Week 2 Day 13 Jello is Harder than you think ...and more Weekend Discoveries!

 J-E-L-L-OOOOO! I can hear the commercial in my head! My Mom was horrible at Jello...she never stirred it enough with the hot water, so it was "sort of" flavored, but most of the flavoring was at the bottom of the bowl!  A Solid Gelatinous, inedible glob that could have used to resole shoes. (I wonder if that is Gummy Candy's got started...some lousy Jello maker served her kids from the bottom of the jello bowl and called it candy?) Jello was very 50's to me and I planned on making a beautiful Jello Mold for dessert for the family Wiener Roast. My
"at home" kids groaned..."No, not Jello! C'mon Mom" So, I did what most mothers do when they have their hearts are set on something but it makes the kids unhappy....I ignored them and proceeded. I actually had a gorgeous vintage copper mold I never used. I was going to whisk the top part of the strawberry jello with Marshmallows so it would have a creamy look and then slice fresh Strawberries for a layer in between the top and bottom layers. I bought Heavy cream to make Real Whipped Cream also. And so it begins...

AND ENDS....

FAIL!!

So, I figured the strawberries were the undoing...or the way I placed them between the layers...but it was all eaten and the naysayers ate the most and actually want me to make some again. I also had made a Chocolate Sheet Cake for dessert, not pretty but delicious!

I will add the recipe at the end of this blog post...I have been making the same chocolate cake since before marriage and have never found a reason to try another.

   So the other revelation is that it is hard to stay in the 50's when everyone else is living 2017, of course your auto-life kicks in . I do best when it is just me or small doses of others who live here (LOL) (although I loved having my family here) ...I did stick to my 50's Entertainment while cooking I watched Gypsy and Gunfight at the OK Corral!  TRIVIA QUESTION: How many movies did Burt Lancaster play in the 1950's? Every movie I turn on he is in it! And when in the car I have listened on the phone (spotify) ...one hit wonders of the 50's and loved it but thought that maybe at my age I probably would have liked past music like from the 40's and Jazz. So I have been listening to both. I already had "Ain't that a Kick in the Head" by Dean Martin stuck in MY head and "Jack You Dead". 
We had a cookout with Hot Dogs on sticks over an open fire.      My Daughter in Law being a good sport but using a piece of wood as a heat shield... 3 of her kids use her as one and one of my grandson peaks from behind a yellow Vintage chair, #HOTFIRE

 So there were 13 of us in all. Then there are the uninvited guests that stalk around the yard, waiting for someone to come out of the house and come running when there is a possibility for a hand out! 

 I realize that I have so much to write that I seem to go on too long so let me stop here and give you that recipe. Oh yeah...Burt Lancaster was in 22 movies in that 10 year span! WOW!

Chocolate Cake        350 degrees 30 -35 minutes

1/4 cup butter                                            1 3/4 C Flour

1/4 cup shortening                                        3/4 tsp Baking Powder

2 C. Sugar                                                   3/4 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Vanilla                                                 1/8 tsp Salt

2 eggs                                                      1 3/4 C Milk

3/4 C cocoa

Preheat Oven. Generously Grease and flour pans...either a 13 x 9 or 2-9 inch round, Cream butter, shortening, sugar and vanilla until fluffy, Blend in Eggs. Combine dry ingredients Cocoa, Flour, Powder, Soda & Salt. Add Dry ingredients alternately with milk Blend well with each addition. Pour into prepared pans. 

When it comes to baking I usually start checking 5 minutes before the shortest time...sometimes sooner. Then just wait by the oven check with a wooden skewer for it to come out of the deepest part, clean. This way I will never have an overcooked dry cake. They always get taken out the moment they are cooked and always moist. 

Frost with a Chocolate Buttercream Frosting...always Homemade, never out of a can. I mean you just made the cake from scratch why cover it with less than it deserves? 

Have a good day all...until tomorrow!...Well You Can Have a Good Day Tomorrow also. :)