Tag Archives: Organic

Carrot Cake Muffins

Posted on April 28, 2011 | Leave a comment

Last week I harvested all of the carrots, turnips, and parsnips in my garden in order to get the beds ready for the next planting.  Needless to say, I had a sh*t load of carrots I wanted to use soon since I didn’t have much room in my fridge, so I decided to make some carrot cake muffins for Easter and my dad’s camping trip to Death Valley.  As always, I was inspired by the Carrot Cake Muffin recipe by Martha Rose Shulman who writes Recipes for Health for the New York Times.  Enjoy!

Carrot Cake Muffins (makes about 12)

2 1/2 cups organic whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp fresh ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp Celtic salt

2 farm fresh eggs

1/2 cup turbinado sugar

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (or whatever vegetable oil you have on hand)

1 1/3 cups organic whole milk

1 tsp organic vanilla extract

2/3 cup of sliced almonds

2 cups of grated carrots

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease muffin tins.

Mix dry ingredients together in a medium bowl.  Mix wet ingredients and the sugar together in a large bowl.  Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until well combined.  Fold in the almonds and the carrots.

Spoon into greased muffin tins and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

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Pumpkin Waffles

Posted on April 22, 2011 | Leave a comment

Since I still had a cup of pumpkin puree leftover from the muffins that I made the other day, I decided to make some pumpkin waffles.  It was dinner time when I decided to do this, so I figured I could just freeze and reheat them in the toaster for future lazy breakfasts.  Here’s my version of the Weelicious Pumpkin Waffles.

Pumpkin Waffles (makes 12 waffles)

2 ¼ cups organic whole wheat flour

¼ cup flax meal

1/3 cup Turbinado sugar

2 ½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp Celtic salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

4 eggs

2 cups organic whole milk

1 cup (or so) pumpkin puree

6 tbsp melted organic sweet cream butter

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat waffle iron.  Mix the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl.  Mix the wet ingredients together in a large bowl.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until smooth.  Pour about ½ of the batter into heated waffle iron.  Cook according to your waffle maker’s specifications.  Eat with butter and syrup, or cool to room temperature and then freeze for later use.  Reheat waffles in toaster or oven.

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Pumpkin Apple Muffins

Posted on April 21, 2011 | 1 Comment

The other day I was inspired by one of my friends to make the Pumpkin Apple Muffin recipe featured on Weelicious.  Actually, she made the mini sweet potato muffins, but I didn’t have any sweet potatoes on hand, instead I had a can of pumpkin puree in the pantry.  And of course, me being me, I did not have all of the ingredients at hand to make the original pumpkin apple muffins, so I decided to modify the recipe to fit my needs. Here’s my rendition of the tasty muffins.  I hope you enjoy!

Pumpkin Apple Muffins (makes 12 muffins)

1 2/3 cups organic whole wheat flour

1/3 cup of flax meal

1/2 cup organic Turbinado sugar

2 Tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp Celtic salt (you can use regular salt, this is just what I like to use)

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp pumpkin spice

3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil or whatever type of fat you want to use

1 egg (I got this egg and 11 others from Farmer Fresh to You!)

3/4 cup organic heavy whipping cream (For some reason organic dairy doesn’t affect me like regular dairy.  I have no clue why.)

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1 Fuji apple, peeled and diced (This apple is from Farmer Fresh to You as well.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl.  Mix wet ingredients in a large bow.  Add dry ingredients to wet and mix lightly.  Fold apples into the mix.  Spoon into greased muffin tins and bake for 20-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

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The Lazy Gardener

Posted on April 20, 2011 | 3 Comments

I love vegetables and the idea of gardening, but I totally suck at it.

I hate weeding.

I forget to water the plants.

I sometimes even forget to harvest the vegetables.

And now, it’s really hard for me to bend down to pick my veggies with this growing basketball of a belly I now possess.

Belly Photograph by Amy Albertson

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Farmer Fresh to You

Posted on April 15, 2011 | 2 Comments

 

Last summer, I joined a CSA called Join the Farm that’s located here in Oxnard.  The produce was great, the staff was friendly, but by the end of the summer I was sick and tired of eating kale and spaghetti squash.  In addition to my family being tired of eating the same thing, it was also bothersome how much food was in each box.  There was way too much for my small family to consume unless we all decided to go vegan which will never, ever happen.  I guess I could have gotten a box every other week rather than weekly, or shared with another family, but by the time we realized it was too much the season and my subscription was already over.

Produce from Join the Farm

So, you can probably understand why I got really excited the other day when my friend posted a link to Farmer Fresh to You on facebook. It’s a small company based in Camarillo that delivers local organic produce to your door. What’s so great about them is that their produce comes from a variety of local farmers, you can choose the size of the box you want delivered and what fruits & veggies you want in it, and you can also order other local organic products such as eggs, honey, bread, and more.  Oh, and did I mention that they deliver to your house free of charge?  Yeah, totally cool, and totally great for lazy pregnant people like me who hate going to the grocery store and who forget to wake up to go to the farmer’s market.

Anyway, as soon as I checked out the website I ordered a small box of mixed fruits and vegetables, and on Wednesday I received my first shipment.  I had forgotten what I ordered so it was quite exciting to see what was inside, and for some reason I didn’t remember to take a picture of all the produce (must be the Third Trimester Stupids).  However, I did take a picture of the baby yellow squash, tomatoes, and spinach I sauteed for my chicken soft tacos I made later that day.

Sauteed Veggies from Farmer Fresh to You

All in all, I think Farmer Fresh to You is a great little company that I’ll continue to utilize for the time being.  However, next time I’ll order either a medium or large box to last me 2 weeks rather than one, and save some much needed dinero in the process.

FRE

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