How To Harvest, Wash & Store Lettuce
This is a great tip that I learned from my mother-in-law on how to store washed lettuce. She told me that she learned the best way to wash & store lettuce in her Home Ec. class in High School. For this example, I used Romain from my garden, but this works for just about any of your favorite greens. Step 1: Wash Lettuce As soon as you have harvested or purchased your lettuce, separate leaves and wash under cold water. There are a few proven ways to wash your lettuce. Some will soak it in a bowl of water, you can add some salt if you are afraid of any…
How to Harvest & Prepare Moringa Pods
Moringa trees also referred to as Drumstick Trees. They are easy to grow in the Southwest and provide a good source of protein and vitamins. These trees are drought tolerant and can grow 1-2 ft per month from seed. Follow the steps below to learn how to Harvest & Prepare Moringa Pods. A superfood tree has been quietly making its way into many American backyards. This tree will provide you with food (all parts are edible), water (it can purify it), more protein and calcium than milk, four times the iron of spinach and… a LOT more: The Tree That Every Gardener Should Grow in their Backyard I planted one…
Super Healthy Veggie Turkey Burger
Looking for a healthy meal for your family? I have become an expert at adding healthy ingredients to meals that the family doesn’t know about. This super healthy Veggie Turkey Burger recipe is no exception. I packed these full of healthy veggies and herbs. They are practically a whole meal on their own. These delicious healthy veggie turkey burgers are a family favorite to take along on camping trips. They are easy to make ahead of time and simple to freeze and pack for almost any outdoor adventure meal. What is my secret to a Super Healthy Veggie Turkey Burger? Dehydrated Veggies Dehydrating your own fruits, veggies, and herbs is…
Drying Basil From the Garden in a Dehydrator
One staple in our garden every summer is Sweet Basil. I have gotten to the point where my basil self seeds every year and is little work to maintain. We usually have 5-10 large basil plants growing at any one time. This creates an abundance of basil that needs to be preserved for winter use. To make preserving quick and easy, I like drying basil from the garden in one of my two dehydrators. Basil is such a versatile herb. I use it almost daily in recipes from Pizza to Roasted Potatoes. Purchasing dried herbs at the grocery store can be expensive, which I find odd since growing most of…
Easy Hack for Irrigation Drip Line Installations
Installing and replacing old worn out drip lines on your irrigation system is no fun. The 1/4 drip lines are not easy to slip onto drip heads. Follow along with me to find out my easy hack for irrigation drip line installations. Buy a Craft Heat Gun That heading pretty much sums up the whole purpose of this article. After moving to Arizona from Washington State 5 years ago, I have had to become a pro at irrigation installs and repairs. We didn’t need these system up there because…… RAIN. A lot of RAIN. This heat gun from amazon is similar to the one I use. Watch the video below…
How to Grow Grapes in Arizona
Even though we live in the desert where Temperatures reach 120 plus in the summertime, there is a wide variety of fruits and veggies that can be grown here. Our backyard garden has a good variety of these plants including Red Flame Grapes. Did you know you can grow grapes in Arizona? What varieties of grapes do well in the desert? The best grapes to grow in Arizona’s desert areas are European varieties of grapes. Here is a list of both table grapes and wine grapes that do well here: Table Grapes Red Flame Seedless Grapes(Red) Thompson Seedless Grapes (Green) Cardinal Grapes (Dark Red) Perlette Grapes (Green) Wine Grapes Shiraz…
Homemade Bone Broth Recipe
Follow along with me and learn how to make the best homemade bone broth. We love homemade broth. It has so many uses and is super easy and cheap to make. So next time you get a rotisserie chicken or smoke your own turkey, freeze the bones until you are ready to use them. Don’t forget to save the giblets as well. More on that in a bit. Consuming homemade bone broth will provide you and your family with vital nutrients, vitamins and amino acids. Every batch is different depending on the types of bones you use and other ingredients. A basic bone broth will contain calcium, magnesium and phosphorus.…
Easy Homemade Instant Pot Recipes
When I first started out using our Instant Pot I was on the search for a collection of easy homemade instant pot recipes. After a lot of trial and error, I decided to share our favorite recipes with you. Make sure to bookmark this page so you can refer back to it when you need some great dinner ideas. We will continue adding great links to this page, so be sure to keep checking back. Recipe Collections First up is this fabulous collection of recipes for beginners. You can find 101 Instant Pot recipes all in one place. It is a downloadable PDF with lots of great recipes to help…
Best Instant Pot Refried Beans
We just love making Mexican food at least once or twice a week. I also love saving money. Making the best instant pot refried beans is a great way to make tasty homemade food and save some cash.
Homemade Peppy Peppermint Syrup
The weather outside is frightful… frightfully cold anyway….. unless you live in Arizona. 13 degrees outside today… somewhere else…. 70 Degrees here. I find there is no better way to warm up cold fingers than with a nice hot cup of java. The only problem is that I have a really big sweet tooth that the dentist can’t seem to remove. So what do I do? Since we don’t like artificial sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup and any ingredient we can’t pronounce, I like to makes my own coffee sweeteners and flavors. My favorite is the homemade Peppy Peppermint Syrup. Here are some of my favorites: Peppy Peppermint Cozy Caramel…