Wednesday, January 12, 2011 50 Year Old Spice Cake

The recipe is 50 years old. 1961, you can see it up in the corner of the aged paper (say it like Shakespeare, "age-ed paper" sounds cool). It belonged to my husband's grandmother. This is the first time I've made grandma's spice cake and it won't be the last.

It's delicious! I ate 4 cupcakes already!

I had to tweak it a bit, I didn't have molasses and I wanted to use butter (I still have some from Best of/Baked Potato Night!

So here's the recipe in it's Headbanging Hostess incakenation

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1 beaten egg
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cloves
3 tablespoons malt vinegar
3/4 cup milk
2 boxes of raisins (about 3 ounces)

Mix dry ingredients.

Add vinegar to milk.

In a large bowl cream the butter, mix in the sugar then add egg and mix until incorporated, add maple syrup and brown sugar and mix in.

Add some of the dry ingredients, mix a bit and then add milk mixture and mix a bit. Repeat, alternating between the dry ingredients and the milk mixture, until it's a uniform mixture. Fold in the raisins.

Scoop into cupcake papers, or a 9x9 pan, or whatever and bake at 350 until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean - approximately 20-25 minutes

Eat and repeat.

Diet tomorrow.

-HH

Friday, January 7, 2011 Cutting Out Meat And Losing Weight

Already I've lost weight in 2011!

I cut meat out of my diet after the first of the month and lo and behold I've already lost weight. Just a couple pounds, but I'm reminded of something I'd forgotten. Eating meat makes me fat. And I'd willingly forgotten the information, meat happens to taste good, especially when I cook it, but I took that bit of knowledge and threw it right-the-fuck-out-my-head.

And I'm not starving myself at all, I'm eating just as much as just as often, but I'm making better choices as to what I shove in my face. I'm munching on popcorn and cereal and Fiber One bars. I baked Sweet Potato Corn Bread yesterday and then gave it all away. And last nights Celery Apple and Brie Pizza was so good I'm making another tonight.

I'm not missing meat at all.

Not even bacon.

There must be something wrong with me ;)

-HH

Thursday, January 6, 2011 Celery Apple And Brie Pizza!

Okay. I'll admit it. I'm on a pizza kick!

I'm experimenting with white whole wheat flour in the dough, if I add some fiber I feel better about myself. But this baby is topped with double cream brie, so I'm not sure what the point was, other than making tasty pizza.

I topped my crust with some celery tossed with salt and pepper, honeycrisp apple pieces and five of the thinnest possible squishy slices of brie.

About 15 minutes on the pizza stone and wow! I love apples and brie, the celery really complimented the familiar flavor and the crust was like icing on the cake.

Awesome!

-HH

Wednesday, January 5, 2011 Building A Headbanging Empire

While on winter break I've been plugging away at the keyboard, trying to squeeze every bit of potential out of the interwebs. Yesterday it took me over two hours to upload all my videos to TubeMogul, which distributes them to the websites I choose.

Get ready to bookmark!

Dailymotion, ifood.tv and metacafe are all now blessed with the full HBH video library. Already people are taking note - "Stock Night!" has 110 views and a 3.19 star rating as of this very moment!

My new video camera has already kicked up the quality notches, I'm thinking about changing up the format of the dinners for a bit. How does BYO dinner parties sound? To tell you the truth, the expense has gotten a little taxing, and attempts at asking for donations have been spotty at best. My take has been 50 bucks and it's been 2. If I were forced to spend only that 2 bucks on the next dinner we'd be eating salt and pepper cardboard.

So I'd like to find a way to get the guests to supply more of the food, while I still am the one to cook it. Sure I could just tell everyone to bring something, but where's the fun in that? And what if they can't cook? And what if what they cook is everything I'm allergic to in a casserole?

Yum.

I'd also like to do some videos on sanitation for the home in the near future. After the holidays I read one too many Facebook status updates regarding food poisoning. And, since I passed my ServeSafe exam with flying colors (92%) I feel I am qualified to offer the advice.

Speaking of exams, I got a 95% on my Food Production and Purchasing exam. Yes, all my grade school math teachers are rolling around in their graves right now. I was NEVER a good math student, but for some reason this year it clicked. So I think I'll use my mathematical powers to do some real dinner party costing. Dinner parties for every budget! Except 2 bucks...

Next month I have an awesome foodicle (food + article) in Alternative Control featuring a romantic dinner for two! I'm once again thrilled to have the opportunity.

Stay tuned!

Bang on, my peeps!

-HH

Saturday, January 1, 2011 Headbanging Resolve in 2011

2010 was a fantastic year for The Headbanging Hostess. I discovered a new talent, combined it with my existing ones and an entertaining food empire was born!

What to do in 2011?

First off I have to shed some of the TWENTY POUNDS I've put on! In a year of good cooking that translates to less than an ounce a day. And in some ways I don't really care but in some ways I do. I know it'd be healthy to lose some weight, start exercising again and once again see my hip bones. Well, maybe not the hip bone part. And I'm only a size 6...not that bad for most of the population. But having spent the majority of my life as a struggling, starving actress, being 125 instead of 105 has a bit of a negative effect on my self-image. Let's face it, we still live in a country where weight matters.

BTW - Has anyone seen Sheryl Crow lately? Girlfriend needs to eat something. Balance, people. It's something we need to find.

So I'll be finding some balance for my ass, I'll also be finishing school this year. I hope to continue my straight "A" status through the next semester. Hopefully the nutrition class I'll be taking will give me some guidance.

As The Headbanging Hostess I look forward to introducing some new bands, including Jacobi Wichita and new music from Burn The Bodies. I also hope to share some super tasty, healthy dinner party ideas, create lots of tasty new recipes and continue to deliver entertaining content in blog and video form.

I also aim to continue my restaurant reviews, which have been a popular feature of the blog. I hope to build upon the success of that and reach out to more potential fans through the power of food. I shall also finally harness the power of the internet, with the help of friends, to make sure my blog and vids get seen and go viral!

Here's to a faboo 2011 for all of you! Words cannot express how much your interest and support have meant to me. I have been transformed.

Bang on, my peeps!

-HH