August, 2016 - Bettina Network's Blog

Archive for August, 2016

Medjool Date Cake for Breakfast!

Wednesday, August 24th, 2016

This is a fantastic breakfast cake – which makes it a very special ending to good food, great conversation and learning serendipitously from those at a Bettina Network Table.

We share it with you and hope you enjoy this as much as we do.  We do, however, have to give credit where it is due.  This recipe was taken from an episode of “Martha Bakes”.  A show we record so we don’t miss an episode and from which we have found some mundane and some exceptional recipes.

What we use as a breakfast cake has a long English history.  It is called, by some, a Sticky Toffee Pudding.

Our recipe does not stick to the traditional recipe for a Sticky Toffee Pudding so we will call it a fantastic breakfast cake.  Many cultures have such a cake – not always with dates, but sticking holes in the cake and pouring a sauce over it is a way of baking that countries over the ages have shared.

Needless to say – all of the ingredients should be Organic.  The sugar we find best is Organic Turbinado Sugar.  The flour we like best is Organic Whole Wheat Pastry Flour.  The milk, eggs and all the rest must absolutely be organic.  We use extra large organic eggs.  For the salt – Himalayan Salt.  And the pots should be glass for this dish.  Preferably Corning Glass Pots with the blue cornflower on the side.  You probably can’t find them in the stores, but they are turning up with great frequency in estate sales.  Most have never been used.  Before you buy one check to make sure the inside still has that shiny look and has not been destroyed by the wrong kind of cleaning products.

Process – Steps to a Great Cake

Use one cup boiling or very hot water  poured over Medjool Dates to which you add 1 teaspoon baking soda.  Set this aside and let soften.

(The recipe from “Martha Bakes” says to put one cup coffee over dates.  We prefer the hot water.)

Mix the dry ingredients together –

2 teaspoon baking powder – 1 1/2 cup flour – 1/2 teaspoon salt

In an electric mixer –

beat together until light and fluffy –  one stick butter and one cup sugar

To the butter and sugar add two eggs, one at a time beating well after each addition. Here again, some people use 4 eggs.  We like the results that two eggs provide.

Add

date mixture, flour mixture, egg mixture and vanilla (if used)

Mix until moistened, but take care not to overmix. 

Spread batter in a pan

The pan can be either round or square

Before putting the batter into the pan, spread the pan with butter all over the insides of the pan.  This keeps the cake from sticking to the pan.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 55 to 65 minutes.

When done, remove the cake from the oven; let it cool in the pan; using a toothpick or other similar gadget poke holes all over the cake.

Pour warm toffee sauce over cake and let it absorb for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Toffee Sauce

Combine in a medium saucepan –

preferably a Corning pot with the blue cornflowers on the side:

Two sticks butter – one cup heavy cream – one cup organic turbinado sugar – 1/4 teaspoon salt

Put over low heat –

stirring, until sugar has dissolved.

Let simmer over medium heat for about 8 to 12 minutes before pouring this mixture over the Toffee Pudding.

This is what gives it the name – Sticky Toffee Pudding.

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Everything talked about in this blog and in any other blog in the Bettina Network, inc. is the opinion of the person who wrote the blog and does not necessarily represent the opinions of Bettina Network, inc. It is the property of Bettina Network, inc. and/or the person who wrote the original blog.

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

A Sample of Bettina Network’s Lessons and Requirements!

Tuesday, August 2nd, 2016

Bettina Network, inc. has guidelines and lessons for those who join the Network with a talent, body of knowledge, wisdom, art, craft, etc that they want to share.

To give you an idea as to what these small lessons and requirements are, we share the following:

“We understand all of the marketing behind stainless steel and other kinds of utensils for eating.  However —-

In Bettina Network, inc. as a Host Family and Hedge School Facilitator we require that you use silver utensils when serving any kind of food.  If you are using  stainless steel and/or other materials for your knives, forks, spoons and other utensils which go in the mouth, please change to silver as soon as possible.  They are a bit more expensive so you can take six weeks into joining the Network to change the utensils you use.  To be efficient in the use of your resources, you might want to sell your current utensils at an estate sale, or yard sale, etc. to find the money to replace them with silver, if necessary.

Why?  Because silver has anti-bacterial properties and we want to make sure guests and those coming to learn are as protected as possible.

Silver plate or sterling silver are equally fine.”

Some of our homes have moved even further and adopted the old German habit of using silver pots and pans for cooking.  That is the ultimate, but instead – if you can’t afford or don’t understand how to use these silver pots and pans and are a bit squeamish – you might try converting to a combination of iron and glass pots and pans.  Give the idea of silver pots and pans a bit of time and you won’t want to use anything else.  Corning used to make a fantastic set of pots with the blue cornflower on the side which is great either for cooking on top of the stove or for using in the oven for baking.  Cast iron – which you will need to  oil (season) after each use, is excellent also.  Please don’t oil these iron pots with Olive Oil.  It goes rancid quickly and defeats the purpose.  You might try Peanut Oil – Coconut Oil – or etc.  Stable oils which you use to cook foods when the temperature is higher than ‘slightly warm’.

If you have questions or comments, call or send us an email.  If you want your email published as a blog, please so indicate.

____________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

____________________________________________________

Everything talked about in this blog and in any other blog in the Bettina Network, inc. is the opinion of the person who wrote the blog and does not necessarily represent the opinions of Bettina Network, inc. It is the property of Bettina Network, inc. and/or the person who wrote the original blog.

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net


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