Feeling Domestic

I have been watching the weather 'struggles' on the East Coast while we have been freezing here in southern Ontario.

I was raised in Nova Scotia.  Making bread is part of my heritage.  Today I got the urge for an old-fashioned Maritime meal.  Tonight we will have baked beans and brown bread.  That particular meal is also part of my heritage.  I wonder how many times that was our Saturday evening meal.  I think it was one of my father's favourites.  I'm not so sure about us kids.

When we were raising our family, I often made bread.  Kneading the dough is one of my favourite things to do.  Homemade bread tends to get stale quicker than store bread and I got away from making our own.

But today, I dug out my cookbook and made some Cape Breton Brown Bread.  I got 'A Treasury of  Nova Scotia Heirloom Recipes' back in August 1969.  It was published by the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture and Marketing as part of the 1967 centennial celebrations.  

I know that whenever someone mentions a recipe, her friends want the details.  I have shared this recipe many times.  I know my sister-in-law used to make it too.

Cape Breton Brown Bread

Pour 2 cups boiling water over 1 cup rolled oats.  Let stand 1 hour.  Add:  1/2 cup molasses, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 tablespoon butter.  Add one yeast cake dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water.  Add 5 cups flour.  No more, no less, not even a smidgin, or you'll not have Cape Breton Brown Bread!

Beat well.  Let rise until double in bulk.  Beat again.  Spoon into pan.  Let rise again.  Bake 3/4 to 1 hour at 375*.

When I was making bread for our family, I often doubled the recipe to make 4 pans.  Also, I copied the recipe as it was written.  Personally, I use only 1 teaspoon salt.

Finished product.

Since the oven was already heated for the bread, I decided to make the Tomato Soup Cake my husband has been requesting for months.  I don't bake very often because I don't want to eat what I make but this is something I know he likes so as long as I stay out of it, I will be all right.

This recipe is from Woman's Day or Family Circle magazine.   Those magazines were my indulgence when money was tight.  Back then they were 10 cents or maybe 25 cents.  I don't remember now.

Tomato Soup Cake

2 tbsp butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 tsp baking soda

10-oz. can tomato soup

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

3/4 cup chopped nuts [I usually omit these because Hubby is not a fan]

1 cup chopped dates or 1/2 cup raisins [raisins is my choice]

Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.  Cream butter and sugar together.  Add egg and beat well.  Dissolve baking soda in tomato soup.  Sift flour, cinnamon and cloves together and stir in alternately with soup to creamed mixture.  Add nuts and dates or raisins and mix well.  Pour into pan.  Bake in preheated 350* oven for 40 to 45 minutes.  Serves 9.

Lemon-Butter Frosting

Cream 4 T. butter or margarine with 1 cup sifted icing sugar.  Stir in 1 T. lemon juice.  Beat in 1 cup more icing sugar alternately with 2 tsp. milk, until smooth and easy to spread.  Makes about 1 1/4 cup.

[I make half the frosting recipe and there is plenty.  I call this cake Spice Cake rather than Tomato Soup Cake because I don't want to turn someone off from trying it just because of the name.  It is good.]