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For starters, whenever you head out to harvest, you’ll want to ensure you’re picking at peak ripeness and storing them properly. These simple actions will help guarantee the best summer flavor from your fresh tomatoes for all of your summer salads and sandwiches. 1. Use a Sea Salt Fertilizer Try this trick to make tomatoes taste better: put salt on the plants themselves (it’s also tasty on the fruits). You might’ve heard before that salt can hurt plants, which is why you need to be careful applying it to sidewalks in winter to melt ice because it can kill whatever is growing nearby....

What Is Beef Tri-Tip Roast? Before we dive into the basics of cooking a tri-tip roast, here’s what to know about the cut. Tri-tip roast is a tender, lean beef cut that gets its name from its triangular shape. (It’s also called bottom sirloin roast and triangle roast, so keep an eye out for these synonyms for tri-tip roast.) It’s sold as a small roast from the bottom sirloin or it’s cut into a steak with three tips....

How to Cook Scallops Before you roll up your sleeves and learn how to cook scallops, note that there are two basic types of scallops: the larger sea scallops (about 1½ inches in diameter) and the smaller bay scallops (½ inch in diameter), which are sweeter. Here we’re focusing on cooking the more common (larger) sea scallops. Whether you want to cook your scallops in a pan, on the grill, or in the oven, these basic concepts apply to any method:...

Although there’s a lot of work to do, there are a handful of companies that have started efforts to save the bees, whether that’s selling items that use bee products or using percentages of profits to donate to bee-saving causes. One of the key players in pollinator conservation partnerships is the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. It’s a science-based nonprofit organization that works with scientists, land managers, educators, farmers, and citizens to protect and restore pollinators and invertebrates....

How to Soften Butter at Room Temperature Not sure how long to soften butter? Keep an eye on it, but the easiest way to soften butter is to remove a cold stick from the refrigerator and let it hang out at room temperature for 30 to 60 minutes until it becomes room temperature or until just spreadable. The timing will vary depending on the room temperature and how cold the butter is to start with....

Your favorite waffle batter 4 6-inch wooden pop sticks 1 2 tablespoon melted dark chocolate 4 teaspoon vanilla-flavored marshmallow bits 2 teaspoon crushed graham crackers PB&J Your favorite waffle batter 4 6-inch wooden pop sticks 4 teaspoon warmed peanut butter 4 teaspoon warmed desired-flavor jam or jelly Powdered sugar BIRTHDAY CAKE Your favorite waffle batter 4 6-inch wooden pop sticks 1 2 tablespoon vanilla frosting Whipped cream 1 teaspoon rainbow sprinkles CEREAL MILK...

Foods That Will Keep for a Year These are the shelf-stable items that will last at least a year in your pantry. Applesauce Boullion Beans, dried (They will last longer than a year, but you might need to increase the cooking time since they get harder with age.) Brown rice Cake mix Chia seeds Cocoa Coffee, instant Condiments Flour (Freeze or refrigerate opened flour for longer shelf life.) Fruit, dried High-acid canned goods such as juices, fruit, pickles, sauerkraut, tomato soup, and foods in vinegar-based sauces can last up to 18 months....

Buy It: OXO Melon Baller ($10, Target) Buy It: Dritz Cheesecloth ($3, Walmart)

Air Plant Pipe Shelf For this project, you only need a few tools: a level, a stud finder and a drill. You will also need a picture shelf, assorted sizes of PVC pipe fittings, painters tape, spray paint, and your favorite air plants. The first step is to tape off stripes on the pipe fittings with painters tape. Once you are done taping, spray paint the fittings. We used a metallic spray paint to create bronze horizontal stripes....

1. Your paint color is too light. If you’re worried about dirty walls, bright white is perhaps the least forgiving paint color you could choose. Any marks or stains will stand out on light-colored walls, especially if they’re intended to be pure white in appearance. Instead, look for a mid-tone neutral paint color that can help hide dirt and imperfections, says Dee Schlotter, senior color marketing manager for the paint brand PPG....

1. Select a Furniture Piece to Paint When choosing a piece of furniture to update, first consider whether the piece is an antique. Some antiques can be valuable, and painting could potentially devalue the piece. Midcentury-modern furniture, for example, usually sells well as-is, so consider that before painting if you’re planning to sell it later. That said, if you’ve had your great-grandmother’s China hutch in the garage for the past 20 years and you know you’ll never use it without an update, go for it!...

Taste incredible, of course. Fall into “low-fat hot dog” territory, with 6 grams of fat or fewer per serving (half the fat of typical hot dogs). Also land in the “low-sodium hot dog” category, with fewer than 500 milligrams of sodium per serving. Be widely available, because what good is a healthy hot dog if you can’t find it? All of these are sold at major retailers. Made with 100% beef, these healthy hot dogs have zero artificial colors or flavors....

It’s no surprise that protecting your belongings is always a good idea, but David Flax, president of Window Genie, points out that taking these extra steps can actually save you money by lowering your heating bills. Plus, it will help keep you comfortable throughout frigid temperatures. Preparing your home for the winter goes beyond getting the toys out of the yard or storing your mower for the season. To help you cross off the most important to-dos, Busch and Flax share their checklist for making sure your home is ready for the season ahead....

DIY Cane Headboard Three panels team up to create a cane headboard for a full-size bed (you can scale up the size of each panel for a larger bed). When you weave your own panels, you have total artistic control over the pattern and size of the weave. For instant gratification, shop for pre-woven caning material. To complete the look, we added a floating shelf above the headboard and outfitted it with plants....

After its invention in France, neon signage landed on U.S. soil in the 1920s, initially providing showy outdoor advertising for car dealerships before it was adopted by a range of other businesses. Throughout the following decades, elaborate neon displays lit up big cities and small towns all across the country, welcoming customers toward diners, bars, roadside motels, and other establishments. Neon signs originally used gases like neon and argon to produce their vivid glow and often contained harmful metals like lead and mercury....

Types of Switches and Dimmers Be sure to select a switch that’s compatible with the circuit where you want to install it and your lighting needs. Here are the basic types of switches and dimmers. Essential Light Switches The most common household switch, a single-pole, has two terminals and simply turns power on or off. A three-way switch has three terminals; a four-way has four. These control a light from two or three switch locations, such as at the top and bottom of a stairwell, at either end of a hallway, or in a large room with multiple entrances....

Buy It: Select by Calphalon Jumbo Skillet ($50, Target)

1. S’more Cake If you think a semi-homemade dessert can’t get much easier, think again. This boxed chocolate cake recipe “bakes” in your slow cooker. Top the ultra-simple cake with marshmallow crème, milk chocolate, and graham cracker pieces to bring your favorite summer sweet indoors. Better yet, there’s a surprise ingredient that makes it so easy to prepare: chocolate cake mix with sour cream. 2. Crème de Menthe Cake Using boxed chocolate cake mix as a shortcut doesn’t get any better than this treat that’s a flavor doppelgänger for mint chocolate-chip ice cream....