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Herbs & Flowers to Naturally Control & Deter Pests

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Bee_On_Lavender

Lavender   This upcoming summer season of 2012, I will be experimenting with planting certain herbs and flowers that are known to repel garden pests, such as tomato hornworms, flies, beetles, and more. This natural form of pest control, adding beauty to our gardens or nutrition to our bodies, sounds so much better than the spraying of chemicals, don’t you think? After reading a variety of articles on the internet and becoming especially interested in a few such plants, I studied each one individually; not extensively, but enough to get a good feel for each plant and its benefits and drawbacks. I found some information that surprised me and helped me make a decision on whether I should plant them or not. In this post I will go through which ones I will or will not plant, and the reasons behind it, though the information below is only meant to give you an idea of what to expect. I am by no means an expert in the field, I don’t even have the personal experience as of yet. It is simply information that I have come across while reading, much of it double and triple checked to try to avoid giving you false information. Even so, it is a good idea to do your own, personal research before making a decision on what would benefit your own garden. One of the things I wanted to find out, was whether the [...] Read more »

Leg of Lamb for Easter Holidays, a How-To Recipe w/ Pictures

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Leg of lamb, carved

    A leg of lamb; just how do you prepare that? As I started reading about it, I found a lot of conflicting information. Some methods say to slow cook on low heat, others suggest higher heat. I cooked three boneless legs, around 4-5 Lb each, over a period of time using slightly different approaches, with only small differences in the results. All three ended up with tough connective tissues in them, which I later found out is just the nature of the leg portion of lamb. I also found out that leg of lamb is considered a lean and tender cut of meat, and dry, moderate heat is recommended to preserve that tenderness and moisture. This is confusing, since other sources say that with the tough connective tissues in leg of lamb, it needs to be cooked low and slow to help tenderize these tissues. I didn’t know any of that when I cooked up these three pieces of meats, so I cooked at medium heat once, and low heat twice, but all three methods were moist heat. The results? All three ways resulted in nicely moist  meat, though I thought the medium-well legs were a little less tender than the leg I cooked to well-done. This may have been a carving problem, as you are supposed to cut against the grain, and I’m not sure I did a very good job at ensuring that the first two [...] Read more »

Homemade Tear-Free Eye Make-up remover; Easy, Save Big Money

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Bottle with homemade eye make-up remover, no tear

  I have tried several brands of eye make-up removers. Some brands were cheap, and some expensive. They all had one thing in common: if I got some of it in my eye, which is inevitable when removing make-up from eyes, it wasn’t pleasant. Some of them down-right stung, which seems odd when you consider what they were made for; the eyes! Using plain water doesn’t work, of course, and soap stings as well. There is a solution to the problem, however, and the solution is not to go to the department store to purchase the most expensive bottle you can find. It is simply to make it yourself, using a product readily available at any grocery store, or may already be in your bathroom if you have a young child: Baby shampoo, or baby wash! Baby shampoo is made to be tear-free, and though not 100% neutral when in the eyes, at least it’s more gentle on eyes than anything else I’ve ever tried. It also works great for removing sticky mascara or other eye make-up. I have made my own for years now, and saved a lot of money. When it first was suggested to me via a message board (sorry, can remember who that was, but will try to find out), I jumped to the idea! It was brilliant! And I simply re-use my old Mary Kay eye make-up remover bottle, though any bottle will be fine. [...] Read more »

Save Money on Easy Homemade Baby Wipes! Versatile Recipe

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Homemade Baby Wipes

    Babies are cute and cuddly, so very sweet! They do, however, need a good clean-up now and again, and baby wipes can come in very handy. Purchasing ready-made baby wipes can really add to the price of having a baby, so when had my first baby and heard about making homemade baby wipes, I jumped right to the idea. I tried them, and never looked back. I was sold! It is now several years ago since the youngest of my three kids was in diapers, but I decided to make a batch again to show you how, then donated them to a friend who has a little one. Baby wipes can be used by the whole family, whether you have a child in diapers or not, for freshening up or keep in the car for a quick clean-up when out and about. Some benefits to making your own, is of course the money you save, for starters; your highest cost will be the paper towel roll, which will (depending on the size and brand) give you 200-300 wipes per big roll. The ingredients you add cost very little. I will explain in a little bit. First, I would like to point out that with this recipe, you can pick and choose which ingredients you want to use, so that you can adapt the recipe to fit your individual baby’s needs. Some infants are very sensitive to fragrances, and [...] Read more »

Mild & Tangy Potato Salad with Eggs, Recipe

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Potato salad

  Potato salad is a great addition to almost any lunch or dinner meal. Purchasing potato salad from the deli can be very convenient, but making it at home can be oh, so worth it! The main problem I have with potato salad purchased at the grocery store is that the potato cubes usually are far too firm. Sometimes they are downright crunchy! Who enjoys eating crunchy potato salad? Well, not I, I can tell you that much! Perhaps the potatoes are kept firm to keep them from losing their shape and turn to mush rather than salad, which I can understand and appreciate. Personally, I still think that flavor and tender potatoes is more important than shape, though I too, try to avoid making mush out of my salads. My potatoes do loose their shape a little bit when stirred, but not enough to cause a problem. Instead, we often find ourselves taking second helpings of this potato salad, because it tastes so good and the texture is right. It is creamy and moist, a great addition to the meal served. I adapted this potato salad recipe from the recipe that my mother-in-law used for her family during my husband’s childhood, and still uses today. I have made a couple of minor changes, but the credit otherwise goes to my dear mother-in-law for this deliciously mild, but tasty, potato salad. It contains eggs and sweet & tangy pickles, I [...] Read more »