I have a ton of brownie mixes from a sale awhile back, and was trying to figure out what to make (besides plain brownies) and came across this site. I thought you might enjoy it as well.
http://www.aaa-recipes.com/browniemix/brown.html
We’re going to try the Chocolate Brownie Pudding Cake tonight.

I am in a big search… At a little fruit stand when we were in vacataion in Indiana last year… I bought this mix. It is from Herbs For Healthful Living, and is called “Ice Box Dill Pickles” Essentially it is a mix to make dill pickles. This is the BEST mix I have ever tasted for homemade dill pickles and now I can’t find anymore… I have looked everywhere online. Does anyone frequent a shop that might sell this? If so I would be very grateful if you would let me know and I will send you money to purchase some for me (along with shipping). Please? Pretty Please? You can e-mail me at christine at dinewithoutwhine dot com. Thanks!

Christine

Hi, how’s it gong? I’m having on of those “I’m starving, but there’s nothing to eat” moments. You know… when you know your house is full of food but nothing sounds good. I finally settled on Doritos (I know real healthy) and yogurt (to balance it out LOL).

We’re on the countdown for the end of school - they get out next Friday. But really next week is kind of a wash… Monday is no school, Thur. is a half day, and Friday they only go for like an hour. Which reminds me…I guess I better figure out some kind of end of the year gift. I always seem to forget about that until the last second.

So have you heard of a CSA? If not, don’t feel bad.. I hadn’t until this week either. It stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Basically you buy a “share” of the farm in the fall/winter, and then in the spring/summer each week you pick-up (or in some cases have delivered) a box of fresh veggies (and sometimes fruits). In a lot of the groups you have the added advantage that the produce is organic. So what is the point? Well first off the produce is FRESH generally picked within a day of receiving it. (Opposed to the grocery store where sometimes things have been in transit and/or on the shelf for up to two weeks before you purchase them!) Next, like I said, a lot of it is organic and at a much lower price than organics at the grocery store. Finally, you are supporting a community farm. There is a website: http://www.localharvest.org/csa/ where you can check to see if you have a CSA farm in your area. I thought it was a long shot for me since I live in such a small communty, but I found one within 20 mnutes, so you just never know until you look! A lot of them will be sold-out at this time of year, but you just never know. Mine said it was sold-out on the website, but I sent in an e-mail just in case and they have agreed to “sneak” me in! I am so excited to get started next week - we’ll see how it goes! I am a bit nervous about ending up with a bunch of vegetables I have never heard of, but they do provide storage tips and recipes each week, so hopefully that will help me out. Should be an adventure with lots of good organic produce! Let me know if you are already a member of one or if you join one in your area!

Christine

I just found a fun site to visit - Instructables. They have user submitted instructions on how to make… well.. just about anything! But the fun comes (in my mind) when you click on the food link. See if you can find the Rubic’s Cube Cake (my hubby would love that!). Anyway, go take a look and post in the comments what your favorite was - there are definitely some creative people out there!

My boys had a new experience yesterday - frozen dinners - you know, TV dinners. I think they might have had a Kid’s Cuisine a couple years ago, but they aren’t a regular thing around here. Well… Banquet meals were on a huge sale and I caved in and bought a few. Last night hubby was gone, so I pulled them out and made them for the boys for dinner. They were so excited. LOL I’m tellling you, if they wouldn’t have watched me make them and I had taken all the food out of the plastic tray and put it on a regular plate, they wouldn’t have eaten more than a couple bites. But because of the novelty of it…. Yup they all pretty much ate the entire thing. LOL

Nothing too major is happening around here. School is getting close to an end - about 2 1/2 more weeks. Morning Sickness has passed and life is MUCH better. We have about 1/2 our garden planted. The weather has just been kind of strange - hopefully it will be a bit more regular soon. It is hot one day and cold the next mixed in with lots of rain and wind. Dane has a friend over for the day, so he is happy and entertained.

I hope you are having a great week!
C-

First off, wow, what a beautiful day it is out! I hope you are having some great spring weather as well. Here it is 84 degrees and just beautiful. We just spent several hours in the garden (and hubby is still out there planting his peppers) but Dane and I were getting hot and decided to come in. So far we have raspberries, strawberries, broccoli, radish, cauliflower, lettuce, rhubarb, blueberries and hot peppers planted. Hopefully we’ll get to the rest soon. (and hopefully they will all grow…) This is only our 2nd year gardening, so I guess we’ll see! We love it though! Gives us a great reason to spend some quality time as a family outside. We live in a farming community, so the farmers are also out planting their field corn and soybeans. Our 4 acres (contracted out) will have soybeans this year - it rotates each year.

Has anyone got their tax rebate check yet? I hear if you have direct deposit most can expect payments in May. YEA! We were at the grocery store, in the “big town” yesterday (about an hour away) and they had big signs on their windows saying that if you put your rebate check into a gift card at their store they will give you an extra 10%. I know a lot of stores are doing this, so maybe it is a thought if you want your groceries paid for for awhile, or if you have a big home improvement project or such. I think I heard Sears and Home Depot are doing similar (although check with your local store, don’t hold me to that…)

Speaking of the grocery store… the reason we went the hour to go to the grocery store was because of the huge sale I found. The store is Jewel-Osco if you happen to have one (I think it is the same company as Albertson’s?) Anyway… through my local ad, and The Grocery Game (www.thegrocerygame.com - I love that site! You can try it for $1, and if you do, I would be honored if you use my e-mail as your referral christine@dinewithoutwhine.com) ANYWAY… through the ad and the site I was able to find some great deals. They have General Mills cereal on sale for 10/$10 (if you buy 10) but wait it gets better… In the cereal aisle they had coupons for $.75 off 2 boxes of cereal. So we got 20 boxes of cereal at $.67! Try to beat that! Then they have similar deals for microwave popcorn, granola bars, and fruit snacks. I also picked up a few other sales items and some basic items we needed such as produce and bread. Grand total.. read for this? We got 106 items for $115! Total amount saved - $198. I know gas is expensive, so I generally don’t travel an hour to go to the grocery store… but for that deal? Totally worth it! I love deals like that! Anyway, now that morning sickness is pretty much gone… I have been having fun with The Grocery Game and Refund Cents. www.dinewithoutwhine.com/refundcents swiping deals here and there. Our pantry areas will once again soon be re-stocked with great deals! If you have a CVS, you can grab some excellent deals there too - once again check out The Grocery Game with help.

Well, I guess I better go get cleaned up and ready to pick up the boys from school.

C-