F oven. Bake for about 30 minutes.

4) Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool for about 10 minutes before removing it from the pan.

Low-Fat Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

4 ounces (1/2 package) cream cheese

About 2 cups (or more) of powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1) Mix and keep adding powdered sugar until you get the desired thickness.

2) Spread on top of the cake.

So what did I add to the Facebook recipe?: Flour, sugar, milk, lemon juice (your cake won’t rise without it), raisins, butter for the pan, and a low-fat cream cheese frosting. Whoever posted the original recipe did not make the cake. If they had, they wouldn’t have ended up with cake! You don’t have to be a professional baker to know it.

What motivated me to make this recipe was ... I had all the ingredients in my pantry, and a bowl of oatmeal didn't sound all that appealing. This is how my senior mom and I are eating our oatmeal this Sunday morning. A close enough 2nd to real full-fat carrot cake to be tasty. Good texture like carrot cake. Breakfast oatmeal, our way!

I’ll leave 2 links below for traditional and flakier carrot cakes to eat, not for breakfast but as dessert.🥕

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9 Tips To Curb Hunger

As we age, it gets tougher to maintain the slender bodies of our youth. I do the best I can, but with each decade of life, I have accumulated a few extra pounds. Our metabolism slows, making it easier to put on weight and harder to shed those pounds.

A woman I went to school with rides bicycles for miles and miles and miles to burn calories, and only eats one meal a day. I’ve known daily joggers, too, but I don’t have the time or desire for hours and hours and hours of exercise. Walking 20 blocks or riding a stationary bike for 30 minutes is what I can sustain.

I’ll accept the inevitability of a few extra pounds, and yet I won’t let myself go completely; therefore, I must eat less food. Moreover, I also don’t wish to rely on drugs to suppress my hunger. So how do I control my appetite?

Here’s what I do to maintain a healthy body weight by curbing hunger:

1) Eat enough protein in each meal -- 30 grams or higher.

2) Drink a cup of skim milk with dinner. It keeps me full longer. 

3) Mostly eat 3 meals a day. If not hungry for breakfast or lunch, I may skip one of them, but usually I do eat a modest breakfast and lunch, and a dinner containing a protein, a starch, and vegetables. Another friend of mine only eats 2 meals a day, but usually I need 3 meals, and a small snack at night.

4) When hunger strikes in between meals, I see if drinking hot coffee or tea with skim milk quells my hunger pangs. Lately, I’m also trying Haymaker's Punch in between meals.

5) If all else fails, I’ll eat 1 or 2 pieces of fruit -- an apple, orange, pear, or banana, which I consider free food on days I’m hungrier. A carrot, celery stalks, bites of leftover cooked butternut squash or green beans, 5 - 10 almonds or walnuts, or a few Saltine crackers sometimes work as after-dinner snacks.

I cut up fruit and top it with nuts.

6) I avoid processed food and eat real food. It tastes better and is more filling.

7) I limit how often I eat carbs per day and usually save them for dinner. Eating lots of carbs a day only whets my appetite, yet doesn’t stifle my hunger.

8) I never eat sweets mindlessly anymore. Sweets are always a planned treat, like birthday cake, Christmas cookies, or Halloween candy. Sugar isn’t healthy for anybody. Especially as we age, we must limit our intake of sugar for health and weight reasons. As it turns out, the less sugar we eat, the less we crave. Outside of planned treats, I’ll only take 2 bites of a sweet.

9) Avoid lunch clubs with overweight people. Meet for coffee, walks in the park, or to discuss books. Don’t surround yourself with folks who live to eat often at pricy restaurants, but with people who eat to live and have healthier ways of socializing. Such meals are too rich and high in calories. You’d be wasting your time and money by not indulging when restaurant-hopping. Don’t put yourself in a position where it’s a mainstay activity instead of a special occasion like a family birthday or anniversary. It also helps to have a small, contained family, in lieu of 10 siblings.😛

I wish it weren’t so, but our metabolism changes, and so must what, how much, and when we eat. It’s a shame we have to put so much thought into eating, isn’t it? Unfortunately, we do!😣 

How do you control your appetite to maintain an acceptable (if not your youthful) weight?

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Greek Yogurt + Fixings For An Easy Breakfast

I know the importance of a good breakfast but don’t have an appetite in the mornings due to busyness. 

With coffee I’ll just eat 2 Digestive Biscuits before getting my elderly mom up, freshened up, dressed, then microwaving her morning meal, either an omelette with cheese or ham and whole grain bread; or (2) a bowl of oatmeal with milk, peanut butter, a handful of chopped walnuts, fruit and a sprinkle of brown sugar on top. She has a good breakfast, but mine lacks the protein I need to start the day.

Many of us get extra busy in December so here’s a better breakfast that’s easy to eat and easy to cleanup with no pots or pans needed to make it:

Greek Yogurt Bowl

1 cup of Greek yogurt

1 tablespoon of peanut butter
fruit -- various to select throughout the week such as a handful of blueberries or strawberries. Half of banana. Chopped peaches, pears, or apples. (like the fruit I add to my mother’s oatmeal.)

3 walnuts

3 almonds - whole or chopped
1 teaspoon of one minute oatmeal

1 teaspoon of ground flaxseeds

a sprinkle of dark brown sugar or honey when I feel like it.

BTW, protein drinks are a decent fast breakfast, but are no substitutes for real food which is always the better choice. Protein shakes can be too heavy in minerals if consumed daily.

Greek yogurt with the addition of nuts (walnuts, almonds, pecans), seeds (flaxseeds, sunflower, chia, pumpkin) and whole grains (oatmeal, millet, quinoa) is a healthy no fuss breakfast with enough protein and fiber.

When we know better, we really should do better. I will! With only one bowl to wash this breakfast gets the job done. 

On Friday, I’ll post a recipe for the perfect energy-hydration drink that’s been around since the time of our Founding Fathers! Do you have any guesses?

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Heath Bar Cake

Photo: Alcove

If you like English toffee, you'll love a Heath Bar Cake! This one begins with flour and leavening agent, not a box of cake mix, but it’s as easy to make as emptying a box of cake mix. This cake, made from scratch, is simple, moist and fluffy.

Heath Bar Cake 

Ingredients:

4 ounces butter

2 cups dark brown sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

2 eggs
1 cup of buttermilk
½ cup of nuts, chopped (I use walnuts or pecans.)
Either an 8 ounce bag of Heath candy bar bits or you could crush 6 - 8 health bars to get 1 1/3 cups.

Directions:

1) Using a fork, mix the first 9 ingredients together in the listed order. 

2) Spread the batter in a buttered 9’’ by 13'' cake pan, or I prefer using 2 buttered 9" round cake pans to stack them.

3) Sprinkle 1 cup of heath candy bits (or the crushed health bars) evenly over the batter. Save the rest for garnish.

4) Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes, until the center is done.

If you use crushed chocolate heath bars into the batter, icing the cake may be too much of a good thing -- unless you savor rich and very sweet cake, but if you use the bag of English toffee bits, you could melt chocolate chips on top of the cake for a ganache topping, then garnish the top and sides with the remaining toffee bits. Enjoy!🎂🎈🎉🍫

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Saturday's Breakfast Courtesy of Simple Food

My senior Mom and I ate this dessert from Simple Food for breakfast. As I anticipated, it was too chewy to satisfy a cake or brownie craving. I'll post Simple Food's video below so you can see how easy it is to make and why I was so tempted to try it. 

Note: I don't let FB track my or your activities. Click here to watch if you don't wish to give FB such permission. 

Ingredients:

For the Cake --

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1 cup warm milk

2 eggs

a pinch of salt

2 smashed bananas

4 tablespoons of cocoa

1 teaspoon baking powder

I added 1 scoop of Premier protein chocolate powder to the recipe.

For the Topping --

Dark Chocolate and walnuts 

We're not in my kitchen today so we didn't have a loaf pan. I used an 9" x 9" square baking pan and surprisingly got  more pastry than expected. I used butter flavored cooking spray, and it lifted out cleanly.

After baking, I let dark chocolate chips melt on top of the pastry while we waited for it to cool enough to eat.

Here's my review: If you crave a piece of cake or a brownie, skip this recipe. If you're trying to eat a bowl of oatmeal and want to dress it up, then wait about 40 minutes for it to bake, go for it!

Although we had no problem eating it (we were hungry waiting!), and it was nutrious, I doubt I'll make it again. Either I'll eat a bowl of oatmeal or have a piece of cake. Sometimes you can't have it both ways.

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Fruit Cobbler Without The Fat

Photo: Flavor Walk

Fruit cobblers are scrumptious and scream summer is near! But, usually, these tasty cobblers are made with a stick of butter. Nowadays, I try to eat healthy about 90% of the time, so I make a cobbler recipe that only requires buttering the baking pan. You can use any fruit, such as a peeled and diced apple, or peach, or my favorite, blueberries. A combination of blueberries, seedless raspberries, and blackberries will also do. My recipe yields one or two servings, so you don't have to wait for visitors to make it. Without the usual butter in a cobbler, it's not too decadent to devour all of it by yourself. You are still eating dessert (i.e., sugar), though, so you may not want to bake the cobbler every day. But gee whiz, sometimes we just crave a little treat:😋

Fruit Cobbler Without the Fat

Ingredients: 

Fruit Filling --

1/2 cup of berries (or 1 peach or 1 apple)

1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon all-purpose unbleached flour

a sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg

a squirt of lemon

Cobbler Streusel Topping --

2 tablespoons unbleached flour

1 tablespoon of finely crushed walnuts.

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 - 3 tablespoons of buttermilk (or milk if it's all you have)

If you like cinnamon, you can sprinkle some in the topping.

Optional: 1 tablespoon of Quaker oats if you feel like tossing it in.

Directions:

1) In a mixing bowl, use a fork to combine all the ingredients for the fruit filling.

2) In a 2nd mixing bowl, whisk together the streusel topping ingredients.

3) Butter a baking pan or dish (an 8-inch, 9-inch, or 10-inch square baking pan, a pie pan, or a loaf pan all work). Pour in the fruit filling.

3) Spread the streusel topping evenly over the fruit filling.

4) Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 20 - 25 minutes. Watch for the cobbler to bubble and the topping starting to turn brown. After removing it from the oven, let it cool for about 10 minutes before eating.

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