Friday, November 12, 2021

Holiday Pre-Prep Prep: Use Your Words

 

Triple Chocolate Dome Cake, for the holidays or any occasion. | recipe developed by www.BakingInATornado.com | #recipe #dessert



Today’s post is a monthly writing challenge. If you’re new here, this is how it works: participating bloggers picked 4 – 6 words or short phrases for someone else to craft into a post. All words must be used at least once. All of the posts will be unique as each writer has received their own set of words. That’s the challenge, here’s a fun twist; no one who’s  participating knows who got their words and in what direction the recipient will take them. Until now.




At the end of this post you’ll find links to the other blogs featuring this challenge. Check them all out, see what words they got and how they used them.
I'm using:  harvest ~ bountiful ~ elite ~ food ~ machines
They were submitted by Diane of On the Border.
 
This is the time of year when we all start thinking about food, holiday food to be exact. We're thankful for the bountiful fall  harvest and anticipate sharing the flavors of favorite holiday recipes with our friends and family.
 
I'm not saying there isn't stress involved in the holidays, the planning, the shopping, the prepping, the cooking, it all takes a lot of effort. But it's balanced by the anticipation, the build up to those special days, being together as a family, sharing those favorite foods with the people we love.
 
Over these past few years, this year specifically, the stress level is higher. The unvaccinated are allowed to walk among us with impunity, and most mask mandates are a thing of the past. 
 
Last year, the concern was more about the people we were exposed to. Well, that and our . . . ahem . . . bathroom comfort needs. 

We all learned, stunned and staring at empty shelves, in the early days of Covid, that grabbing an item at the store when we needed it was no longer an option. Those toilet paper making machines were working 24/7, but it still took months before we could see toilet paper on store shelves without putting on a helmet and tackling everyone in the store between us and those coveted rolls.

Toilet paper nirvana once again achieved, this year our issue is the food chain. And bountiful is a word that just might be obsolete, in jeopardy of being wiped from the dictionary. Both food availability and affordable prices are a thing of the past. 

At different times I've been unable to find for weeks at a time: bone in chicken breast, chicken wingettes, canned chilis, ramen soup packets, ginger ale, butter, and eggs.
 
I actually anticipated that there might be an issue with holiday foods, so I was strategic, did some holiday pre-prep prep, I bought a turkey last December when they were marked way down. And just a few months ago, in August and September, I started buying my Thanksgiving ingredients. I bought cans of pumpkin, stuffing ingredients, anything I could buy ahead and store in the pantry or freezer, I bought both when I could find them, and when, although the prices were already climbing, it turns out they cost almost half of what they are now.

And let me tell you, the price of food has become an issue too. They aren't creeping up, they're climbing like a monkey let loose in a banana plantation. 

I was thinking about creating a new recipe using spaghetti squash. Nope. Seems a spaghetti squash now costs what a steak used to cost. And a steak? That now costs about the price of a used car. And don't get me off on a tangent about used cars, College Boy's been looking for almost a year . . .

When the starving peasants couldn't even get bread back in the days of the French revolution, Marie Antoinette's "let them eat cake," is referred to as a classic example of the insensitivity of the elite to the plight of the masses. 
 
But let me tell you, these days, a box of cake mix at the price of about 95 cents, makes cake just about the only affordable thing out there.
 
Now that's some epic irony. 
 
 
Triple Chocolate Dome Cake, for the holidays or any occasion. | recipe developed by www.BakingInATornado.com | #recipe #dessert

Triple Chocolate Dome Cake
Triple Chocolate Dome Cake, for the holidays or any occasion. | recipe developed by www.BakingInATornado.com | #recipe #dessert
 
Wishing you all successful Thanksgiving shopping. And as you venture out in preparation for that special day, I have another famous quote to share with you. In the words of Sgt. Phil Esterhaus, "let's be careful out there."
 


Use Your Words, a monthly group writing challenge | developed by and graphic property of www.BakingInATornado.com | #bloggingchallenge #MyGraphics
Here are links to all the other Use Your Words posts:
 

Baking In A Tornado signature | www.BakingInATornado.com | #MyGraphics






Triple Chocolate Dome Cake
                                               ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Ingredients:
1 box (15.25 oz) chocolate cake mix
1 box (3.9 oz) chocolate pudding mix
1 cup milk
1/3 cup oil
4 eggs
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

1 3/4 cups powdered sugar, divided
up to 4 TBSP milk
2 drops red food coloring
2 drops green food coloring

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 3 quart round oven safe glass dish.
*Beat the cake mix, pudding mix, 1 cup milk, oil, eggs, and mini chocolate chips for 2 minutes. Spread evenly into the prepared glass dish.
*Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, until the center of the top springs back to the touch. Cool for 10 minutes.
*Gently run a knife around the edges of the glass dish and invert the cake onto a serving plate. Cool completely.
*Place 3/4 cup powdered sugar into a small bowl. Mix up to 2 TBSP milk it to form a thick drizzling consistency. Pour over and around the top of the cake. Refrigerate for a few minutes to set.
*Place 1/2 cup powdered sugar each into 2 other small bowls. Mix in, a tsp at a time, enough milk to bring to drizzling consistency. Add 2 drops red food coloring into one bowl, and 2 drops of green food coloring into the other.
*Drizzle the red and the green toppings over the white. Refrigerate for a few minutes to set.

16 comments:

  1. 50 years ago, my dad famously uttered the words, "It's trucking that will bring our country to its knees!"
    Meaning we won't be able to find or buy things.
    I see it now as so much of what we get here in Canada comes from elsewhere. Especially food.
    With that and the climbing prices, it's a scary world out there!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, it's scary, prices are literally climbing daily. I do think it's partially because of the transportation issues, but also partially due to all of the (necessary) covid production and supply chain close downs, and another part (I'm sorry to say), just plain supply and demand induced greed.

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  2. Wow, people are not kidding when they're calling it a supply chain crisis. I may have waited 5 months for my steering system, and my favorite deep dish frozen pizza has disappeared from the stores, but we never had an issue finding staples like dairy. That's probably because we have lots of friendly Swiss cows just around the corner.
    I wouldn't mind having your cake if there's no spaghetti squash.

    ReplyDelete
  3. An entire generation of people who never experienced inflation and now....you're right about cake mixes; I wonder how they can hold the line?
    (To Diane: you've shown again what a wise man your father was.) Alana ramblinwitham.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I'm not sure how cake mixes are staying inexpensive, but we may all be eating a whole lot more cake.

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  4. If we have to eat cake, well, this one is a great start.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I don't buy a lot of processed food, and the only issue I've had is with Aldi being out of their brand of tortilla chips for a couple of weeks, but it's scary to think of what could happen down the line.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unfortunately, I think it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

      Delete
  6. Love the look of the cake with the patterns. Its crazy but sometimes I copy and paste dessert pics just for fun, and its a way to shave off the calories (wink)

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  7. I'm still super happy that I don't have to worry about it this year.
    I'm hoping we will eventually get back to pre-Covid life, in terms of prices and all that. People can still remain socially distant from me though :)

    ReplyDelete

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