Okay, now, go to your cupboard and open your store-bought dried parsley.  Smell it.  That is not parsley.  That is a remnant of what was once probably poorly grown, harvested at the wrong time, stuck in the container forever before hitting the store shelf, parsley.  I never knew.  Did you?

The same goes for the “fresh” parsley you buy at the grocery store.  That is not parsley.  Have any in your fridge?  Go smell it too.  Yes, it actually has a distinguishable scent to it, but it still doesn’t come near to what you can get if you are growing it in your own backyard.  If you aren’t growing your own herbs, put your computer down now, go buy some plants and plant them!!!  My local garden store, McDonald’s Garden Center, just posted that their herbs are half price right now (originally 4.99 each, not 4 for $10).

Then come back here and read about using and drying them after!

It has always been a wonder to me why recipes call for parsley (just one of many examples, but go with me here).  I have always had an issue with parsley in particular.  My container of dried parsley smells like nothing to me.  This has been the case all my life.  The fresh stuff at the store was never much better.  I just did not understand what this was supposed to add to my meal.

I get it now. 

Mainly, I decided to grow parsley for that once a month meal I make that calls for a 1/4 cup of the herb chopped fresh.  But you know the story.  You have to buy it in this huge bunch and even if you try to make several parsley-containing recipes that week, you still throw most of the bunch away.  I knew if I planted it I would have just enough to use it for such occasions. 

Of course, the more you pick herbs, the more they grow.  I have to keep pruning them so they keep producing.  This has left me with an abundance of fresh herbs this year.  So it was time to start drying!  So far I have dried basil, cilantro, parsley, lemon balm, lavender, and tarragon.

The amount I pick each time only gives me between a couple teaspoons and a couple tablespoons of dried herbs.  But every couple of days I go out to pick more, and dry them again.  There are two methods to drying your own herbs that I know of. 

Air Drying:

Clip the stems of your herbs and tie a piece of twine around them.  Hang them upside down in a sunny area and wait several days for them to dry.  This can be difficult if it is humid where you live, but you can make sure they are near a fan or source of circulating air, and they should be fine.  Here is a great tutorial:

Dehydrator Drying:

Lay your herbs in a single layer on the dehydrator sheets, set between 95 and 115 degrees and dry several hours until they are free of moisture.  This will vary greatly between different herbs.  When the herbs crumble easily off their stems, they are ready.  Store in a air tight container and keep in a cool, dry, dark place like your pantry.

This is the method I use.  When I was in the market for a dehydrator, Jennifer recommended I purchase the Excalibur model.  I knew I would be using it a lot for my garden harvesting, so I went with the super model.  It has 9 trays and a timer.  I would not want to get one without It is expensive (almost $300), but It is THE dehydrator.  I laughed out loud when it was delivered and I saw how huge it is.  I thought there was no way on earth I would put that size to use.  Holy cow, I use it every other day.  I regularly make my own beef jerky, dried herbs, almond flour (when I make almond milk), dried fruit, and more.  I am really looking forward to drying my peppers once they are ready to harvest.  Here’s what my beef jerky looks like:

So, do you have your herb plants in the ground now?  I hope so!  If not, what are you waiting for!?

Marissa

I am going to share a chard recipe with you today, but first, give you an update on my garden.  Everything I am highlighting below was started from seeds, unless I say otherwise.

My star performers right now are my squash: (these are three plants in a 6 foot long box that I built just to give you an idea of size):

My snap peas, seen here on the right winding around the pole trellis I built:

My pole beans, borage and Fordhook chard:

And the cucumbers (on the tall, board trellis), and tomatoes (on the poles).  The tomato plant towards the middle of the picture was purchased, the rest are from seeds:

We have also been eating fresh salads from the garden daily and have truly enjoyed just about every herb there is to be grown from out there!

Tonight is the first night I am cooking up some of the chard.  I found this recipe for Roasted Swiss Chard at allrecipes.com and it had rave reviews so I figured I would give it a go.

My homegrown chard was more leaves than stem, so I supplemented with some celery I had.  Other than that I stuck with the recipe exactly.  In all honesty, I was afraid to taste this.  I tried the chard during the prep process, and did not care for it.  The stems are similar to celery, but incredibly bitter.  The leaves are similar to spinach, but same problem.  So I was already going into this a bit biased.  I am not one for “unusual” foods, especially vegetables.  This recipe just did not look all that appetizing once I cooked it, even though it smelled fantastic. 

See!  That just looks pretty gross to me!

Oh my gosh, I was pleasantly surprised!  The chard was fantastic and I would definitely cook this again!  Even though there was very little cheese, it made a huge difference and probably made the dish.  This recipe definitely made me eager to find more yummy ways to cook chard.  If that’s not possible, this one will certainly do the trick!  Go buy some chard this week and try something new!

Marissa

I cannot even begin to tell you how fabulously cool and creamy this pie is.  It is easy, can be produced in mass quantities easily and is perfect for that BBQ you got invited to.  You don’t have to turn on the oven on hot days.  The best part?  This pie tastes just like a banana cream pie that has a million steps.

No-Bake Banana Cream Pie

1 cup of milk

3.4 oz package of instant vanilla pudding mix

1/2 t. vanilla extract

12 oz container of whipped topping

9 inch graham cracker crust

4 bananas, sliced

Combine milk and pudding mix.  Beat with an electric mixer for two minutes (I just used a hand whisk).  Beat in vanilla.  Fold in three cups of whipped topping.  When mixed, spread one cup of pudding mixture on the graham cracker crust.  Add a layer of bananas.  Spread more of the pudding mixture.  Continue until finished.  Add the remaining whipped topping.  Cover and chill for at least two hours.

I did make a few changes.  I combined all the whipped topping, rather than saving some for a garnish.  I also only used two bananas.  I think four bananas would have overwhelmed the pie.

When the book arrived, it took me awhile to pick my first recipe from Garfield Recipes with Cattitude!  There are so many from breakfast ideas, snacks, dinners, desserts, and lasagnas.  Lots and lots of lasagna!

I went with the Cool and Creamy Onion Dip.  I wanted to have a fun dip recipe ready to eat this long weekend.  I am so glad that I did because by the time it was ready to eat, we had been invited to a last minute BBQ!  We brought the dip with some snack crackers and I was thankful to have something to share.

Cool and Creamy Green Onion Dip

2 8 oz packages of cream cheese, softened

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup milk

1/2 t. Worcestershire sauce

2 bunches of green onions, chopped

snack crackers

Combine cream cheese and mayo and mix until blended.  I don’t know about you, but I can never get the cream cheese mixtures smooth so I decided to make this recipe in my food processor.  It worked out pretty well.

Add milk and Worcestershire sauce and bled well.  Stir in onions.  Cover and refrigerate for three hours.

GIVEAWAY

Do you want to win a copy of the book for yourself?

How to Enter

We will be giving away ONE copy of the cookbook to one lucky winner. If you would like a chance to win, leave us a comment in this post and tell us about your favorite summer dish. Leave your comment before June 9, 2013 at 9:59 p.m. CST.

Don’t worry about being creative in your comment, the winner will be chosen by a random number generator. Please make sure that you fill out the required fields by putting your first name in the name field and your email address in the email address field. We do not share email addresses and you will not receive emails from Threaded Together unless you win.

Winners

We will choose ONE winner randomly and announce the results here on Threaded Together sometime after June 9, 2013.

Rules

No purchase necessary to enter or win. Sweepstakes is open only to legal residents of the 50 states and the District of Columbia and who are 18 years of age at time of entry. For this giveaway, entrants can enter 1 time. We will disqualify any entries that we believe are generated by scripts and other automated technology and Threaded Together assumes no responsibility for late or misdirected entries due to SPAM, technological issues or for prizes lost in transit.No substitutions including for cash are permitted, except Threaded Together reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater monetary value for any prize. Void where prohibited by law. Winners shall be responsible and liable for all federal, state, and local taxes on the value of their prize. Relatives of Threaded Together are no eligible to win.

Because this is a family site and we get a lot of spam comments, all comments on this site are moderated. If you comment doesn’t show up right away, don’t worry!

It does not appear to be an active blog (her last post was last August from the looks of it), but there are several great sounding recipes that use lavender.  This is one of them!

I don’t know what was more surprising; the fact that I actually had all the ingredients on hand to make this drink, or how amazing it tasted. 

The lavender is infused in water and honey as though you are making a tea.  After the mixture is cool you stir in a cup of lemon juice and 2 cups of sparkling water.  I served the drink on ice. 

Tea is probably my least favorite drink.  Ever.  I also don’t particularly care for sweetening things with honey.  My husband, on the other hand, loves tea.  Several of my garden plantings were solely for the purpose of making him fresh tea.  He already tried lemon balm tea from the garden, which he said was like drinking a fresh cup of Pine Sol.  Guess that wasn’t a success. 

This drink, however, was delicious.  The man of the house said he liked it, but he didn’t down the drink, as he usually does with food and beverage he really enjoys.  I thought it was fantastic though!  It was even better since I made it after sitting through another day of 90 degree temperatures in my house.  That’s right, the AC system has still not been replaced.  As a matter of fact, it is after nine o’clock at night and the guys are STILL in the attic working.  I don’t foresee any cool air in my future this evening.  :(

I am really looking forward to making this drink to have when friends come by and sit in my garden with me.  It is a perfect spring or summer sweet spritzer.  The only change I will probably make is to add less honey.  I don’t think it needed the entire cup that the recipe called for.  Next time, and there will definitely be a next time, I will only add 1/2 a cup and see how that does. 

Marissa

This is what my garden boxes looked like on April 29, 2013 after I sowed the seeds (24 days ago):

And this is what it looks like now! 

The garden is doing great!  Only a handful of the plants are store bought.  Over 2/3 of everything in those boxes was grown from seeds.  I am so excited at how successful it looks so far. 

Each day I spend about 5 minutes pulling out the little weeds and it has really paid off.  With all the rain we have been having, I have only had to water a handful of times.  My star performers from seeds so far are my squash, snap peas, chard, bush and pole beans, and radishes.  My spinach, all different lettuce, carrots and marigolds also look fantastic.

My peas and beans are doing so well it was time to wrap some twine around the poles that will be used to trellis them.  This is not a difficult process, and not necessarily cost effective (though not expensive either).  You could easily buy a premade trellis, but they look exactly the way I wanted them to.  The only concern I have right now is that the trellises will be too small.  As I said, the peas and beans are really taking off.  I fear they are going to outgrow their little home in their barrels!

Do It Yourself Pole Bean Trellis (makes one)

You will need:

• 5 – Five foot long bamboo poles (or desired number and length to suit your needs)
• Roll of twine

Place the poles equally distant in a circle in the ground.  I sunk my poles about 10 inches.  Gather the poles together at the top.  Using the twine, knot the poles together with a lashing knot.  Cut twine.  Starting at the base of the pole teepee you have created, wrap the twine around the circle of poles, tying a knot around each pole as you go.  Keep the twine taught as you move around the circle.  Repeat as many levels of twine as necessary to support your plants.

It only took a few minutes for the little tendrils on my snap peas to start winding around the twine I place them next to!

Happy Growing!

Marissa

We realized we did not use the right wax ring on the toilet in the half bath downstairs so it has been leaking.  UGH!  We had to pull the toilet back out, rip out some of the sheetrock and baseboards, dry it for several days and then fix everything back up.  It is a good thing I am getting so handy at replacing walls in this house.  Why?  Oh yes, I also had to replace a hole in the guest bath upstairs behind the bathtub.  I had a total Tim the Tool Man Taylor moment while putting the “finishing touches” in that room.  While replacing the shower head, bathtub handle, and tub downspout, I bent the gosh darn copper pipe that the downspout attaches too.  I had to call my plumber who had to go into the wall behind it to replace it.  More sheet rock to repair.  Oh, you want to hear more mishaps?  Well, we also learned the faucet in our downstairs bath was faulty – not our faulty, manufacturer faulty – and we had to rip that out too.  The five of us have been sharing one bathroom for about two weeks now.  Good thing we have two sinks in it now!  This also all happened WHILE the laundry room was torn up for its remodel.  Washer and dryer in the hallway, no ability to do laundry.  I was not the happiest Mom the Builder.

Yes, my 11 year old son walks around singing the theme song to Bob the Builder, but instead says Mom the builder. 

The downstairs bath is now fully functioning again, and the laundry room is done!  Okay, as I said before, not done, but close enough!  I still have a few additions for it.  However, my master bathroom has looked like this:

for several weeks now.  Those other projects are going to have to wait until I get my bathroom back!

You may have seen my first laundry room post where I showed you how I cleaned out the room in preparation for its remodel.  Since then I have been busy working on everything from tiling (which I have officially decided I hate doing with every ounce of my soul), to refinishing cabinets, to hanging shelves and closet rods. 

Here is the before picture, after I already cleaned it out:

Refinishing the cabinet I bought at the Habitat for Humanity Restore for $25, and painting the hardwood plywood I purchased to create a countertop. 

Everything ripped out: and ready to go:

There are few things I like better in a house than a fresh coat of paint!

And, the “final” product… (is it just me or does that picture of naval aviator wings up top look like a menorah?)

I LOVE having the countertop to fold laundry on.  Things I still need to do: I need to add a middle support to the folding counter and put an “apron” on the front of it.  It sags slightly in the middle and I don’t like how it looks with such a thin face.  I also still need to buy new boxes so they will match my new paint job.  I just haven’t had time to make it to the stores for that yet.  Last, but not least, I need to hang the doors back up.  I am going to be transforming my bi-fold doors into French doors.  Maybe I will make that into Laundry Room Part III! But first…on to the master bath!

Marissa

I have wanted to try lasagna in my slow-cooker ever since a friend told me about it.  I just never got around to it.  When I saw a recipe for it in the book, I knew I had to try it.

4-Cheese Lasagna

Ingredients

1 lb lean ground beef

2 26oz jars chunky tomato, garlic and onion pasta sauce

1/2 c. water

1 T. Italian seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

2 T. grated Parmesan Cheese

16 oz. container small-curd cottage cheese

8 oz. pkg oven-ready lasagna noodles, uncooked

4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

2 cups shredded Colby Jack cheese

***I made a few changes to the recipe so that I was able to use what I had on hand.  Instead of cottage cheese, I used ricotta.  

Directions

Brown beef in a skillet, remove from heat and drain.  Stir in sauce, water and seasonings.  In a bowl, combine Parmesan cheese and cottage cheese.  In a lightly greased slow-cooker, spread some of the sauce mixture.  Layer with noodles (break them if you need to), cheese mixture and both kinds of mixtures.  Repeat layers and end with shredded cheese.  Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours or until noodles are tender.  Let stand with slow-cooker off for about ten minutes before serving.

I have to say that don’t feel like cooking the lasagna in the slow-cooker was any less work than cooking it in the oven.  The only step I was able to skip was boiling the noodles.

Both of my kids gobbled it up.  We had more than enough for leftovers so I ended up freezing it for another meal on another day.  The book is full of recipes for all four seasons and we have been having fun trying them out.  Bananas Foster is next on the list!

GIVEAWAY

Do you want to win a copy of the book for yourself?

How to Enter

We will be giving away ONE copy of the cookbook to one lucky winner. If you would like a chance to win, leave us a comment in this post and tell us about your favorite slow-cooker meal. Leave your comment before May 18, 2013 at 9:59 p.m. CST.

Don’t worry about being creative in your comment, the winner will be chosen by a random number generator. Please make sure that you fill out the required fields by putting your first name in the name field and your email address in the email address field. We do not share email addresses and you will not receive emails from Threaded Together unless you win.

Winners

We will choose ONE winner randomly and announce the results here on Threaded Together sometime after May 18, 2013.

Rules

No purchase necessary to enter or win. Sweepstakes is open only to legal residents of the 50 states and the District of Columbia and who are 18 years of age at time of entry. For this giveaway, entrants can enter 1 time. We will disqualify any entries that we believe are generated by scripts and other automated technology and Threaded Together assumes no responsibility for late or misdirected entries due to SPAM, technological issues or for prizes lost in transit.No substitutions including for cash are permitted, except Threaded Together reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater monetary value for any prize. Void where prohibited by law. Winners shall be responsible and liable for all federal, state, and local taxes on the value of their prize. Relatives of Threaded Together are no eligible to win.

Because this is a family site and we get a lot of spam comments, all comments on this site are moderated. If you comment doesn’t show up right away, don’t worry!

House remodels would go so much quicker if you could just get to work putting the new items in.  Unfortunately, before that can begin, there is a lot of clean up and sometimes demolition.  Do you have an area in your house that just always remains disheveled and dirty?  I am usually a pretty clean person, but for me that room is my little laundry closet.  It is always dirty, and dusty.  There are dust bunnies hanging from the rafters, semi-dried up detergent everywhere.  Isn’t it lovely?

Agh!  Poor Pooh Bear couldn’t take it anymore so he hung himself.  So sad.  Before I was able to start demolition for my remodel, I needed to to get this area cleaned up!

Here is how to clean up your laundry room/laundry closet…in less than one hour and for free! (time will vary depending on how much junk you have to clean out)

1. Remove EVERYTHING from the space and put it in the hallway or another room.  This is a great way to clean and declutter ANY room.  Once you see how beautiful it looks empty, you won’t want to put all that junk back.
2. Take a damp sponge and clean off ALL surfaces.  This includes those crazy dusty walls and ceiling and, in my case, all parts of the wire shelving.  Have a clean, dry towel handy to wipe up the water.
3. Take the time to pull out the washer and dryer and clean under and around them.
4. Throw away all the trash or items that you have not used in the last six months and that cannot be donated.
5. Fill a box of donations with the rest of the items that you have not used in the last six months.  Don’t think you can bear to part with them quite yet?  Put the box away in another room.  If you haven’t gone into the box in the next month, take it to your local thrift store!
6. Make sure all the items leftover actually belong in this space.  If they don’t, put them away, of course!  As you can see in my picture above, MANY of these items did not belong in this area.  My baby got Pooh Bear back, the sleeping bags went in the linen closet (that was also recently cleaned so there were THREE empty shelves), the paint to the garage…you get the point.
7. Organize the remaining items into containers and label them.  The containers you see below are from my kids’ old toy shelves.  I have a stack of them sitting in a closet exactly for purposes like this.  When I remodel I will be purchasing new ones to match the space and labeling them.

BEFORE

AFTER

My washer and dryer sparkle now and the room is practically empty!  This is not a show just for the picture either…everything is truly cleaned up and put away elsewhere or in the trash. The blue box is only the detergent, bleach, and fabric softener.  The middle pink box is holding the iron and starch.  The pink box on the right is holding spare light bulbs, and the red bin has tea lights and tart burners.  The trash can is for the lint, and I will also be adding a container of wet wipes to wipe the machines off EVERY TIME I use them from now on.  I suppose I should also try to make my own laundry detergent like Debbie just posted the other day!

What room would you LOVE to tackle for spring cleaning???

Marissa

I know that the directions to make your own laundry detergent are all over the Internet (I just did a Google search — 3,000,000 results!); but, I thought I would take a few moments to share my own experience. Jen got me started almost a year and a half ago. The price of laundry detergent is RIDICULOUS!!! When I heard about this frugal “simple” solution, I decided to it a try!

Ingredients:

Borax ($3.38/box)

Super Washing Soda ($3.24/box)

Fels-Naptha soap bar ($.97/bar)

The Tools:

Grate the soap. For each bar of soap, mix in one cup of each of the dry “ingredients.”

Store in an airtight container, along with a tablespoon convenient for measuring. Use one heaping spoonful for each load. Works well in the newer High Efficiency clothes washers. If you’ve got a particularly dirty or large load, you can always throw in another spoonful (although Jen keeps trying to convince me that isn’t necessary, it makes me feel better).

About once a quarter I drag out the “tools” and spend a bit of time watching something mindless on T.V. while grating soap before mixing all of the “ingredients” together. I could throw the soap into the food processor, but there is actually something therapeutic about investing a bit of effort into the process (Full disclosure — I also enjoy ironing and doing dishes by hand … totally “unconnected” and time to think!).

I usually make three batches at a time to fill my container. The contents will settle over time so give it a quick stir or shake it up once in a while. I’ve spent less than $25 to date and have made enough laundry detergent to last more than a year. Best of all — it works! Everything looks clean, and smells clean, too!