Mid Century Housewife: Pumpkin Caramel Blondies!!!!!!!!!!

Hello again!!!

Today has been a lazy kind of day. Honey and I both have the day off and it is a little chilly out today so we decided to make it a comfort food kind of day!!!

There is a stew bubbling on the stove that Honey made and I baked a delicious batch of pumpkin caramel blondies! Y-U-M!!

I know, I know... there is pumpkin EVERYTHING, everywhere right now but that is because it is soooo delicious!!!!

This recipe for blondies has pumpkin, chocolate, caramel AND walnuts (which you can omit if you have food allergies). It's soooo tasty. I promise you will love it even though it's not at all vintage...

You will need:

For the blondies:
3/4 cup softened butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the filling:
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1- 14 ounce package caramels
1/4 cup heavy cream


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x13 square glass baking dish. I used a normal non glass one with parchment paper and it did the trick.

Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, vanilla and pumpkin and stir until combined.

 Slowly combine the flour, baking soda and salt with the pumpkin mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and stir again to make sure batter is smooth and well combined.

Spread about 2/3 of the batter into prepared pan. Cover with the chocolate and walnuts.

In a small microwaveable bowl combine the caramels and heavy cream. Microwave on high stirring every 20 seconds until smooth and fully melted.

Pour the caramel over the pumpkin, chocolate and walnuts. Spread with an off set spatula or the back of a spoon to make sure it is spread evenly.

Dollop the remaining pumpkin batter over the caramel and spread all over. Try to make it even and smooth. Its ok if some of the caramel peeks though.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until edges are set and a fork poked in the middle comes out clean. There may be some caramel on the fork but there should be no batter.

Let cool completely, or if you are like Honey and I, let cool for about 10 minutes and dig in!!! It will be nice and ooey gooey! Add a dollop of homemade whipped cream on top to finish it off (I forgot to and just went for it plain.)

SOOOO GOOOD!!!!


If you are looking for something a little more old school, here is a 1959 recipe for Pumpkin Dream Pie!!! I may try this one for a retro spin to our Thanksgiving celebration.

Vintage Christmas Prep- 3 Months!!!!

Hi everyone!!!

Before I start I want to apologize for the two week absence. UGH!! At first it was just because I was extremely busy with starting the new dance school season. Then I was having trouble with the wireless internet service in our apartment. But, now everything is back to normal and I'm back!!! YAY!!!!

Well, today is September 25th (can you believe that it's the end of September? Already!!! AND Autumn is officially here!!! WOOT!) so you know what that means VINTAGE CHRISTMAS TIME!!!!

I had planned on sharing a 1947 Better Homes and Gardens magazine that I bought from ebay. Unfortunately, it hasn't arrived in the post yet so I'll have to save that for another day. I can't wait to get it!!! I've also ordered a couple of new skirts and some vintage Christmas ornaments. Hopefully it all arrives soon so that I can share.

Since I don't have the magazine yet,  I thought I would share some of the recipes I want to try out this holiday. Since we are trying to do a late 40s Christmas I want to put away some of my trusted new modern recipes and try some older ones. Honey is not too keen on the idea but she's willing to try it. I figured I would do mostly baking recipes since those are the ones that seemed to work best when I did the 50's Housewife project

So here they are:

The first ones come from Gourmet magazine. I was so lucky as to find a list of some of their Christmas cookie recipes from the 1940's. A recipe for every year in the 40's!!! This is a great list of cookies. It states on the website that these are all authentic recipes from their 1940's issues. All of the recipes were retested but none of the recipes were altered in any way! FUN!

Gourmet Magazine Cookie Recipes from the 1940's

The next recipe is a 1946 recipe that comes from an unpublished book on British food written by George Orwell. The book was never published because of the severe rationing during wartime. I've always wanted to try a traditional Christmas pudding but always chicken out at the last minute. I've decided to be brave and just go for it this year. 

George Orwell's Christmas Pudding

Here is a leaflet of food facts from 1945. It also contains recipes that are made with rationed ingredients. I'm thinking of trying the Mincemeat recipe.

Food Facts Leaflet

Here are some Honey Filled Cookies from a 1940s Women's Day magazine. They look a little labor intensive but YUMMY! I don't think I've ever had a honey filled cookie!

Women's Day Honey Cookies

These last few recipes are from the Edith Adams website (Edith, I've found out, was a fictitious food writer for the Vancouver Sun. There were actually 5 different women who made up Edith. Fun huh?!?). How yummy do these recipes sound?! I think I'll try them all!!!

Last Minute Christmas Cake

War Christmas Candy

Bachelor's Yule Cake

Never Fail Creamy Fudge

So there it is. The start, of my Christmas baking list!!! I usually start gathering recipes around this time every year. Then I start practicing baking new recipes in October. I MUST do a baking trial because, as you may have noticed, I'm a little particular about baking. It has to be perfect, especially for holidays. There is nothing worse than trying out a recipe on the day you need it and it turns out a bust. UGH!!! A pre-bake is a complete must in our house!!!


Don't forget. Only 91 days! Don't let it sneak up on you!!!!



xoxo

Mid Century Housewife Day 12: Slippery When Wet

Sorry I'm a day late getting this post up. I was feeling super lazy yesterday. I think it's the heat. All I did was stay in bed, watch TCM and eat snacks. Not that I could cook anything in my kitchen anyway. More on that later.

Anyway, Saturday was Day 12 and the last day of the project.

Saturday is basically a free day on the housewife schedule. Its all about the daily clean, baking, cooking and catching up on things that didn't get done during the week. I'm guessing knitting, sewing, reading...things of that sort.

For me it was organizing and paying the monthly bills...UGH!! The worst part of the month (especially when you want to get a couple of new dresses and maybe some kitchen toys. Then you realize that you will be working MUCH less than normal until next month. So no dresses or toys...sigh. Maybe I'll treat myself to a vintage magazine or cookbook.). I'm still waiting to hear from the Experian credit people on some identity theft on my credit report. Someone opened an AT&T account in my name last year and racked up a $600 cell phone bill in my name.I didn't catch it until last month unfortunately. So now they have to investigate before they take it off of my report. This is really stressing me out because I finally paid off ALL of my credit card debt and thought I was home free. Now this, and right when we're trying to get all of our ducks in a row to start the relocation process. Ah well, I guess it could be worse.

I got to relax much more this day than all the other days because everything was already clean! I mean EVERYTHING. And Honey had to work so I only had to make lunch for myself and Givenchy. I have to admit that I do, in fact, cook for the pup sometimes. It's fun to do. He's so easy to please!!!! hehe

Dinner that night was

Hmmmm...right???

Ok. So on paper it doesn't seem like it would be any kind of tasty, right. Or at the very least, just super bland.

Well, while not at all a pretty dish, it wasn't that bad!

Please excuse the paper plate. This is where my broken kitchen comes in. After I got dinner in the oven, I started washing up the dishes. As I was washing I noticed that there was a little water on the floor. I thought it was just water from the dishes. Then I noticed that it was a LOT of water and it was really warm. I looked under the sink and that's when I noticed that the kitchen sink pipe was broken. I mean water gushing out!!!!! sigh...

I'm so glad I got dinner done and most of the dishes washed before that happened! We haven't been able to use the kitchen sink since. My landlord is trying her best to get someone out here today but it is waaayyy too hot to not have a kitchen sink. I guess I'll be washing dishes in the bathtub until it gets repair. I'm still waiting and it's noon...

So paper plates it is.

AND on top of all of that, while I'm cleaning up buckets of water, I get a call from Honey. She had a co worker who was leaving and had to go to a last minute going away party. I don't get annoyed at Honey often but this time, I have to admit, I was totally annoyed. Not only was there water all over the floor but now my dinner, which consisted mostly of beef, would have to go untouched for over an hour.  So...my dinner had to sit around and wait...and wait...and wait... Since I had dinner alone I just made more broccoli instead of the green beans I was going to make.  Honey didn't make it home until midnight. Thankfully the beef hadn't gotten too dry and she liked it. It was pretty good.

Dessert I made before I even started dinner so it didn't get affected by my little kitchen flood.

I made Blueberry cobbler!!!

THIS was the yummiest vintage dessert that I made all week. Soooo yummy and soooo simple to make.

The recipe says Rubarb Cobbler (which is probably just as delish) but there is a blueberry option at the bottom of the recipe.  There were so many yummy blueberries in the supermarket, I had to take advantage of them! I didn't make a photo of the recipe of the biscuit dough that goes on top but I think your favorite biscuit recipe should work. I would think it would even work with Bisquick!!! Try it!!! I topped off the warm cobbler with Neapolitan ice cream. YUM!

Tomorrow I'll post a wrap up of the 12 days. It really has been a lot of fun and my home is SPOTLESS! I love it. When I woke up this morning I still did the daily tidying even though I didn't have to. Funny, huh??



See you tomorrow, lovies!!

Mid Century Housewife Day 11: Redemption Song

Sigh...

I want to thank you guys for the encouraging words when I had my mini breakdown in the last post. I'm such a perfectionist sometimes. It really stinks! But I'm better now and things are going much more smoothly. You guys are the best!!!!!

Yesterday (Friday), Day 11 of the Mid Century Housewife Project,was soooo much better than the days before.

I was able to fit breakfast, lunch and dinner in the day. I have been doing it all the other days but barely squeezing a light lunch in. I seemed to have more than enough time this time. YAY!!!

Before lunch I WALKED to the supermarket in 90 degree weather. In a day dress... Soooo hot!! We are in a middle of a heat wave here in the city. Have I ever mentioned to you all that I'm not a heat person. Yes, I'm from Louisiana but ugh!! I much prefer the cloudiness and coolness of the fall. I'm already excited for fall colors and the prospect of wearing soft sweaters and cardigans. And fall shoes!!!! OOHHH!! I can't wait to get my hands on some cute vintage or vintage-like fall shoes. I already have one pair gifted to me by a fellow blogger. I plan on pairing them with a wool circle skirt that I got toward the end of winter. I wasn't able to wear it because by the time I got it it was out of season.
OH! And the smell of pumpkin
OOOHHH!! And hot apple cider with cinnamon sticks!!!


Sorry about the fall day dreaming. It's my favorite season. Anyway. Its hot and I'm not enjoying it one bit.

Another thing that went well was the cleaning. Since I missed my "thorough clean" on Thursday because of the holiday, I had to double clean yesterday. That meant getting the ENTIRE apartment squeaky clean. Thankfully, I have the best Honey in the world, who didn't mind getting her hands dirty and helping out. I did most of the work but the small things she did really helped so that I could concentrate on the bigger things. YAY for teamwork!!!

Dinner was also a success!!!

It came from the Good Housekeeping Cookbook again

Honey was nervous about apple juice and sugar in a chicken dish but I had a feeling it would work well. And it did!!! Super YUM!!

We had some fresh broccoli in the fridge so I just steamed it and added rice.

And for dessert was Strawberry Shortcake

I don't know who Susan is but she has a darn good shortcake recipe!!! Thanks Susan!! You rock!

 I was pooped by the time I served dessert. During dinner I couldn't eat much because I just didn't have the energy to put fork to mouth!


Well, that was yesterday. Bear with me while I change subjects and talk about some blog happenings...

 I have decided to cut the project short by two days. SAD FACE. Honey has gigs to do makeup for PLUS her normal job at MAC, so for the next two days she'll be gone from morning to late at night/morning. That means the cooking big meals will be limited. Today will be the last day. I'll post about it tomorrow along with a summary of the 12 days.

But, I do plan on keeping Mid Century Housewife as a monthly feature on the blog. I'm thinking about posting the results of mid century recipes and giving housekeeping tips from mid century sources. I think it would be fun! I've been having such a blast that I want to keep the party going!

There will also be another feature starting this month. As most of you know I am a Christmas FREAK! I love everything about the holiday! I always start planning decor and outings around this time of year (there's only 5 months to go ya know. I know it seems like plenty of time but now is the time to start getting prepared so that you're not overwhelmed when the holiday arrives.). So every month on the 25th day (which is considered Rudolph Day) I'll do a vintage theme Christmas post. Maybe it will be about decorations, maybe about holiday planning. Who knows?!!? Just count on it being holiday-y!

Also Project Cape Cod is about to be in full swing!!! We have talked to our landlord and this will definitely be the last year in this apartment. When our lease is up next summer we hope to move into a place that will be in the location where we eventually plan on buying. We are thinking of looking farther from the city than initially planned. That way I'll be closer to work. It's a little scary. I never thought we'd be looking to settle outside of NYC but it's becoming more and more of a possibility. We'll see how everything pans out and I'll keep you all posted!

Hope you all are having a fabulous weekend!!

Stay cool!!

xoxo

Mid Century Housewife Days 9 and 10: Breaking Schedules... Or how I've Been Failing Miserably...

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!

I think I spoke too soon when I said in the last post that keeping the schedule has been easy for me.

Day 9 (Wednesday) was sooooo hard. I don't know whether it was the fact that Honey was off and home watching television or that I'm just getting lax in my schedule but... I had the WORST time staying on task.

That's just not me! I don't know what happened but before I knew it I found myself plastered in front of the television catching up on shows with Honey!! It's so hard to stay on task when she's off. I just want to be with her and snuggle. It seems that the schedule leaves no time for snuggling and spooning. Or perhaps its just supposed to come after dinner. During that time that says "enjoy a relaxing evening".

Around noon I realized what I was doing, freaked out and started cleaning like a mad woman! No matter how fast I cleaned, I couldn't make up the time lost! Having to stop and feed Honey lunch totally made sure of that. Sigh... On top of the cleaning I had to take time and wash my hair and have Honey trim it. Once again, breaking the mid century mold, but whatever. Hair is important and worth it.

Soooo, needless to say I had a major time management issue. Which means that it was time for dinner before I knew it... Actually is was way past dinner time. Like 9 o'clock.

I went to the Good Housekeeping cookbook and looked for something that I had ingredients for that could be made quickly. Nothing. So I decided to make for dinner what I had planned for the next day's lunch...are you ready for it (I don't think you are)?

Hash Cheeseburgers (I didn't take a pic of the recipe. It was on two consecutive pages in the book and was hard to photograph. I'm not sure you'll want this recipe anyway, but I'll give you the gist of it: Take a can on corned beef hash, mix it with chili sauce and sliced stuffed olives. Toast the english muffins. Spread the hash mixture over the muffins, place under the broiler until heated through. Place a slice of american cheese on top and put back under broiler to melt. Take out and garnish with parsley and stuffed olives. MMMMMMmmmm...)

Yes I know. It kind of sounds disgusting but hey... the point of all this is to be adventurous...right??

What you really want to know is, was it tasty, right?

Ummm... NOPE! With a capital N.O.P.E!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've tried corned beef hash only one other time in my life and I thought it was the most vile thing ever. But Honey likes it in eggs so I decided to try it again. I have decided that it is even more vile than I remembered it.

Honey didn't even like it and she LIKES the stuff.

Maybe it was the chili sauce added to it. Or maybe it was the fact that you just spread it on an english muffin and heat it up...Or maybe it's the fact that corned beef hash looks AND tastes like something I could feed Givenchy. Maybe it was a combination of it all. But it was the WORST!!

So after tasting a few bites we both decided to just warm up the Frank Top Hatters from the night before.

Thank goodness we had left overs.



On to Day 10 (Thursday), otherwise know as Independence Day!!!!

Again, my schedule got totally thrown for a loop. I was able to get the daily cleaning done but it was supposed to be a "thorough clean" day and with having to get ready for the Liberty Belle Extravaganza, I had no time for that. So daily cleaning and dusting would have to do. I'll double up on the cleaning today.

I met up with Honey at her job and we were off to celebrate the 4th of July on the rooftop of the Hotel Empire.

The event was decent. I had such high hopes for it that I think I had too high of expectations.

During the day, it was really fun and the atmosphere was great. There was dancing and live bands and burlesque acts. The scenery was amazing, and the food and drinks were top notch!

I decided to wear my blue eyelet dress that I bought for Viva. I just added a red belt and flower.  I got a lot of compliments on it so I'm glad I didn't spend a million bucks on a new dress.

I should have taken a pic of Honey's whole outfit. We found this cute little 1940s looking blue blouse from Forever 21. She wore that and some highwaisted slacks. Super cute!

So what was not to like? Well, once the sun set the place got SUPER crowded. I mean, SUPER CROWDED. So crowded that it was really difficult to get any decent shots after sunset. We were all so close together. And there wasn't very much seating. I think they should really think of changing that for next year. I could understand if there was ample dance floor but even that was limited!!!!! Then in true NY fashion the champagne started flowing and people became ridiculous.  The place became a typical NY nightclub with flecks of vintage tucked in. Which was disappointing. Granted there were more music and dancing acts that were to perform but the atmosphere changed dramatically. Sidenote: People become so rude when they're intoxicated. All sense of civility goes out the window and they become silly and just... I don't know...annoying. I'm glad I don't drink to that point anymore. Not saying that I have never over indulged, but my 20s are DEFINITELY in my past thank goodness. Now if I drink too much at least I know to stop before I become too much unlike myself. I wish others knew to do the same.

We had a great time for about 3 hours up until the sun went down, then when things got too crazy we ended up leaving a little early. Around 10pm. Honey was exhausted from working all day and I was annoyed. We had plans to go to the Rockabilly Night Market here in Brooklyn, but when BOTH of our phones died I couldn't look up the address (we went last year and had a complete ball. It switched locations this year). So we just came home and had ice cream and wine. I guess it wasn't a bad way to end a weird day.


These last two days have been the hardest yet. Not because of the cleaning being difficult or  my not liking to cook or anything like that. Just because I was becoming so proud of being able to stay on time with everything. These days have thrown me for a huge loop. Totally makes me feel like a mini failure. I'm sure housewives around the world can relate. Or at least I hope they can. We don't even have a kid and I think it's hard. I couldn't imagine adding little ones. Although I hope to soon!!!!

Here's to today being a better more productive day than the last!!!


xoxo

Mid Century Housewife Day 8: Ballerinas and Top Hatters!

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a weird housewife day because I had to go in to the studio. My boss had an emergency and couldn't go in to teach so she called on me. No, it wasn't totally housewifey but duty called.

So I made breakfast, did the daily cleaning and went to the supermarket. I prepared the beginning of today's dinner and put it in the fridge. I'm glad I chose something that was pie like and was an easy make ahead dinner. I went to the studio for a couple of hours, met up with Honey, came home and put dinner in the oven. I was a little apprehensive to go teach because of the experiment. I went only because there was no one else who was available and I like to be helpful when I can. But now I'm glad I went. It gave me the chance to see that most of the housewife schedule I will be able to keep up with when I start back teaching. Of course things like meeting Honey at the door with a drink will have to go.  I also won't be able to cook dinner every night but fortunately for me Honey is an excellent cook and can take up the slack there (and there won't be nearly as many mid century meals though I do plan on making at least one a month. Maybe I'll make it a feature here on the blog.). Things like the morning dusting and the weekly "thorough clean" days I plan on keeping.

I believe that all of my dance training has made all of the schedule keeping easy for me. In dance (ballet in particular) there are certain things that you have to do every time you have class. At times its done the exact same way every class for weeks and weeks on end. This is done in order to perfect whatever it is you are learning. Being used to and expecting repetition definitely comes in handy for this little experiment.

Well, It looks like I'm off subject again. Now, on to dinner.

Today's dinner (and the dinner for the next few days) came from the Good Housekeeping Cookbook published in 1955.

I wasn't too sure about this one but figured it had to be a least decent. I mean it has hotdogs, baked beans and cornbread.

And...

It was a success!!!!!!!

YAY!!!!

It was actually pretty good. I really think kids would love it. It reminded me of a corn dog! It was a little runny. I think from all the milk. I think next time I make it I'll reduce the amount of milk in the recipe. That way it thickens a little more. But it was tasty. We're going to have the leftovers for lunch today.

Today's plan is more cleaning laundry, hair washing and wardrobe prep for tomorrow. Tomorrow is Independence Day here in the States. So that means Honey and I get a night on the town. Vintage style. We're going to the Liberty Belle Extravaganza on the roof of the Empire Hotel in Manhattan. UBER excited!!  I was going to buy a new dress but I have so many dresses that I bought for Viva that I only wore the one time, so I think I'll recycle (I'll save the new dress buying for my birthday next month!). It should be a great way to spend the holiday!!! I'll be sure to take a lot of pictures and share them with you all.

That's the Housewife update for the day!

Mid Century Housewife Day 7: Salmon Loaf...Another Mid Century Food Fail

Yes, It happened again.

Another food fail.

This time with Salmon Loaf. I know, I know. It doesn't sound good to begin with. But you never know, right. 

Well, it's not that great. At all. I think its all the bread crumbs mixed with canned fish. Just not the best texture combination. The taste wasn't TERRIBLE. But I definitely wouldn't recommend it. Honey had a bad day at work so she was a little more straightforward in telling me she thought it was disgusting. HA! But, that's the point of cooking all these recipes this week. There's bound to be some bad ones. Luckily it's been more good than bad. 

If I had stuck with the Searchlight Recipe Book that I used in the posts from Day 4 and 5 we would have been eating...salmon roll...Which is basically tinned salmon rolled in a bread dough. I'm not sure which is worse!! 

Here is the recipe... (from Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook)

And here it is in all it's fishy glory!

Yep. This, my dears, is a salmon loaf. Like a meat loaf but made with (of course) canned salmon...

I had hope for this recipe because I looked up a modern version of the recipe and it had gotten 4 stars in the reviews. But nope... I didn't even like this one. I think it's also the addition of the white sauce in it (shiver). 

BUT...dessert was a treat!

It was exactly what the recipe says it is. A pudding brownie or a brownie-y pudding. It was kind of like those molten lava chocolate cakes. Really tasty. I put the last of our ice cream on top. And added some caramel sauce. A really good way to end the night.

This was strictly a food post because the daily housewife routine just repeats itself everyday with only a few slight changes. I think I'm going to keep much of the schedule when life goes back to normal at the end of the week. Especially the tidying up first thing in the morning. It keeps the house nice and neat without a lot of work. 

But I'll tell you what I've been struggling with. I've been struggling with actually having to get totally dressed first thing in the morning. Usually I wake up early and piddle about the house in my pajamas until it's time for me to start getting ready for work. Only then do I put on a full face and do my hair and pretty up. Before that, I'm quite a homely sight!!!! But the housewife schedule requires that you get dressed right after breakfast. It's killing me!! Of all the things that you would think would be hard for me these two weeks and it's putting on clothes!! Haha! Oh well, at least the house dresses I have are comfortable. 

Stay tuned for Day 8 (geez, has it been that long already?!?!?!)

xoxo