Two Small Appliances Essential for Healthy and Frugal Living

The Nutri-Bullet (or Vitamix or Nutri-Ninja) and a Dehydrator.

There are so many things you can do with these two appliances, the possibilities are endless! You can create lots of healthy foods, store foods more effectively, be more creative with your cooking and even solve lots of problems around the house. In this blog post we will explore the many things you can do with these two appliances and I am sure there are many more uses that I am not even aware of. In that case it is helpful to look at some of my Pinterest boards and do some of your own Pinterest searching to find more.

Two years ago I got a Nutri-Bullet for Christmas and originally had no interest in it. I thought, why do I need this, I already own a nice glass Oster blender. I soon realized there is a huge difference between a blender and a Bullet or Vitamix, etc. A blender can only go so far. If you try to get anything finely ground in it, it comes out very pulpy. A smoothie with greens would leave a lot to be desired, because it would still contain many of the fibrous bits of greens in it and would taste undesirable. In a Bullet, etc. you get such a powerful motor, that the food you put in it is ground to a fine powder. If you put greens in a smoothie with this device you will have no idea they are in there (given you use the right combination of fruit to compliment them). 

I will let you in on a little secret, I hate green foods. I never eat salad, hate peas, green beans, anything green. I just think they taste terrible. I never thought I could eat healthy until I got this, and my dehydrator further added to that notion. I am eating healthier than I ever have and its really not that hard. One smoothie every other day (or even everyday, if you want to) and I feel like a new me; better complexion, healthier looking hair, peppier spirit and in general when you eat healthy you feel better, because you know its the right thing to do. You drink a smoothie and you don't get that why did I just eat that feeling of stomach grumbling, but you feel full and satisfied.

My Nutri-Bullet has allowed me to take anything that is nutritious, whether I like it or not and put it in a smoothie with my favorite fruits. Here are things I commonly include in my smoothies and here are more comprehensive lists of foods to put in a smoothie and the nutrients they contain and the benefits. I could tell you what I know, I am just a biologist, not a nutritionist, so my knowledge is limited, so this list will go a lot further than I can.

20 of the Healthiest Foods

Fruit and Vegetable Nutrient Density Chart

Pinterest Search for More

Here is a list of what I put in my smoothies (changes from time to time) and why:

• Baby Spinach (greens, chlorophyll)
• Broccoli, Radish or Alfalfa Sprouts (any sprouts will do, buy or grow yourself (sprouting is easy) they are packed with nutrition, 100x more nutrient than their full grown relatives)
• Flat-leaf Parsley (helps detox your body, so on days when you eat poorly, parsley can help regain some of that ground)
• Avacado
• Amazing Grass Superfood Powder (Chlorella and Spirulina algaes, packed with phytonutrients)
• http://www.amazinggrass.com/

• Chia seeds (helps balance glucose levels, helps you feel full and satisfied, packed with antioxidants)
• Raw pumpkin seeds (nutritional powerhouse, packed with antioxidants)
• Flax Seeds (both flax and chia are full of omega 3s, the kind of omegas you want, not 6s)
• Raw Sunflower seeds (much the same benefits as pumpkin)
• Raw almonds, cashews, brazil nuts, etc. (cashews help with stress and anxiety, almonds with detox and respiratory health, all are full of good fats and antioxidants)

• Valerian root powder (for stress and anxiety)
• Lysine (stress and anxiety and immune support, it helps keep cold sores from every appearing, who needs to treat reactively, when they can take care of their health proactively)
• Bee Pollen or Honey (both need to be locally produced to get the most bang for your buck when it comes to allergy support. They both help your body adapt to local plant/pollen allergens and honey adds a nice sweetness.)
• Lemon Balm (adds citrus notes and helps with stress and anxiety, I grow it myself)

• Orange/Yellow Veggies such as sweet potatoes, carrots or squash (beta carotene and other flavenoids and carotenoids)
• Bananas (frozen, lots of Potassium)
• Mango or Pineapple (frozen chunks)
• Papaya (lots of phytonutrients and antioxidants)
• Starfruit (the fleshy fruited/tree cousin of the shamrock/wood sorrel, believe it or not)
• Peaches or Pears
• Any fruit will do, I try to mix it up between domestic and tropical varieties, because each variety contains a unique blend of nutrients. Each plant produces specific nutrients to help combat the pests in its unique environment and when consumed we can take benefit of these nutrients (antioxidants, phytonutrients, plant sterols, flavenoids, carotenoids, etc) as they help fight some of the things going on in our body that try to thwart our health.
• And if you are really interested in fruits and their benefits and are a fruitaphile like me, you will enjoy this documentary, which you can find on Netflix, the Fruit Hunters.

• Blueberries
• Raspberries and Blackberries (a lot of these I find as wild edibles and they make making smoothies more cost effective)
• Cranberries
• Strawberries
• Cherries
• Cornelian Cherries (Cornus mas, another wild edible)
• Mulberries (usually wild edibles)
• Grapes
• Huckleberries and Serviceberries (more wild edibles)
• Plums
• Goji berries
• Cacao Nibs
• Artichoke powder (weight control)
• Superfood Powders (with ingredients like maca, chia, artichoke, noni, prickly pear cactus, aloe, goji, tumeric, acai, etc)

And after that I usually use organic apple juice, water, homemade lemonade or almond milk to add liquid. You want to choose foods for your smoothie across a wide range of color groups to get the most nutrients, however when you are creating your smoothies the possibilities are endless.

You can also make paper pulp, grind your own wheat berries for flour, make your own flax powder, grind your own dried herbs or orange peels, make pureed soups to heat up on the stove, and so much more.

So now we move on to the Christmas gift I chose the following year after receiving the Nutri-Bullet, a dehydrator. I had saw a friends dehydrator in action and thought I needed to get one of these for myself. I imagined the bounty from my garden and my trips foraging for wild edibles. Of course, I can a lot, but I needed another way to preserve my food. I also needed a way to create my own, healthier snacks. So, a dehydrator made perfect sense. (And since I do a lot of paper-making, it serves to dry paper, too. Maybe all my hobbies can be tied in with the dehydrator some how.)

Of course with the dehydrator is the basic creation of dried fruits and veggies. Examples include, dried tomatoes which would be great on crackers and cheese; banana chips; healthier potato and sweet potato chips; dried apples, dried papaya strips, raisins, plums (prunes), strawberries, mango, etc.

But then you can go even further and make fruit leather (fruit roll-ups, but much healthier- contains actual fruit and no ingredients that look they ought be on a shelf in my Chem 101 lab, lol). I made black raspberry leather from raspberries and apples (pectin is needed for this type of process, just like making jam). The black raspberries were in my freezer from the previous years glut from our garden. The apples were given to me by my mom, she did not think they had good flavor, but thought they might be good for cooking. Note  apples that are on the verge of getting old a mushy or just don't taste that good to you, do not have to be wasted, they can be used here. So all the fruit in this recipe was basically free to me and all I had to do was cut it up, if necessary and put it in my Nutri-Bullet and puree it and pour it onto the fruit leather sheet and stick it in the dehydrator. Key here again I used the Nutri-Bullet in combination with the dehydrator.

Moving on from fruit leather, try making crackers or granola bars. You can even make crackers from chickpeas or other beans, so they can be gluten free.

You can dry herbs or greens. Then use the Nutri-Bullet to pulverize them into a fine powder for storage in a quaint glass spice jar. I use the milling blade on the Bullet. I can also do the same process with orange peel. You could compost your orange peels or make your own dried orange peel spice either way, it should get reused. You can also dry spinach and other leafy greens to make your own green food powder for smoothies. You can buy spinach seeds online and grow your own baby spinach for this purpose. It would be relatively cheap. Johnnys Seeds or John Scheepers Seeds. Or if you do not have a milling device such as the Nutri-Bullet or want to save watts, you can use a good old mortar and pestle.

You can dry handmade paper that you made with the pulp you produced in your Bullet. They dry nicely without burning or curling and a lot faster than air-drying.

You can make jerky or even dog treats. I think Louie would love homemade dog treats from the dehydrator and with a little exploration I am sure I can find a recipe or two for my kitty girls as well.

You can even use it to dry delicate items such as clothing and children's toys. The key is that the dehydrator gets to lower temperatures than your oven can. Most ovens start at 200 degrees and go up. Dehydrators are from about 80-200 degrees. Just warm enough to dry things, but without burning them. There in lies the secret. Not only is it the temperature though, it is also a fan that circulates as it dehydrates. I know recipes say if you do not have a dehydrator, you can do this in the oven, but its just not the same. It is a critical kitchen appliance to have. If you have very few small appliances, this should be one of them.

You can make Christmas tree garlands with orange slices and cranberries that have been dried.  Dry tomatoes for making powder or tomato paste fruit rolls to hydrate again later when needed. You can make meals for backpacking that take up little space. You can make potpourri or mulling spices. You can make loose leaf tea or add in herbs and spices like orange slices as well. You can dehydrate garlic and onions. The best part for me, is the idea that I can use more wild edibles and garden produce in my diet and it will save me even more on my food bill. I had already been using these things, now I just have more ways to save them. I am not just limited to jams, jellies, stewed tomatoes and the like any more. There are so many more ways to preserve and enjoy foods now.

Here are more ideas on how to use a dehydrator, many more than the conventional ideas you and I could think of on our own.

Ok, so I could go on about this subject forever. These are just my two favorite kitchen appliances. However, enough said. Take my word for it, look at my pinterest boards, get inspired and get your own Bullet, Vitamix, etc. and dehydrator. You will not be disappointed and you will save lots of money on food and it will be healthier at that. So you can, it seems, have your cake and eat it, too!

This is my dehydrator.

Reupholstering a Thrift Store Chair

     So sadly my friends I just moved into an apartment without any furniture. I do have furniture, but it resides in my previous place of residence, Maryland and I am now in Indiana. My father was supposed to bring it out to me a week after I moved in, but for unforeseen circumstances it was not meant to be. Now I am two weeks in with no furniture. I started brainstorming then, what pieces of furniture I could obtain now that would be in addition to what I already had.

     I realized then that I needed either a chair or loveseat, since I threw my last loveseat away (it had had a good run and was not in good shape anymore). I then began my search for the perfect chair. I looked online and at every local store imaginable. I could not find a new chair worth buying. Then I started searching my local thrift stores for something usable or something I could fix up. The idea came to me after searching Pinterest for reupholstery ideas. I knew that using the site I could learn almost any skill I wished, with ease. I was nervous about the idea of tearing apart a chair, but I knew with my creative talents I could tackle it. I wanted to prove to myself I could do it, instead of copping out and buying a new chair. I also knew I could save a lot of money and that I would then have a piece of art I could be proud of. The first night of thrift store searching yielded nothing. The second night, a different store, I found the perfect chair. It was not the prettiest chair, but it had wonderful bones; a good shape. I then started imagining how I could reupholster it as I was looking at it in the store. I saw that the chair was $29.99; for that price I could afford to tear it apart. I asked the clerk how to proceed with buying the chair since I was sure it would not fit in my tiny car. He assured me that they could make it work. I grabbed the ticket and bought the chair and by using my discount card, I only paid $28 for it.

     The chair did not fit in my car. I barely fit in the trunk. The employees asked if I had bungees or rope and I said no. I really had no hopes of finding a chair I liked, so I was not prepared at all. They then devised a plan to tie trash bags together to secure the chair in my trunk, with the trunk left open. I figured it just might work. I only had 3 miles to drive, approximately down the road the store was on to my apartment and I would just drive with my flashers on. It worked! I got it home and I breathed a sigh of relief. I cut the trash bags and dragged the chair upstairs all by myself. As I did, coins started falling out of the cushion, lol. I guess I got even more of a discount, because the folks that donated the chair had forgot to check the cushions before doing so.

     Now the chair sits in my living room and is waiting to be transformed.

     I immediately went back out (on what happened to be Veterans Day) to pick out the chairs upholstery fabric. I bought fabric from the red tag home decor fabrics at JoAnns. It was $18 a yard on sale for half price, because of the holiday, so it ended up being $9 a yard. I am not even sure what the original price was, but I got a good deal of savings on it I would say. I also got a percentage off at the register on my final bill. So I paid about $55 for 7 yards of upholstery fabric. Then I bought $10 worth of supplies such as staples, fabric glue and piping to do the reupholstery with. So for about $95 so far I will have a nice upholstered armchair. A new chair does not even come close to this in price.

     So, if you are having thoughts about redressing a piece of furniture, with this tutorial and others on Pinterest, you can do it! If you are not a good sewer, reupholstery is easier than making a slipcover, as it involves very little sewing. Below I am providing a tutorial on how to do just that.

Here are all of the materials I bought in order to complete this project.

• Decor Fabric Roll (to figure out yardage, see this chart)
• Piping (measure the amount of piping already on your chair)
• Thread
• Needle
• Sewing machine (there is very little sewing and maybe you could get away with just hand sewing)
• Upholstery Grade Staples
• Staple Gun
• Iron
• Permanent Fabric Glue
• Sewing Pins
• Chalk Pencil (or other marking pen)
  

       The first thing you need to decide is whether you are going to go right over the current upholstery or start fresh, by ripping the old upholstery out. If you know your chairs history and you are not concerned about the previous upholstery you can go right over the old upholstery. Since I bought my chair from the thrift store and I did not know anything about its previous owner and the way it was taken care of, I decided to take all the upholstery off and go for a fresh start. This was more time consuming, but worth the effort, because it looked a lot more professional when it was done and was basically like a brand new chair. It is more time consuming to take off the upholstery, but then you have fabric you can use as patterns to create the new pieces to go back on and you can do a better job securing the new pieces to the frame underneath the upholstery. Otherwise you just have to cut big pieces of fabric and stuff them in around the chair and hope they fit, if you decide not to remove all of the upholstery.

     Second, if you decide to do as I did and take the upholstery off, start with the bottom mesh fabric and start ripping out staples.

     Once I pulled off the bottom black mesh piece of fabric, it exposed a lot of the other upholstery staples. I then started removing those. One thing lead to another and each piece was systematically removed. However, I worked in small patches, because I was completing this project over several nights, so I did not want to forget how the pieces went back on. I would remove a piece of old upholstery and then replace it with new upholstery. 

     When removing each piece I would use that piece as a template for the new upholstery. If two or more pieces were sewn together I would remove the stitching first. The seat piece was sewn together, but I only removed the stitching and pieces from one side of the seat fabric. I did this so that one side would be a template and the other side would allow me to see how the pieces go together. I just had to trace half of the piece and then fold it over to get the other half to be exactly the same.

     If there were any felt-like pieces attached to the upholstery on the underside, I saved those and reused them. If you carefully remove pieces or stitching you can reuse many of the pieces. I carefully removed some of the tack strips and reused them as well.

     Then as I was removing old upholstery I would expose foam and batting layers. I wanted to make sure these were still firmly attached even after I removed the staples and upholstery layers, so I added a few staples for good measure. I would then add more as I reapplied the upholstery layer.

     Anywhere there were cut ends of fabric that might be exposed I would fold those under and then staple or glue them (with fabric glue, if they were on the outer most layer). One side note to this is that I was having trouble remember how the arms went back together. I ripped out the stitching two or three times before I got it right. Actually on the first arm, I could not figure it out for the life of me, so I just used fabric glue to put it back together. I lined the front facing of the arm with fabric glue and attached the arm fabric wrong side up, with the majority of the fabric going away from the arm, so it could then be folded back on itself to create the same basic affect as a sewn seem. This is something you could do if you do not wish to sew anything on your chair re-upholstery project. The fabric glue is Alene’s and it is permanent.  However, the second arm I was able to sew with a little more trial and error. I then compared the two arms and I like the sewn side a lot better. The glued side looks a little more puckered; it does not lay as flat. It all worked out in the end, basically, though.

     I just continued removing pieces of old fabric, using them as templates for new fabric pieces and replacing them with the new pieces. I got all of the pieces done except for the back and the bottom. Those pieces had to be done last. The reason being they would conceal most of the inner workings and the staples. Once I replaced those two pieces I was done.

 

     I would say the whole project took 15 hours to do over the course of three days, working on it whenever I could. I worked non-stop honestly when I was home. That is just the way I am, once I have an idea for a project, I want to see it completed. I am not a very patient person when it comes to some things. However, I worked hard over those three days and I feel like I did a good job. Of course I did learn some things along the way that I would do different next time, but that is always the case when learning a new skill. I would give myself a 90% if it was a course grade. It looks great, but there are some areas you cannot see where the upholstery was not properly attached to the inner frame. I meant to go back and do that, but those parts just got over-looked somehow. Oh well, it just means that when I sit on it, sometimes I have to tuck the upholstery back in when I get up, no big deal.

     This was my first attempt at upholstery and it was largely a success. I am not sure I could have done it if I did not use the original pieces as a pattern. With that being said, I would highly encourage you to try it. If you have a chair that just isn’t doing it for you anymore, but you still like the shape of it, maybe all it needs is an upholstery update. Just look for a good JoAnn’s or Hobby Lobby, etc. coupon or sale and then buy your fabric. That can be the hardest part, because you will need a lot of fabric yardage and it can be expensive, but a good sale or coupon will help tremendously. It worked for me. If you need a chair or other piece of furniture, consider visiting a thrift store and imaging the possibilities of a piece with new upholstery. I think it’s a less expensive way to get a piece of furniture that is like new. The frame and inner workings might be old, but the fabric is brand new. 

     I priced chairs at many different stores and they ranged from $150-500 dollars. I spent about $95 on this one (everything included) and it’s totally customized to my space’s décor. I will post again later when my whole living room is updated, and discuss all the projects I took on there, not just this chair.

 

Wild Edibles Dishes (Healthy meets Delicious!)

As summer dawns upon us, my family and I look forward to picking wild and garden berries. I have already started by picking mulberries and cherries. Right now I am unemployed so everyday I try to pick a different local park to walk my dog at while there I bring my tools for picking any edibles we find. This helps because if I find some berries at one park, I can come back a few days later and more of those berries will be ripe. I only take a small portion each time leaving plenty for the wildlife. As I pick a couple cups of a certain kind of berry, I try to find interesting recipes to use them in. I love to bake with wild edibles. I am often not satisfied enough to eat the fruit on its own although, there are many times that while I am picking (especially in my own yard) I do just that. Last year I had a lot of fun making cakes, pies and other things. However, as delicious as these were, they were not the healthiest dishes. I still want to do some of those same dishes to some extent, but I want to challenge myself to make those dishes healthier or to find healthier dishes to make. I will divulge one of my biggest secrets. You will not believe this coming from someone like myself who tries to live a pretty active and healthy lifestyle. I HATE GREENS (SALAD)! I think they taste terrible, but thats just me. I do eat greens (I even grow spinach), because they are extremely good for you, I just have to mask them in fruit and veggie smoothies. So, I dutifully get my greens in nonetheless. So, of course if you like salad, just throw your favorite wild edibles into that. Thats the healthiest option of all, besides fruit salad of course, which I do like. But if you like to indulge your sweet tooth every once in a while here are a few of my favorites recipes and I have variations on them you can feel less guilty about.

My first dish was a cherry-apple crisp. Here is the recipe and in bold are the changes I made and the rest in bold green are changes that I would suggest making or would make if I had all the money in the world to buy everything organic.

• 2 pounds Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and thinly sliced (Organic Apples are a Must- Pesticides are the Reason)
• 3/4 cup cranberries (or cherries, whichever- organic if at all possible)
• 1/4 cup white sugar (organic coconut palm sugar or the like)
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon (organic cinnamon)
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg (organic nutmeg)
• 1/3 cup quick-cooking oats (organic oats)
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour (un-bleached all-purpose flour would be best)
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar (organic brown sugar)
• 1/4 cup butter, cut into pieces (organic butter)
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans (organic pecans)
• Addition of Organic Ground Flax Meal and added to the cherries some cherry jelly I made from last year, since I was a little short on the cherries.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C.) Butter an 8 inch square baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, mix together apples, cranberries, white sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Place evenly into baking dish.
3. In the same bowl, combine oats, flour and brown sugar. With a fork, mix in butter until crumbly. Stir in pecans. Sprinkle over apples.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until topping is golden brown, and apples are tender.

Next we have one of my favorite recipes to add wild edibles to (either in the recipe or afterwards) Granola. This time I chose to make a cherry chocolate granola.

Ingredients

• 3 cups rolled oats (organic oats)
• 1 cup slivered almonds (organic almonds)
• 1 cup cashews (organic cashews)
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar (organic brown sugar, plus I use the 2 tbsp for coconut palm sugar instead)
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup (real maple syrup, organic even better)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil (use organic safflower or coconut oil for cooking, do not cook with olive oil or vegetable oil in oven heres why)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt (sea salt)
• additional ingredients I used are:
• flax meal (3 tbsp)
• artichoke powder (which is usually used in smoothies, but I sometimes use it in other recipes as well its called Artichoke Vitae Plus)
• raw organic pumpkin seed (chopped up, but if you like them whole then go ahead and use them that way, 1/4 cup)
• organic cocoa nibs (I use about 1/4 cup or whatever looks satisfactory when mixed in)
• cherries (pitted and again I dump some in and keep dumping them in and mixing until I get a consistency I like)

 Follow recipe as below, but add or change ingredients along the way where necessary.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts, and brown sugar.
3. In a separate bowl, combine maple syrup, oil, and salt. Combine both mixtures and pour onto 2 sheet pans. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to achieve an even color.
4. Remove from oven and transfer into a large bowl.

Original Recipe

One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure

You never know what kinds of things can have a new life. I was camping in Shenandoah National Park a few years back, when I stumbled upon a campsite with scrap wood left by the fire pit. Most of it was in the form of twigs and logs, but some of it was scrap lumber. I saved this one small piece of 2x6 to figure out how to re-purpose it later.

It just sat for the longest time on a shelf in my spare bedroom. I was lacking inspiration. Then one day it finally came to me. I was going to paint it with some craft paints a family member gave to me. I was then going to spray it with lacquer and add hardware to make a small piece of art for the kitchen that could also hold my potholders, kitchen towels and other small items.

Here is how I made this lovely little piece from start to finish:

1)  Sand down the rough edges using sandpaper. I also sanded edges so they would be more rounded instead of crisp 90 angles. I thought it gave the piece a more warn, but softer look. Brush away any sanding dust before painting.

2) Paint a base coat on the front and four sides. Save some paint aside for touch ups later. I used a dark chocolate brown for my base coat. Several coats of paint may be needed to achieve opacity. Otherwise, if you like some of the wood grain to show through (more like a stain) then one coat would be enough.

3) Draw design on wood using pencil. The pencil may not seem to show up at first, especially on a dark background, but the graphite does have a sheen to it, so if you hold it up in the right light you can still see it even on a dark painted piece of wood.

4) I painted a few fruits and veggies onto mine, since it is for the kitchen. Paint the base colors on first. Then add shading and details with the same colors but in darker or lighter versions. Several coats of paint may be needed to achieve opacity.

5) Once you have finished painting you can coat your design in a lacquer. I use Treehouse brand spray in either matte or glossy, depending on how I want the piece to look when done. I spray 2-3 even coats of lacquer over the entire design and sides. I decide how many coats to spray based on the way each coat looks when it is dry.

6) I add hardware on the back for hanging. You can purchase that at any craft store that has a framing dept. Nail or screw it on, depending on what the package recommends. You can also use Command strips if you piece is light enough. I used picture hanging Command strips that were rated up 16 lbs. I know this piece is nowhere near 16 lbs, so it should be fine.

7) Add hardware to the front if you desire to make it useful for hanging things. You can buy hooks or handles in the hardware dept. of a home improvement store or you can get creative and use old silverware, etc. for hooks. A lot of silverware is fairly easy to bend with your hands into a hook shape. You can find cheap silverware at a thrift store. I paid a quarter for each of my spoons. Some hardware will already come with holes and nails or screws for attachment. Others will need creative attachment.

• You can glue hardware on with epoxy or hot glue.
• You could drill through the metal if you have the right tools to do so, then nail or screw them in.
• You might be able staple across the handle of something like a spoon.

Do you know anyone who works in the construction trade who might be able to give you scrap lumber? You can make things like this, too or the long signs like those you see in country/primitive/antique stores.

Estimated Cost: $4.00
(paints free, wood free, spoons $0.50, command strips about $3.50)

Second project:

Here I used an IKEA cabinet front from the AS-IS section to create a wall hanging. The cabinet door cost me $3.00. I thought for $3 it would be easy to experiment with a piece of wall art.

Again I used my craft paints (PLAID brand). I used my computer to print out letters which I cut out using my X-ACTO knife. This became a stencil to which I traced using a fine point sharpie onto my cabinet front. Using a pencil also works, especially if you do not have the confidence that you will not screw up in the tracing process.

I wrote SOUTHPORT on the top and MAINE on the bottom. This is where I was living last summer and it has a very special place in my heart.

(I wanted this piece to be the partner to another similar size piece I created using a rectangular frame with 3 5x7 slots, which features mementos from Monhegan Island, ME. Monhegan was also a special place I visited while I was in Maine. Southport is also an island. Each piece will have a map of the island in the center.)

I then painted in the letters using craft paint in a turquoise color. And then lacquered the lettering when I was done.

In the center inset I decoupaged a trio of photos (the center being a map). I used both outdoor grade decoupage and the lacquer to create a nice top coat.

On the backside I added some picture hanging hardware. I used the same Command Strips as above (16 lbs). I put lots of strips on the back to create as many points of contact as possible, so that this piece would not fall off the wall. You could also nail, screw or epoxy on picture hanging hardware instead.

Now I have a lovely wall hanging of my time in Southport, Maine, made from a cabinet facing. I think in the future if I sell my work at farmers markets/craft fairs, I will buy more of these cabinet pieces and make more artwork. They are very economical and the fact they are often inset means they make great frames. However, for now I just made this piece, because it is so heavy and would not ship inexpensively. I would be willing to do custom work for anyone who wants to pick up locally.

Estimated Cost: $10.00
(Paints free, frame/cabinet door front $3.00, copies of pictures from copy center $1.00, decoupage about $1.00 worth, Command Strips $5.00)

I love making my own wall art, using mementos from places I have been. I want my next place to have walls filled with an eclectic mix of my own art (the fruit and vegetable kitchen rack above), places I have traveled (Southport and Monhegan) and things that are of great meaning to me (like the collection of prints I have that are copies from an antique book I own that has been passed down in my family). Other peoples artwork is nice, especially if you know the artist personally, but your own artwork and personal mementos are so much better.

I am also working on a piece using a frame I found near a stores dumpster. It was lovely framed newspaper article. The frame was in great shape.  I replaced the matte with a matte for 4 (4x6s). I then plan to add four vintage art deco postcards from my favorite national parks. I already have two from Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. I know there is one for Shenandoah and I am sure other parks have their own. I paid $4.00 for the matte, since I used a half-price coupon. The post cards will total around $2.00. Of course the frame was free, so for $6.00 I have another beautiful memento of some of my favorite places.

Finally, I want to show another transformation not of the wall art kind. I had two really old yucky potholders at home and to most people they would have been trashed. However, I thought that instead of trashing them, I could give them new life and this would also save me from having to buy new potholders. I had always thought about making my own potholders, but was too afraid to try. I was afraid I would use the wrong material and they would burn or that I would burn myself through them if they were not insulating enough. So, I decided recovering old potholders was the perfect solution. As long as I used cotton fabric and thread I knew my potholders would be just fine.

1) Wash the old potholders first to be 100% sure they are clean before you start. Use cotton fabrics and threads. Trace around the old potholder on the new fabric, remember to trace 1/4 inch out for seem allowance or cut 1/4 inch out from the traced line afterwards. Make a front and back piece for each potholder. Snip off the hanging hook on the old potholder (You will create new ones later).

2) Sew the back and front pieces together (wrong sides together) leaving an opening 2-3 inches wide. Flip the piece right side out. Iron the casing flat and the open edge so the raw edges are nicely pressed inside. Stuff the old potholders inside and flatten them down, pushing them into the corners or wherever else necessary to insure a good fit.

3) Sew as close to the edge as possible to close the open edge and just continue around the whole perimeter of the potholder.

4) Add an applique design on top if you wish, using scrap cotton fabrics and wonder under.

5) Sew through all layers around the applique designs if necessary. Also sew other patterns on the potholders to create a quilted look and to insure all layers are well bound together. I quilted my potholders in the shape of the fruit appliques and then just did a simple grid pattern on the rest of the potholder.

6) Add a small loop for hanging. I used scrap fabric, cut it into a long strip and folded the raw edges in twice and sewed them in place. Then I created the loop and sewed it. This can get tricky as you are now asking your sewing machine to sew through tons of layers and even denim/heaviest duty needles can struggle with this. Go super slow with your sewing machine or hand sew the loops on if it makes you feel more comfortable. Done!

Canning Lemonade

Summer is all about berries. However, I always have way too many to know what to do with. One can only make so many jars of jam. I get tired of jam and think how else can I can these berries so they can be used again later in recipes. I was making berry lemonades and drinking them right after I made them, then I realized they have all the necessary ingredients for canning. I thought to myself, I can can lemonade concentrate so it does not have to be refrigerated and then have lemonade whenever I want it. Here is more about how I do it.

I spend my summers picking blueberries, black raspberries, red raspberries, wineberries, strawberries, cherries, mulberries and blackberries to my hearts content. We have blueberry bushes at my aunts house, black raspberry, strawberry and sweet cherry plants at my house. And I can usually find more raspberries, wineberries, mulberries and blackberries at my local parks, then I know what to do with. I usually cannot use these berries up fast enough before they start to get moldy. So, I discovered a quick way to use a lot of them at once! Make lemonade. Not just make it, but can it! 

It is basically like making jam: sugar, water, fruit juice, lemon juice (but no pectin). Its like canning jam without solidification. Since you need acid for water bath canning, lemonade concentrates are perfect. You would not be able to can straight berry juice and berry lemonades taste amazing!

Here is how I make lemonade concentrate:

1) Prepare water bath canner. Heat the jars in the canner.  Put lids in a sauce pot with water on low heat. You can boil the jars in the canner, but the lids should not be boiled. This is why they should be processed separately.

2) Fill my Nutri-Bullet to the fill line with berries and puree.

3) Strain out the seeds with fine mesh strainer (optional, but I like it that way). Sometimes a spoon is helpful to stir the pulp to get the juice moving and keep the strainer from getting too clogged up to be able to strain. Once it seems like no more juice will come out and only seeds are left, I stop.

4) Set juice aside. Mix 3/4 to 1 cup of sugar with 1 cup of water. I use less sugar than the recipe calls for, because no one needs to consume that much sugar, it tastes fine without the 1/4 cup and the berries add a lot of natural sugar right back in. I mix them in a sauce pan and cook them until the mixture becomes clear.

5) I measure out 1/2 cup of berry juice and 1/2 cup of lemon juice and add to my sugar-water mixture. If I have more berry juice, I just repeat the process of making more sugar water and making more berry-lemon juice mixture. I turn the stove back on, if it is not already on and cook the concentrate a little more, until it starts to boil. Once it starts boiling, I turn it off and prepare to fill the jars.

6) I lift the jars out of the canner and dump the water out. I set them on a towel and put the funnel in them and fill them with concentrate one by one. Leave 1/4 inch of head space. I wipe the rims of the jars off afterwards.

7) I pick the lids out of their pot and put them on the filled jars. I make sure they get a good tight seal. I put the bands back on. I screw them on finger tight.

8) I then process the jars in the canner for about 15-20 minutes.

9) I pull the jars out and let them sit until the center of the lids pops inwards, telling me their done. They make a pinging noise when they pop inwards.

10) I let the jars sit until they are dry and cooled off. I screw the lids on as tight as possible and then I label them.

11) When I make lemonade, I open a jar of concentrate and pour it into a pitcher. I add 3-4 cups of cold water. If you like your lemonade less sweet or if you like slightly sweetened water you can pour the amount of lemonade you want into a glass and fill the rest with water. You can also add fresh lemon slices or mint leaves to your pitcher if you want.

That is basically all you need to do to make lemonade. I love it because it is very inexpensive to make and can. It tastes great and I drink it all the time. I like it so much that I have replaced a lot of the soda and other unhealthy drinks I used to drink a lot of, with lemonade. I hope to can lots of lemonade, so I can have it to drink year round. If you were to buy a glass of lemonade like mine at a fancy restaurant, it would cost $2-3 a glass and refills would not be free. Mine costs much less and much more natural.

If you are looking for something unique to can, try lemonade concentrate. When summer gives you berries, make lemonade!

http://www.homesteadanywhere.com/recipes/lemonade-concentrate/

http://www.creativethriftiness.com/2013/04/canning-lemonade-concentrate.html

I have made two pitchers of black raspberry lemonade so far, one pitcher of cherry lemonade and canned 3 jars lemonade (2 blackberry and 1 wineberry). I hope to make mulberry, strawberry and blueberry lemonades as well.

24 Foods You Will Find Growing in my .25 Acre Yard

I decided to go around my garden and document every type of fruit or vegetable we have growing. Once I counted all the plants/photos, I realized that I had 24 different kinds of food growing on my .25 acre lot. Maybe 26, if you count the plants that haven't sprouted yet, like the carrots I am waiting on. That is a lot of food for such a small suburban Baltimore backyard. It reminded me that anyone can grow food no matter what kind of space issue they have. Sometimes you have to containerized your plants, like I did with my herbs. You just have to do a little research on how to make your space into a food producing machine (a garden)! I would love to see cities like Baltimore take a more active role in creating gardens in nooks and crannies (whether they be vegetable gardens or green roofs, etc.) Plants really help clean our air and can produce food (help feed the hungry) and I think we should be investing more into them. That is one of my personal missions in life and I try to do that where I can at my fathers place, which is the space I have to work with now. Most of neighbors have a grassy backyard and that is it. Little to no biodiversity or gardens and it is kind of a shame. 

So here are some articles/books on gardening, that I find absolutely informative:

• Toad Cottages and Shooting Stars - BOOK

•  DIY Network - Container Sweet Potatoes VIDEO

• Turning Wine Bottles into Mini-Planters 

• 10 Foods You Can Eat Once and Grow Forever

•  Buzzfeed - Gardening Hacks

• No Garden? Here are 66-things you can grow at home in containers

• Small Space Gardening 

•  http://www.creativesustenance.com/

Of course there are a lot more, but these are some that I have found recently that I found really informative and gave me a lot of good ideas to try.

Now to My Garden:

SAGE
I love the flavor of sage in cooking meats, breads, pastas, etc.

 APPLE MINT

This mint has a nice light and sweet mint flavor to it. I like to use it for flavoring in my water and in deserts, especially chocolate ones. I bring this container plant inside for the winter, so I can use it even then. It is great for cocoa :)

 LEMON BALM

This citrus-flavored mint is great in dishes where lemon flavoring might be used. I have recipes for sweet breads, muffins and biscuits. It is also a great herb for flavoring water. I like to flavor my water with herbs, it really helps me cut back on more sugary drinks.

CHAMOMILE

I will mostly use this plant to make sachets. I might drink chamomile tea every once in a while, but I am not a huge fan of tea.

WILD GINGER

This plant still needs to be planted. It needs to be in a shady place where it can spread as a nice ground cover. It does not make a good container plant. Once I figure out where to plant it and it gets established, I will remove some of the plants (I harvest the stems) to use in dishes where the traditional tropical ginger is called for. Since the stems have to be harvested and it takes many stems to get enough spice, it may be a while before I can use this plant. If I can harvest some from the wild, I will use those instead for now.

SWEET POTATO

This plant along with my garlic and potato plants I started the same way.  I go to a local organic grocery store to see what day old produce they put out for taking. I like to look for old tuber or corm veggies to use to start new plants. I took a day old sweet potato, stuck some sewing pins (or you could use toothpicks, but that is what I had) in the sides and suspended it over a glass of water. A few weeks later I had a mass of roots and a few small leaves coming from my old sweet potato.

STRAWBERRIES

Many many years ago there was a store called Franks Nursery and that is where we got our first strawberry plants. We have had them ever since, they are not hard to grow and they multiple rapidly.  We use them for one of favorite summer dishes shortcake. I also use them for fruit and veggie smoothies. However, this year we did not get many strawberries and most of them were miniscule, so I went to a strawberry picking farm with some friends and got my strawberries there instead. Maybe next year our plants will produce well again. It seems to go in cycles like that with many perennial fruits. One good year and one not so good year and so forth and so on.

OREGANO

I lost my oregano plant this year when my dad turned my tiny plant over when digging up the garden. So, I bought a new plant at the farmers market for 3 dollars, made perfect sense at that price.

TOMATOES

Early Girl and Beefsteak Tomatoes, bought from a local garden center. 8 plants four of each.

POTATOES

I picked up a day old potato with eyes on it for free from the organic grocery store. I got two plants out of it, by doing the same thing I did with the sweet potatoes.

DAMSON PLUMS

This tree has been in my yard forever. It was planted there by my father before I was born. Every other year it seems like we get a good crop of plums. Looks this year will be a good year. I usually make tarts and jams from my plums. I like plums, but I do not feel like these have the best flavor, so I do not eat a lot of them right off the tree, my dad does though.

LETTUCE

We plant leaf lettuce every year, because my dad likes it on his sandwiches. Me not a fan of lettuce or most greens, but I do use them on occasion in smoothies.

RADISHES







BLOOMSDALE SPINACH

Heirloom spinach variety I am growing for green smoothies. Great if you cannot wait to start your garden. If you get spring fever, you can start spinach in late winter early spring, its pretty hardy.

ONION

We were about to toss this pretty sad looking onion that had been in the fridge too long, but when we saw that it had sprouted we thought we would give a second chance at life. Who knows if it will work out, only time will tell.

BASIL

I was going to grow basil from seed, but when I saw this plant for a dollar at the farmers market, I could not resist. I like to make and can pesto with my basil plants. I also use as fresh and dried basil in pasta dishes. This year my goal is to find out how to use black walnuts in cooking and hopefully I will be able to use them in my pesto. You can use walnuts or pine nuts, but both are very expensive. I know where lots of black walnuts grow, so if they can be harvested, that would be a much cheaper alternative.

GARLIC
I also got this head of garlic for free as it had sprouted. I split the sprouted cloves up and planted them to get several more garlic heads. Its easy to grow garlic. Just plant 3 inches deep with the sprouted part of the clove facing up and wait for the sprout to penetrate the soil.

APPLES

It has been years since we have found good apples on our apple tree. We do not spray our tree. Some wild trees are not sprayed, but still get decent apples, so we don't know why our tree doesn't have the same luck. I harvest wild apples all of the time from abandoned orchards. Maybe its because of that, that I don't worry too much about my own tree. If I did take the time to spray it I have a nice cayenne pepper based organic spray recipe I would use. I just need to take the time to do it sometime earlier in the season, when the apples are just forming.

BLACK RASPBERRY

Years ago we planted these bushes and every summer we get tons of black raspberries (note previous post about the difference between blackberries and black raspberries). I also pick plenty of black raspberries from local parks. I like to make jams, sauces, ice creams, so lots of berries are always needed. I also love our family's summer tradition of black raspberries on plain cereal like corn flakes. I look forward to that every summer.

SWEET CHERRIES
About 15 or so years ago, my dad and I went to a local park to pick some cherries. One night we were eating them in the backyard and we spit the pits out into our yard, the next year we had trees there. We removed several of the volunteer trees, but kept a four. Later we removed two of the four and left the two that were at the corners of the yard. We now have two trees that are over a foot in diameter. It is hard to imagine, but when the trees were very young one of our dogs chewed one to the ground. That dog passed a few years back, but his tree still stands over a foot in diameter and over two stories tall. I guess my dog couldn't stop that cherry tree :)

GRAPES
Our grapes are the Americana Variety. They produce Red, White and Blue/Purple Concord Grapes. They make great grape jelly. I also use them for grape juice and of course I love picking them and eating them right off the vine.

LUFFA
Not that you would eat these, but they do make great bath sponges. Yes Luffa comes from a plant, a gourd to be exact and I cannot wait to see it in its full glory. I bought these Heirloom Dishcloth Gourd seeds on the internet from small company out of Louisville. www.nimblenitecap.etsy.com All you have to do is dry the gourd, clean the skin off with water and wire brush (like a grill brush, or scouring pad would also work). Then voile a usable exfoliating bath sponge.

BLUEBERRIES
My poor dad accidentally cut our bush way back, because he thought it was part of the Forsythia bush (that was leaning over it). We never get more than 10-15 blueberries anyway, and this year we are sure to get none. None of that really matters, because my aunt in Pennsylvania has a ton growing on her property, that I am sure I will be picking in the near future.