Alberta Gardening Calender

The wait for spring becomes almost a living thing for those of us in this climate. We dread the return of mud, but the return of green growing things and sunshine is too palatable to really be bothered by mud that much. We'll complain about…
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Knife Care & Storage

My mother in law gifted me a countertop magnetized knife block and I'm not going to downplay it, I was so excited. I can be a total cooking geek for the right gadgets. I use most of my knife sets every day, and it's a pain in the arse to open…
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Dinner Rolls

I love bread. Really love bread. A fresh loaf of bread takes a ham & cheese or pb&j sandwich from blah to yum. Just by changing the bread from storebought to fresh. A freshly made sub loaf turns a sub sandwich into heaven on a plate.…
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Garden Mentor: Grow Right Guild #3 and #4

The GWG #3 prompt is to describe your garden right now and since it doesn't exist, and all that is in the area is mud and snow, I'm going to move on to #4: write about your garden mentor or muse. The earliest gardener influence I had was…
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Spaghetti Sauce

I think for every established cook, there's a "perfect" spaghetti sauce recipe... there's just so many online! This is a somewhat classic recipe, with some modernization (like the hot sauce), and my family's preferred tomato based pasta sauce.…
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Dream Garden - Grow Write Guild #2

What do you picture when you hear the question "what is your dream garden"? What does the area grow, vegetables, flowers, trees, bushes? Is it tame or wild? Today's GWG prompt is "Describe your fantasy garden". If you'd asked me this 20,…
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Peanut Butter Oatmeal Snack Bars

In an effort I haven't tried in over a decade, I'm trying to get back to making almost everything we eat from scratch. The last 10 years have been a whirlwind and it's only now that we have our very own castle that I'm starting to feel grounded.…
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My First Plant - Grow Write Guild #1

Hard truth about me: I tend to be late to the party. I don't mean I'm 10 minutes late to doctor appointments; I mean, I'll notice a thing - a trend, a new product, some thing that is neat - but my mind isn't in a place that is receptive at that…
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Lessons in Yeast and Substitutions in a Recipe

We recently ran frighteningly low on honey, and my brain being, well, it's usual scatter-brained brain, forgot to buy more on the last two trips to Grande Prairie. It was on the list; I did go down that aisle. Maybe something shiny distracted…
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Homemade Tortillas

Homemade Tortillas Ditch stale, expensive store bought tortillas! A helper makes these quick and easy to make. 6 cups flour (all purpose white)2 tsp salt2 tsp baking powder⅔ cup olive oil2 cups warm water (100-105°) Combine…
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Snow = Lotion

I'm on a quest lately, to make peanut butter snack bars my boys will like more than store bought ones. Because, you know, they're expensive and why pay extra for all that crap they put in factory food? So that was this morning, making the…
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Chickens in 2020

2005 was the last time we had chickens, eek! My middle son was a year old, and my youngest hadn't been born. He's never held a chick before. *hangs head* I failed as a parent. 2020 will remedy that, finally. At least they're past the…