Super Hack for Drying Herbs & Plant Medicines

My hack using veggie bags for drying out herbs and plant medicines.

Plant Medicines

Lately I have been harvesting many of what I call my ‘plant medicines’. I am drying out things like Birch Leaves, Rosehips, Raspberry Leaves and more! I will use these for teas in the winter. I like to see myself as a person who is healing on the shores of Lake Superior with all the medicines at my fingertips. 🙂

Yesterday I harvested my Cannabis Plant that has been growing since I received it on Mother’s Day. After harvesting the plant, we decided to dry out the leaves as well to use in teas or smoothies. I am always of the opinion that when something has nutritional or healing properties, why not use it all and in anyway you can?

Anyhow, we hung the branches in a closet and then put the leaves in these handy dandy bags that you buy for vegetables when using recyclable bags. They work perfectly because they breathe and they have little strings to hang!

You can use these for anything and I will be using them for more things I harvest. And it turns out that I don’t often use these for veggies anyways, so it is great to repurpose them! 🙂

I hope that you have found this helpful and that you also take advantage of any of nature’s medicines that surround you. 🙂

maggie’s lake superior pictures to bring joy to the soul and please the eye

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Never Ever Throw This Ingredient Out!

Today I will share with you one of my favorite hacks to boost nutrient content in your cooking and to have a source of stock for things like soups, gravies, stews, and more.

I like to steam my veggies in a steamer pot.

Broccoli in my steamer pan

So yesterday I steamed up some green beans for dinner and then after dinner I boiled some sweet potatoes for one of my favorite brownie recipes that has avocado and sweet potatoes in it.

What is left after steaming and boiling your veggies is nutrient dense water! I save that water and use it in my cooking and I will give you an example from today.

My leftover water from steaming my beans and boiling my sweet potatoes.

I saved my water from steaming my beans last night and from boiling my sweet potatoes and mixed them together to store in jars in the refrigerator for future use. This stock can be used in anything…. even smoothies!

Today is Sunday and at our house on Sundays we do a breakfasty brunch and I like to put potatoes on a sheet pan with some spices and roast them in the oven. So today I soaked them in some of this stock with some spices and it added a whole new dimension to them! And of course after soaking I am adding that stock to the batch too! Potatoes are full of so many nutrients and I don’t want to toss that water either!

The water left from soaking my breakfast potatoes in my water from my beans and sweet potatoes.

Potatoes soaking in the veggie water… I let the soak for about 20 minutes and tossed every once in awhile.

My nutrient dense roasted potatoes.

So there you have it. Always keep your veggie water from steaming or boiling and then get creative as to what you can use it for. It is especially perfect for soup stocks!

I hope you enJOYed today’s hack and I encourage you to get creative in your kitchen too!

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Great Banana Hack!!!!

Hey Everyone!

I was making up a batch of my 5 Minute Versatile Cookies and thought I would share with you my banana hack!

Here is a video to show you what I mean:

I have had these bananas for quite a while… I think going on two weeks and they are perfect. I actually wished they were just a little riper because they would mash much easier when I make the cookies. 🙂

Anyhow, if anyone knows why this works, please share!

Have a great day! I have to go and take amazing cookies out of the oven now! They smell amazing.

Maggie’s recipe for 5 minute versatile cookies

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No Paper Towels? No problem!

Lately I been having trouble getting paper towels. First it was toilet paper and now paper towels. Go figure.

Anyhoo, the cool thing is that I came up with a creative solution and it ties in with one of my favorite topics which is thrift store shopping and my love of fresh air!

Here was one of my thrift store scores from a while back:

A pretty flannel sheet with roses on it

This was a king sized flat panel flannel sheet that I picked up at the thrift store for like $2 or something like that.

More than a sheet!

But this sheet is more than a sheet. I have used it for a cover at the lake house for my futon that I had on the deck this summer and it tied in with my ‘shabby chic’ theme. It ended up getting a hole in it but who cares? It was 2 bucks!

Now it has more wonderful uses:

My pretty sheet cut up into various sizes of towels or rags

I cut the entire sheet up in to various sizes of towels or rags, or call them what you will. These are now, rags for around the house, used in drying my fruits and veggies, and now also paper towels substitutes!

My cut up flannel towels on the paper towel rack.

The best part about using these is that I wash them and then dry them on the clothes line and the smell is oh so amazing. So I love using them for that reason too. Not to mention how pretty they are.

I will be on the hunt for more flannel sheets to add to my collection and then we can all have our own color in our household too…. 🙂

I love recycling, reusing, repurposing and helping charities and the environment. What’s not to love about all of those things?

Have a great day everyone and if you want to see some of my favorite thrift store treasures that I have found here is the link:

link to maggie’s thrift finds being updated all the time and catching up from the past … it’s an ongoing journey 🙂

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Soup Hacks

Where I live in Canada today it is really cold. This was just posted 4 minutes ago:

It is currently -23 C where I live and much colder with the wind chill factor

Anyhow, it is a great time for enJOYing hot and nourishing soup. Yesterday I made a delicious pot of soup along with some other goodies like a small meatloaf (something I rarely make), a Cajun Rice & Chicken dish, and my soup. I had 3 of my favorite pots on the go: 🙂 Two cooked in the oven with the chicken and meatloaf and the other stove top for the soup. Oh and also in the pic is small stainless steel pot which boiled a small batch of potatoes.

3 of my red cast iron pots. I have more too lol in different colors. I use these pots often and I have a couple of locations where I spend my time so they are spread out over 3 kitchens 🙂

Today I thought I would share a couple of hacks for soup. I rarely, if ever, follow a recipe to make soup. It is usually create as I go and use what I have, which involves finishing up other food items.

Best Kept Banana Secret!

Banana Hack! Banana Hack!

Here is a banana hack you will want to know if you don’t already. So many people spend copious amounts of time prepping and freezing their bananas. Some people peel and chop them and put them into plastic ziploc type bags, others mash them and freeze them and I am sure there are numerous others ways.

But the easiest of easiest ways is fast, convenient and enviro friendly.

Just throw your ripe bananas (or not ripe) in your freezer. That’s it. When you are ready to use them, take them out of the freezer and allow to thaw for a bit and you are good to go. I usually pop mine in the microwave for about 30 seconds and then peel them and they are perfect.

They do not lose their color or flavor this way at all and the air does not get to them. I love bananas for having their own jacket or container… fast food to go … or pop in the freezer as they are.

I use frozen bananas in countless ways… in muffin recipes… banana bread… smoothies…. chopped fruit concoctions that I make on the stove so that they are warm and gooey… example: The banana you see in this picture was used today in a pan on the stove with blueberries and chopped cantaloupe cooked slowly till it was warm and delicious. Total nutrition there. My husband just popped home mid afternoon and had some for a snack and my daughter finished off what was left after school….. kid friendly to boot!

The perfect frozen banana to use in whatever recipe

With most of us trying to eat healthier any hack helps. I hope you enJOYed this one today. 🙂

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