Super busy week and weekend! My awesome stay in Devine ended last Thursday morning, when we left from my grandsons’ home to bring me back home! That afternoon, grocery shopping and a nap were the order of the day, Friday, I baked cakes for the church picnic and Saturday, I spent a large portion of the day helping make the cream cheese and poppy seed rolls that are a main fundraiser. It was fun and everything turned out really good. Sunday was picnic day and was a really busy day. However, I was finished working and after lunch watched the auction for a bit and came back to the house, hard work but also a fun time. This column is truly a “Did you know…column, as I’ve noticed several things over the past several weeks/months and even years, that you may or may not have noticed. For instance: we all know that for years, bacon is no longer sold by the pound (16-ozs) but comes in packages that contain 12-ozs, and yes, it is still the same price or higher than the 16-oz packages were.
Sugar has come in four-pound bags, rather than the five it used to be for several years, the cake mix change from 18.25 to 15.25 and sometimes less is old news already and has been in place for a long time, and they really expect us homemakers to believe that we get the same size cake from the new size that we did from the old, larger size! Several of us have had the problem of the cake rising nicely and then falling when it cools, especially if we use the additions we are used to using.
Most of us are used to making the “Fire Crackers” that use two packages at 1 lb. each of oyster crackers, along with the oil and Ranch Dressing mix, now, the crackers come in packages that weigh only either 10-oz or 11-oz and are $1.25 each, rather than the $1.00 the larger packages used to be. Yes, this means if we want to make this snack it now costs us $3.75 to make, rather than just $2.00. My solution to this was to go back to using a box of saltine crackers, which is what the original recipe called for!
Recently, I discovered, when changing out my tissue box (I have a cover that my Mother made me, so it was very noticeable), that the new box was about one-half-inch or more, shorter than the previous box. Toilet paper: you remember several years ago they came out with the mega-roll, and they gave us the new rolls for our holders? Well, guess what, those mega rolls are now about one-inch narrower than they were previously, and I am not sure if they are not less in diameter than they were, (I have a holder and was having to almost force the rolls in and now they slide in easily), and we still pay the same price and sometimes more. Paper towel rolls seem to be the same width, and diameter but I’m not sure if they contain the same square footage. It’s easy for me to tell with the width and diameter, as the holder I use is one that was hand-made to fit the rolls and it has been in use for over 25 years and they still fit!
Tea now comes in boxes that are 22-count where they used to be 24-count, and yes we pay the same price. Coffee has been in smaller cans for many years, but I can tell that you really do get the same flavor from less coffee.
Also, I am not sure whether shortening still comes in 1-lb containers (it does), and if what used to be a 3-lb container still contains that much, because I use such a small amount of shortening, that when it’s needed, I buy the sticks which are sold, wrapped in plastic with a band that tells you that you are getting 3-one cup sticks and the weight is 20-oz or 1-lb-4-oz.
Canned goods still seem to be holding at 15½ to 16-oz and you can still get evaporated milk in a 12-oz can as well as a 5 oz can. Cereals vary with brand and product, however, I only buy dry cereal when I need it for a recipe, and buy only the size box I need, which sometimes makes a double recipe!
Mom’s Cornflake Crispies
5 cups cornflakes
½ cup sugar
½ cup honey or white Karo®
½ cup peanut butter
¼ cup nuts
Butter a large mixing bowl, pour in cornflakes and set aside. Butter a 9×12 pan and set aside. Combine sugar, honey or syrup and peanut butter and bring to a boil over medium heat. Pour over the cornflakes. Mix well and pat into prepared pan. While warm, cut into squares.
Quickie Bars
4 eggs
1 box (1 pound) brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups baking mix (i.e. Bisquick, Pioneer, etc)
1 cup chopped pecans
1 can Bakers Coconut
Beat eggs and brown sugar together. Stir in vanilla and baking mix, until well mixed; add pecans and coconut and stir together. Pour into 9×13 baking pan and bake at 350ºF for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool thoroughly and cut into bars.