Bless My Heart I Married A Yankee

With our Charley girl, we are so careful with what we use on her due to all the health issues she has had in the past.  I try to watch what I buy for her to eat.  I watch what I shampoo her with and what I spray on her.  I prefer to go all natural and therefore I tend to make a lot of stuff for her.  I even make a  spray  to keep the bugs off of her. Charley I have several friends who have told me how their pouch tends to scratch a lot.  Brooke's Nova and my son's sweet Winston both have issues and scratch a lot.  I did a bit of research and came up with this recipe.  It is simple and all natural.  It should not hurt your pup.   Nova Lee Winston In case you did not know, spring and summer a dog tends to have more issues with itchy skin.  Some dogs will scratch until they are raw so it is very important to take care of their itchy issues.  I mean do you like to be itchy?  I s...

In the last couple of years, I have come to really enjoy Thai food.  It was not that I did not enjoy it before but I really had never had much experience with Thai cuisine.  We have a couple of good Thai places in town now so I have had more time to sample and enjoy. This year I wanted to grow Thai Chili Peppers in my garden so I could have them with pho ga but I have also decided to make some pepper sauces with my peppers.  In the last few years, we have been more specific in the type of peppers we grow.  At first, when we got into growing hot peppers we just grew super hot peppers for the heck of it.  Now, though, we have dabbled in various recipes and found ones we really love so we grow peppers for what we wish to use or can. Nam Pla Prik is pretty essential as a Thai seasoning sauce.  It is a fish sauce based traditional Thai sauce.  One might say it is a staple in Thai homes and restaurants.   It really is f...

Since apple season is fast approaching, I have several apple recipes and decided to do a post with their links to make it easy to find recipes.    APPLE RELISH APPLE PIE FILLING DEHYDRATED APPLES APPLE SALSA INDIAN APPLE CHUTNEY PICKLED APPLES

The Cristina household loves salsa.  I have tons of varieties but my plain ole salsa is a winner.  It is so delicious.  I can sit down and eat an entire jar all by myself if I am not careful.   Yes, I am telling you it is that GOOD!!   When we got back from Key Largo, my tomatoes were just coming in and I had quite a bit to do something with.  I did not have the time with all the unpacking still left to do to make marinara so I opted for salsa.  I was down to my last jar so I need to make more.  I normally inventory my canned goods and make a list of what I am out of or close to being out of and do my canning accordingly. This recipe is so good and I love the fact I grew my own green peppers, jalapenos, and poblanos to go in my salsa.  This recipe is super easy.  You do not need a ton of ingredients.  Tomatoes, onions, green pepper, jalapenos, salt, vinegar, garlic, tomato paste and tomato sauce.  Yep, tha...

I found out how to do this last year and boy was I disappointed that I did not know it before.  I have wasted so much that I could have used.  I despise waste.  Some people laugh at Scott and me because we try to use everything we can.  Well, let me tell you that is your right but we think you are the one that is weird for wasting stuff that could be used.  I mean seriously, folks, we grow our own stuff as much as possible.  We try to be organic in all we do which is so much better for you and your body.   This year we have been using the food mill to take the seeds and skins out when I have been making marinara, tomato soup, or tomato sauce.  I go by what I need most as to what I can first.  I have canned the salsa I needed and I hope to be done with that but now I am working on canning up some tasty  marinara .  Using the food mill will separate the sauce and will leave the skins and seeds in the mill. ...