Favorite Frugal, Easy Baking Mix & Biscuit Recipes, Home Office Re-Boot/New Job! Fun Summer/ 4th of July Decor

 

 Recipe here Mother Earth News Baking Mix

Favorite Frugal/ Easy Baking Mix & Biscuit Recipes-

Given food prices going up and the need for simpler foods, (that you can modify) here a couple things I've used! In the course of my reorganizing some of my office things I was looking at my cookbooks. I also had a few printouts from some older blogs, one that is now defunct, Lazy J Bar C Farm. Years ago I printed out her Baking Mix, which was basically the recipe above posted on Mother Earth News. I did modify the recipe using half whole wheat pastry flour so it wasn't all unbleached, for a little bit more nutritional value. It's basically like Bisquick but cheaper, homemade and fresher.  You can use this in all kinds of recipes! You can make biscuits, cookies etc. Sadly Candy's blog is no longer accessible, as had a huge Norton block that red flagged it as a dangerous website. I very rarely see that with Norton so I did not open the site. Here's few recipes from the author Candy that you can make with the mix, ones I had printed and kept-

Cheesy Biscuit Sticks-

2 cup Baking Mix, 1/4 cup cold butter cut into small pieces, 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 3/4 cup grated cheese (I liked Cheddar) , three quarter cup buttermilk. Preheat oven to 425°, place baking mix, butter and cayenne pepper in a bowl and cut in butter. Stir in grated cheese. Make a well in the center and add buttermilk all at once. Stir together until a soft dough forms. Turned out onto a well floured surface. Dust the top with additional flour. Need gently 8 to 10 times. Pat dough into a rectangle about 12"by 8" and about half and inch thick. Cut into sticks separate and place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 10 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

And another one-

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.

2 cups Baking Mix,, half a pound (two sticks butter) softened, one and a half cups of granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon of molasses, two eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla,  one teaspoon cinnamon, three cups old fashioned oats, 1 cup raisins. Heat oven to 350 degrees, be together wet ingredients and butter, add eggs and vanilla beat well. Add baking mix and cinnamon, mix well. Stir in oats and raisins mix well. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheet, bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 1 minute on cookie sheet, remove to wire rack to cool completely, makes about 4 dozen cookies.

You can really play around with that basic recipe! 

And another fave are these amazing biscuits! 

Recipe Pioneer Woman at Heart Biscuits

Again you can modify with WW pastry flour, tender and oh so flaky! Another great recipe here Beyond Easy Beer Bread, great with soup or leftovers! 

Home Office Re-Boot/New Job!

Well, I quit my job! I am so happy! I was bored to the extreme, in a great job market (huge shortage of workers here) and I had a great tool belt so to speak. I decided to target an industry that I already had a lot of experience in. I applied with a couple very large organizations and did a Zoom job interview, a first. I accepted an offer with a group whose vibe I really like. Thursday was my last day on my old job (was told to work in the office) and ironically the A/C was glitchy, again. I kept thinking I was the only one who was HOT until I started seeing all the IM's, "I'm melting!", etc.  It was 80 degrees inside and dead air. Glad I won't be working there again! It was an old retrofitted building, always had AC/heating issues. Ant then there was leadership, no comment. Will simply say I found myself in a dead end job after promises of growth were made. I took Friday off since my PTO is getting cashed out. Time for a 3 day weekend!!!

I decided to deep clean the home office and reorganize a bit with the new job starting. When I started working from home last year I never thought it would last this long! My new job will start off working from home and may start working in the office in the fall. They have pushed that out a couple times already, so time will tell. First thing I did, of course, was turn in all my old equipment to my previous employer. After that I decided to get everything up on the desk. Dave and I pulled it out and vacuumed-

 I had a printer on a canning rack that I decided to move. That went onto the top of our little cabinet-

We had a file tote in the corner for paperwork. I decided to get it out. When we moved the file tote out I was able to put the two space heaters we had in that corner. One was one that I bought for the office for the winter, since I'm on two outside walls. The other was one we bought for a grandson River, but his parents have a new furnace so they didn't need it. They were going to donate it so I asked for it! I figured it would be nice in our kitchen in place of our noisy space fan heater-

Nice parking space, clean 

We had a filing tote in the corner of the room, which I realize we could put the contents of in the kitchen. Basically I had a filing drawer full of cookbooks in the kitchen at our desk. I realized that I can put my cookbooks under the kitchen counter I can get to them and see them. This cart previously had Covid supplies, masks, sanitizer, etc. Then I filed the paperwork in the kitchen cabinet drawer-

Cookbooks, many thrifted, some homemade, on wheels! 

New home for files, good location! 

All better, space for new canned goods coming soon! 

Some fun decor, love my faux barn door

Fun calendar

I wiped off the desk really well, now nice and clean. I'll be bringing home new equipment Monday. Still have my fun decorative stuff on the walls. The space is much more organized, clean and less cluttered. A nice space to start a new job in! Excited!!!

Fun Summer/ 4th of July Decor-

With all the job hunting changes I didn't get much up til this week! Here's a look around!

Dining room shelf

Nice pops of yellow! I made the topiary

Made the chunky flag

My fave basin on the coffee table, easy! 

I added a few flags outside, that's it! Off to the mountains tomorrow for the day, for Father's Day! 

Tour Of My Home Office, Cross Rib Roast Beef

 

Tour Of My Home Office-

We hit 17 degrees last week, now it's in the upper 60's! Down again in a few days with "wintry mix" and rain forecast. Much colder next week, so time to cozy up the house more! Anyway, when I first started working from home in late March I wasn't sure how long it would last. I started tweaking things over time after I realized this might be while. Now it's "permanent", but time will tell. Anyway this used to be a home office of sorts with a spare computer. Now it's a dedicated "work space", except for all my other stuff!  Here's what I've done, for little money! For the colder weather I recently I added a $10.00 Ikea fake sheepskin throw on my office chair, nice and toasty!  I used a giant safety pin on the top back so it stays put. We already had the chair-

Nice view out the front window, I can adjust the blinds as needed- 

My messy area, avert your eyes! We had this desk before but wasn't big enough for two monitors. I asked Dave to take the keyboard tray and attach to the desk. He added a leg and it works great! 

South wall to my right when I'm sitting, radio/CD player, printer, kitty bed, heater and canning rack-

I spent $10.00 and bought Anya a new kitty bed, she loves it! Keeps me company- 

I bought this radiant heater this summer knowing I'd need it. Trying to keep the house heating bill down. I turn it on in the morning and pre-heat the room a bit, then turn down the thermostat in the rest of the house. Anya lays next to it most of the morning- 

Top of my desk-

Farm sign to my left, moved in from another room- 

wall color way off, it's a whiter sage green, weird lighting that morning

Cabinet behind me, I brought more white accents in from other rooms to lighten it up-

I bought the faux barn door and then decided to add a clear command hook. Now I can add something seasonal, like my Happy Fall Y'all sign-

Wall calendar on the right on the wall, nice floor lamp we already had there, nice even lighting! 

Top shelf on my left-

Middle shelf-

Stuff

Bottom shelf- 

That's it, and I really like it! The only things I actually bought were the faux throw, farm Fall sign and heater. 

Cross Rib Roast Beef -

This summer I got a nice beef roast for $8.00 and stashed it in the freezer. I thawed it and roasted it this weekend. It came out super juicy and very tender. Plenty for leftovers! It's about a 4 lb. roast and here's a recipe I used Cross Rib Roast w/ Garlic and Herbs Really simple, and I made it rare so we could re-heat some without over cooking-

Coming out of the oven

I roasted multi colored small potatoes and onions with olive oil, salt, thyme and pepper. Wonderful!

Jamie Oliver's Egg Mango Chutney Flatbreads, Easy Berry Smoothie, Garden Cleanup/ Barkdust

Jamie Oliver's Egg Mango Chutney Flatbreads-
It's going to be 70 today! I took off our heavy comforter a few days ago and switched to a blanket and quilt. The pollen count is horrendous, itchy eyes and sneezing time, but it will pass. I love being home and listening to the birds and the sound of the pond (Dave filled) gurgling. I'm off work today, but yesterday worked with my window open, had fresh air, so nice. A while back this recipe jumped out at me when I watched Jamie Oliver's show on PBS. This show has only 5 Ingredients Recipes Having our own eggs again, finally, I decided to make it Egg Mango Chutney Flatbreads, I used Trader Joe's mango chutney and subbed red pepper flakes for the sliced red peppers. For some reason they're heard to find except in the summer. The dough was really easy, but I did add a TBL of water as I only had Greek yogurt which was thick. They fried up great, were soft and fluffy! I poached/fried my eggs, since fresh ones can be tough to peel. Smeared the flatbread with chutney, dotted with yogurt, topped with eggs, red pepper flakes, a little salt and pepper. We had this for dinner and was perfect!!! I could see making the flatbread and using different toppings- beans, leftover meats, etc. I may try making some of my own peach chutney when the peaches get ripe. June's coming! I love having an early ripening variety...

Easy Berry Smoothie-
Today with my breakfast poached eggs and whole grain toast I made this Berry Smoothie  I missed the ones they sold at Costco, so I looked for a knockoff. This is it! Basically 1 cup frozen mixed berries and 1/2 cup apple juice. That's all. I used a little extra juice as our frozen strawberries were huge and tough to blend. Sorry I didn't have a clear glass (no straws) but these summer glasses do! It was nice and not too sweet. I could see adding in some pineapple or protein powder for something different. Enjoy!

Garden Cleanup/Barkdust-
We've added lots of homemade compost over the 14 years or so we've lived here. Living in a very hot/very cold climate mulching is a must. It protects your plants, holds in moisture, protects from freezing weather and keeps down the weeds. We buy bark dust every few years, spreading over weed guard fabric. After removing the debris from winter storms it was obvious it was time-

Exposed landscape fabric, yuck

After!

Dave was able to borrow a pickup truck from a friend and bought 2 yards of local bark dust. He had weeded the front yard, I did most of the back. He spread the front and I did the back. Looks great!

Center flower bed

Mulched the 3 fruit trees too

I spent an almost hour just weeding this one bed! Added manure, compost, then the barkdust 

Ditto the blackberry bed, well fed and mulched!

Next on the list! South side yard when we grow beans, storage for winter. I came up with the idea to store the extra chicken wire rolls in the empty compost bin. We stopped composting yearly as the soil level is getting too high. We'll empty the area and I can put the two hens in there for a few hours and let them go to town! Next we'll weed and get ready to plant beans and squash, maybe pumpkins.  

Chicken food!

I had Dave dig up a very sick shrub I'd tried to nurse back to health for several years. It's in the chicken shade area. It's new space to plant, to the left of the shovels-

After we reorganized and build shelves in the our spare bedroom closet we didn't need this indoor/outdoor wire rack-

I brought it outside and put in an area that I can't seem to grow anything. Not sure if it's the soil but everything I've planted there has died since we've lived here. I'll fill the pots with herbs, maybe some small veggies, we'll see! Moving forward with planting more foods! Hopefully the local store will have some veggies in stock, otherwise we'll see how it goes...