Homegrown Lettuce

Last year Aunty Kristin planted lettuce in her garden and had a great crop. She said it was so easy and we should try it. So today while Bailey was at school, Gregory and I went to buy some lettuce seeds and dirt. After our picnic lunch we planted our seeds. We'll have to give you an update on how things are going later in the season, but I sure am looking forward to a tasty homegrown salad! :)

Our lettuce seeds

Filling our container with soil

We just finished planting the seeds!

Giving them some water...

Now we have to be patient and wait for them to grow! :)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Baked another batch of cupcakes today.

Actually, I baked another batch of carrot cake cupcakes yesterday, too. I have been doing a lot of baking lately since Gregory hasn't been taking his snoozer and it gives me a break in the day. Plus they like to help bake.

Today, we baked Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes. I left the icing off - they put Cinnamon Icing on top, but they are just fine without it.





Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes - VEGAN

Ingredients

1 cup canned pumpkin
1 1/4 c all-purpose flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t salt
1/2 c chocolate chips (vegan)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together pumpkin, oil, sugar, soy milk, and vanilla. Sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt. Stir together with a fork - don't use a handheld mixer, as it will make the batter gummy. Once well combined, fold in the chocolate chips.

3. Fill liners two-thirds full. Bake for 22 to 24 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let fully cool before icing.

NOTE: I think the tops need to be smoothed out before baking.

Darn Squirrels

Outside the window, where we have our kitchen table, we have a bird feeder.

Lately, I've been thinking that a lot of birds are visiting us because
there are days when the feeder is empty after just a couple of days!

Well, look who visited us today!

And, look at what he can do!

AND, look what he does after his tummy is full!
Don't know if you can see his face, but he's looking right at me.
Mocking me!

But I must say, we have hours of fun watching
all the birds that come to visit us.

Carrot Cake Cupcake

The other day, I picked up the book, VEGAN CUPCAKES Take Over the World, after reading a bunch of great reviews. Today I tried my first recipe ~ Carrot Cake Cupcakes. (Clark brought home a ten pound bag of carrots today. Have you ever seen 10 pounds of carrots? We'll be orange by next week) Back to my cupcakes. They were really delicious. Clark had to have two for dessert and said he could mow through them. Kids loved them too.



Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

2/3 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 t baking soda
1/4 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1/4 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t ground ginger (i didn't add)
2/3 c sugar
1/3 c vegetable oil
1/3 c soy yogurt (plain or vanilla)
1 t vanilla
1 c finely grated carrots
1/4 c chopped walnuts (i didn't add)
1/4 c raisins (we added about 1/3 c)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin tin with 12 cupcake liners

2. In a medium mixing bowl, mix together sugar, vegetable oil, yogurt and vanilla. Sift in the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, spices) and mix until smooth. Fold in carrots, walnuts and raisins)

3. Spray the cupcake liners with non-stick baking spray. Fill the liners two-thirds full. Bake for 26 to 28 minutes, until toothpick inserted through the center of one comes out clean

4. Once fully cooled, top generously with cream cheese frosting

Notes: I didn't spray my liners since I don't have baking spray, but they came out fine. Also, I think it'd be better to only make 10 or 11 cupcakes. A couple were kinda small.

Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

1/4 c margarine, softened (we use nucoa)
1/4 c vegan cream cheese, softened (we use tofutti)
2 c confectioners' sugar
1 t vanilla extract

Directions

Cream together margarine and cream cheese until just combined. Use a handheld mixer to whip while adding the confectioners sugar in 1/2 c batches. Mix smooth and creamy, then mix in the vanilla.

Our Train Table - part two

Today daddy did more work on the train table - Pictures will tell the story...

Daddy having WAY TOO MUCH fun with his miter saw. I think
he must have made at least 10 extra cuts just to play with his new mitre saw.

You can see the lake and part of the framing.

My baby got a shiner running into the corner of the train table
(It looks much worse tonight. I'm wondering what he'll look like tomorrow)

Daddy and the kids putting the tracks together. Notice the missing side? I don't know what happened, cuz there were four sides when I last checked (I'm thinking extra cut on the miter saw) - we need to finish next weekend

Here they are playing with the train set.
Tracks still aren't glued down, but daddy only
put in a couple of ramps so it wouldn't fall so much.