Flower Garden Spring Clean-Up & Morning Glory Sprouts

I was going to say Happy Cinco de Mayo, but then I realized that it's 2:45 am and Cinco de Mayo is over... Oh well, Happy Belated Cinco de Mayo? lol Hope everyone had a great one! I had a nice relaxing day myself. I started out by spending an hour in the flower garden doing a Spring Clean-Up. The above picture is from last fall and I never did get around to doing a Fall Clean-Up. The closest I got was taking out the tomato & pepper plants, and the herbs that were in the back right of the garden last year (they will have their own garden this year between the houses).  So in the fall all of the Annuals died off and were left in the ground, the Morning Glory's on the trellis died and were never taken down, leaves were all through the garden... Needless to say it needed a clean-up. 

Today I went out before the temperature rose too much and got to work. Let me just say, the weeds were out in abundance! There was a lot of dead leaves to take out of the garden, but there was a TON of weeds too. I didn't get to the trellis today but I will be dealing with that tomorrow. I did get the leaves out and the weeds pulled though. And got a little surprise in the process. My Summer Nights Larkspur re-seeded itself! :) I thought it was Annual but it came back this year. I'm quite happy about this as the flowers on it are GORGEOUS! In the above photo you can barely see the bright blue flowers in the middle towards the back. Here's a close-up I took last summer of the flowers.

See what I mean? I love them! I also learned that my Impala Roses survived the winter as well! YAY!! Below all of the dead leaves I found new little red leaves. :)

Also back are my Daylily's which were transplants last year and never bloomed for me (except the Stella D'Oro which was in bloom when I put it in the garden). Super excited to see those bloom this year. Irises that also didn't bloom last year. Two types of purple ones I believe. 

My gorgeous white Dwarf Asiatic Lily "Tiny Nanny" is also coming back up as well. :) Here's the new growth.

And here is what it looked like last year in bloom. 

Now I just have to wait and see if my Red Dahlia comes back and the rest of the space is open for new plants. :) And as you can see, now that the clean-up is done, there is plenty of space for more.

Oh and I almost forgot. My Morning Glory seeds are starting to sprout! I planted them on Friday and checked back today to find each variety sprouting away. YEAH! Can't wait!!

I haven't decided yet but I may go out plant hunting tomorrow. I want more Roses for sure. And if I can find Mandevilla again I'd definitely like more of those too. My Hummingbird & Finch Feeders will be going up tomorrow too. Here's to hoping we attract some birds this year. :)

Ciao!

~Kay

Planting Morning Glory Seeds (And other flower pics from last year.)

Long time no see! Sorry folks, I know I haven't posted in a long time, been dealing with some stress lately and have had other things on my mind. Back now though! :)

Alright, here we go. Weather here has been great lately and I've got a few Perennials coming back to life in the garden, so I figured it was time to start my Morning Glory seeds. 

I grew Heavenly Blue Morning Glory's last year from a starter plant, but this year I wanted to try to grow as much from seed as possible (including the new Veggie Garden that we'll be starting to put in this weekend). So I went to Wallmart a few weeks back and bought one of those little starter greenhouse things (Can't remember the actual name but they have little round dirt "pod" things (again with the technical terms, lol) that you add water to and they expand to hold the seeds. As well as a few different colors of Morning Glory seeds (including the Heavenly Blue). Today I had some free time in the afternoon and decided to start the seeds.

The instructions said to gradually add 5 1/2 cups of warm water until the pods expand. I was quite surprised how quickly they soaked up the water.

In the above pic I had added the first little bit of water but the pods hadn't expanded yet. I didn't actually measure out the water as per the directions. Just used a cup and added water until I thought they had expanded enough. Next it said to pull the mesh away from the top of each pod slightly and fluff the soil before planting seeds, so I did that and then got to work with the seeds.

Here I had planted some of the seeds (the 3 rows on the left), and the pods on the right still needed to be planted.

Once all the seeds were planted, I labeled the side of the tray (using painting tape because that's what I had lying around) with the variety of Morning Glory and the date so I would remember when they were planted. I loved having the Heavenly Blue ones last year, they were oh so pretty!

Here's a few pics of last year's blooms. How could I not want them again?

View from standing on the porch behind the garden.

From the front.

And finally, a close-up of the flowers. I love the purple that they get when they start to close up. :)

So as you can see, the Heavenly Blue's were gorgeous! Of course I wanted them back this year. But I also wanted more variety's as well. So I also planted Chocolate, Flying Saucer and a mixed package called Mixed Ipomoea which I spelled wrong on the label... Oh well, lol. The links on the names of the variety's are pictures that I found online that show what each should look like. The Mixed Ipomoea image is the exact same image from the package.

The directions then said that you are supposed to put the top on and place the flat out of direct sunlight. We have very few windows in our apartment, let alone windows that get good sunlight, so until I get the clear plastic I need to turn the back porch (which gets western afternoon/evening sunlight) into a mini Greenhouse, I put them in a small window sill in the kitchen that faces north. We'll see how it goes. I'll be back with pictures once they start to sprout. :) 

 I'm also going to share a few pictures from my garden from last year. I'm very curious (and impatient! lol) to see how my garden does this year. I didn't know our landlord would let us have a garden until half way through the summer last year and didn't get it started until part way through July. For a garden that was started so late I was quite impressed at how well it did (I did?). So this year I really can't wait for everything to start coming up. I didn't get a chance to winterize ANYTHING in the garden last year and had quite a few Annuals and some Perennials. So far my Daylily's and my Iris (neither of which bloomed last year), that were given to me have both started to come up. My Winnipeg Parks Rosebush has tons of leaves starting on it. But nothing else has grown yet this year except for weeds. I really hope that my Impala Rosebush comes back to life soon though! I like the Winnipeg Parks Roses, but the Impala's were my favorite flower in the entire garden last year so I'm a bit disappointed that it hasn't got any buds on it yet. :( Fingers crossed though. 

So I'll start with the Impala Roses to give you an idea of why they were my favorites. :)

Right? Ok maybe you don't agree with me, I know everyone has their own taste when it comes to flowers. But I personally LOVE these! Leaving the blooms on the bush after they start to fade and die off does take nourishment from the rest of the plant as they still try to suck nutrients from the plant as they die. I left the two blooms in the back right on long enough for me to get a picture of the progression because it really is pretty.

I love this picture too. One of the blooms opening up. 

Ok, now the Winnipeg Parks Roses.

The day I bought the bush, before I put it into the garden.

Later in the season, the second flush. Pretty. :)

The last few photo's I'll leave you with are from one of the Annual's that I loved and intend to find more of this spring, My GORGEOUS Red Mandevilla. 

The day I planted the starter plant. I love this picture!

A close-up right before a rainfall one evening.

And finally the same day as the previous picture after the rainfall. 

I hope I've left you with a decent post here to make up for being MIA the last little while. :) I promise I'll be back MUCH sooner this time! And I'll definitely be sharing tons of pictures and hopefully some gardening advice, as well as a bunch of recipes, crafts and other things this spring/summer. I hope you enjoyed the pictures and I'll see you next post. 

Ciao!

-Kay

Easy 3 Ingredient Moisturizing Lotion

I love to cook and I enjoy my job (I work as a Cook), however I do not love my dry hands. We work with raw meat and seafood so unfortunately we use Antibacterial Soap. I say unfortunately because it dries the heck out of your hands! In the winter it's the worst. I come home some days with my hands so dry that they feel like sandpaper. It's not pleasant and some days quite painful. 

I've used numerous different moisturizers, lotions and body butter's but haven't found something that has it all. You know what I mean, moisturizing action, a nice scent and not greasy. That last one is important for me. Then I came across a post on Jillee's blog for Make Your Own SIMPLE Moisturizing Lotion and I thought maybe, just maybe this one will work. It's easy, anyone can make it.  You only need 3 ingredients and it has Coconut Oil! Which I only discovered in the last 6 months. Yes I know, I'm WAY behind the times! lol

Carrying on. I already had the 1 cup of Coconut Oil that the recipe called for but I had to go out and buy the Baby Lotion and Vitamin E Cream. This was apparently a harder task than I thought. The Baby Lotion I found no problem. But every time I tried to find the Vitamin E Cream they were out!! Without a word of a lie, I went 6 times over a period of 3 months and it wasn't until the last time I tried about a week ago, that I FINALLY found what I was looking for. There's a little under 1/2 a cup in a small container of Vitamin E Cream so I bought 2. In hindsight I probably should have grabbed a couple more! lol

I gathered the ingredients together along with a bowl, my electric mixer, a 1 cup measuring cup, an empty well cleaned honey bottle (figuring I would use the baby lotion bottle and the honey bottle to hold the end product) and a spatula and set to work. 

You will need:

2 cups Baby Lotion

1 cup Vitamin E Cream

1 cup Coconut Oil (in it's solid state)

A bowl for mixing.

An electric hand held mixer.

Sealable Containers to put the lotion into when it's done.

Combine the 3 ingredients in the bowl and mix until it looks similar to frosting. I kept my mixer on low which worked fine for me. 

I decided after it was finished to use the Vitamin E Cream containers as well as the now empty Coconut Oil jar and another small container that used to contain lotion to put it in. 

Then I tested it. My hands were so soft, not dry anymore, not greasy, and I like the scent as well. After trying many different products I've found one that works for me. :) 

~Kay

3 Ingredient Fabric Softener

Part of my New Years resolution this year was to live a healthier lifestyle and try to make more things at home. I can't stand all the chemicals that are packed into everything nowadays. Fabric Softener is something I love but I never buy it for three reasons, one it is too expensive, two the cheap stuff never smells very good to me (I am picky when it comes to the scents I use in my laundry), and three have you ever read the labels? I can't pronounce half of the ingredients! 

A few months ago I came across a post on my favorite blog One Good Thing by Jillee, (Let me tell you, if you have not checked out this blog yet, DO IT! Seriously! I don't say it is my favorite for no reason! ;~P) for Homemade Fabric Softener using only 3 ingredients (which you probably already have on hand) and pinned it, intending to make some soon. Well let's just say "soon" didn't happen as quickly as I would have liked but now that I have made it, it is TOTALLY worth it! 

You will need a 1 gallon sealable container. I prefer plastic on the off chance that I drop it walking to the laundromat (half a block away isn't far but still). The container I used was 2.8 liters which is smaller but not by a whole lot, and everything fit in mine with a tiny bit of room to spare. You'll also need a bottle of your favorite Conditioner (yep you read that right!) and some White Vinegar and Water. That's it! It's as easy as measuring, mixing and using! It is very quick and easy to make. And since the Conditioner is where the scent comes from it can have whatever scent you choose! I used Pantene Nature Infusion. 

Please ignore the dirty panel on my stove. That is a project I'm going to tackle this weekend. Ok, to make the Fabric Softener pour 6 cups of water, 3 cups of vinegar and 2 cups of conditioner into your container. Do not shake it as it will foam.

I used a whisk to mix mine. It took some doing but eventually it all mixed together.

That's it! You can either pour it into your load of laundry when you wash it or you can put some in a spray bottle and spritz it on a cloth, then throw the cloth into the dryer when you dry the laundry. I was too excited to see the results to try the latter this time but next time I do laundry I will try the spritz method. Make sure you label it. If you make a lot of things at home it is easy to forget what is what. I used a Sharpie and wrote on the side of the jug. 

Easy as that. And I had my little helper Bella wandering around my feet the whole time trying to figure out what I was doing. lol Her sister Kooper wasn't as interested, she was asleep in the living room. Bella on the other hand is ALWAYS interested in what's going on. <3

Once it was done, I couldn't wait to make the short walk over to the Laundromat to throw in a couple loads of laundry! And the results? LOVE IT! My clothes came out so soft and smelled wonderful!

Now that you're armed with the incredibly easy recipe go ahead and give it a try and then let me know what you think! It's a winner in my books! I had forgotten how much I missed my Fabric Softener. Now I can make my own with less chemicals and not pay an arm and a leg! 

Enjoy!

~Kay

Pantry "Re-organize"

A couple of months ago, I decided that I couldn't take the mess in our pantry any longer. It was so cluttered and crowded that every time I went in there for something, I would wind up having to move a ton of boxes and packages and cans and bags of stuff trying to figure out where it was. So off to Wall-Mart I went. As much as I hate chain stores and would much rather shop locally, sometimes you just can't find deals as good as you can at Wall-Mart. I came home with two shoe organizers that hang on a door, as well as a few different shelf racks and one of those plastic stands with the drawers in it. I spent less than $5 on each of the racks and I think around $10 each on the hanging shoe organizers and $15 on the plastic drawer thingy. Well worth it for the results I got.

This is what the shelves looked like before I started.

As you can probably tell, I had made small attempts to organize but with everything that was in there it didn't accomplish much. All of the bottles had been on the pantry floor which I apparently forgot to take a picture of.  I started with the shoe organizers and hung one on the front of the pantry door and one on the back. All of our bottles of stuff (We both cook for a living and love to cook at home so we have several different kinds of Olive Oils, Vinegars, Sauces, Dressings etc.) went into the shoe organizers.

Next I gathered all of our tupperware containers (which were in another area of the pantry not shown in these pics) and put them into the Plastic Drawers, freeing up space on another shelf that was much needed for small kitchen appliances. Lids in the top, most commonly used containers in the middle, less used ones in the bottom.

I then tackled the pantry shelves and took everything off the shelves. I was surprised at how much stuff was crammed in there. I also took down the green hanging organizer that you see in this pic. 

Once the shelves were empty I wiped all 3 down and set to work. I put the racks in first. You'll notice in the first couple of pictures that there are two of the purple ones on the top shelf, however I ended up taking out the one on the right before I finished.

Most of the stuff that was in a box or bag went into containers and jars of various types and sizes. 

  

Top shelf, pasta, rice, flour etc. Middle shelf is all of our extra spices and baking ingredients. Bottom is cereal, cans and jars of stuff. 

All done with room to spare! WAY easier to find anything we need right away without having to search every shelf! And as an added bonus, cooking comes with much less stress! And anything that relieves a little bit of stress is okay with me. I still need to label a bunch of the jars and containers but that will come another day with another post. 

Happy Organizing!

~Kay

Pork Chops /w Dill Cream Sauce on a bed of Sauteed Veggies

Better late than never. This is what I made my boyfriend and I for dinner last night. It looks more complicated than it is! I promise! And SOOOO delicious! My only criticisms are that I wouldn't put the onions in the sauce raw, (For those who like raw onions, you would probably be fine to toss them in raw, I'm a really sauteed or caramelized onions kinda gal.)  and next time I want to make my own cream sauce instead of using creamed soups as the base of the sauce.

I started by pre-heating my oven to 350f. Different ovens may vary in cooking times and temps so use whatever temp you would usually put a casserole in at. Then I grabbed a package of four Pork Chops and a casserole dish. To be honest I didn't pay much attention to what cut the chops were, I just grabbed the ones that seemed like the best deal. I think I paid around $5 for these. Normally I buy thinner chops that have a slight fat cap on one side, rather than these which had a vein of fat running through them. These ones turned out very tasty none the less. 

Next I put about a level tablespoon of minced Garlic on top of each piece of meat. Again, you can adjust this amount according to your preference. We currently buy our Garlic already minced in a jar because we use so much of it. In the spring we will be starting a new veggie garden and Garlic is definitely on the list of things to grow this year. :)

Ok, maybe it was more than a tablespoon... lol Like I said, we like our Garlic in this house! I took a small Vidalia Onion (Sweet Onion) and diced it, as well as about 1 cup of Button Mushrooms (also diced) and sprinkled them over the chops and around them. 

Next came fresh Dill. Another thing my BF and I both love! I diced quite a bit of it. I'm not sure how much exactly, maybe around 1/3 of a bunch? Once it was chopped up fine I sprinkled it over the diced Onions & Mushrooms. Feel free to use however much Dill you like. 

Next came the cream sauce. Now I will say one thing, I do prefer to make my own cream sauce from scratch, but sometimes that's a lot of effort when you cook for as many people as I do on a daily basis! So in this case I used Campbells Creamed soups as the base sauce. Three cans. One was Cream of Mushroom & Garlic, as well as a Cream of Broccoli & Cheddar and  a regular Cream of Broccoli. I mixed these together and poured it over everything in the casserole dish and spread it around with a spatula. First pic is the cans of soup mixed together, second is after I had put the sauce over the chops. 

And into the oven they went! They were left in the oven for about an hour, but they probably could have stayed in longer and turned out even more tender. Next time. :) 

Once the chops had been in the oven for about 45 mins, I set to work on the veggies. I diced another small Vidalia Onion and sauteed it in a little olive oil until it started to brown up a bit. 

Next I added the rest of the package of Button Mushrooms, sliced this time. And sauteed them with the onions for a few minutes. I'm gonna be honest and tell you that I got sidetracked at this point and let them cook longer than I intended to and forgot to take a pic for you. So I made sure to get one after I had added Sweet Red Peppers, julienned (sliced into thin strips), and let those saute for a few minutes. 

Next I took a part bag of Brussels Sprouts, probably about 3 cups, (If you don't like them, by all means, add whatever vegetables you do like! :) ), shredded them, and added them to the pan. I should mention that I did add more olive oil in small amounts to the pan as the veggies (especially the mushrooms) started to soak it up. Just to make sure nothing burned. 

I let them saute a few more minutes, added a tiny bit of water to the pan, covered it with a lid for about 3 minutes and they were done. :)

I removed the veggies from the burner and set them aside to pull the chops out of the oven. I couldn't get a good picture of the whole casserole dish but I did manage to get a close-up of the sauce itself when it came out of the oven. 

Yum!! If you're not sure whether you've left it in long enough or not, check for bubbles. If the middle isn't bubbling when you pull it out, it's probably not done. Another quick tip, depending on the size of casserole dish you are using and the amount of ingredients you use, the sauce very well might bubble over the sides of the dish. To prevent it from getting all over the elements and bottom of your oven, put the casserole dish on a baking sheet to catch any sauce that bubbles over. 

Once it's finished you should have a very tasty meal on your hands! Feel free to make some sort of starch as another side if you wish as well. :) I used the veggies as a base but you can serve it however you like! 

Bon Appetite! 

~Kay