Make Your Own Kitchen Herb Garden

April 30, 2013 By 7 Comments

Kitchen Herb Garden

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Miracle-Gro for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Since moving to Minneapolis, we have had to get a little creative when it came to gardening. We literally JUST got spring weather and it’s almost May!

Kitchen Herb Garden

One thing my family has always enjoyed was fresh herbs. Luckily, even though its cold outside, our kitchen gets amazing light for most of the day. I figured this would be a great time to make my own kitchen herb garden! It’s one of those fun garden projects that you can bring indoors and have fresh herbs all year round!

To make sure that your herbs get the nutrients they need, I highly recomment a good Miracle-Gro product. You want to make sure that it’s one that is for use with foods you eat. That way you don’t get yuckies in there that weren’t meant for your family to consume.

Here’s what you need to make your own kitchen herb garden.

  • Box for your garden (I used a old orange box I picked up at an estate sale for $1)
  • Burlap (make sure the burlap is a finer knit one so dirt won’t get out)
  • Moisture Control Potting Mix or Miracle-Gro Organic Potting Mix ( I used the organic potting mix for my herbs)
  • Thyme, Rosemary, and Parsley (my favorites for an Italian herb garden)
  • Hot Glue and Hot Glue Gun
  • Twine
  • Paper
  • Popsicle sticks

Kitchen Herb Garden

First make sure that your container is clean! Then you want to take your burlap and cut it to the shape of your container. Start larger and then trim it later in the process.

Place your dirt in the box, hold your burlap in place while doing it. Trim any extremely excessive sides of burlap.

When a hot glue gun, tack the burlap around the edges of the boxes to make it secure. Once it’s secure trim the edges so it is straight around your container and forms a neat edge.

Kitchen Herb Garden

Hot glue the twine around the outside of the box, over top of the burlap for a decorative touch.

Place your plants in the dirt, and cover with more dirt.

To help identify your herbs, print out these great free printable herb markers. (Basil, Mint, Thyme, Rosemary, Parsley,and Oregano) Tape or glue to popsicle sticks and place in the dirt!

Now just place your indoor kitchen herb garden in your sunny window and watch them grow! And don’t forget the water ;)

Kitchen Herb Garden

Extra tips (great ideas Mary ;) ) if you don’t want the dirt to touch the burlap you can line the inside with a plastic liner. Just make sure that you look for a BPA free plastic.

Want some inspiration for some other garden projects? Make sure to learn more about The Gro Project from Miracle-Gro, and pick up some great tips The Gro Project video here!

Make sure you check out the Miracle-Gro Pinterest page to get even more great ideas, and forum like atmosphere, for gardening tips and inpsiration

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Homemade Cleaners: Kiss Stinky Toilets Goodbye, Well Not Literally

March 20, 2013 By 3 Comments
Homemade Cleaners

 

Homemade Cleaners

 

Disclaimer: This horridly dirty toilet was used for demonstrative purposes only of our homemade cleaners. Such filth is not permitted in the Casa de Crunchy.  No toilets were  harmed during the making of this post.

Did you know that commercial toilet cleaners are among the MOST toxic cleaners for our planet? I didn’t know that until recently. The toilet bowl is one place that HAS to be sparkly clean at all times. (That’s why letting my toilet get dirty for this post about killed me.) Clorox used to be my friend. That fresh scent dancing out of the bowl meant that the germs were kept at bay. Naive to the fact that those chemicals were really harsh to the water, I used to enjoy that floral smell! Yikes!

Our water treatment in my city stinks. Our sewer overflow actually enters into our local rivers. It’s so bad that we can’t even use the rivers anymore because they are filled with E Coli. YUCK!

So Crunchy the Green Crusader arrived to save the day. (Yep, talking about myself in the third person now) This cleaner is not only fabulous, but it’s also fun. Yep, you read that right! Fun!

Plus, as an added bonus, this recipe is amazingly frugal. It costs less than 50 cents to make this cleaner. Most “green” cleaners cost over $7 a bottle! Now onto the recipe!

 DIY Tea Tree Toilet Cleaner

  • 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar
  • 1/2 cup baking soda
  • 6 drops Tea Tree essential oil

Directions

Take 1/4 cup of white vinegar and pour it in the bowl. Let sit for approximately 10 minutes.

Then add 1/4 cup baking soda to the bowl, and watch that baby fizz. (No there will be no geyser and the toilet will not explode) After about five minutes flush it down.

Add the rest of the white vinegar and baking soda to the toilet. Then add the dropper of Tea Tree essential oil.

As it is fizzing, clean the bowl with the toilet brush.

Green Toilet Cleaner

Once it’s clean, flush it all down and you have a fabulously sparkly toilet! Doesn’t that look so much better!

Have your own DIY bathroom cleaners? What’s your go to recipe?

Green Toilet Cleaner

Filed Under: DIY, Green Living Tagged With: ,

DIY Vases and Home Decor with Unilever #BetterTogether #Cbias

December 13, 2012 By 9 Comments
Upcycled Crafts

I am really a sucker for brands that I can stand behind 110%. Unilever is one of those brands. My family not only LOVES their products, like their Bertolli Alfredo sauce, but we love their mission to make small changes that make their company more eco friendly.

Upcycled Crafts

My family is all about small lifetstyle changes that help the environment. Being a super busy mom and wife, frankly I don’t have time to be religious about living green. (I know you are in shock). One of the reason I write Crunchy Frugalista is to show people how small, manageable changes can make a huge impact towards living a greener lifestyle.

One of my aboslute favorite ways to do this is to repurpose and upcycle objects to serve another purpose. You guys have already seen how I repurposed cereal boxes to make magazine holders. I am also working on repurposing a shoe box and materials I already have into a ribbon dispenser and holder. (Trust me, you are going to want to see that project).

Upcycled Crafts

My latest project is to upcycle Bertolli Alfedo jars into homemade vases and home decor! This project is really easy to do, and once you are done no one will even be able to tell what it used to be. It will look like you spent tons of money!

Before I share the project, I want to share the awesome recipe that helped empty those Bertolli jars! Bertolli Alfredo is one of my favorite quick tricks to a quick and easy meal. This week my family and I enjoyed Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo with roasted red peppers and seared asparagus. It was absolutely amazing. It was so delicious my family gobbled it up before I could even snag pictures! (Lucky for you I remember how I made it!)

Print
Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo with Roasted Red Peppers and Seared Asparagus Tips

Ingredients

  • 2 Jars of Bertolli Alfredo Sauce
  • 1 box whole wheat pasta
  • 1 pound of chicken breasts, cut into strips
  • 1 red pepper, seeds removed and diced
  • 1 bunch asparagus, ends removed
  • olive oil
  • Italian seasoning (to taste)
  • salt (to taste)

Instructions

  1. Fill a large stock pot with water, and boil. Add pasta and cook per box directions.
  2. In a large sautee pan, put 1 tsp olive oil. Place chicken and brown. Add Italian seasoning to taste. Set aside once cooked through
  3. In a small sautee pan, place diced red pepper and 1 tsp of olive oil. Sautee until peppers are tender
  4. Place the oven on broil.
  5. On a cooking sheet, place asparagus. Drizzle with olive oil and sea salt. Broil for 5-10 minutes until tender. Then remove and cut into bite sized pieces.
  6. In a smaller pot pour two jars of Bertolli sauce, combine red peppers, chicken, and asparagus. Cook on low until thoroughly heated.
  7. The final step is combining the pasta and sauce. Once combined served in a bowl with herbed focaccia bread.
  8. Enjoy!

Now that the jars are empty and your tummy is full. Here is a great way to repurpose those Bertolli jar.

Supplies

  • 2 Bertolli Jars cleaned, dried, with labels removed
  • Spray primer
  • Hot Glue and Hot Glue Gun
  • Twine
  • Metallic Spray Paint

Directions

Take both of your jars and make sure they are clean and dry.
DIY Crafts
Take your first jar and spray paint it with spray primer. Allow it to dry.

DIY and Upcycled Crafts
Grab your twine and glue gun. Glue the twin around the jar until completely covered. You can either cut it into individual strips or let it swirl all the way to the top. Allow to dry.
With the second jar, take your glue gun and write a word on either side of the jar. I used the word “hope.”
Allow the glue to harden. Once it’s hard, spray paint with the metallic spray. If you are feeling extra creative embellish the top with ribbon or other decorations to cover the jar threads.

Want to learn more about Unilever’s sustainability actions? Make sure to visit their website: Making Life Better where they help Cross off Hunger!

You can also get tips from Unilever on changes you can make to help sustain our planet: http://www.unilever.com/sustainable-living/uslp/.

Check out my Unilever Shopping Trip in my Google Plus Album, and see all the Unilever Goodies we stocked up on!

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Unilever  #CBias #SocialFabric

Filed Under: Crafts, DIY Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Wear Pink and Be a Drill Wielding Diva!

October 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Skil Handheld Power dril

Skil Handheld Power drilI am in love with all the DIY projects that I have been doing lately. One thing I haven’t yet confused to is my love of power tools. The more unique the gadget the more I have to have it.

A lot of my projects lately have really odd angles. It’s a pain in the butt to try and tighten screws with a straight screw driver. That’s why I was giddy when I heard about the new pink SKIL iXO Palm-sized screwdriver kit.

Ok, so pink is about my LEAST favorite color on the planet, but this electric screwdriver is awesome. Plus, it supports and amazing cause.

Skil has joined together with the Susan B Koman foundation. For each of their pink screwdrivers that they sell they are making donations to support breast cancer research.

This great screwdriver comes with 5 separate drivers, an adjustable angled attachment, power cord, and it’s own carrying Skil Screwdrivercase! The battery on this handy little screwdriver can hold a charge up to 18 months.

As if all those features weren’t good enough, 10% of every sale will be donated to the Susan G Komen breast cancer foundation. They are making donations for all purchases betwee Aug 1 – December 31st up to $100,000. Think of all the lives that can be helped for such a great donation like this!

What would be the first project you would use your SKIL iXO Palm-Sized Screwdriver kit? Would you finish a new DIY project,or just use it to fix every day household problems?

To learn more about Skil make sure to follow them:

www.SKILiXO.com

www.facebook.com/skil and

www.twitter.com/skiltools

 

I did receive a free product to facilitate my review, but all opinions are my own.

Filed Under: DIY, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

DIY Coat Rack

July 5, 2012 By 11 Comments
DIY Coat Rack
DIY Coat Rack

Now everything looks more organized!

Tired of hanging those purses and keys all over the place. So is my husband. No, he doesn’t carry a purse. He’s tired of me tossing those things all over the place! I guess it motivated him enough to finally make me a coat rack by the door where I can hang all those things instead of tossing them all over the house.

The best part about my new rack is that it was extremely frugal to make! Normally, a hook system like this would cost over $20 at big box stores like Target or Walmart. This whole project cost us around $8!

To complete this really simple DIY project, we headed to our local home improvement store. Most of these stores have scrap piles of wood that you can search through. They are usually miscuts or left overs that someone didn’t want. You can find anything from cherry to pine to maple. It’s not just pressure treated wood. We found this fabulous piece for only 15 cents! We didn’t even need to cut it.

DIY Coat Rack

After we found the wood we wanted, we went to pick out some hooks. These hooks were about $1.50 each. You can pick less expensive ones or even fancier ones if you are looking for something more decorative.

We already had the stain at the house from previous projects, so we didn’t spend anything there. To get this all finished, we just added two coats of stain. Once it was dry we made sure to evenly space the hooks, and then secured it to our wall.

It adds such a great touch to our front foyer, and now I have a place to stick my purse so I am not constantly looking for it. That makes Mr. Crunchy very happy!

Filed Under: DIY Tagged With: