I’ve heard about hydroponic gardening for years, but never really understood how to do it or what equipment was necessary. I’m happy to report that I have found a site that tells you all about Hydroponics in easy-to-understand terms. This gives me hope that I can have a garden that doesn’t require a large space out in the yard.

This kind of gardening is going to be what I try next so that I can have some fresh produce year ’round instead of being limited by an outdoor growing season where I live in the southern US. I’m getting excited about this prospect!

Technorati Tags: hydroponic gardening, garden

Ok. So it’s not truly “fried”, but that’s a good thing because you save on fat that way. I make my fried rice in my steamer. It’s really simple to do.

Since my steamer has one large lower tray and two smaller upper trays, I just use the lower one for rice. Steamed rice always comes out fluffy and separate, and you never have to worry about it sticking. (Of course, if you cook rice correctly on the stove, you don’t have that concern anyway.)

To cook rice in your steamer, put the regular ratio of water to rice (2:1) in the steamer tray. Season it or add butter - whatever you like. Steam it for 30 minutes before you lift the lid to check it. It should be done, but lifting the steamer lid lets important heat and steam escape and lowers the temperature, so you don’t want to do this too often or it actually takes a lot longer.

I put my stir-fry vegetables in the top trays of the steamer at the same time as the rice, along with cooked meats or cooked shrimp. Top tray items don’t cook as quickly as the bottom tray ones, and that’s good because you want the veggies to be tender-crisp anyway. Add any seasonings you like to them and lightly toss them with a little sesame oil before steaming.

When everything’s done, just stir it all together. Add soy sauce if you want, and serve with sweet and sour or duck sauce. You can also toss in some slivered almonds at this point for extra crunch and nutrition.

If you like eggs in your fried rice (and I do), you can stir a couple of eggs up and pour them into a skillet. Let them set up before you start stirring so you don’t have actual scrambled eggs but you have “flakes” of cooked eggs to add to your fried rice.

Technorati Tags: fried rice, steamer, stir-fry

I have to tell you, owning a dehydrator is a worthy investment if you want to save on your grocery budget or just have healthful, nutritious snacks on hand that are shelf-safe.

You can dehydrate produce that might otherwise be wasted. Dehydrated vegetables can be tossed into soups and casseroles, or rehydrated to use in omelets and other recipes. Dehydrated fruits can be eaten as a snack, added to cold cereal or granola, or rehydrated to use in pies or made into sauces for ice cream or pancake toppings.

If you grow herbs, using the dehydrator gets them dried more quickly while retaining a fresh color and taste.

You can even make your own jerky in a home dehydrator using beef, turkey, or venison and some seasonings. You can also make your own fruit leathers (aka fruit roll-ups) in your home dehydrator. Some dehydrators have settings for making your own yogurt, which is truly a taste treat.

Deyhdrators are sold almost everywhere. I got mine at Walmart and later got another one there for my Mother. She uses it every gardening season for her home grown herbs.

Someone once commented to me, “Why do you keep that dehydrator around? You don’t use it all the time, do you?” Well, no, I don’t. But I also don’t want to go buy another one every time I do want to use it! It’s worth the storage space just to be able to use it during the growing season alone, but I also use it during the rest of the year for things like bananas that are on sale.

Before I started working outside my home, I went to a local grocer for “Banana Tuesday” every week, and bought at least 20 pounds of bananas at only .25 a pound. I dehydrated most of them and had good snacks for the kids and dried bananas to put in my home made granola. That price is half the regular price of .49 a pound, so it was a huge savings!

I bet that right now you can think of uses for a dehydrator in your kitchen. Wanna share?

Technorati Tags: dehydrator, dehydrate, Dehydrated vegetables, Dehydrated fruits, jerky, fruit leathers, fruit roll-ups, Walmart

Since refrigeration is a very important part of food safety and food saving, you might want to check yours to see if the gaskets are all doing their job and the temperatures in the fridge portion and the freezer portion are correct.

Most know that to check the gaskets, you close the door with a dollar bill sticking out. Pull the dollar out slowly. If there is some resistance, then the gasket is ok in that spot. If it slides out easily, then the gasket needs to be replaced. Repeat that at various intervals around the doors.

Use a thermometer designed for the fridge to keep a constant eye on the temperatures, so your food doesn’t spoil so quickly.

If your refrigerator is in very bad condition and isn’t maintaining proper safe temperatures, it may be time to start shopping for a new one. You can find Whirlpool Refrigerators as well as other brands at Krillion online. They are in the business of searching for items and local sellers for you, so you can just go in and find what you need. They have over 40,000 retailers to choose from, so you are bound to find a store in your town where you can buy a fridge. It’s just a matter of searching their site a few minutes, instead of spending fruitless hours searching on your own.

Technorati Tags: refrigeration, Krillion

Sometimes, we get a bag of apples and aren’t able to eat them quickly enough. Making fried apples is a good way to use them up so they don’t go to waste, since I hate wasting money like that. Hope you enjoy this recipe!

Ingredients 

• 4 cups peeled, sliced apples
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 stick real butter
• 1 tsp. cinnamon

Method

Melt butter in large skillet over low heat. add apples, sugar, and butter.  Fry, gently stirring often, until apples are transluscent. Serve warm over biscuits or as a side dish.

These wind up with a really wonderful sauce around them and are also delicious on pancakes or waffles, or over ice cream.

Technorati Tags: fried apples, recipe

Ever seeking ways to make wannabes at home for things I’ve had while dining out, I came up with this three ingredient recipe for making a simple mocha style iced coffee at home.

Ingredients 

• Coffee, brewed double strength
• Chocolate milk from the grocery store
• Ice

Method

Brew your coffee with double the amount of coffee you’d normally use. Cool it in the fridge for a couple of hours.

For each tumbler of iced mocha coffee: Fill the tumbler half full of ice. Add chocolate milk to cover the ice. Pour in the chilled coffee. Stir well.

That’s all there is to it! I’m going to be experimenting with other flavors, too, such as vanilla and cherry. I’ll post when I try them and let you know how they turn out.

Technorati Tags: three ingredient recipe, Coffee, iced mocha coffee

Along with making your own mints, you can probably find a lot of recipes to use for a wedding, wedding reception, or even a wedding shower. But what sets these events apart and makes them even more memorable are the wedding favors you set out and give away to guests.

This is the time when you need some really original unique wedding favor ideas. The Knot Wedding Shop has thousands of  personalized wedding favors that can’t be found at any other source. These are the kinds of things that the bride and groom will want to share with others and keep some for themselves to show their future children.

Not only does The Knot Wedding Shop offer these unique items, but unlike local stores, you can order online 24-hours a day. Their doors never close. Shop around the site and see for yourself what beautiful items they have to offer.

Technorati Tags: wedding, wedding reception, wedding shower, The Knot Wedding Shop

This is a variation of Thai coffee, that Brandon makes. I love it. It’s also another three-ingredient recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups coffee of your choice (I use Columbian)
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 gallon water

Method:

Mix together in a large pan. Bring to a boil. Gently boil for ten minutes, stirring so sugar doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

Filter into a half-gallon container. Let cool in the refrigerator for several hours.

Serve over ice, if desired. You can add cinnamon and whipped cream for a real taste treat.

This coffee is very strong but very good and refreshing on a hot summer day.

Technorati Tags: Thai coffee, three-ingredient recipe, coffee, Columbian

Well, on the electric skillet anyway. Our lunch today was tasty fried catfish , hushpuppies , and a combination of shoestring fries and tater tots .

I had the whole day off and around noon was getting pretty hungry. I want to try to use up things that are in the freezer , and this took out three items that needed to be cooked and eaten. There’s more to go, though, so the next few days you’ll probably see a lot of “soup du jour” posts.

As always, I’ll be sure to include a recipe when it’s needed if it’s something I haven’t shared before. For instance, tomorrow we’ll have stir-fry and I’ll tell you how I made it.

Since I’ve told you in an earlier post how I cook catfish and hushpuppies, I won’t go over that again. But I do want to reiterate that Lawry’s Seasoned Salt is the absolute best seasoned salt on the grocery shelves. It always lends a bright taste to anything I use it on.

Anyway, there was enough cooked for lunch that we were able to also have it for supper. We finished it off, thankfully, so there’s no leftovers to stow.

Technorati Tags: electric skillet, catfish, hushpuppies, fries, tater tots, freezer, stir-fry, Lawry’s Seasoned Salt

These delicate and tasty mints need to be refrigerated until served since they do contain real cream cheese . However, after a day or two, they tend to be dry enough to be safely kept outside the refrigerator.

We have used these at parties and given them as gifts. You can use any flavoring you want but be sure it is real flavoring and not imitation or the taste just won’t be as nice. We used peppermint in ours.

You may also add a drop of food coloring if you want. We left ours white but they are pretty when lightly colored. Divide the “dough” and make a few small colored batches.

I liked just rolling the candy out and cutting it into little pillows with a pizza wheel. However, it’s perfectly suited for tiny cookie or candy cutters so you can have pretty shapes.

Cream Cheese Mints

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 2 lb. powdered sugar
• Flavoring and coloring as desired

Method:
Mix all ingredients together with a mixer until stiff, adding powdered sugar a little at a time. When it is very stiff, knead with your hands. Shape as desired.

May also be used as the centers for chocolates or you may add nuts, etc.

Technorati Tags: mints, cream cheese