Photo Credit: Courtesy of Ulysses Press/Judi Swinks Photography

We don't make a habit of looking at the ingredients lists of some of our favorite snack foods. We're well aware there's unpronounceable, death and disaster-causing gook in there, but look, we really, really love Cheez-Its. "Classic Snacks Made From Scratch" takes all our beloved greasy-fingered treats (Fritos, Pop-Tarts, and Hostess Cupcakes, we're looking at you) and makes them from perfectly normal, find-it-in-the-grocery-store, easy to pronounce ingredients.

Make no mistake: author and culinary whiz Casey Barber isn't out to make these treats low-cal. She's an enthusiastic cook and self-described "DIY fanatic" who loves the mad scientist deconstruction of factory-produced treats. "It's supremely gratifying to nail a recipe and find those flavors that have such strong emotional connections," she writes,"but without preservatives or weird chemical aftertaste."

Let's look at one of our favorite school lunch sweets, Strawberry Fruit Roll-Ups. You won't find a single strawberry in the Read More »from DIY Classics: Homemade Strawberry Fruit Roll-Ups

How do you stay organized with your busy schedule?I was reading about various organizational systems that people use to keep essential items straight and realized that I have a few of my own going on, mostly created by necessity due to my own forgetfulness.

Here are 4 rules for keeping track of your stuff:

Lost Item #1: Keys
Rule: Don't touch the handle of your house or car without making sure your keys are in the other hand
I have been losing keys since I was a kid. I swear keys seem to try their hardest to get well away from me. My poor parents had to change the locks on the house a number of times due to a set of keys that I had dropped on the sidewalk or maybe at the mall, or the library, or the park. Very often they would come home from work on a weekday to find me sitting on the front stoop still in my school uniform. I'd been sitting there for hours because I'd once again lost my keys and couldn't get inside. Eventually they began leaving a set of spare house keys with a neighbor, but I often avoided going over there because

Read More »from Forget Me Not: 4 Rules for Keeping Track of Your Stuff

Good planning is essential to a successful vegetable garden. Vegetables have specific requirements, and you must choose your site carefully to ensure a bountiful harvest. Here are the basics you need to consider before you select your seeds.

1) Test Your Soil
Drainage is the soil's ability to absorb moisture and let excess water drain away. You can test soil drainage by digging a hole a foot deep and a foot across. Fill the holes with water, and time how long it takes the water to drain away; two to three hours after the hole has emptied, refill it, and again time the interval it takes for it to empty. Then calculate the rate of drainage by dividing the total depth of the water (24 inches) by the total number of hours it took for the hole to empty two times.

Related: Vegetable Seed Guide

2) Consider Sun and Shade Requirements

In general, plants described as requiring "full sun" (most vegetable plants fall under this category) need at least six hours of exposure to direct sunlight

Read More »from 5 Must-Know Tips for Planning a Vegetable Garden

Veer/ The Nest14 tips for doing the wash...so you never let them see you shrink.
By The Nest Editors

1. Take Your Temperatures
First and foremost, follow the item's care label. Generally, the rules are as follows:
Cold is for fine fabrics, items that might shrink, and sensitive dark colors.
Warm is for moderately soiled stuff and man-made fabrics.
Hot is for whites, really dirty clothes, and colorfast items.

2. Keep Whites Bright
When your whites start going gray (or yellow), consider these factors: You might not be using enough detergent to get clothes clean; the water temps might be too low (whites do best in hot water); and you could be contaminating the laundry with really dirty clothes that are making the mildly soiled clothes even dirtier! Make the contaminated load a do-over and try a bleach product that's safe for the fabrics in the wash.

3. Prevent Fading
It's a sad day when your perfect black pants don't look so black and crisp anymore. Turn dark-colored clothes inside out before

Read More »from How to Do Laundry like a Pro