Make your own Hummingbird Nectar

See my little hummingbird on the feeder enjoying my homemade nectar....

If you’re like me, you love the hummingbirds to visit your yard. I love to to see them fluttering around my feeders. I used to always buy the red food and would constantly run out. Well, buy the red stuff no longer! You can make the food yourself at home and it’s super simple.....and cheap. The food doesn’t have to be red either. If it’s in a hummingbird feeder, which usually has red decorations, they will come. Trust me! Here’s how you make it:

4 cups of water

1 cup of sugar

 

 

Bring the water to a boil. Remove from heat, add sugar and stir until dissolved. Cool and fill the feeders. It’s that easy!

You can store the excess in the fridge for later use. It is important to the health of the birds to keep hummingbird feeders clean and the nectar fresh. It is recommended that you clean the feeders every few days and fill with fresh nectar. You may use a 10% bleach solution if you rinse well.

Now you can have hummingbird nectar available any time you need it.

See the hummingbird in the air to the right of the feeder? So cute.

Microwave Fresh Corn = No Silks! No Kidding!

Yes, it’s true. Microwaving corn can remove the silks for you! Sounds crazy, but it’s true. My dad just read about this tip and shared it with me and I’ll never cook fresh corn on the cobb the same way. It will change your life! So here’s your tip of the day......

Take a fresh ear of corn and do nothing to it. I mean it, don’t shuck it, don’t cut off the end, don’t pull the strange hair off of the end, just place the entire ear (husks and all) into the microwave. Microwave at least 4 minutes per ear of corn. I found that less is not enough, but 4 per ear is perfect. You might like yours softer, so add another minute or so if you’d like.

When the ears have cooked, remove from microwave and cut off about an inch from the bottom.

Start squeezing the ear from of the top so it slides through the opening and you will find the cleanest, prettiest, best tasting ear of corn you’ve ever eaten! How cool is that?? I was a bit skeptical when my dad first told me about it, but I tried it and now I’m hooked! My husband says he’s going to buy a bushel of corn this weekend! Well, he might be overstating just a bit. Maybe we’ll buy a few more ears and cook it this way again.

So easy! Try it and let me know if you like it.

Freeze your own blueberries

Hi Everyone, Happy Monday! Today is my first day on my new job (yippee!) so I'll give you a simple tip that I thought was really cool. Don't worry, more awesome recipes coming, but I thought you'd like some tips too.

It's so easy to freeze your own blueberries and other fruit so you can stock up when you can get it on sale. Who knew?? I'm sure I can't be the only one out there who never discovered the art of freezing berries so I wanted to share. It's wonderful having fresh blueberries to bake with all year long. I know it seems simple, but I just wanted to post this tip that I found helpful.

Line a cookie sheet with wax paper (this makes it easy to pick them up), sprinkle the blueberries on top and place in the freezer for a couple of hours or overnight. Remove the baking sheet and place berries in a freezer bag.  If you used wax paper, you can pull up the paper and just pour them all in a baggie. Placing them on a baking sheet first keeps them from freezing in clumps. This is the perfect freezing method. I've done the same with strawberries .....just clean and cut off stem first.

I do this for all of our fruit for smoothies. So easy and helpful! Happy freezing!