One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1515 of 2143 - I am your typical housewife living in high maintenance suburbia. I have a handsome husband, 2 kids and a flock of pet chickens. I try and feed my family with $100 a month. With the help of coupons, gardening and bartering I am able to squeeze the most out of our grocery budget and still manage to have a little fun along the way.

Pallet Gardening – An Abundance of Strawberries!

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By Mavis Butterfield on July 25, 2013 · 9 Comments

Last night after I watered the pallet garden I snapped a few pictures so you could see how it’s coming along. To be honest, I think I get more bang for my buck with the pallet garden in the spring and fall.

Using the pallets to grow cool weather crops like lettuce is not only a space saver but it looks better too. And you know when your’e a gardener living in suburbia, you gotta have that cool factor. 😉

I’m not sure what happened, but the strawberries are growing like crazy all the sudden.

This is just one strawberry plant and as you can see it’s loaded.

I ended up picking a little more than a half quart of juicy berries. They may not look as good as the ones they sell in the grocery stores, but let me tell you Bob, they taste a heck of a lot sweeter.

After a little pruning, the celery is starting to come back to life. This won’t be picked until fall anyway so it still has plenty of time to grow.

And the Swiss chard I transplanted from the greenhouse last month is looking good as well.

And last but not least, the green beans! I should be picking them by this time next week!

Yee-Haw, backyard gardening is cool.

How about YOU? Have you ever tried growing anything in a wood pallet before?

~Mavis

Want to learn more about wood pallet gardening and how I put mine together? Click on the pallets above and it will take you to my first pallet garden post of the year. You’ll also learn what to look for when choosing a pallet.

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Grilled Plum Salad

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By Mavis Butterfield on July 24, 2013 · 2 Comments

Got plums? The Girl and I picked up some plums today at a local roadside stand. Luckily by the time we got home there were still four left in the bag so we could make this grilled plum salad.

If you have never tried grilled plums before, you are in for a real treat. This salad is not only easy peasy to make, but it’s good for you too!

Ingredients

1 tablespoon canola oil
4 medium black plums, halved and pitted
2 large limes, zested {reserve juice for dressing}
1 head radicchio, sliced
1 head butter lettuce, sliced
8 oz. jicama, sliced thin
2 serrano chilies, sliced thin

Lime Vinaigrette

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons agave syrup
2 large limes, juiced
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Oil the grates of your stove top or outdoor grill and preheat for 5 minutes on high. Sprinkle plums with a little salt and pepper and place cut side down on hot grill leave in place for a minute or two until your have some nice grill marks and then set aside.

Toss the radicchio, butter lettuce, lime zest, chilies and jicama in a large bowl and set aside. Meanwhile in a small bowl, whisk together all the lime vinaigrette ingredients.

Pour dressing over salad mixture and toss until coated, add grilled plums to the top and serve.

Looking for more delicious salad recipes? Check out 132+ Delicious Salads, Dressings And Dips by Gabrielle Raiz, it has crazy good reviews.

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Sunset Magazine Headquarters Menlo Park, CA

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By Mavis Butterfield on July 24, 2013 · 6 Comments

A few weeks ago my online boyfriend Ryan and my buddy Harriet and I went to San Francisco to tour a bunch of gardens. One of the many stops we made was to the Sunset Magazine headquarters in Menlo Park, California.

I guess I never really though about how garden magazines get their photos. I always assumed they had a team of photographers that toured all over the place snapping pictures in other peoples gardens. It never occurred to me that Sunset Magazine {or any magazine for that matter} would have their own garden.

Seriously. Not only did they have all sorts of plants, flowers and trees growing at the Sunset Magazine headquarters, but they had fruits and vegetables growing too!. How cool is that?

But if you think you can pick the fruits and vegetables they’ve got growing while on tour, you’d be wrong.

The need them all ripe and juicy so they can take pictures for the magazine. 🙁

Nerd Alert. This is Ryan, pointing out Gammagrass. If you have never gone on a garden tour with a plant geek before, brace yourself. It’s like taking a kid to a candy store.

I mean I like flowers and everything, but I certainly don’t go around calling them by their botanical name. {Okay, so maybe I don’t know their botanical name, but still}.

Hollyhocks! I love these. More brides should use them in their bridal bouquets.

And check out this rusty panel. It’s perfect for cucumbers {or other vining plants} to grow on. Note to self: Find some for next years garden.

And look at this picture perfect head of lettuce growing in a planter. Now why didn’t I think of that? Don’t you think it would make a great hostess gift?

Yep, Sunset Magazine headquarters in Menlo Park, California was an awesome place to visit.

Even if you don’t get to eat the berries.

How about YOU? Have you been anywhere cool lately?

~Mavis

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How to Peel Tomatoes

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By Mavis Butterfield on July 24, 2013 · 7 Comments

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s how to peel a tomato quickly. After all, when you grow boatloads of food in your backyard every summer, you tend to pick up a few tricks along the way.

How to Peel a Tomato.

Step 1 – Wash your tomatoes. If you bought your tomatoes at the store {Gasp!} then be sure and remove any pesky little stickers as well.

Step 2 – Bring a large pot of water to a boil

Step 3 – While you are waiting for the water to boil, score the bottom of your tomato {I cut the skin with a little x on the bottom of each tomato}

Step 4 – Prepare a large bowl of ice water and set it aside {I always put mine in the sink}

Step 5 – Once the water is boiling, with a slotted spoon, carefully place about 3 or 4 tomatoes in boiling water for about 30 seconds {or until the peel splits.

Step 6 – Once the peel on the tomato has split, using the slotted spoon carefully remove the tomato and place it in the bowl of ice water.

Step 7 – Let the tomatoes sit in the ice water for a few minutes to cool down, then core and peel the tomatoes.

That’s it. Wasn’t that easy? Now you know how to peel a tomato. 🙂

Heirloom Salsa, it rocks! {You can use store bought tomatoes too } 😉

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.