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  • Lisa's Gardens
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Carved Pumpkin Use

10/31/2017

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It’s here! Tonight we get to go trick-or-treating!  I’m so hyper about it that I can barely control myself.  Even our jack-o-lanterns are ready for the night’s festivities!  
 
Today’s tip is really for tomorrow morning. 

After all the Halloween fun is over, too many people just toss their friendly carved pumpkins into the trash!

DON’T DO IT!

Instead, bury the carved guy in the garden or toss it into a compost heap! The pumpkin will decay quickly and help liven up your dirt or compost with lots of yummy things! 
 
And whatever you do, don’t put it in the attic and save it for next Halloween!


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Parsley Bits

10/26/2017

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Parsley is a member of the carrot, parsnip and celery family. It is often used fresh as a garnish because it looks great, and doesn't really compete with the taste of anything.  That’s probably why it’s usually left on the side of the plate. For as long as I can remember, I have always taken a bite of parsley on the plate before anything else.  I love LOVE LOVE parsley!
 
Some people think it tastes “grassy” but then I don’t eat fresh cut grass so I don’t really know. 
Now I live in Southern CA so I can have parsley year round. If you can’t grow it outside, this is an herb that is fairly easy to keep alive indoors.  You may want to have it not only as a garnish but as the main ingredient to a quick white sauce that kids love!(CLICK HERE FOR PARSLEY SAUCE RECIPE)
 
Three other ways to always have parsley on hand are:
  1.  Buy it dried in a jar.
  2. Freeze it for winter use. It’s easy. Check out my video here!
  3. Herbs in tubes! (I think that just sounds silly and is fun to say, but you can buy them and they taste pretty good!)
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My parsley sauce is perfect for everything from pasta, to chicken. Check out this recipe (and more) over at my Recipe for Fun Page!
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Tons of pumpkin fun

10/26/2017

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5 more days! Yes, the countdown to Halloween has begun! I’m really excited because I love seeing so many pumpkins everywhere.  My friends at the Dallas Arboretum had a great idea for all of their pumpkins.  They made pumpkin houses, pumpkin landscapes and a huge pumpkin village out of them.

It took more than 40,000 pumpkins to create these gardens bursting with fall colors.  That’s a lot of pumpkins.  I don’t have that many pumpkins but even with a couple we can have tons of fun! 

Most of us only get one or two pumpkins to play with and that’s totally awesome. Before you carve up your pumpkin, take a few minutes to play with them.  What do they feel like?  How big are they compared to things on your body, like your eyes or head?
 
After finding pumpkins as big as our heads and eyes, we decided to have a pumpkin race!! Now don’t do it like my son did when he was two. He thought the pumpkin was like a turtle and put it on a start line and starting cheering! It was quite adorable how he took my pumpkin race so literally.  ​
​What we really do is create pumpkin obstacle courses. Use small pumpkins like orange sports cones and zig-zag in and out of them.  You’ll be surprised how much the kids get into it.  Let them create a course for you too.  We often play so hard that we never get to even carving our pumpkins.  We wind up doing that the next day!  (Last Halloween we actually carved our pumpkins the day after! I guess when I saw I’m flexible when it comes to playing it’s true!)​
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Black Garden Spiders Craft

10/25/2017

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Halloween is almost here and all the decorations to greet trick-or-treaters are taking over front porches, windows and garages.  We wanted to add a little décor to our garden so when I saw these dried flower pods in the garden I shrieked with excitement.  I probably was way overdue on pruning but always love when a negative turns into a positive.

These brown pods look like furry little spiders to me.  You can watch the video here to see how easy they are to make.
All that’s needed:
  • Dried flower pods from the garden or a nature walk
  • Black spray paint
  • Black pipe cleaners or other thin black wire to make legs
  • Googly eyes
  • ​Glue
Directions:
  • Spray seed pods with black spray paint and set aside to dry. 
  • ​Cut the pipe cleaners for the legs (4 per spider), twist them around the stem and shape. 
  • ​Add the googly eyes using white glue and allow to dry. 
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Sweet Cinnkin Seeds

10/24/2017

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A twist we have always done when roasting our pumpkin seeds is give them a sweet taste rather than the traditional salty flavor.  I remember my dad making these for me when I was little and I always loved that they tasted like honey-roasted peanuts but they were the pumpkin seeds from my jack-o-latern!​
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INGREDIENTS:
- approx. 2 cups pumpkin seeds, rinsed and dried
- 1/4 melted butter
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons of white sugar

DIRECTIONS:
Prep = 10 minutes
Cook = 1 hour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1.  Mix together seeds, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt.  Be sure to cover all the seeds with the mixture.
2..  Spread the seeds out in a single layer on a non-stick cooking sheet.  
3.  Bake for 30 minutes.
4.  Remove from oven and sprinkle white sugar evenly over seeds and return to oven.
5. Back for about 15 more minutes.
6.  Cool seeds before snaking! Enjoy!

​
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