Idea Queen Tips & News

This is part two of our Gardening Ideas Series, which will talk mostly about vegetable seeds and where to buy them. You can see part one here.

Our garden wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t have some type of veggies planted. In past years we’ve taken the easy route and purchased most of our plants, but lately we’ve begun to start quite a few indoors.

While we do plan to buy several plants this year, there are a few we’ll be starting in pots come spring break. Here’s what we plant to start in pots:

- Strawberries
We’ve actually already started these, since I found some cute mini kits at Target around Valentine’s day. Although I have my doubts they are going to grow right (due to an accident involving cats and tiny little pots), so I may just buy some more seeds and try again. The tricky thing with the strawberries though is they are so tiny! It’s about impossible to sow them!

Once they are ready for transplant, I’ll be putting them on the edge of the garden in a row coming out from the back (sideways, if you will), which is the center of our backyard and gets the most sun.

- Pie Pumpkin
We tried this last year with not so great luck, but after some research I’ve zeroed in on the problem. What we had was “Squash Bugs”, which attach pumpkins, cucumbers, and squash. One of the tips was to not only start your plans indoors (which is what we did last year, thus the reason we did at least get ONE pumpkin), but to plant other flower seeds with it.

So to add to our list of flower seeds in our garden, we’ll be planting alyssum, zinnia, daisy, and nasturtium (as well with some herbs) to attract tachnid flys, which are a natural enemy of the squash bug. It will be rather different this year with a garden lined all the way around with various flowers and herbs. I’m actually excited to see how it’s going to look! All these flower seed will get planted directly in the ground somewhere in late April or early May. Calendula will be started with the rest of our flowers in the next few days (over spring break) and transplanted outside in May.

To take yet a further step, we’re planting the pumpkins in a different place than we did last year. Our garden is basically a long strip, probably 12 feet by 4 feet, that lines the back fence. Off to one side is an unused area that I’ll be expanding the garden to and planting the pumpkins at. (So now it will be more like 15 feet instead of 12 feet). In the “old” garden is where the tomato plants will go, and in between the old and new right on the edge is where the strawberries will go.

The pumpkin seeds we’ll start over spring break just as we normally, but we don’t plan to transplant them until after the first of June. We want a nice, healthy plant, and we picked up a tip that says this might help miss the first infestation of squash bugs, thus giving our pumpkins a fighting chance. Boards will also go around the plants so the bugs will crawl under them at night and we can squish them in the morning.

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Aside from the two mentioned above we plan to start inside, we’ll be planting two other types of veggies in to the garden this year. One is tomato plants (big boys are our favorites) and green peppers (probably both green bell peppers and jalapenos) which will be purchased and planted directly in the ground. We could grow these from seeds as well, but tomatoes and peppers can be quite picky, so we prefer to buy them.

For more seeds and ideas for what to plant in your garden, be sure to check out Nature Hills Nursery, Inc.

If you are like me and actually USE the kitchen in your home, you know how dirty it can get in a hurry. I’m not just talking about the floor needing swept or mopped, or even flour on the counters nearly every day. What I’m talking about is the REALLY nasty jobs that don’t get done every day, such as cleaning behind the fridge or scrubbing out the sink.

So take a good look around your kitchen. Does the counter need cleaned behind your appliances? Is the inside of your oven pretty gross? Does your microwave need a good scrubbing? Don’t forget the crumbs in the toaster!

This week just focus on those really dirty jobs around the kitchen and get to it. You’ll be happy to you did, even if your kitchen needs cleaned again in a week or two!

Make sure you report here once this week’s task is finished!

While I don’t use my crockpot that often, I’ve found it works well for nights when I’m short on time and also for chicken breasts in general. This isn’t the first time we’ve blogged about a crockpot chicken meal, but I’ve yet to make the same dish twice. (See the other two recipes here and here).

I’m officially calling this the “whatever I’ve got on hand chicken and noodles” recipe, because obviously I use whatever I’ve got. This time we used chicken breasts, garlic flakes, garlic salt, chicken broth, cream of chicken soup (a family size can), and cream of mushroom soup. No veggies this time, although I probably should have.

I started the chicken around noon, dumping in all the ingredients plus a can of water, setting it on high. I stirred here and there, but for the most part left it alone for 4 hours.

After the chicken was pretty much cooked around 4pm (and just before I had to leave for conferences),  the egg noodles were dumped in and I turned it down to low. Those noodles WILL soak up a lot of that water, so don’t worry if it looks a little watery. After an hour or two, everything should be well cooked and ready to dish up.

I love this recipe because it doesn’t matter what you add, plus it’s perfect for when you are gone just before supper needs to be made and throws off any normal schedule you might have.

Enjoy!

If you’ve been coming here for awhile, you know I’m a big fan of the download games at Big Fish. Usually it’s me that gets addicted to the various game, but once in awhile a game comes along that’s great for kids. That’s exactly what Farm Frenzy, Pizza Party is.

Now chances are the younger kids aren’t going to be able to play this one quite as well as the older ones. There’s a lot of different things to remember and do, thus the reason I was the one playing it most of the time. However, because of the animal and pizza appeal, the kids might be sticking to this one for some cheap entertainment.

If you don’t already have a membership to BigFish, I do suggest getting one to play this game. For a few bucks a month you get a game credit to use with any game on the site, which is added to daily. Usually I use my credits whenever I get in the mood to play, which is once every few months. I’ve got quite a few stocked up, which is nice because I can get any game I want at any time now.

For now though, you can try out the game for free and see what you think. If you like it, go ahead and grab the membership or just buy the game alone (slightly more expensive than using a membership credit, but if you don’t want hooked on all the games this is a good option as well).

Have fun playing!

Last week I decided to make hot wings as a main dish, and thought onion bread in the bread machine would have made a nice side for it. Unfortunately, as par for the course around here, I was missing just ONE ingredient from every onion bread recipe I could find. Out of three or four, I was either missing onion soup mix, sour cream, or cottage cheese. So when I went to the store you better believe I bought all three!

The recipe I ended up using was the one which used the onion soup mix, because it sounded the easiest and probably was going to be the best. Sure enough it was good, and everyone really enjoyed it. We even had some left overs for the kids to take to school the next day for lunch, and a few bites for me to munch on during the day as well.

This onion bread recipe was a little strange to me, since there was an option of using dry milk. I’ve heard of options in breads before, but not something that would seem like a vital ingredient. I didn’t use it though, because I used milk instead of water. I would think if you are going to use water, then the dry milk would probably be a good thing to add (and actually I used milk MADE from dry milk because I don’t keep milk on hand anymore…I just make what I need on the spot so we aren’t dumping out milk every week or two).

Either way it was a nice “sponge-like” bread that went well with our meal and for snacking. It didn’t have an over powering onion flavor either, so the kids loved it.

Still don’t have a bread machine? *GASP!* You need one. Really. I can’t even begin to tell you how often we use ours. Why, just in the last week or two I’ve made buns for two meals, three loafs of bread, and cinnamon rolls. A few weeks ago I even made jam. So YES they are a WONDERFUL tool to have in the kitchen. I highly recommend the Sunbeam Bread Machine from Amazon. It’s the same one I have just bigger, and the price is awesome. Get it now!

Happy baking!

This is part one of our Gardening Ideas Series, and will talk mostly about flower seeds. As in where to buy flower seeds online, and when to plant, and what we plan to add to our garden this year.

I love flowers. One of my fondest childhood memories was taking a walk through the greenhouse next door to my dad’s. I also loved the smell of the walk-in cooler with the carnations, baby’s breath, roses, and assorted flowers. It’s no wonder I have flowers growing all over my small yard.

In addition to the perennials that come up every year (which I’ll talk about in the flower bulb installment of our series), I’m planning to plant the following annuals and perennials this year:

- Four O’Clocks
While these are suppose to be in full sun, last year I planted them around my tree. They were absolutely beautiful, and I plan to do it again this year. The beauty of these plants is you can easily pluck the seeds from the plants. They aren’t hard to see - just look for a black seed around a blooming stem. Really the seeds stick out and are easy to spot. Plus one plant will produce tons of seeds, ensuring you an endless stock of these plants. You can even give some away to friends and family.

These flowers I’ll be planting directly into the ground after the risk of frost has passed, usually in late April or early May. They grow pretty quickly and spread out very well, making them a nice filler for under a tree.

- Canterbury Bells, Sweet William, and Delphinium
This may seem like a slightly odd combination of flowers, but it’s what I found in my stock. Not sure where they all came from, but I sure to like the looks of them. I’m not sure where I’m going to plant them all just yet, but they will for sure all get a home in my wrap-around-the-house flower bed.

What I plan to do with these is get several mini pots or containers for multiple flowers and start them ahead of time (usually we plant our seeds inside over spring break or in late March, giving them 6-8 weeks before planting them outside). The main reason I plan to start them inside is this - I want to see what each of them look like before I plant them around the house. All three are labeled as perennials because of their ability to reseed themselves, so I need to make sure I’m going to like them first before being stuck with them. Although I have planted Sweet William in the past, and they make for a nice “filler” on the floor of a garden.

- Morning Glory
I don’t know why, but this is my absolute favorite flower. Some call it a weed, and it does reseed itself sometimes. I have also yet to find a perfect place to grow it in my yard. The plant is really a vine and needs somewhere to climb.

A few years ago I tried growing them in the middle of the backyard (yes the MIDDLE. As in nothing else around it….I did this because there was a bare spot from where a sandbox had been the previous summer), but it just didn’t look right. Last year I tried the fence, but quickly realized that wasn’t very neighborly of me because the people behind me (who actually own the fence), may not care for them.

This year I’m going to break down and buy (or make) something for them to grow up on. Like a trellis or something similar homemade. Then where I put it won’t matter, because it will look beautiful about anywhere. Truth be told I really want an arch, but that’s not in the budget this year. However, a homemade trellis that the kids make from popsickle sticks might just do the trick…and make for a fun project as well.

These seeds will get planted directly in the ground come May when the threat of frost is past.

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Well that’s about it for the flower seeds we plan to plant indoors within the next few weeks and come May. As mentioned before, we’ll plant the ones inside in small pots around spring break, which starts the second to last week in March. Not only does it give us something to do while the kids are out of school, but it gets us in the mood for spring and our garden started as well!

If you are looking for more seeds to buy or are curious about other flower seeds, be sure to have a look at the flower seeds at Nature Hills Nursery. They’ve got a fantastic selection, good prices, and detailed descriptions of each so you know what to do with them before you buy them.

Have fun!

Once upon a time we had a weekly ritual here at the blog called “Tidy Tuesday”. It was meant as a weekly motivation (or kick in the behind, if you will) to get me and all you awesome readers up and doing those “once in awhile” jobs like cleaning out shelfs and washing windows.

Judging by the looks of my house, it’s time we get back to that.

So this week we’ll start off easy with something I already did (nothing like cheating out of the gate, eh?). Let’s clean out the fridge. I don’t mean just throwing out last week’s leftovers, but REALLY cleaning it. Get in there and SCRUB. It’s amazing what can get stuck on the inside of the fridge when you aren’t looking. 

Looking for something to do with your kids? Then you MUST check out the craft kits available at Krafty Kids. I fell in love with this site from the very beginning, and I know you will too!

The great thing about Krafty Kids are their Fun Craft of the Month Clubs, which have a seasoned theme every month. They have options for both preschoolers, older kids, and even adults (now how fun would that be to not only give your kids monthly crafts, but to DO something with them?).

You have the ability to choose how many months you want and for how long. The more you purchase and the longer you sign up for, the less each craft is. And these aren’t dollar store crafts either - they are NICE crafts! (See and example of past project in the kits here)

For those looking for fun Easter crafts, I suggest hopping on over to this site right now and signing up so you can get one in April and start having fun!

Do your kids still play Webkinz like mine do? Remember, in order to keep your membership, you need to purchase at least one Webkinz per year. Compared to similar membership sites, this is EXTREMELY cheap. They make nice birthday gifts, and so do the accessories!

When you adopt the Webkinz of the month, you get all kinds of fun extras to start with, plus daily extra stuff the regular pets don’t get. So if you are planning to buy your child their first Webkinz or needing to renew your membership, this is the one to buy this month! (Just make sure you buy the LARGE one and not the “Little”. Use the link below to see the large)

See Webkinz Yorkie at Amazon.

Even after cooking a roast all day last weekend, I was still in the mood to cook and really (REALLY), hungry for chocolate pie. And doesn’t it always seem like you can have all but ONE ingredient for whatever you’re craving? Seems to be the norm around here, and I’ve gone to the store a half a dozen times this week just to get ONE item. *SIGH*. But at least I got my pie.

The recipe I used was the Chocolate Cream Pie from our recipe site. Even though I had chocolate pudding mix, I had no whipped cream or pie crust, so I was going to have to go up to the store regardless. This recipe didn’t use pudding mix, but rather chocolate chips (which I had as well) and whipping cream. I almost didn’t use it because it looked like a little too much work and I was being very lazy after making that big meal, but I gave it a shot anyway.

I was surprised it wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be, and it took me probably the same amount of time it would have to make a pie from a pudding mix. And this pie - HOLY COW - it was DELICIOUS! It really lived up to it’s name because it was so creamy, and had that “made from scratch” taste to it.

This is for sure a recipe we’ll be making again since I’ve just absolutely fallen in love with it!