>Carrot Cake

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I approached the carrot cake mission as I do many others: I did a lot of research, checked out several cookbooks, looked online and asked my Plurk buddies for assistance. I settled on a recipe from Food to Live By; the Earthbound Farm Organic Cookbook, and then (you guessed it) I modified it slightly. I offer you the original and my adaptations – and a picture this time!

Carrot Cake: the original
Butter, for greasing the cake pans
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus a little more for flouring the cake pans
2 cups granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups canola oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 packed cups peeled and grated carrots (about 1 pound)
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Frosting
1 cup (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
4 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon milk or water, if needed
2 cups chopped walnuts or pecans
For the Cake
1. Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325. Heavily butter and flour 2 round 9-inch cake pans, tapping out the excess flour. Set cake pans aside.
2. Place the flour, granulated sugar, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a large bowl and whisk to combine.
3. Place the eggs, oil, and vanilla in a small bowl and stir to combine.
4. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir to combine. Add the carrots and nuts and stir.
5. Evenly divide the batter between the prepared cake pans. Bake the cakes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the edges have pulled away from the side of the pans, 55 to 65 minutes.
6. Place the cake pans on wire racks a let the layers cool completely, about 1 hour.
For the frosting:
7. Place the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl and beat with an eletric mixer until very smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. With the mixer running on medium speed, slowly add 3 1/2 cups of the confectioners’ sugar and beat until it is fully incorporated and smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and beat until just combined. If the frosting is too soft, slowly add the remaining 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar. If the frosting is too stiff, add the 1 Tablespoon milk or water.
8. Remove cake layers from pans. Place one cake layer on a plate. Spread some of the frosting on top. Place the second layer on top of the frosting and frost the side and top of the cake. Press the 2 cups of nuts onto the side of the cake. Cake can be refrigerated, covered, for up to one week.
Now, Daisy’s changes.
  • Use 1 cup egg substitute for the eggs.
  • Instead of the 1 1/2 cup oil, use 3/4 cup applesauce and 1/2 to 3/4 cup oil.
  • I skipped the nuts in the cake, and mixed the nuts into the frosting instead of pressing them on top. That made for a lumpy (but delicious) frosting; I might do it the other way next time. Instead of a nut garnish, I sprinkled extra carrots on top.
  • I had whole walnuts, so I put them in a small zipper bag and smashed them with a meat tenderizer on a cutting board.
The cake was pronounced “Good!” by Chuck and Amigo.
I didn’t ask the rabbit.

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>Signs of Spring at the O.K. Chorale

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Yes, I do mean Chorale. We’re all musician types here at the Daisy-headed household. And it’s spring! Time to sing! Fa-la-la-la-la-lah-lah-laaaa!
The garden may look messy with its layer of leaves and mulch from last October, but if you look closely, you’ll see green onions, parsley, and chives coming back up. No asparagus, though — I’ll give it another try in a different location this year. Maybe it just didn’t have enough sun.

Below, you’ll see the rain barrels, all ready for the first shower. Why does Snoop Dogg have an umbrella? Fo’ drizzle, of course. Uh-huh. I do, indeed, have a teen and a college kid in the house; did you need to ask?

And for more signs of spring in the Daisy household, go to Green Spot On, my home- away- from- home on Mondays. Meanwhile, I’ll go try to corral that rabbit before she sneaks up the stairs. Hey, Buttercup! Over here! Carrots!

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>Ah, coffee. Such a history!

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>I felt obligated. With Tea Parties making the headlines and calling themselves patriotic, I had to do the research. Tea? Nope. Coffee, of course.

According to legend, coffee was discovered by a goatherd who noticed his goats were energetic and happy after eating the berries of a certain bush. Later on, Arabs cultivated this fascinating plant, calling its berries “qahwa” — literally, that which prevents sleep.
In the 16th century, coffee was so popular with Turks that Turkish law allowed a woman to divorce her husband if he did not provide her with a daily dose.
It’s possible that Lloyd’s of London began in the 17th Century as a coffeehouse called Edward Lloyd’s, a place where merchants and insurance agents met.

The 18th Century was full of coffee history. Coffee spread to the Western Hemisphere, Brazil’s coffee industry started as a result of a liaison between a Dutch mediator and the wife of French Guiana’s governor. He left her after the conflict was resolved, but he left her with a bouquet in which he hid the seeds of a new crop and a whole new industry.
J.S. Bach composed his Kaffee Kantate (why didn’t I learn this in my History of Baroque Music in college?) dedicated to while at the same time mocking women who dared sip the devastating brew thought to make them sterile. It contains an aria with the lyrics announcing, “Ah! How sweet coffee taste! Lovelier than a thousand kisses, sweeter far than muscatel wine! I must have my coffee.” Ah, Johann, I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Toward the end of the 18th century I found my favorite piece of coffee history:

1773: The Boston Tea Party makes drinking coffee a patriotic duty in America.

There you have it, folks. Forget the so-called Tea Parties. Ever since the Sons of Liberty trashed the merchant ships, the fact remains: True patriotism is grounded in coffee.
Pun intended.

I used several sources to find the facts for this post, but the most useful was this: A History of Coffee Timeline. Pour yourself a cuppa and enjoy.

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>Hershey’s Basket Blog Hop

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Easter baskets = bunnies and chocolate. Hershey’s Chocolate has partnered with Children’s Miracle Network to sponsor Hershey’s Better Basket Blog Hop. For every participating blog post, Hershey’s will donate $10 to Children’s Miracle Network. Their goal is to reach $5000.

Since my house is home to some of the cutest bunnies, Easter or not, I wanted to share.

HERSHEY’S BETTER BASKET BLOG HOP RULES

•Copy and paste these rules to your blog post.
•Create a blog post giving a virtual Easter Basket to another blogger – you can give as many Virtual Baskets as you want.
•Link back to person who gave you an Easter Basket.
•Let each person you are giving a Virtual Easter Basket know you have given them a Basket.
•Leave your link at BetterBasket.info/BlogHop comment section. You can also find the official rules of this #betterbasket blog hop, and more information about Better Basket with Hershey’s there.
•Hershey’s is donating $10 per each blog participating to the Better Basket Blog Hop to Children’s Miracle Network (up to total of $5,000 by blog posts written by April 4th, 2010).
•Please note that only one blog post by each blog url will count towards the donation.

No Fooling: I am passing on a virtual Easter baskets to all the parent- bloggers I know in hopes that you will take a few minutes to participate in this Blog Hop as well and help support Children’s Miracle Network. (And if you don’t want the ears to that chocolate rabbit, I’ll be happy to help you out. It’s a dirty job, but someone has to eat it. Er, do it.)

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>I’ll wear my necklace if you’ll top my pop.

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>In a fine example of upcycling, a nearby charter school made bottle cap necklaces to sell as a fundraiser. I bought a daisy, of course. It’s just my style in so many ways.

This is the back. We’ve asked around and Hubs even did a cursory Internet search, and we have no idea what kind of bottle this cap adorned.

A cone-head style guy saying, “Pop My Top.” Well, readers, ideas? Is this a regional item? A soda/pop bottle, or something else? I’m listening — chime in!

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>Preparing to Prepare the Garden

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>It’s the end of March in Wisconsin. That means…well, it can mean anything. For a gardener, it means Don’t Get Too Eager; We Could Still get Snow!” I can get started thinking about it – planning, not planting.

I ordered plants from my local environmental charter school. I’ll pick up those tomato and pepper and herb plants on Mothers’ Day.

I’ve heard of another unique source of plants. It’s called Free Plants by Mail, and it’s an organization that finds new homes for overstocks and extras: plants grown for nurseries and greenhouses and then not needed. Heard of animal rescues? This sounds like a plant rescue to me. It sounds rather tempting, too. Proceeds go to the Nature Conservancy.

For more on my own garden planning, go to Green Spot On, where I guest post most Mondays.

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>Elected officials, Health Care, and Bad Craziness

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>It was on our local news today and in the morning paper; members of Congress being threatened after voting to pass the health insurance reform bill Sunday night.

My congressional representative, a doctor, was victimized by a threat and one of the clinics that still carries his trademark had the word “kill” painted over his name. Another Wisconsin representative received death threats at his office in Washington.

Worst of all, the president was threatened through a Twitter exchange.

People, when will this end? Whatever happened to respecting the office, if not the officeholder? Whatever happened to respecting the dignity of the House?

Freedom of speech has its limits. Vandalism, threats of bodily harm or death, discussing assassination of the elected leader of the free world — all are WRONG. Clearly and simply wrong. Spreading hatred, encouraging violence, pumping up the anger levels of an already-conflicted world: not only wrong, but also dangerous.

Someone, somewhere, somehow will take this too far. And then? Irony of ironies, that person will end up in prison – losing their right to vote, and gaining free health care sponsored by the taxpayers of the good old U.S.A.

Wait. Something’s wrong with this picture.

But isn’t that where we started?

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>March Madness ends for this team

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For once, the robo-calls made sense. “If we win tonight, bus reservations and tickets will be on sale from 8-9 AM on Saturday morning.” “If you’d like to buy a t-shirt to support us in the State tournament, please stop in the school office!”
The student body was not lacking in spirit!
Grammar, maybe. English teachers, can you help with this one?

Each door was painted in school colors, expressing their excitement. The elementary school down the road sported a big sign congratulating their “alum” on the team.
They lost on Friday night. The team played well; the opposing team spoke highly of them, complimented our players on forcing them to change their defensive strategies in order to pull ahead and then stay there.

Win or lose, the school came out in support of their basketball players and coach. The memories of the 2010 tournament will be theirs forever.

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>Spring Fever Blueberry Muffins

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>I may have posted this earlier – most likely last June when blueberries were in season. It’s a classic recipe, easy to make, and just as delicious with frozen blueberries as with fresh.

Blueberry Muffins
from my go-to source for recipes, the Good Home Cookbook.

2 cups all-purpose flour (or 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups (1 pint) blueberries

1. Prepare a 12-cup muffin pan.
2. Stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until creamy and light. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. then beat in the milk and vanilla extract until well combined. Add the flour mixture and stir just until moistened. Fold in the berries.
4. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.
5. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, until golden brown.
6. Cool for 10 minutes, remove from pan, and cool briefly on wire rack. Serve warm or cooled.

Great with milk or (you guessed it) coffee.

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>How many bloggers does it take to change a bulb?

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>This time of year, I’m watching the daffodils and tulips come up and marveling at the way a simple bulb can put forth new growth every year.

The bulbs I’m testing now, however, are the electric kind, not the organic. They are, however, more environmentally friendly than past light bulbs and more user-friendly than early CFLs. I’m reading by the light of a Sylvania halogen Supersaver Light Bulb.

Unlike early energy-saving bulbs, this light bulb resembles the typical lamp bulb and fits nicely in a lamp. It’s bright enough to illuminate my book while using much less energy. It turns on immediately, without the warm-up or flicker of energy-saving bulbs of the distant past. In short, it works. The halogen supersaver bulb uses 43 watts, but provides as much light as a standard incandescent 60 watt bulb.

One strong point in favor of this Sylvania halogen supersaver light bulb is this: it contains no mercury. When it’s done (after 1000 hours of light, according to the package), I can dispose of it easily with no worries about contamination or toxic waste.

In the headline grabbing storm of other legislation (i.e. Health Insurance Reform!), even my eco-conscious readers may have lost sight of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) which will phase out the traditional incandescent light bulb over the next four years in favor more efficient lighting products. The timing of Sylvania’s halogen Supersaver bulb will help consumers replace their older energy-hogging light bulbs with the new style sooner rather than later.

So far, it’s a winner. This bulb looks good, fits my lamp, and provides enough light for me to read my books and see the keyboard of my laptop. It uses less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs, and it promises to last a long, long time.

If only it grew flowers, too. I guess I’ll leave that to the tulip and daffodil bulbs.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of SYLVANIA and received products necessary to facilitate my candid review (two light bulbs). In addition, I received a gift certificate to thank me for taking the time to participate.

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