The Raised Beds

Here are the promised photos. You’ll have to visit my flickr to see the notes on the photo of the entire spread of the yard garden.

More photos in a couple days of bunnies, and goats and progress on the goat fencing that is getting finished tomorrow since storms rolled through today.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Cupcakes

I had been watching this week’s installment of Decor it Yourself, a Threadbanger series (links shall be up…D.I.Y. is frugal, too!!!) and I came across this great blog called How About Orange. I saw and immediately knew I needed to make this cupcake recipe. I listed it below but I encourage you to check out the rest of How About Orange for other great recipes and crafty things and just plain old pretty and joy. So behold, a video of the making of these beautious cupcakes. Rob helped me tape, and you’ll see his other “contribution” as well. If you make these, let me know how you enjoyed them and if there are any changes you made to the recipe. I’ll link you in the spirit of info sharing….and who doesn’t like chocolate? OH! I should mention, some how I made 21 cupcakes for a recipe that called an 18 yeild….oh well….too bad, more cupcakes.

Filling:
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1/3 c. sugar
1 egg
1/8 tsp. salt
1 c. chocolate chips
1 c. peanut butter chips (or just use more chocolate if you want)

Cupcakes:
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. baking cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. water
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1 Tbs. white vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla

In a bowl, beat cream cheese. Add sugar, egg, salt. Mix well. Fold in chips. Set aside. For cupcakes, combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Add water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Mix well. Fill paper-lined muffin cups half full with batter. Top each with 2 Tbs. of cream cheese mixture. Bake at 350º for 25-30 minutes. Cool 10 minutes and remove from pan. Makes 18.

AAAAAAAAND Photos…

Just prior to going into the oven…

Mid-bake….told you I’m impatient!

So pretty…can’t hardly stand the waiting…

Can I PLEEEEEEEEEEZE have one?

Oh my Goddess, yum!!

You have to try these!

Frugal, Fast, Organic Fare

I try my best to prepare food here that is good for us all, organic or most components organic and best of all fast to prepare. There isn’t a lot of time here for putzing around in the kitchen, not when there are 2 small children, animals, a husband a garden, sewing, crafting, laundry powder to mix, candles and soap to make, etc.

Rob and I are members of 2 vital elements to our household food sources. There is an organic CSA up in walker that thankfully delivers by us each week for $25. Granted right now the fare isn’t local but soon enough there shall be local food to be had in addition to the food grown in our gardens.

The other source is a buying club affiliated with a natural and organic foods distributor. Our foods are purchased in bulk at an incredible savings. For example, here is the list of one of our last three orders through the buying club:

2229	Ambassador Hairbrushes®	Hair Brush oval shape nat bris FOR REGULAR TO THIN HAIR	1/1brush	1	Case			0.89		14.57
6580	Ambrosia	Milk Chocolate Chips	1/5#	1	Case					17.63
14068	Amy’s Kitchen	Breakfast Burrito ND	12/6oz	6	Eaches					15.78
14740	Amy’s Kitchen	Breakfast Patties	12/8oz	3	Eaches					13.86
14768	Amy’s Kitchen	Spinach Pizza Snacks	12/6oz	3	Eaches					11.31
2250	Amy’s Kitchen	Strawberry Toaster Pops	12/11.6oz	3	Eaches					10.80
14760	Amy’s Kitchen	Vegetable Lasagna	12/9.5oz	3	Eaches					13.86
2193	Amy’s Kitchen	Vegetable Pot Pie Organic	12/7.5oz	9	Eaches					25.02
13857	Annie’s Homegrown	Arthur Loops Tomat & Chese OG	12/15oz can	1	Case					23.66
4925	Annie’s Homegrown	Cheddar Bunnies Baked Crackers made with Organic flour	12/7.5oz	1	Case		4.43			27.22
13888	Annie’s Homegrown	Chocolate Bunnie Grahams made with organic wheat flour	12/7.5oz	1	Case		4.43			27.22
13818	Annie’s Homegrown	Mac & Cheese, Creamy Deluxe	12/12oz	Temporarily out of stock
13859	Annie’s Homegrown	P’sghetti loops Soy Meat Balls	12/15oz can	1	Case					23.66
18110	Annie’s Naturals®	Ketchup, Organic Squeeze GF	12/24oz	3	Eaches					9.00
5688	Bob’s Red Mill	Baking Powder	4/16oz	1	Case					11.04
5696	Bob’s Red Mill	Brown Rice Flour SG GF	4/24oz	Temporarily out of stock
5661	Bob’s Red Mill	Couscous Golden	4/24oz	2	Cases					24.54
5945	Bob’s Red Mill	Flax Seed Meal	4/32oz	Temporarily out of stock
5984	Bob’s Red Mill	Oatmeal Scottish	4/20oz	Temporarily out of stock
10173	Cascadian Farm	Orange Juice Concentrate OG	12/12oz	1	Case					38.76
4419	Coconut	Coconut Med Shred Unsul	1/5#	1	Case					9.93
3401	Eastwind	Almond Butter Smooth NS	12/16oz	1	Each					8.47
12822	Eastwind	Peanut Butter Smooth NS OG	6/5#	1	Each					17.68
5050	Great River	Unbl Wheat Flour OG	1/50#	1	Case					42.43
7104	Health Valley	Vegetable Broth FF Aseptic	12/32oz	1	Case					36.84
5837	Lundberg	White Basmati OG	1/25#	1	Case					44.22
17892	Midwest Northern	Trail Mix Raw NS	1/5#	1	Case					19.38
17101	Muir Glen	Chnky Tom w/Herb Pasta SauceOG	12/26oz	9	Eaches					30.89
19421	Muir Glen	Classic Minestrone OG Soup	12/19oz	6	Eaches					18.24
5362	Natural Value	Green Lentils OG	1/5#	3	Cases					23.58
12946	Natures Bakery Cooperative™	Six Grain Granola	10/1#	4	Eaches					15.60
13039	New Century Farms	Brown Eggs lrg OG1 Grade A	8/12ct	Temporarily out of stock
10002	Organic Valley	Butter No Salt Organic	15/1#	3	Eaches					20.07
7745	Organic Valley	Half & Half Ultra Past OG	12/32oz	1	Each		0.42			3.76
18025	Peace Coffee	French Roast Whole Bean	1/1#	2	Cases					20.44
4786	Raisins	Raisins Golden Fancy	5#	1	Case					12.71
19071	Smile Brite Double Tip	Replaceable Head X Soft Natul	1/1 brush	2	Cases			0.34		5.58
19072	Smile Brite Double Tip	T-Brush Head Refil X Soft Natr	1/3 heads	2	Cases			0.39		6.35
1411	Westby	Cottage Cheese 2% rBGH Free	12/24oz	2	Eaches					8.94
15028	White Wave	Tofu, Extra Firm Style	6/12oz	3	Eaches					6.12
4355	Wholesome Sweeteners	Cane Sugar Organic K GF	1/25#	Temporarily out of stock

Invoice Summary
Product Total	Shipping Charges	Sales Taxes	Freight	Equity	Club Charges	Total Invoice
657.54	0.00	1.62	0.00	0.00	0.00	659.16

The bulk purchase and minimal tax (Minnesota has no tax on foodstuffs) helps a frugal family out! This is a number of months of food on this order! Granted some of it is convenience food, but it’s organic and healthier than the convenience food in a conventional form. I go to the grocery store for fresh things only, and generally those items mean things like milk and yogurt even though I an get it through the buying club. I have more of a savings at the grocery store considering the rate my family drinks milk (not much for cow milk as the girls are soy babies.)

One more outlet Rob and I are looking into is over at my favorite place on the net, MaryJanes Farm. She has this most delicious product called Budget Mix. Think of Bisquick but good for you. It can be purchased in bulk quantities and is perfect for the nights I don’t *really* have the time to make something.

Tonight’s meal was made using the Bakeover recipe. I made the Bakeover part more like biscuits because the dish I made was a little bigger, I really should have doubled the recipe for the Bakeover crust.

Here is what I did:

cooked up some lean ground beef (I am normally a veg. and cook for the family veg. but I’m pregnant and I crave red meat…strange, I know…) then chopped up three of our potatos from our CSA share this week along with some garlic from a share a couple of weeks ago, an onion and some cream of broccoli soup. I made the biscuits, put them on top and baked according to the Bakeover directions. I figure this dish- which will be another meal tomorrow- cost about $5-6 to make total and took about 35 minutes to make. FRUGAL! CHEAP! FAST! NUTRITIOUS! EASY! ORGANIC!

I added to the meal a nice Ceasar salad using all organic produce gotten in our CSA share. The salad cost more than the meat dish! But, it too shall feed us again tomorrow.

A food photographer I am not, but these look pretty tasty don’t they!?

This morning I made sticky buns using the Budget Mix and there are still some left for breakfast tomorrow. There are about a billion and one things one can make using this great item so I think I’m surely going to order it in bulk. They carry trial sizes too, for those of you not sold just yet. There is also a special edition of Mary Jane’s magazine that focuses JUST on recipes using the Budget Mix and the Chillover Powder (gelatin that’s not gelatin!!) It’s definitely worth checking out if you are in a similar boat as we are here.

Dinner was satisfying, great tasting and good for us all tonight and I spent almost no time or effort to make it that way.

Ta ta till next time!