Helpful Hints From Kathy's Kitchen

The first time I cooked was when I moved into a houseful of girls in college. After much help, a lot of frustration, and a few tears, I learned to love cooking.

It wasn’t long before I was able to laugh with my friends over some of the mishaps I had. From time to time you could hear any of the girls in the house call out: “Helpful hint from Kathy’s kitchen.” Examples:  “For best results, remove fork from plate before closing microwave door … To save time when serving brownies, leave utensil in pan while brownies are baking … For cleaner kitchen, turn off mixer before lifting it from cake batter … When baking hamburgers, use deeper pan than cookie sheet, unless, of course, you prefer to have grease running out of oven onto kitchen floor …” And so on.

Thirty-five years later, after many hours and experiences with cooking, I decided to start up Kathy’s Kitchen again. This time, I’ll share some of my favorite recipes, as well as some others have shared with me.

And you never know when a new helpful hint might also appear.

Please send me any recipe, or special hint, you’d like to be distributed by Kathy’s Kitchen.

This first recipe is from the kitchen of my mother, Lila Mae Brinkmann. One of my favorites when I was growing up.

BOSTON BROWN BREAD

Boil two cups water; Add two cups raisins, two heaping teaspoons baking soda and two heaping tablespoons margarine.  Let this mixture soak for four or five hours.  Then add two teaspoons cinnamon, three cups flour, two cups sugar, and two eggs.  Mix and pour into two greased loaf pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes.

Variation: My mom always made several round loaves out of these, pouring the batter into 16-ounce vegetable cans. They were such cute little loaves.

This method never worked well for me. Helpful hint: “To save time cutting bread, after baking, simply dump loaf out of can onto serving plate. It will fall into several edible pieces.”