Last week I shared a post on what to do with the leftover shredded wheat crumbs. Shortly before I shared that post a dear friend of mine gave me this recipe for shredded wheat bread. It reminded me of the English muffin bread recipe I have shared in the past. Like the English Muffin Bread recipe this bread is perfect for toasting and enjoying with your breakfast or a cup of tea in the afternoon. By the way ½ cup shredded wheat crumbs is almost exactly what is left at the bottom on the box after eating all the shredded wheat!
Using molasses in this recipe gives the bread a dark crust and a rich taste and reminds me of Anadama Bread, which I used to make years ago.
Shredded Wheat Bread
Ingredients:
½ cup shredded wheat 2 cups boiling water 1 tsp. salt 1/3 cup sugar 1/3 cup molasses 3 Tbsp. shortening (I used butter) 2 ¼ tsp. Active dry yeast ¼ cup warm water 5-6 cups flour
Directions: Prepare two bread pans, lightly spray with oil. Pour boiling water over the crumbled shredded wheat. Add salt, sugar, molasses and shortening. Dissolved the yeast in the warm water. Add the yeast to the first mixture, then add the flour, add more flour if necessary. Let rise in a bowl until doubled in size. Knead and form into to loaves and let rise again until rounded above the bread pan. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes then reduce heat to 350 and continue baking for another 30 minutes. Makes two loaves
In January we went for a walk in the Bloedel Reserve and everywhere we looked there were signs of spring. The grass was green, the willows were leafing out and it looked like spring would officially arrive any minute.
Then we got all the crazy snow and cold weather in February and it seemed like we were plunged back into winter. The heather was flowering and covered with snow!
Now that we’ve had some warmer weather it finally is looking like spring in the Pacific Northwest has arrived. The almond trees have been just beautiful.
Last week we went for another walk in the Bloedel Reserve and it did look like spring had finally arrived! The Rhododendron bushes were in full bloom everywhere.
Even in the shadows there were blooms to be seen. It was the perfect day to enjoy a walk in the woods.
In my daughter’s garden the garlic are doing well despite being nibbled on my deer this winter.
The raspberries are also doing well.
I may not have my own garden right now but I enjoy having my daughter’s garden to keep an eye on.
This past weekend we took a trip to Seattle and enjoyed walking through Pike’s Market Place. After seeing all the tulips and daffodils you really felt like spring has arrive in the Pacific Northwest.
Everywhere gardens are being planted, trees are in bloom and the leaves are beginning to pop. I love spring and seeing the flowers gives such hope that winter is past and a new year in the garden is ahead.
Continue to monetize my blog. My ongoing goal. Have you taken the time to check out my page on Amazon? This page is where I put all the items I just love, from favorite cookbooks to gardening tools. Please check it out. Another aspect of this goal involves increasing my readership. If you enjoy reading my blog, please recommend it to your friends. I sure appreciate all my new subscribers!
2. Create a cookbook. You may remember this goal was on my list last year and I finally put it aside. My goal for this year is to have my cookbook ready by November 2019. This is going to be a long process and I hope you don’t get tired of hearing about it. I promise you when the cookbook is finished it will be worth it! Working on putting all my recipes into a document, slow process but we’ll get there.
3. Have 20 minutes of exercise at least 5 times a week. With all the nice weather we’ve been having it is not hard to get outside for a daily walk!
4. Explore ten 9 parks or hiking trails in the state of Washington we now call home! No new parks this week but we did take another trip to the Bloedel Reserve. It’s a wonderful place to escape from the sounds of the city and just feel refreshed.
5. Incorporate 20 10 new recipes into our dinner plans with the focus on healthy eating. I love the combination of chicken, basil and mozzarella. Made some Chicken Mozzarella Roll-Ups this week which were delicious. I shared the recipe on Friday.
6. Read 35 21 new books this year. Did not finish any books this week, we are currently reading Good Things by Kevin Gerald as our morning devotional. Interesting book, not sure I agree with all that is being said but the general message is a good one.
7. Complete Four 1 knitting or sewing projects this year. With the beautiful weather it is hard to sit down and knit! My mitten project is not finished yet. I am making progress. Should have one mitten done soon.
8. Visit family on the west coast. Back down to Portland, Oregon this week to look at another house. Spending lots of time with our immediate family!
9. Explore Six 5 new museums in the area. The pass for the Tacoma Glass Museum is one popular pass. Still patiently waiting to grab this pass.
10. Find a new home. We may have found a house! Saw a house last week and immediately called to go see it. It’s in Oregon, close to Portland but outside the city limits. The town has a small town feeling with lots of community activity. The house is in town within walking distance to the library, community gardens and the post office. Small yard which is to be expected but enough room for a small garden and the house is positioned correctly for good sun. I could even have a few chickens if I wanted! Plus there is a nice pantry! Offer has been accepted and the inspection is today! Stay tuned.
“Goals are the fuel in the furnace of achievement.” Brian Tracy, author of Eat that Frog
This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site.
For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting Nancy On The Home Front.
Pests are the bane of every gardener’s existence. There is nothing as heartbreaking as spending all season tending lovingly to a plant just to have them succumb to beetles or aphids.
Especially for gardeners who are trying to avoid pesticide use, repelling pests can be very challenging. Luckily, nature has developed some ways to deter pests that you can take advantage of in your own garden without using man-made chemicals. Here are some plants that keep bugs away.
Growing “trap crops” to deter pests
If you have problems with a specific pest, you can even grow a whole row of a certain plant that are just meant to attract the pests away from your other crops.
“Grow a ‘trap plant’ that will trap the pests attract the pests,” said Kate Garland, horticultural specialist at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension.
Garland said that the Bangor Community Garden in Bangor, Maine, grows giant pumpkins and blue hubbard squash near garden plots to attract cucumber beetles away from the precious crops of unsuspecting community gardeners.
“The blue hubbard squash seems to be much more appealing,” she said. “You can hand pick them and remove them much easier on the trap crop. You can still get some fruit off them, but the main value is to trap pests.”
Aphids are also susceptible to the wiles of trap crops. “There are certain plants they really do like,” Garland said, like nasturtiumand nettles. “If you plant them, you know aphids are more likely to go to that trap crop.”
Companion planting to deter pests
There are also certain pairings of plants that work well to repel pests. You can plan your garden plots with companion planting in mind to keep pests at bay.
“There are quite a number of herbs that are going to be pest repellant,” said Leonard Githinji, Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist Sustainable and Urban Agriculture at Virginia State University.
Basil, he explained, are naturally good pest repellents for tomatoes (luckily enough for caprese salad and tomato sauce enthusiasts). Dill will keep boring bugs away from squash vines. Rosemary will help protect carrots and beans from common pests as well.
There are also some vegetables Githinji suggested as companion plants to deter plants. Radishes are effective deterrents against bugs that attack squash and cucumbers. Planting tomato and corn together, he said, will also help prevent earworms.
“Leeks will produce aroma that will keep bugs away like flies that attack carrots,” he added.
Another pairing that Githinji suggested is spinach and strawberries, for a tasty, bug-free summer salad.
Plants that naturally deter pests
Photo credit – Johanna S. Billings|BDN
The research is not particularly robust when it comes to evaluating which plants universally deter pests.
“There’s a lot more anecdotal stories than there is actual scientific evidence about a lot of them,” Garland explained.
Nevertheless, there are some plants that are considered better pest repellants.
“Chrysanthemum is one example of a plant with insect repellant characteristics,” Garland said. Pyrethrin, which is derived from chrysanthemum flowers, is used in many commercial pesticides.
“In general, marigolds are a plant that can repel pests,” Githinji added.
Garland said that the only research-based evidence she has seen for marigolds is that they are effective at repelling soil nematodes, but given the other benefits of having marigolds in the garden, she suggested planting them anyway.
“The benefits of having more pollinators around and the attractiveness of the plant is a good thing,” Garland said. “Marigolds are also a good trap crop for slugs.”
With these handy tips to start, the best thing to do is to experiment and determine the plants that keep bugs away in the microbiome of your garden.
This is a guest post written by Sam Schipani. Sam is a staff writer forHello Homestead and the Bangor Daily News. She loves watching hummingbirds, eating flowersand shopping sustainably. She has previously written for Sierra, Smithsonian, Earth Island Journal, and American Farm Publications.
Recipes shared by good friends are the best. When you eventually get around to making the recipe you are reminded of the dear friend that shared the recipe to begin with! This recipe for Chicken Mozzarella Rollups is just such a recipe. We enjoyed a delicious meal with good friends and this was the recipe we enjoyed. Finally got around to making is and it was just as good as I remembered. Plus it is and easy recipe that comes together in no time. I made similar recipes in the past, I just love the combination of chicken and basil!
Chicken Mozzarella Rollups
Ingredients:
4 small boneless, chicken breasts 12 large fresh basil leaves 4 pieces of roasted red pepper (available in jars) 4 ounces of mozzarella cheese (about 12 Tbsp.) 1 ½ cups of marinara sauce
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 375. Pound each piece of chicken until they are ¼ inch thick. Be careful not to tear the chicken. Lay the pieces of chicken on a clean work surface, smooth side down. Layer each piece with 3 basil leaves, 1 piece of roasted red pepper and 2 Tbsp. of shredded mozzarella. Roll one long edge toward the other long edge to enclose the filling, like a wrap. Fold the loose short ends and secure with toothpicks on each side.
Pour 1 cup of the marinara sauce into a 9×12 nonaluminum-baking dish that’s at least two inches deep. Place the rolled chicken breasts, seam side down, in the baking dish, Top each roll with the remaining ½ cup of marinara sauce. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.
Sprinkle the remaining 4 Tbsp. of mozzarella over the top of each chicken roll and broil on a low setting for an additional five minutes until the cheese melts and is brown on top. Transfer the chicken breasts to plates and top with the sauce from the baking dish and serve immediately. The Chicken Mozzarella Rollups can be made ahead of time and refrigerated until ready to bake.
Recently a friend of mine asked me what to do with shredded wheat crumbs? In our house that had never been an issue, you just ate them with the last bowl of cereal out of the box. However, in her house no one would eat them so she asked me what I would do with them.
You know the old saying “waste not, want not”, I decided to do a little online searching and see what other folks did with the left over crumbs. Apparently lots of people have this problem because there were certainly a lot of suggestions!
One suggestion was to mix the crumbs with a little butter and bake on top of a fruit dessert.
There is actually a middle eastern dessert called Kataife that uses loose shredded wheat rehydrated with sugar, walnuts, cinnamon and a few other ingredients. Normally this dish is made with a kind of dry baked noodles but apparently people use shredded wheat crumbs as well.
Use the shredded wheat crumbs the next time you make banana bread.
Make Shredded Wheat Bran Muffins – This muffin recipe is delicious and makes a good use of the shredded wheat bits at the bottom of every bag.
Apparently there are many ways to use up those shredded wheat crumbs so that there is no excuse for throwing them in the trash.
Have you ever had a problem knowing what to do with shredded wheat crumbs or do you have a favorite recipe you make with the left over crumbs. Usually we enjoy homemade granola or oatmeal and I don’t purchase many boxes of cereal. However, the next time I have some left over shredded wheat crumbs, I’ll certainly have a few ideas now on how to use them up!
Spring has certainly sprung in the Pacific Northwest! I just love all the blooming trees and shrubs everywhere!
Continue to monetize my blog. My ongoing goal. Have you taken the time to check out my page on Amazon? This page is where I put all the items I just love, from favorite cookbooks to gardening tools. Please check it out. Another aspect of this goal involves increasing my readership. If you enjoy reading my blog, please recommend it to your friends. I sure appreciate all my new subscribers!
2. Create a cookbook. You may remember this goal was on my list last year and I finally put it aside. My goal for this year is to have my cookbook ready by November 2019. This is going to be a long process and I hope you don’t get tired of hearing about it. I promise you when the cookbook is finished it will be worth it!
3. Have 20 minutes of exercise at least 5 times a week. With all the nice weather we’ve been having it is not hard to get outside for a daily walk!
4. Explore ten 9 parks or hiking trails in the state of Washington we now call home! We did explore the Tacoma Nature Center with our granddaughter! Technically not a park but they did have a nice trail around Snake Lake where we saw two ducks and a turtle!
5. Incorporate 20 10 new recipes into our dinner plans with the focus on healthy eating. Made a delicious leek and zucchini frittata last week. It was so good!
6. Read 35 21 new books this year. Finished my fourteenth book. As Bright As Heaven written by Susan Meissner. The book is considered historical fiction, written about the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918. I enjoyed the story all about trying to survive despite the harsh conditions.
7. Complete Four 1 knitting or sewing projects this year. With the beautiful weather it is hard to sit down and knit! My mitten project is not finished yet.
8. Visit family on the west coast. Much as I’d love to be visiting family on the west coast our focus is house hunting, an exhausting endeavor! We have made three offers on three different houses, walked away from one due to the inspection results and lost the other two by being outbid! I find it amazing trying to purchase a home in such a hot market, you can make a full price offer and be outbid by thousands of dollars!
9. Explore Six 5 new museums in the area. The pass for the Tacoma Glass Museum is one popular pass. Still patiently waiting to grab this pass.
10. Find a new home. The search continues as I mentioned above. It’s become a full time job, checking the real estate every morning to see what came on the market over night. Deciding if it’s worth looking at and then making an appointment. There’s got to be something out there for us!
“A goal is a dream with a deadline” Napolean Hill
This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site.
For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting Nancy On The Home Front.
My husband celebrated a birthday recently and I decided to make this delicious honey mustard roasted salmon. I have shared a similar recipe for nut crusted salmon recipe before, this recipe is similar but no nuts. Usually we cook salmon on the grill but in this recipe the salmon cooks in the oven. I adapted this recipe from a recipe I found on the Weight Watcher website. Honey Mustard Roasted Salmon can be prepared ahead which makes it a perfect dish to serve for company. You can prepare the salmon and then refrigerate until ready to put in the oven.
Honey Mustard Roasted Salmon
1-2 pounds of fresh salmon ⅛ tsp. salt ⅛ tsp. black pepper ¼ cup Dijon mustard 4 tsp. honey 1 Tbsp. water 1 Tbsp. White wine vinegar 1 small clove garlic, minced ¼ tsp. dry mustard 2 tsp. fresh dill, chopped
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Spray a shallow baking pan with nonstick spray or line the pan with parchment paper.
Sprinkle the salmon with salt and pepper and place on your baking pan.
In a small bowl whisk together the Dijon mustard, honey, water, vinegar, garlic and dry mustard. Use 2 Tbsp, of the mixture to brush over the salmon fillets. Stir the dill into the remaining mustard mixture and set aside.
Bake the salmon, uncovered, at 400 for 15-20 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.
Drizzle with the reserved sauce. Serve with brown rice. Makes 4 servings.
If you have started vegetable seeds inside this year you’ll be amazed at how quickly they grown. In no time at all you’ll be transplanting your vegetable seedlings. Wait until the seedlings have grown two or more true leaves (the cotyledons don’t count). This can be anywhere from 2-6 weeks after germination.
Before starting make sure you have everything ready; your new pots and some fresh potting soil. I like to put a piece of paper towel or newspaper in the bottom of the pots to keep the dirt from coming out the bottom. By the time the seedlings need to be transplanted again (either into bigger pots or into the garden) this paper will have dissolved.
Freeing a seedling from its neighbors in a pot can be daunting if you haven’t done it before. One precaution is to always grasp a plant by a leaf not the stem. The plant can survive loss or injury to a leaf but if you break the stem it is fatal! I use a spoon and start at the edge of the pot and carefully lift the seedling. Try to choose the strongest seedlings rather than transplant every single one. I am often tempted to transplant them all as they look strong and healthy, but then I end up with way too many plants for my garden. Choose the sturdiest, most uniform plants and regretfully discard the others.
Set the seedling deeper than it was in the germination pot, placing the cotyledons just above the soil surface. Some plants, like tomatoes, will form roots along the section of the stem that is buried when you transplant deeper. Once every seedling has been transplanted make sure they are all labeled and given a drink of water. Then place them back under the grow lights.
You may find that it’s getting rather crowded under the grow lights. If you have south facing windows you can rotate the seedlings from under the grow lights to the window. In a short time you’ll be transplanting the vegetable seedlings out into your garden.
We are back home after spending a few days with good friends. Time to get back to the house hunting process! Hopefully we’ll find something soon!
Continue to monetize my blog. My ongoing goal. Have you taken the time to check out my page on Amazon? This page is where I put all the items I just love, from favorite cookbooks to gardening tools. Please check it out. Another aspect of this goal involves increasing my readership. If you enjoy reading my blog, please recommend it to your friends. I sure appreciate all my new subscribers!
2. Create a cookbook. You may remember this goal was on my list last year and I finally put it aside. My goal for this year is to have my cookbook ready by November 2019. This is going to be a long process and I hope you don’t get tired of hearing about it. I promise you when the cookbook is finished it will be worth it!
3. Have 20 minutes of exercise at least 5 times a week. I miss my walking buddy. There are so many online groups on Facebook I’m wondering if I can find a walking group to join? It was such fun to have daily walks with a dear friend.
4. Explore ten 9 parks or hiking trails in the state of Washington we now call home! Didn’t happen. Look forward to the next park we discover!
5. Incorporate 20 11 new recipes into our dinner plans with the focus on healthy eating. Planning to try a few new recipes this week. One of them was turkey ricotta meatballs served with spaghetti squash, they were delicious!
6. Read 35 22 new books this year. Finished my thirteenth book , The Secrets We Carried by Mary McNear. Interesting that the last two books have been about secrets. This book is about second chances and learning to face the past before moving on to the future.
7. Complete Four 1 knitting or sewing projects this year. Hoping to finish my fourth project in the next few weeks.
8. Visit family on the west coast. No visits planned this week. Our focus is on house hunting!
9. Explore Six 5 new museums in the area. The pass for the Tacoma Glass Museum is one popular pass. Still patiently waiting to grab this pass.
10. Find a new home. We took the last week off from the house search. Now we’re back to checking the new houses that seem to come on everyday. I never knew that looking for a home could be so exhausting. Probably why we built the last two houses we owned!
“Life is short, fragile and does not wait for anyone. There will NEVER be a perfect time to pursue your dreams and goals.” unknown
This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site.
For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting Nancy On The Home Front.
Nancy on the Home Front 