Dandelions

Summer is here and dandelions are everywhere, but did you know that dandelions are not just for making wishes and rubbing pollen on your friends? There are actually quite a few useful things you can do with them!

My favorite idea for using dandelions comes from Let them Eat Healthy, a great blog with all kinds of cool recipes and tips.

Vanilla, Lavender, and Wild Dandelion Syrup

It looks and sounds just delicious so be sure to head on over there and check it out!!

Our Homestead on the Hillside posted this tip to their facebook page and I am very grateful. I tried fried dandelions once and was not a fan, but now I know why and might have to try some leaves in a salad! Because...

According to Earth Friendly Goodies, Dandelion has quite a few health benefits!

Just one cup of dandelion greens contains 2.1 g of protein, 112% of the daily recommendation of vitamin A, 32% vitamin C, and a whopping 535% vitamin K. A cup of dandelion leaves also contain 218 mg of potassium, 103 mg of calcium, and 1.7 mg of iron.

They also have a great recipe for Dandelion Coffee.

 What do you do with dandelions? Share your ideas here and on our facebook page!

Microwave and Canned Tomatos-Bad for your Health

There are two things that have in the last year become important for me to greatly limit or avoid whenever possible: the microwave and tomato based products from cans.

In our society it is not realistic to think you are going to completely avoid all of these things 100% of the time. Although it is possible, you might offend people inviting you to their home to eat or make your local restaurant not happy to see you!

The first hazard to your health is using the microwave too frequently. There are been studies to show that eating microwaved food does change things on a cellular level. People eating microwaved food versus others who didn't had tens of thousands more white blood cells in their body when blood work was done for a comparison.

When discussing this health information with Jairica, she shared with me an experiment that somehow confirmed that there were damaging effects from microwaved things.

The experiment link below is showing how water that was microwaved was killing plants versus the same water not microwaved. *Note, they were NOT giving the plants HOT water, but cooled it down to room temperature!

Microwaved Water Kills Plants in Days

So, the other side of health on my mind today is canned tomato based products including but not limited to: diced tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce, canned pasta, and chili.

All of these things have acid from the tomatoes that over time after being canned reacts with the chemicals in the metal and eventually leaches unnatural chemicals into your food. Today I made a very exciting discovery when purchasing items for my homemade tomato sauce: Hunts now sells tomato sauce in an aseptic container which is not metal!

Now, most people are going to be most excited that you can reseal the package and use it again another time. Great feature...but not the reason I am so excited about it! This was one ingredient I use with otherwise fresh ingredients that I would buy pre-made. I can make my own tomato juice...but sauce and paste are much more difficult and I just don't have the time to try!

I have to hand it to the foodies over at ConAgra foods who make Hunt's products...I will most certainly not be purchasing competitors products because I am so happy with this packaging. Now if only we could sell diced tomatoes in glass or <gulp> even plastic containers (BPA free of course).

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the great dads out there!

The world would not be able to go around without fathers! All three of us Stepford sisters are so thankful to our dads for being there to be advice givers, loving figures in our life, support behind the scenes, and for allowing us to actually get married after we became adults (You know what we mean, most dads forbid their daughters from ever leaving right?!).

In addition to our own fathers, we all have husbands who are fathers as well! Stephanie’s husband has three children, Jairica’s husband is a dad of two, very recently with the second (a week ago exactly!), and Sara’s husband is also a dad of two (newest arrival 6 months ago).

We wish the best to all of you dad’s out there and hope that the moms and wives of dads help treat them to a relaxing special day!

 

Planting an Herb garden in your Yard

I only wanted to take up a small space for my herbs, so I selected my four favorite and most used herbs. On the top from left to right I have cilantro and flat leaf Italian parsley. On the bottom from left to right I have sweet basil and sweet mint.

I don't intend to give a full tutorial on how to best grow herbs or how to prune and harvest them. The more difficult part for me is finding a place to have them. They don't take up much space, but they would not survive inside my house with three cats. Plus, my kitchen windows are toward my back yard that is shaded.

So, I decided to take a risk and plant them outside within my landscaping in a place I would be sure to look at them frequently. Herbs can get dried up rather quickly especially in the summer, so I need to look at them frequently to make sure I don't forget to water them!

I took this photo from my front door to show just how visible I made them to myself (they are in boxes first thing on the left after the edge of the porch):

As I was picking a spot, I thought this would be a welcoming site to my guests. The spot is on a mound, so I scooped out a level flat spot into the mound for each box. I did the bottom one first, then made the second flat spot for the first box. I also picked this spot because there is a bush to the left that will help during the summer give it some shade, a great relief from the sun during hot hours.

I only wanted to take up this much space for my herbs, so I selected my four favorite and most used herbs. On the top from left to right I have cilantro and flat leaf Italian parsley. On the bottom from left to right I have sweet basil and sweet mint.

This was my second attempt at sweet mint-the first time it was actually a cat nip plant and the neighborhood lose cats found it within half an hour of me planting it. I was glad to discover the mistake quickly before they got curious about the other herbs. I have had them successfully outside unguarded for a little over a month.

Syrus Stepford is here!!

Congratulations to Jairica and Shannon Stepford on the arrival of their new baby boy Syrus! It is with great anticipation and anxious months that we finally get to meet him :-)

He was born on 6/9/2013 at 1:49 p.m. He was 6 pounds 13 oz. and 20 1/2 inches long. Mom and baby are still at the hospital and improving every day!

There are so many things that led up to his birth and the growing excitement...

Jairica announced her pregnancy in the beginning of January for all of our Stepford Sisters followers to know.

We made homemade gifts for his nursery.

We had a baby shower with so many cute items and fun times.

 

We all traveled to Jairica's house to help her buy and move furniture and help organize the nursery.

Jairica had her crib for this next photo that ended up being just a week before delivery.

Time at the hospital the night before and morning of delivery went especially fast considering some labor and deliveries.  Both Sara and Stephanie had the chance to see her one last time within 24 hours of him being born.

 Jairica was all packed up and ready to go to the hospital the night before her scheduled induction because her water might have broken...at this point we thought we would be coming back home for the night.

Shannon and Jairica right after arriving at the hospital, STILL assuming they would go back to their own bed for the night and return the next day.

Yep, they were wrong. The nurse kept her anyway. Jairica (after some convincing of course) was ready...it was time!

We are so happy to have finally met him now!
Congratulations Jairica and Shannon, and Happy Birthday Syrus!

Five DIY Father's Day Gifts

This first DIY Father's Day gift comes from Dollar Store Crafts, it is the perfect easy craft for kids to do for stylish business dads: A Pocket Square Notebook!

Second on our idea list is this this back-rub shirt for dad that my husband would love. The idea comes from Pink and Green Mama and is absolutely brilliant!

For number three Rainbows Within Reach brings us this adorable craft that could be used as a card or a framed piece of artwork from your child to their father.

Idea number four would be great for a family with three kids! It is a cool photography idea from the Celebration Shoppe!

And finally, our fifth idea is this super sweet book full of fun prompts for kids to write about their dad from How does she?

For more great ideas be sure to check out these crafts from last year!

Quick Fact: You can Grow Leeks From your Leftover Leeks!

When you use leeks (or green onions), instead of throwing out the bottom, stick it in water on a windowsill and it will grow! It will grow up from the middle first and then, once you notice the roots growing bigger, you can move it to your garden (or if it is too cold out, an indoor pot), and harvest from your leek whenever you need some!