One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1645 of 2143 - I am your typical housewife living in high maintenance suburbia. I have a handsome husband, 2 kids and a flock of pet chickens. I try and feed my family with $100 a month. With the help of coupons, gardening and bartering I am able to squeeze the most out of our grocery budget and still manage to have a little fun along the way.

My Favorite Carrot Cake Recipe

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By Mavis Butterfield on March 29, 2013 · 5 Comments

This is hands down my favorite cake to make for special occasions. I’ve been making this carrot cake for a few years now and let me tell you, it is Da’ Bomb! Everyone loves this cake and I am frequently asked for the recipe. When I attend a pot luck or awards dinner and need to bring a dessert, I bring this cake and every time I go home with an empty cake stand. Everyone from adults to kids love it.

If you are looking for a special {and delicious!} dessert to bring to Easter dinner, or you just want to make something special, this recipe is a total winner.

My Favorite Carrot Cake Recipe

Author Mavis Butterfield

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups carrots , grated
1 1/2 cups cream cheese , softened
3/4 cup unsalted butter , softened
5 cups powered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees . Butter and flour 2 round 9-inch cake pans and set aside.
Sift together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and baking powder and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and stir to combine. Fold in the shredded carrots.
Divide the batter between the 2 prepared pans. Bake for about 45- 55 minutes {or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean}. Cool cake pans on wire racks. Remove cake from pans, wrap in Saran wrap, the aluminum foil. Place on a cookie sheet and freeze cake layers over night.

Recipe Notes

Over the years I have learned when making layer cakes it is best to slice the cakes while they are very cold. This helps to eliminate excess crumbs.

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Easy Kitchen Tip – Restoring Frozen Breads Freshness

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By Mavis Butterfield on March 29, 2013 · 11 Comments

Do you freeze your bread? Whenever I am in the area, I always stop at the Oroweat Outlet and stock up on any good deals. The only thing is that sometimes freezing the bread, even when I’ve wrapped it well, dries it out a bit.

I was telling Girly Girl about this and she offered this little trick: take the bread out of the plastic, wrap it in a damp tea towel and store it in the fridge overnight. When you’re ready to use it, remove it from the fridge, take off the tea towel, wrap it in foil and warm it in the oven at 200 degrees for 5-10 minutes. Supposedly, it is good as new!

Have you ever tried this? Do you have another tip?

~Mavis

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Mavis Asks Readers to Send in Gnomes – Update

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By Mavis Butterfield on March 29, 2013 · 19 Comments

3 garden gnomes arrived yesterday for our Send in the Gnomes fundraiser for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. I was so excited that when I saw the boxes I totally lost it. I started bawling, then laughing, then started up bawling again. I’m fairly certain the clerk at the mail box place thinks I’m a totally crazy pants. The Handsome Husband was even surprised when he saw all the boxes.

This is going to be one crazy ride if 1,000 gnomes actually descend on Casa de Butterfield.

But the things is, I have no idea who sent these 3 gnomes in. So if you mailed in one of these gnomes {THANK YOU, I love you!}, please let me know in the comment section below so I can mark your first name and what city and state you are from on the bottom of your gnome.

I ordered a huge World Map {8×6 feet} to hang on the office wall so we can all track these gnomes together. Wahoooooo!

Just in case you were wondering, Lucy has taken on the role of lead inspector making sure all the gnomes are ready for duty.

Tree Gnome Guy was not only perfect for this old stump but would look really cool attached to a raised garden bed, and St. Jude’s has 59 of them.

Lucy the dog model was very fond of the impatient gnome. Turns out after being licked 17 times he’s pretty patient after all and I should totally call Jeff Bezos and have the description changed asap.

So again, a big THANK YOU for your support I feel totally blessed that you are willing to help me out on this crazy fundraising adventure of ~~mine~~ ours. I can’t wait to see what the next few months bring {and I’m sure the HH is quite excited as well. Ha!}.

Peace Out Gnome Scouts, you are awesome!

~Mavis

To read more about this totally cool fundraiser, for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital head on over HERE.

I have also set up a Send in the Gnomes Wish list on Amazon.com as some of you had suggested. Thanks for all your suggestions!

And last but not least, as gnomes arrive they will be cataloged, photographed and placed on the Send in the Gnomes – Where Did They All Come From page.

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Easy Asparagus Recipe – Asparagus with Balsamic-Butter Sauce

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By Mavis Butterfield on March 28, 2013 · 7 Comments

Emily from Frugal Living NW posted this recipe for Broiled Asparagus with Balsamic-Butter Sauce a while back and I finally got around to making it for lunch today.

Holy little green trees! It was hands down the best recipe for asparagus I have ever tried.

Ingredients

1/2 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 freshly ground pepper
2tablespoons butter {I used unsalted}
2 teaspoons soy sauce {I used low sodium}
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

Place the asparagus on a baking sheet in a single layer and drizzle olive oil over the top. Season with salt and fresh pepper.

Bake the asparagus for 10 – 12 minutes until tender.

While the asparagus is cooking, melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat until lightly browned. Remove form heat, stir in soy sauce and balsamic vinegar.

Once the asparagus is finished cooking, place it on a plate and drizzle the butter sauce over the spears. Serve immediately.

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