Gardening Info/Household Info

In our area, the cherries are ripe, so this morning the birds of the neighborhood were much disturbed when I began picking their buffet. Ed's favorite pie is cherry, and fresh cherry pie is hard to beat!

Now is the time to start tying up your tomato plants. The selvage edges of fabric make wonderful ties. When I sew, I cut off these edges, about 1/2" wide, and save them for gardening season. They're soft enough they don't cut into the tender plant.

When you tie up your tomatoes, or stake them, or whatever you do to them, now's a good time to start removing their suckers. What are suckers? Where the leaf attaches to the stem, there'll be a sprout. Remove that sprout. Later in the season, after the plant has some good growth, I let the suckers grow, but for now, the plant needs to put its strength into growing a healthy stem and leaves, in order to support the tomatoes.

Now, don't throw away those suckers! Particularly the larger ones. Those little ones, you may discard with abandon. The larger ones, place in a glass of water. They'll root and you'll have more tomato plants.

It's also time to dust with Sevin those cole crops: broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, etc. The white butterflies didn't die over winter and they're particularly a nuisance in our area.

IN THE KITCHEN:

Buy a shaker...a large one, like your kitchen salt and pepper come in. Mine has a screen top, which I greatly enjoy. Put your flour in it, and when you need to dust a cake pan, flour a dough board, etc., it puts a nice even coat on it. Saves flour. Saves time.

When you are using a hand mixer, place your bowl in the kitchen sink. Most of the splatters will fall on the sides and bottom of the sink, thereby saving cleanup time and mess.

Let's talk about that hand mixer again. When you're mixing cake batter, and scrape the sides of the bowl with your spatula, don't rake the last of it off on the edge of the bowl, scrape it against the beaters. Then, when you put the beaters back in the batter, to finish mixing, it will get mixed in, too.

MY CURRENT FAVORITE GREEN SALAD:
Various salad greens-fresh sugar snap peas-quartered strawberries-Feta cheese-slivered almonds, sauteed in butter
This is yummy just as it is, with your favorite dressing (at the moment, mine is Girard's White Balsamic); but if you want to make this into a meal, add sliced fried or grilled
chicken.

CHICKEN:
We like chicken, but not the breading. When you fry your chicken (yes, even boneless, skinless breasts) get the shortening hot (Crisco, I think, works best) season your chicken and place it in the pan. Sear it on one side, uncovered (I place the cover slightly on, in order to keep the thing from spattering all over the kitchen!), turn, sear on the other side, then turn the fire as low as you can get it and continue cooking, COVERED, for 20 minutes. Your boneless, skinless chicken breasts will be fork tender, have a heavenly flavor and if you like gravy, the drippings make it best.

Enjoy your weekend!!
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