DAY 45 - and A CAKE THAT DOESN'T LAST

Last week was Volunteer Appreciation Week. Normally at Hillcrest Platte County Thrift Shop, it is a fun and busy week. It is hard to volunteer at the shop and not feel appreciated by the end of the week. 

When the Mayor of Kansas City placed stay-at-home ordered back mid March, the thrift shops all closed, Hillcrest included. After a few days, they decided that the paid staff would come in and they have been busy over the last 46 days. The floors have been washed and waxed. All of the sorting stations in the back were cleaned. They have even rearranged the racks and added plexiglass shields to separate the customer and the volunteers at the register so that when the shop does reopen, it will be safer for the volunteers and customers for keeping distance from each other.

Yesterday we got words that thrift shops are now considered essential by the Missouri Governor's office and Hillcrest will be opening next week on the 5th. The shop will be closed on Monday and will not be opening until 11:00 instead of 10:00. They will also require face masks and will limit the number of customers in the store at a time. There will be no volunteers coming to work until Mayor Lucas' stay-at-home orders are lifted. Right now they are in place until May 15 and then the number of volunteers will be limited. They want to make sure we are safe.

Well, as I said last week was Volunteer Appreciation Week and I guess they had ordered HPC socks to give to us before this pandemic happened. So they got word out to us that they were going to have a drive-by in front of the store on Monday so we could come by, get our socks, and wave to the staff and other volunteers who happened to be there at the same time. Since I haven't made anything and taken up there during these 46 days, I decided I would make a cake and drop it off when I picked up my socks.

I wanted to make one that I could make  in a 9 x 13 - inch (aluminun) pan that I could just leave with them. I found this one that sounded really good called Cake That Doesn't Last in Wanda E. Brunstetter's Amish Friends Cookbook. The recipe was contributed by Katie Miller from Piepont, OH. They were so pleased when I held it out the window of my car.


Sunday we went up to our younger son Patrick's house and saw the kids for the first time in person for several months. It was so good to see them. See pictures below. Tyler has had a growth spurt.

CAKE THAT DOESN'T LAST

3         cups flour
2         cups sugar
1         teaspoon baking soda
1         teaspoon salt
3         eggs
1-1/2   cups oil
1        (8 - ounce) can crushed pineapple drained (2/3 cup)
1         cup nuts, chopped
1         teaspoon vanilla
2         cups mashed bananas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a tube pan or a 9 x 13 - inch pan. Set aside.

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl with a whisk.

Make a well in the center and fill with eggs, oil, pineapple, nuts, vanilla, and bananas. (My batter bowl was almost not big enough.)

Stir lightly, do not beat.

Pour into pan and bake for 75 minutes for tube cake or 50-55 minutes for loaf pan.

I dusted the top with powdered sugar.

Pictures of Madison and Tyler...

As I have been doing during this stay-at-home/social distancing order, I end this post with the latest stats as I post this.

CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC 4/28/2020

UNITED STATES

CONFIRMED CASES         988,469
DEATHS                                56,253

GLOBAL

CONFIRMED CASES      3,057,957
DEATHS                              211,894

Day 15...

DAY 41 - SOCIAL DISTANCING AND PINEAPPLE COOKIES

It is Day 41 since we started our self-imposed social distancing and Day 38 since the order took affect in Kansas City, MO by Mayor Quinton Lucas. The numbers continue to be staggering and now some people are actually protesting around the country because of the orders. Last night as I watched some of the videos on the news of them protesting - walking and riding around in their cars carrying their signs, I couldn't help but laugh when I noticed several of them were wearing homemade face masks. Really? Until we get a vaccine for COVID-19, we must stay home/practice social distancing. Sorry, I needed to get that off my chest.

With the temperatures warming up, Wayne has been working in the yard to get out of the house. I have helped him a little bit, but continue to spend a lot of time inside sewing - Blankets of Hope and face masks. When we walk in the neighborhood, I wear my little face masks so I'm not breathing as much of the pollen. So far I am staying well after getting over whatever I had after we came back from CA in March. I would like to be tested to see if I have the antebodies for the virus because what I had for that week was actually a milder case of the virus. 

Yesterday I had my annual mammogram. It was originally scheduled for March 25 but they called to reschedule it. I was nervous about postponing it for a month but said okay. Well, I walked into the empty office except for 1 receptionist instead of the usual four. They had spread the appointments out so that the next patient came in just before you got your results. As I said I was my usual nervous when I went but received the best news when I was told "no change from last year" and got my letter with a happy face. 😊

To celebrate I came home and made these delicious Pineapple Cookies. They were advertised as "Light, pretty, and absolutely scrumptious" and they were. I had some crushed pineapple leftover from the cake I made for the workers at Hillcrest Thrift Shop (No, I haven't shared the recipe yet but will soon.) so thought the recipe sounded like a perfect way to use some of it.

The recipe came from Regina Stanhope of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Hanover, New Hamsphire and was in a Yankee Church Supper Cookbook.

PINEAPPLE COOKIES

1-1/2       cups sugar
2/3          cups butter
2             eggs
1/2          cup crushed pineapple (canned in syrup or fresh in natural juice; do not drain)
2-2/3       cups flour
1/2          teaspoon baking soda
1/2          teaspoon salt
2             teaspoons lemon extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper. (I did the latter.)

Mix (beat) the sugar and butter till smooth. (I sliced the cold butter so that it would blend faster and better.)

Add eggs and crushed pineapple and beat on low.

In another bowl combine the flour, baking soda, and salt with a whisk.

Add all at once to mixture.

Add lemon extract and beat on low til smooth.

Using a cookie scoop and flatten across the top and drop on cookie sheet 2 inches apart - the cookies do spread as they bake.

Bake 12 - 15 minutes until lightly brown.

Allow to cool a few seconds on pan before removing them to finish cooling on wire racks. Separate with the parchment paper in cookie jar.










I treated neighbors and friends with a few since the recipe made about 4-1/2 dozen. I plan to leave a few in the mail box for the mailman today to thank him for continuing to put himself in danger to deliver our mail.


Some of the last face masks I made for New Mark Care Facility.

CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC NUMBERS - 4/23/2020

UNITED STATES

CONFIRMED CASES           842,928
DEATHS                                  47,582

GLOBAL 

CONFIRMED CASES         2,638,022 
DEATHS                                 184,633

Day 45...

YOU'VE BEEN EGGED!!!!!

I am finally making time to share with you the fun experience we had with our MO grandkids, Madison and Tyler before Easter but keeping our social distancing. I saw the idea when Wayne's cousin's wife Mary shared it on Facebook from their Franklin County (Tenn) newspaper. I thought it was just the cutest thing and especially this year since we are staying safe and keeping our distance from family and friends.

Fortunately I had plenty of plastic Easter eggs from past years so that wasn't a problem. I didn't have much candy though but I did have a few stickers. I always save stickers that I get in the mail. I couldn't find the newspaper article re the activity and only had the picture that the newspaper had shared so I'm not sure what they stuffed in the eggs.

I decided I would put 25 cents in each egg in various amounts of coins for sure. Then I cut apart the stickers and came up about 8 short. In those eggs I added a small piece of wrapped chocolate.

I had bought some darling cardboard "basket" at an estate sale that worked out perfectly for them to use when hunting for the eggs. I decided to put three one dollar bills under the colored grass in each basket. I would have put more but since we have been staying home and not spending much money, that's all we had at the time. 

We made arrangements with our son Patrick and his wife Lori to make sure the kids were in the back part of the house watching a movie or something so they would accidentally discover us in the front yard hiding the eggs and went up there just before sunset on Friday night before Easter. Patrick came out while we were there so he could see the boundaries in the front yard. When we finished and were getting ready to leave, I stopped and told him I needed a hug. We hugged each other and said we loved each other and as I stepped away, it hit me all of sudden about the social distancing. For just a few seconds I totally forgot. It was wonderful! 😊  

I wrote the kids this letter and left it with the baskets so they would know the next morning what we had done. They were so surprised and had a great time. Would have been nice to have been there to see them, but hopefully next year. Hope you enjoy the pictures that I took and those Patrick and Lori sent me.

DAY 30 AND A LEMON SNOWDROP COOKIE

Today is Day 30 of our COVID-19 self-isolation or social distancing as it is being called now. It is also called stay-at-home orders but since we go for walks in the neighborhood and drives in the cars, I guess the social distancing is the best term to use.

The numbers continue to be staggering and I will share those at the end of the post. They are talking about the danger of shaking hands and that it might be a thing of the past even when this pandemic is over because so many germs are spread by doing so. My friends and I have been "texting" about what we can do such as just smiling, nodding, a tap over your heart instead of a hug, or a little wave. Personally I can easily do without the handshake, but a hug? That's gonna be hard. I grew up in the South and there the custom was a gentleman didn't shake hands with a lady unless she extended her hand. If that were still the case, it would just be up to the women whether they shook hands, Of course, that didn't mean that men wouldn't be shaking hands.

Friday night Wayne and I went up and hid 34 plastic eggs in the front yard for our grandchildren, Madison and Tyler, to find the next morning. Our son Patrick came out to see us while we were there. Lori had the kids in the back of the house watching a movie so they wouldn't accidentally see us. We had kept our social distance from him the whole time. Then when we finished and were getting ready to leave, I honestly forgot what was happening and told him I needed a hug. We hugged and said we loved each other and as I stepped back, it hit me what I had done. I know he is family but I hug my friends just as unconsciously. (I will share our experiences in another post. The grandkids were so surprised and enjoyed it so much.)

Yes, I am sharing a recipe with you this morning. Saturday morning, I woke up and made some cookies. They are so good and what I especially love about them is you can make them whatever kind you want to. In fact, the recipe is actually called,You-Name-It Cookies because you can make them different according to the cake mix you use. The only "special" one I had was a lemon cake mix, but just imagine using a German chocolate cake mix or a carrot cake cake mix. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the lemon taste though!!!!!!

The directions said to use an ungreased cookie sheet which I did for the first two pans. I didn't realize until I was removing the cookies from the first sheet and the second sheet was baking, that I needed to use parchment paper because the cookies kinda stuck to the pan and mainly didn't keep there pretty round shape. Didn't hurt the taste, just weren't as pretty. The recipe made three and a half dozen cookies, so I decided to take half of them over to our neighbors next door. They were working in the yard so I sat them on the truck and kept our social distance while I talked to them.

LEMON SNOWDROP COOKIES

1        cake mix of your choice (I used a lemon cake mix)
1        egg, beaten
1        8 - ounce container of whipped topping, thawed
powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Combine the cake mix and egg mixing completely. (I just used a wooden spoon but you could use your mixer on low.)

Fold in the whipped topping.

(I didn't like the consistency and

ended up beating it on low to get a smooth consistency.) I added just a little lemon extract at this point.

Using a cookie scoop, measure out an amount and

drop into a bowl that you have some powdered sugar in.

Roll in the sugar and

place about 2 inches apart on the sheet. They will flatten and spread as they cook.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes ( I baked the full amount of time) and allow to cool about 2 minutes before removing to finish cooling on wire rack.

The cookies will flatten as they cool on the pan. Store in cookie jar with wax paper between layers.

Here is a picture of the cookies cooling on the rack. I think you can see which ones I baked on the parchment paper and the ones I just used an ungreased cookie sheet as the directions stated.







We will see how we manage this week with the pandemic as winter seems to want to linger in Kansas City. It has made it a little bit easier with the normal and above normal temperatures, but for the last two weeks the temperatures have dropped to freezing over the weekends. The second time (weekend) the low temperatures killed every bloom on the peach tree. I was so sad. We planted the tree three years ago and this year looked like we might finally get some peaches from it. Last year it had about 10 peaches on it, but they just disappeared. Now this time the low temperatures (40s for the highs) are staying around even though the weekend is over. I guess we can at least go for a drive and the sun is shining so that always helps. Yesterday was Easter and it was sad not being with family.

This past week I had two days of feeling "blue". Even though I was doing some things, I didn't feel like it. I really felt like I was wasting away. Saturday I found a book to read online and spent most of Saturday reading and finished it last night. Today I feel like sewing so I guess I will work on another Blanket of Hope.

Pandemic numbers as of right now: 4/13/2020  - 7:30 AM EST 

United States

Confirmed cases                557,500   
Deaths                                  22,000

Global

Confirmed cases              1,802,747
Deaths                                 113,583

to be continued...

DAY WHATEVER OF SOCIAL DISTANCING

I've lost count. How about you? (Actually it has been 25 days since we started social distancing.)  The *numbers continue to be staggering with no end in sight. Even though I am accomplishing things (that's important to me since I base my worth on what I accomplish) it seems like all I do is get up and then go to bed. Last night I heard from Friend Carol of friends who have not left their houses. Their children are bringing groceries and leaving them at the door. I couldn't survive if we didn't at least take drives. I have been inside stores only a couple of times. Wayne has been a few more times. Last night we decided that even though we were trying to help out some local restaurants by ordering out, we probably shouldn't do that since it's always possible the workers could be infected.

This morning I am trying something different. I woke up before seven as I usually do, dozed back off for a bit, as I usually do, but this time I decided to get up and not go back to sleep until 8:30 or so. I will see how today goes. I have never liked sleeping late even though I am not an early riser. Probably when I was teaching I had to get up before seven, but seven is a good time for me to get up. Wayne is just the opposite - he loves staying up late and then sleeping in which retirement allows him.

Anyway this morning I am up and it isn't even 8 yet. I checked my emails and Facebook and decided I would share my thoughts here since it has been over a week. I find the days are hard to keep straight but for today, my phone will help me out.

Believe it or not, several days ago I decided I would do something "normal" for a change. It has been so normal for me for the last eight years, it's hard to believe it has not been normal for several months. 

What is she talking about now - you may be thinking. I will give you a another clue - probably the main reason is that we have been away so much the last few months with traveling.  

Guessed yet? 

Well, the answer is I decided to bake something. I take pictures with my phone and it dates everything so I can look and see when I did it. We still have a little bit left so I know it wasn't too many days ago. I did give Friend Fran some. Some of us in Blankets of Hope have been making face masks for a rehab/assisted living place that Fran's daughter Sheila is the activities director and I have been taking the finished masks over to Fran's for her. Since I had made the cake, I decided to share some of it with them.

According to my phone, I made the cake four days ago on April 3rd. I have been continuing to try to lose some weight (and that's another reason I haven't been baking much lately) and can't go to the Fitness Center I recently joined so I knew I wanted to make something with less sugar. I buy the sugar-free cake mixes to use when I am making something mainly for us so I thought I would check out The Cake Doctor and see what Anne Bryn had to offer. 

Didn't take me long at all to pick out her Banana Chocolate Chip Cake. I had the (sugar-free) yellow cake mix, frozen bananas, and mini-chocolate chips. I don't really understand when people use a cake mix and still add additional sugar. Anne added 1/4 cup. I would have used 1/4 cup stevia, but didn't have that much so I used 2 tablespoons of stevia/sugar blend. Even though it was in the sheet cake section, she said you could make it in a Bundt pan. So that is what I decided to do. It was a little difficult to get it out of the pan and then turn it back over so you could have the nuts on top, but I managed and only smashed it a little bit. If you served it in the pan and made it in the 9 x 13 - inch pan, it would be perfect.

Anyway, it was so-o-o-o-o good. Super moist. Love the mini chocolate chips and banana flavor. Fran and Sheila both loved it, too. (Didn't hear if Ted, Sheila's husband did, but that's okay. They might not have shared with him.😀)

BANANA CHOCOLATE CHIP CAKE

1     cup mashed bananas (from 2 to 3 very ripe bananas)
1     package plain yellow or vanilla cake mix (I used a sugar-free yellow cake mix)
1/4  cup sugar (I used 2 tablespoons sugar/stevia blend)
3/4  cup oil
1/2  cup sour cream (I used light sour cream)
4     large eggs
2     teaspoons vanilla extract
1     cup (6 ounces) miniature semisweet chocolate chips
3/4  cup finely chopped pecans
powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly mist a 9 x 13 - inch metal cake pan and then dust with flour OR you may use a Bundt pan. Set aside.

Place the mashed bananas, cake mix, granulated sugar, oil, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low speed until the ingredients are wet, about 30 seconds.

Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase speed to medium and beat for 1-1/2 more minutes.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl again.

Fold in the chocolate chips and

pour the batter into the pan. Make sure you use that spatula to get every little bit of that delicious batter.

Smooth out the top and sprinkle the finely chopped pecans evenly over the top.

Bake until the top springs back (43 - 48 minutes for the sheet cake and 50 to 55 minutes for the Bundt cake)

Remove the cake from the oven and immediately sift the powdered sugar over the top so that it can melt and form a glaze. (I didn't do this right away but I could have. I was trying to find a way to remove the cake from the pan and then flip it over so the nuts and powdered sugar glaze would be on top. It was still delicious though.) Let the cake cool at least 20 minutes before eating it. 

I just have to share another picture of it in the cake pan. This is why I didn't get the powdered sugar on it right away. I was trying to find flat things big enough but not so big I couldn't still handle them while trying to flip the cake out of the pan.

I haven't talked much about the "new normal" for us but I will do that another day. The sun is trying to peek out of the clouds and that lifts my spirits but I will share the latest numbers as I did in the last post. As I said at the beginning, they are so staggering. (The numbers in parenthesis are the numbers from the last time I reported them.)

Coronavirus Pandemic Reporting 4/7/2020 (3/28/2020)

United states

Confirmed cases       368,653  (102,361)
Deaths                         10,942  (    1,613)

Global

Confirmed cases    1,323,923 (602,148)
Deaths                        75,094  (  27,989)

Here is my latest design for a Blanket of Hope.