Working in the Garden – Doing A Lot With Limited Space - Delicious Obsessions I am constantly surprised at what you can do with a small space in regards to gardening. I have been able to grow a lot in my teeny tiny yard. My garden area is 5 feet by 12 feet. It takes up about half of the backyard – the other half is a concrete pad. But, I still manage to produce quite a bit of food, and I’m hoping this year will be even better. I’m learning more about what works and what doesn’t, and I have made a commitment to fertilize my garden often (once per week)! In-ground garden in 2010 The first two years that we lived here, I just dug an in-ground garden. I don’t know how many people tell me that they don’t have the space to garden. Now that I am crazy about gardening, it makes me want to do more to be sustainable. I highly recommend the fertilizers and soil amendments from MightyGrow Organics. If you’re a budding urban gardener, here are some of my favorite resources – I checked the books out at my local library. Pepper and tomato plants in containers
Strawberry Margarita Jell-O Shooters Strawberry Margarita Jell-O Shooters Margarita Jell-O Shooters ~ A fun farewell to summer and a festive edition to your Sunday football tailgate party or gatherings. For another Jello shooter variation like this one, check out my Lemon Drop Jello Shooters cut into the shape of lemon wedges and my Rocky Candy Shooters shaped just like the rock candy you loved as a kid. Strawberry Margarita Jello Shooters As many of you know, my Lemon Drop Jell-O Shooters are my issued dish from my girlfriend who holds the annual tailgate kickoff amongst our friends. This year with Matt being in the hospital, I sent them forward to the gathering in our absence. Now that we can finally make the next one in two weeks, she has again requested Jell-O shooters. That being the case, I opted to try what you see here. Besides how cute and fun are these? Printthis recipe Saveto recipe box Yield: Makes 24-30 Shooters Ingredients: 24-30 Strawberries Margarita Mix Directions: Strawberry Prep: A few notes: Leave a Comment
Backyard Gardening Blog Drunken Coffee Jello Squares OK, kids: This is coffee. In solid form. It’s been sweetened with condensed milk and booze-ified with a healthy dose of Kahlua—then rubberized into a blissful, cocktail-hour finger food thanks to the magic of gelatin. (If you know me, you know how much I love coffee, so you can imagine how excited I was when I came across the recipe.) Now, you have to like Jello, or Jello-like food, for this to work. Huge thanks to The Food Librarian for sharing their deliciousness. (If you haven’t checked out the Food Librarian’s blog, you should. So, years ago, I had several meals that ended with Classic American Jello Mold Torture. This is not that jello. This jello is the short and stout cousin of Vietnamese iced coffee, that fabulous concoction of espresso and condensed milk. This is jello that you could serve to your foodie friends. This stuff is silly. The short version of the recipe goes like this Bloom the gelatin (i.e. mix it together with water) for about 10 minutes. That’s it. Brew the coffee
A How to Guide to Growing Bulbs : : You did it This is a guest post by Amy Fowler. There are several clever methods of growing bulbs all year round. Naturalising and forcing are just two examples, amongst a number of others. Storing Bulbs If, for whatever reason, you cannot plant your bulbs on the same day as you buy them, make sure you store them correctly. Planting Bulbs Of course, the most important part of growing bulbs is making sure you plant them correctly.This requires more than just healthy topsoil. 1) Bulbs grow most efficiently when they are planted in groups of 6-24. 2) Large bulbs should be planted eight to twelve inches under the topsoil. 3) Applying mulch and water in abundance will make sure the soil does not dry out during the summer. 4) It is a common misconception to believe that every time you plant bulbs you need to apply fertiliser to the ground. Other Tips Unfortunately, freshly planted bulbs are more than appealing to squirrels. If this does not work, then it is time to invest in some good old chicken wire.
How to Make Beer - Making Beer at Home Making a mash is not always necessary--you can brew a perfectly good lager or ale with prepackaged malt extract. But for this recipe, we're going all out, with an all-grain beer-- we extract the sugars from the grain ourselves. The recipe we're following is for a beer in the Belgian white or "wit" sytle. It's called "Wit Ginger, Not Mary Ann," and was published by the esteemed beer-brewing magazine, Zymurgy. Ingredients: 11 pounds of grain 11 quarts of water Our grains include 5 pounds Belgian pilsner malt, 4.5 pounds of German wheat malt, 1.0 pound of flaked oats, and 0.5 pounds of caramel pils malt. Take the mash (all the ingredients above in a pot) and bring it up to 150 degrees F, keeping it at that exact temperature for 1 hour. * Test the mash: The point of mashing is to turn starches in the grain into sugars and extract them into a sweet liquor.
How to Keep Onions My nephew’s football team was selling 25 pound bags of Vidalia onions a few weeks ago as a fund raiser for their team. Of course I snapped them up, thinking of all the delicious dishes I could make with 25 pounds of onions. And then they were delivered. Well, luckily, I remembered my Grandmother would always have onions on hand from those she’d grown in her garden. You know that smell? Yeah, I do too. So I decided I either had to crank out one onion dish after another for a week or get busy storing them as my Grandmother did many years ago. Here’s how you store onions using the good ole pantyhose method. 1. So now, don’t be afraid of buying your onions in bulk. Homemade Baileys Irish Cream - You'll Never Buy it Again My homemade Baileys Irish Cream led to far more questions and comments from my friends than my cupcakes ever do. “What’s in Baileys Irish Cream?” “Where can I get the recipe for Baileys?” “OMG! This Baileys is sooo good! Products Related to Homemade Baileys Irish Cream Vitamix 1363 CIA Professional Series, Platinum Sure, any blender will do for homemade Baileys Irish Cream. Homemade Baileys Irish Cream Recipe Here is the homemade Baileys Irish Cream recipe for all of my friends, both on and offline. Homemade Baileys Irish Cream – You’ll Never Buy it Again Ingredients 1 cup light cream (I used heavy whipping cream, which made it even richer) 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk 1 2/3 cup Irish whiskey (I used Jameson's) 1 teaspoon instant coffee 2 tablespoons chocolate syrup 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 teaspoon almond extract (I skipped this entirely) Instructions Combine all ingredients in a blender and set on high speed for 30 seconds. Video Demo
Tips for Growing Great Carrots October 4th, 2011 Yesterday, some readers asked if I had any tips for growing great carrots, so I thought I’d share a few things that work well for me. I’m by no means an expert carrot grower and sometimes things work well in one place and not in another. If you’ve had difficulties growing carrots, keep trying new varieties and different methods, keep amending your soil, eventually you’ll find a variety that works for you. Carrots like loose rich soil, preferably a little sandy, and soil that’s been worked quite deeply. Carrot seeds take a while to germinate and they like even moisture during the process. Carrot seeds like to be planted close to the surface of the soil, the general rule: plant one and a half to two times the width of the seed. I usually plant one big wide row of carrots four feet wide and about ten feet long. As with all root vegetables, carrots appreciate a lot of phosphorus in the soil.
Brazilian Lemonade This is my most favorite drink. Ever. Maybe I’d feel differently if I drank (as in alcohol), but there is nothing I love more than a warm, breezy afternoon and a pitcher of Brazilian lemonade. I didn’t try it for a long, long time because I was very put off by putting sweetened condensed milk in with citrus fruit. It starts off with fresh, juicy limes. You pop them in a blender with some sugar water and pulse just a few times. Pour the mixture from the blender through a strainer and into a pitcher, thus saving all of the flavorful liquid. Then the secret ingredient: sweetened condensed milk. Brazilian LemonadeOur Best Bites Ingredients: 4 juicy limes (try and find ones with thin, smooth skins; they’re the juiciest and the thin skin cuts down on the chance of your drink being bitter) 1 c. sugar 6 c. cold water 6 Tbsp. sweetened condensed milk Instructions: Mix cold water and sugar very well and chill until ready to use. Place 1/2 of the limes in your blender.