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The world is doing its part to keep each other safe by social distancing and staying home to stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. With more time at home than ever, we are spending more time in the kitchen and cooking for ourselves. I don't know about you, but I absolutely love to cook and have not eaten a meal that I have not cooked in the last few months! Disclaimer: My posts may contain affiliate links to products/services I recommend. I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you if you purchase from these links. The key for me to stay excited about cooking and planning meals is to mix in weekly some easy staples that I can make in my sleep and some new exciting recipes that keep our palettes from getting burned out. When I make a new or daunting recipe, I plan a cocktail that will go with it, get my husband in the kitchen, turn on some music and sip while I cook so it's a fun family activity! Most of my meal planning is centered around keeping dinners interesting and having quick and easy breakfasts and lunches while we are working from home. This guide is meant as inspiration to keep your dinners fun and exciting, so remember to make adjustments based on what you and your family love eating and what is easy or fun for you to make. I like to assign cuisines for some days so that I know we are getting a mix of flavors throughout the week. We love Asian and Indian cuisine and can never get enough Mexican food so we usually have each of those at least twice a week (date night almost always ends up being Mexican :)) I also mix up the protein throughout the week so that we are not always eating chicken and pork. I love paneer, fish, and tofu, but have to use these sparingly for my husband's sake. To me, pretty much all veggies go with anything and make any dish better. I shop for what's in season locally and work those veggies into all my dishes. DINNER IDEAS I plan for at least 2 or 3 different weekly menus so we do not get tired of the rotation. Here are some ideas to start meal planning: Grill / Smoke - Burgers (mix this up with beef, turkey or bison burgers) - Ribs & Caesar Salad - Smoked Pork Butt Carnitas with Guacamole - Sausage, Peppers and Onion Skewers Indian / Asian - Tikka Masala from The Defined Dish (I usually sub paneer for chicken in this recipe - just throw in cubes at the end to warm it through) - Simple Thai Curry - Fried Rice (this is a great meal to use up any veggies that are getting close to past their prime) - Miso Ramen from Half Baked Harvest Meat, Veggie & Potatoes (I just choose whatever veggies are in season) - Sous Vide Steak - Fried Pork Chops - Baked Buffalo Chicken - Pan-seared fish Mexican - Fajitas - Flautas - Chile Rellenos - Mexican Stuffed Peppers Italian - Pizza Night (try my Sourdough Discard Flatbread Recipe!) - Risotto - Alfredo Pasta - Stuffed Pasta Crockpot - Gluten-Free Chili - Chicken & Sausage Gumbo - Chicken Tortilla Soup - Herb & Beef Stew from Half Baked Harvest What are some of you favorite dishes to make at home? Tell me in the comments.

A broody hen is essentially a hen that is sitting on her nest of eggs trying to hatch them. If you just have hens, and therefore no fertilized eggs, a broody hen can be problematic for your egg production and for your hen's health. When I went out one day to find Emmy Lou sitting in the nesting box all day and puffing up and growling at me, I got great advice from Fresh Eggs Daily on how the "break" her of her broodiness. Fresh Eggs Daily A broody hen can be a godsend if you are trying to hatch chicks.  No worries about incubators, brooder boxes or heat lamps...the hen will take care of it all. However, if none of your eggs are fertile, or you aren't interested in hatching any chicks, a broody hen is not something you want. How Do I Know if I Have a  Broody Hen? Once you have had one broody hen, you will immediately recognize when the next one goes broody. The signs are pretty unmistakable. Your first clue that a hen might be broody will likely be that every time you go to collect eggs, she is sitting on the nest. Your second clue will be when she puffs up and growls at you.  She will also make a deep, throaty cluck cluck noise (that's the "voice" she will use to call her chicks incidentally). Some broodies will also peck at your hand when you try and take the eggs, so a pair of gloves is helpful. Read more to learn how to break a broody hen. What is your favorite breed for egg laying? Tell me in the comments.

This sourdough flatbread is quick and simple and uses unfed sourdough/discard. I created this recipe when I was making my sourdough starter and had a ton of leftover discard from the week. Grab your pizza stone and favorite toppings and turn that discard into something delicious! Disclaimer: My posts may contain affiliate links to products/services I recommend. I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you if you purchase from these links. We are a big pizza family and when I discovered how easy it was to make this flatbread crust from sourdough discard, we had this flatbread 4 times that week... Get this crust started with only three ingredients -- sourdough starter unfed/discard, flour and baking powder. The rest of the ingredients are up to you! Choose your favorite pizza toppings or whatever fresh meat and produce you have on hand. We have a lush rosemary bush in the garden so I always add a generous amount of rosemary to the crust dough before baking. Other than any fresh or dried herbs I have on hand, I always add salt, pepper, and garlic powder to my dough before baking. Everything else gets added after the dough has baked 15 minutes on 400°F. Don't have a sourdough starter yet? Learn How to Make Sourdough Starter from Scratch. SOURDOUGH FLATBREAD Yields: 1 large flatbread crust (serves 2) Time: 20 min. Instructions: Preheat oven to 400°F Place pizza stone or large cast iron skillet in oven to preheat Mix starter, flour, and baking powder in large mixing bowl until combined. Mix in salt, pepper, garlic powder and any other fresh or dried herbs you have on hand Remove preheated stone from oven and coat with thin layer of olive oil Wet your finger tips and spread dough onto greased stone. (Wetting your fingertips will keep the dough from sticking to them). Spread the dough into a ¼ inch layer. Bake for 15 minutes or until air pockets have emerged and turned a golden brown. Remove from oven, brush with remaining olive oil and add desired toppings and broil on high for 2-5 minutes until cheese bubbles or toppings brown. Tip: After I add the toppings, I brush the edge of the crust with olive oil again and sprinkle with salt and garlic powder to make the crust extra tasty. TOPPING IDEAS Buffalo Chicken: thinly sliced chicken (cooked) tossed in buffalo sauce, sliced red onion, cheddar cheese, buffalo sauce drizzle Chicken Alfredo: alfredo sauce, thinly sliced chicken (cooked), mushrooms, parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes Margherita: fresh mozzarella slices, fresh tomatoes, fresh basil leaves Pepperoni & Jalapeno: tomato sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, sliced fresh jalapenos Balsamic Brussels: thinly sliced brussels sprouts, thinly sliced fresh garlic, parmesan cheese, balsamic glaze drizzle Garden: tomato sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese, all the fresh veggies from your garden or fridge sliced thin Looking for other recipes to use up some sourdough starter discard? Try these! King Arthur Flour: Buttery Sourdough Biscuits The Kitchn: Overnight Sourdough Pancakes The New York Times: 8 More Delicious Ways to Use Your Sourdough Discard What are your favorite pizza or flatbread toppings? Tell me in the comments.

Planning your garden can seem daunting, but as long as you are organized and plan so that nature can do its work, it is a pretty simple process. Disclaimer: My posts may contain affiliate links to products/services I recommend. I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you if you purchase from these links. When we moved in, there was already a beautiful garden full of raised beds in the back by the chicken coop. After some TLC of weeding and tilling, we were ready to get started on our garden. Which means planning out what to plant and where everything will be planted. As someone who has notoriously had a pretty brown thumb in the past, I felt I had a lot to learn but planning is my strong suit so here we go :) Determine Your Gardening Zone Where you live determines your gardening zone which determines when and what you can plant. Find you gardening zone here. Your gardening zone gives you your average first and last frost dates which effectively gives you your growing season. Now that you know your growing season and zone, you can find out what plants, fruits, herbs and flowers grow best in your zone. We live in Zone 8 and I love using the Old Farmer's Almanac website to see what plants grow well in my zone. Determine What You Want to Grow Now it is time to narrow down. Think about what veggies, herbs and fruits you and your family love to eat and compare those to the list of plants that grow well in your zone. For example, we use peppers and onions in nearly every meal so that definitely made our list. I bought all my veggies from Botanical Interests. Here are some other things to consider when choosing what you want to grow: Companion Plants - some plants go great along side each other to replenish soil nutrients, act as a natural insecticide, etc. Check out this list of companion plants to see what goes with your favorite veggies. Pollinator-Friendly Plants - tips to make your garden bee-friendly Natural Pest Controllers - Here is one list of plants that are natural pesticides. Determine How You Will Plant There are different ways to plant your garden including planting in rows and square foot gardening. I chose square foot gardening because I have a lot of raised beds to utilize. Here is a useful guide for plant spacing when planting a square foot vegetable garden. This will help you maximize the space you have. Plot Your Garden To plan your garden, you will need to plot out your garden space to scale. You will need paper (graph paper works well for easy scaling), a pencil, a ruler and a measuring tape. First, measure your garden space. I measured each raised bed and assigned each section a number. Make note of which beds get full or partial sun. Next, use your ruler and pencil to plot a to-scale drawing of your garden space on a piece of paper. TIP: Save this digitally so that you have your blank template each year when you come back to start planning. For square foot gardening, draw lighter lines in each bed to show how many square feet are in each bed. You can even use string and staples to mark the square feet in your garden if you wish. Make your list of plants you want to grow and group them by companion plants. I do this in an Airtable (or an excel sheet) with columns for all the info I'll need to know about each plant (sun needs, watering needs, soil pH preference, when to sow in my zone, how deep to plant seeds, how far apart to plant seeds, etc.) This spreadsheet doubles as my gardening journal during planting so I know exactly what variety I purchase, when I started seeds, planted and harvested. Next list how many of each plant you will want to plant. For square foot gardening, be sure to note the spacing for each plant for square foot gardening. Now that you have your list of plants and how many, you can determine how many square feet you will need. Before plotting what will go where, it is time to soil test. I ordered this DIY soil test kit from Amazon. Once you have notes on soil pH, Nitrogen, Potash, Phosphorus as well as any sunlight notes about each bed, you can determine which plants to place in each bed. Plot where you will plant your veggies, herbs, fruits and flowers! Save this as reference for harvesting and future years so you know what was planted where. Remember to do this planning yearly and switch which beds you plant in so that you are not planting the same crops in the same place year over year. Rotating beds deters pests and keeps the soil healthy! What are you planting this year? Tell me in the comments!

Making sourdough from scratch is pretty simple and super rewarding! I love taking care of my starter so I can have fresh bread for years to come. The Duvall Homestead helped me make my first starter and has graciously allowed me to include her "How to Make Sourdough Starter From Scratch" here. Already have a starter? Learn more about caring for your sourdough starter here. Guest Post: The Duvall Homestead Sourdough starter is a mixture of flour and water that has been fermented so it has active and alive cultures. Making your own bread products with sourdough starter means you’ll get all the health benefits of that active bacteria, which is great for gut health and just tastes amazing. Learn how to make sourdough starter and all my tips for maintaining those healthy cultures. SOURDOUGH IS FERMENTED GRAIN Making sourdough is the process of fermented the flour grain with flour and water over time. This process creates those healthy live cultures and allows the good bacteria to overcome the grain. When this happens, the phytic acid is striped away from the grain, which minimizes the gluten content. This is why many people prefer to eat sourdough or better yet keep their own starter, so they can enjoy bread products that taste better and are healthier for your too. Source We started making sourdough starter when we realized how easy it was, how much healthier it is for you, and how much better it tastes! This post may contain affiliate links. I’m sharing this recipe with my friend Shannon from Shannon Torrens Simple Living. She is posting her Simple Sourdough Pancakes recipe, so be sure to check that out while you’re making your starter! WHAT IS SOURDOUGH STARTER? Sourdough starter is made by mixing flour and water and letting it sit. This allows the creation of live cultures and good bacteria, which then feed off of the sugar in the gluten. As you continue to feed and take care of your starter, you will have a strong culture of bacteria that are strong enough to make bread rise. A sourdough starter can kept alive for years to come if given proper care. HOW IS SOURDOUGH STARTER HEALTHY FOR YOU? When you feed your starter with flour and water, the live cultures are feeding off the sugar in the gluten. As they do this, something called phytic acid is being reduced. This is the acid that exists on non-fermented grains that can make grain difficult to digest. This goes for all fermented foods like fermented milk kefir, soaked oats, sauerkraut, etc. HOW TO MAKE SOURDOUGH STARTER PROCESS While this process takes about a week, don’t let it scare you. You’re just adding more flour and water each day to feed the starter. Think of it like on day one you have a weak starter. On day two, the cultures are becoming stronger and more active. By day seven, you have what you call an “active” starter, which is considered strong enough now to make bread rise. WATCH: HOW TO MAKE SOURDOUGH STARTER TOOLS NEEDED Glass bowl (you could also use a large mason jar – just don’t use plastic) Wooden spoon Measuring cup Flour (high-quality all-purpose or whole wheat) Filtered Water Tea Towel SOURDOUGH STARTER TIMELINE: Day 1: Add 1 cup of flour and ¾ cup of filtered water to a glass bowl or mason jar. Stir with a wooden spoon. Cover with a tea towel and let sit on your countertop. Day 2: Discard half of the starter mixture. Then, add 1 cup of flour and ¾ cup of filtered water. Cover with a tea towel and let sit on your counter. Day 3: Discard half the starter, and again add 1 cup flour and ¾ – 1 cup water. Stir with a wooden spoon, cover and let sit. This time, repeat the discard and feed process twice per day (morning and night for example). You might feel like discarding the starter is wasteful and you will hate to do it. But it’s only for a week and you won’t be discarding anymore. If you really want to save the discard, you can use it for making sourdough pancakes or tortillas, because they don’t require a rise like bread. Just combine all the discard in a storable container in the fridge and pull it out when you want to make pancakes. Or try our family-favorite Sourdough Pizzelles! Day 4: Repeat the twice a day discarding and feeding. Cover with a tea towel and let sit. Make sure you are using filtered water! At this point you may start to see bubbles in the starter. If not, just keep going. Day 5: Repeat the twice a day discarding and feeding. Now you should start seeing a bigger, more bubbly starter. Day 6 and 7: repeat. Your starter should be ready by day 7. You know your starter is ready when it almost doubles in size after feeding it and is bubbly. If your starter isn’t at that point yet, don’t worry! Just continue the twice a day discarding and feeding. The temperature in your home, your water quality, and flour quality are all factors that contribute to how quickly your starter will become active. For some, it takes 12-14 days. Others it could take 5. Learn how to take care of your starter. Tell me about your sourdough starter process in the comments! (Include what you named it, because let's be honest, you definitely named your little counter pet).

There are few things I like more than a good margarita! I am not big on sugary drinks, so all my marg recipes have no-added sugar. Make these spicy cucumber margaritas on the rocks or blend it up for a fresh frozen. Disclaimer: My posts may contain affiliate links to products/services I recommend. I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you if you purchase from these links. If you ask me, tequila goes with everything, and for me, that most of the time means margaritas. ;) These margaritas are simple and fresh with a little kick. The fresh jalapeno and cucumbers really make this drink taste like summer to me. Because the flavors are pretty delicate, I do not normally salt or sugar the rim, but if that floats your boat -- go for it! Cheers! SPICY CUCUMBER MARGARITAS Yields: 2 drinks Time: 10 minutes Instructions: Muddle 2 cucumber slices and 2 jalapeno slices in the bottom of each glass Juice the limes Measure equal parts tequila, triple sec and lime juice into a shaker Fill shaker with ice and shake well Pour over ice in glass, stir and serve What are you celebrating with these spicy cucumber margs? Birthday, weekend, the sunshine? Tell me in the comments!

I love having hummingbird feeders through my kitchen windows so I can see these incredible creatures zip around our yard drinking from our flowers and the feeders while I do dishes or cook. Make your hummingbird food at home to save money and avoid unnecessary ingredients for these little guys. Disclaimer: My posts may contain affiliate links to products/services I recommend. I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you if you purchase from these links. Hummingbird food is basically just sugar water, so why pay more, make a trip to the store, and have unnecessary added ingredients when you can make your own easily at home? What You Will Need: sugar water pot funnel hummingbird feeder -- my mom got us ours from Amazon. The ration for mixing the sugar water is 1:4 sugar to water. Experiment to see how much will yield the right amount for your feeders. For our two feeders 2/3 cup sugar and 2 2/3 cup water is just perfect! Heat the water and sugar in a pan on the stove until the sugar is totally incorporated into the water. Allow the mixture to cool before placing back outside for your hummingbirds. Change your hummingbird food and rinse out your feeders with warm water once per week. Enjoy! Where do you hang your hummingbird feeders? Tell me in the comments.