Photo of the Day
Spring is always crazy with flower and veggie gardening, but I took a break today to finally capture this shot: These are the flower buds on my cayenne pepper plant. Gorgeous, don’t you think?
My journey of cooking, gardening, preserving and more
garden
Preparing for the Summer Garden
Well, the tomatoes and peppers for my summer garden are on their way. I started my seeds about 2 weeks ago and just thinned them down to 2 plants per pot. I like to start mine in 3 to 4-inch pots because, in my personal …
What’s Happening Hot Stuff?
When life gives you hot peppers…make hot sauce. I grew scotch bonnet peppers for the first time, this year. Last year it was bhut jalokia peppers, also known as ghost chilies, which certainly lived up to their hot, hot, hot reputation. On the Scoville scale, …
Chimichurri Sauce
Chimichurri sauce is something I enjoy tremendously and is a great way to use some of your gorgeous summer herbs. I love it with grilled skirt or flank steak, which is how it’s traditionally served, but it’s also great with chicken and fish, Bonus? It …
Oven Roasted Tomatoes
Northern Illinois had its first frost advisory last night and, even though we’re on a hill and don’t usually get affected too badly the first frost or two, there was definitely a light sprinkle of frost on our lawn this morning. I cleaned out our …
Chunky Tomato Salsa Canning Recipe
This summer is like every summer; I’ve got my usual plethora of tomatoes and I love to make chunky canned salsa with some of them. We’ve been blessed with a continued spell of warm weather here in Northern Illinois, but this trend is bound to …
Homemade Grape Juice and Jelly
If you follow me on Facebook, you know that I was in jelly making mode a couple of weeks ago. Anyone who says that homemade grape jam or jelly is easy to make either A) has never actually had to harvest those grapes and then …