Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Tip of the Week: How to get Smells out of Jars and Bottles

The longer I live out in the real world the more I realize my Mommy taught me a lot. This is a tip she learned from my Grammy and passed on to me when I was young.

So you want to up-cycle some pickle jars, salsa jars, etc for cute apothecary jars or craft storage. The only thing holding you back is the smell inside the jar which gets absorbed into everything you put in it. I recently had to do this to my husband's shaker bottle when the rotten protein powder smell wouldn't go away.

Take some newsprint (aka black and white news paper) and rip it into crumpled handfuls. Place the paper into the container so that it is full and lightly packed. Screw on lid and leave it for a week. The odors will absorb into the paper. Change out the paper every week to two weeks depending on how strong the odor is.


Wednesday, March 27, 2013

What's blooming this season?

So my mom is very jealous of the fact that I was able to get heirloom tomato plants just before the New Year and plant them. A few nights being covered by an old sheet to keep the frost off and we now have a steady supply of sweet tomatoes. Over the weekend they were used to make a traditional bruschetta. I will use the next batch to fine tune the recipe. The best part? Because they are in pots I can move the plants into the shade when our Arizona summer really heats up and prolong their life a while!

Tomatoes planted with basil. Everybody wins.