Cupcake adventures

As some of you know know, I love to bake. I have the amazing cookbook, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World which provides me with so many delicious recipes to choose from it's hard to choose just one. Today I went with the Marble Cupcakes (since I had all the ingredients on hand). These were fun to make and a lot easier that I thought it would be.

Pinching pennies

I'm a penny pincher. I always find the cheapest items, clip coupons, buy one to get one free, and love the clearance section! I recently decided to track my spending just to see where every dollar is spent and where I can cut back to save more money. The first month I started this I was pretty shocked to see that I spent 25% of our monthly income on food alone. I couldn't help but wonder how great of a job I was actually doing pinching pennies. So the next month I was much stricter with meal planning and I only allowed myself to step into the grocery store once a week. The result, I cut the amount I spent on food the previous month in half! So now I'm really on a mission to see where else I can spending. How about you? How do you find ways to save money and cut back on spending?

"Chinese" Food

If you're anything like my family, you wish you could eat Chinese food everyday. Unfortunately we can't, so I've attempted to make something at home that might satisfy that craving momentarily. I've had this cookbook, Authentic Chinese Cuisine, for years and have never really put it to use. After all, can I really make Chinese food taste as good as it does at a restaurant cooked by actual Chinese people? Well, my meal actually turned out palatable, but I wouldn't say it would fool anyone. The best part was the fried rice. Who knew it was so easy to make? You can make it with scraps of food you have hanging around and it could serve as a meal itself!

Apple hand pies!

I'm not sure why, but I'm a total sucker for them. Every time I see hand pies at the store I want to buy them. When I do indulge, the box is opened before I leave the parking lot so I can drive away with one in hand. After all, it's a pie for the hand!

I happened to be at my local conventional grocery store today and saw some by the check stand. I picked up the box that was labeled "freshly baked" and started to read the list of ingredients. The list was seriously 30 mystery 'food' items long.

So I went home with hand pies on my mind and decided to try my own hand a baking some. I've had a dough recipe specifically for hand pies that I clipped from the Food Day section of the Oregonian last year that I've been using to make pot pies with. As for the filling, I simply diced a few apples, added Earth Balance, sugar and cinnamon then placed everything in a pot on the stove to simmer for 30 minutes. Rolled out 10 circles of dough, placed a spoonful of apples in the middle of each one, folded dough over and pinches sides together with a little water and a fork. Spread some Earth Balance on top and sprinkled with sugar. Baked at 375 for 25mins. The final result? Delicious!!!

Meal Planning

What's for dinner?

Isn't that always the question? It's also the bane of my existence. I'm trying my best to create a weekly meal plan, if not at least 3 days at a time, in order to decrease the valuable time I spend wandering the isles in the grocery store hoping something will scream out to me "I'm your perfect dinner!"

So here's what's for dinner, at least for the next four days *fingers crossed*

* Corn chowder with tacos
* Lentil and veggie curry with rice and side salad
* Veggie 'chicken' stir fry
* Seitan pot pie with side salad

What about you? How do you tackle "what's for dinner?"

Thrifting

I love a good yard sale. Each Thursday I check the garage/yard sale section on Craigslist for all the ones listed within a 2 mile radius from my house. I get out the door on Saturday morning between 8:00-9:00am, alone, in order to make someone else's trash my treasure.

Here's a lovely chair I found recently for $5! That's right. This almost perfect condition chair from some year I cannot tell you is now my favorite sitting chair. You never know what treasure's await for you at your local yard sale!

Cupcakes

Since this is my first blog entry for Cupcakes and Cardigans, why not start with cupcakes! My intention with this blog is track my domestic and craft interests.

Here's some cupcakes that I made for my son's 4th birthday last weekend. The recipe that I used is the basic vanilla and basic chocolate one from Vegan Cupcakes!