Garlic Is For More Than Just Cooking

 

We use a lot of garlic in this house. Naturally most of it goes to culinary use but there are a lot of uses for this member of the allium family you may not know. But garlic is for more than just cooking.

Make Your Own – More Dairy Ingredients

Normally we have the dairy products we need for cooking or baking but every once in a while we discover we’ve run out of some critical ingredient. In an earlier post I explained how you can make some dairy products. This post gives instructions on how to make even more dairy ingredients.

Southwest Cheeseburger Casserole

 

Summer barbecues are one of my favorite things and we pretty much all love a good cheeseburger. But the weather here has been extremely hot and the humidity is, in a word, ridiculous. The idea of standing over a flaming grill isn’t really appealing right now. So, to get the flavors without the heat I made Southwest Cheeseburger Casserole. It’s full of good old American flavors that we all enjoy, without all that standing outside in the 97° heat.

Staghorn Sumac – A Weed You Can Eat

Before I begin telling you about the wonderful things you can do with the staghorn sumac let me be clear; there is a poisonous sumac but this is not the variety I’m suggesting you eat. The sumac you need to avoid has white berries while the staghorn sumac has red berries. There are other differences as well.Staghorn sumac grows in dry areas. I was told a long time ago if your feet aren’t in water, it’s not poison sumac. The leaves are also different in shape.  If you are unsure of the plant do not eat it! The staghorn sumac has been used to make teas, a drink similar to lemonade, spice, and for medicinal uses for hundreds, if not thousands of years. There are other varieties of edible sumac but this post is about the staghorn sumac exclusively.

Start Eating Your Carrot Tops!

 

There has been a lot of debate about whether or not carrot tops (the leafy tops) are poisonous. There is nothing to suggest that they are and people eat them regularly. In fact, in Europe carrot tops are sold as a market vegetable. So stop throwing them out and start eating your carrot tops!

A Total Lack of Motivation

 

Since my (exclusively) wheelchair days I’ve been prone to various infections. The human body wasn’t designed to sit in a chair all day and it rebels by throwing itself under the bus. Upper respiratory infections have been my biggest problem and it looks like I’ve got another. Right now I’m really suffering from a total lack of motivation. But feeling sick isn’t the only reason.

Red Cabbage Slaw

The garden is producing like crazy right now. I went out to pick green beans and noticed that of few of the red cabbage were ready to be harvested. Since summer means fresh vegetables and barbecues I decided to make some red cabbage slaw to go with our barbecued chicken! It’s a great change from the usual coleslaw made with green cabbage.

The Dangers of the Dog Days of Summer

There’s no doubt about it. Summer is my favorite season. Even with the humidity and high temperatures we get here in my little corner of Michigan, I love it! But the dangers of the dog days of summer can’t be ignored. Heat exhaustion and heat stroke send thousands of people to the hospital every summer in the U.S. and many people die from heat-related illnesses each year.

Italian Sausage Stuffed Zucchini Boats

The zucchini plants are starting to produce in my garden. I’m being drowned in zucchini! Each year I swear I won’t plant as many zucchini as the year before but I do anyway. We’ve already had fried breaded zucchini and I’ve shredded zucchini for bread. I’m dehydrating it so I can add it to soups in the winter and I’ve thought about canning some pickled zucchini. And of course some will go to the food bank. Tonight I’m making Italian Sausage Stuffed Zucchini Boats for dinner. I love the combination of zucchini and Italian sausage. The dish is a little spicy, a little sweet, and altogether delicious!

15 Uses for Tea Tree Oil

Tea tree oil is extracted from the leaves of the Melaleuca Tree which is indigenous to Australia. The Aborigines are believed to have used the leaves for centuries, perhaps even longer. They crushed the leaves and inhaled the oil to treat coughs, applied crushed leaves to wounds and made infusions of leaves to treat skin conditions and sore throats. There are so many uses for it you should definitely keep tea tree oil in your home.