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ZZ Plant Care Must-Knows Many houseplants tolerate low light, but ZZ plant has exceptional tolerance. It is naturally a very slow-growing plant and when placed in a site that has limited natural light, it will seem to maintain its size and shape for months. In a growing spot with a few hours of bright light (avoid direct sunlight as it can harm foliage), ZZ plant should show visible growth over the course of a couple of months....

How to Make Empanadas Before you get started, you’ll need to make some empanada dough using milk, flour, yeast, salt, and rendered lard or shortening. It’s a lot of the same ingredients bread calls for, only you’ll be handling them more like pie pastry. You can find the full basic dough recipe in Samuelsson’s shrimp and pork empanadas recipe. Test Kitchen Tip: Rendered lard is a form of melted-down pig fat....

How to Make Meringue Start by following your recipe for making and baking the pie crust and filling in a pie pan ($5, Target). Then follow these steps for preparing the meringue. We’re using a basic meringue recipe for pie in this demo. Step 1: Separate Egg Whites Separate the yolks from four eggs using an egg separator ($6, Bed Bath & Beyond). Place the whites in a large bowl. Let the egg whites stand at room temperature 30 minutes....

This rainforest native requires constant warmth and high humidity, so it can be tricky to grow this spice outdoors in many regions of the United States. Cardamom should be brought indoors to overwinter, and it can work as a houseplant, however, it rarely flowers when grown in a container, therefore it won’t produce flavorful seeds indoors for your culinary creations. You’ll also need to give this plant plenty of space—it can grow from 6 feet to 16 feet tall....

Where to Plant Basil Plant basil alongside other culinary herbs in your garden such as parsley, chives, oregano, thyme, cilantro, and dill for a bountiful collection of fresh fragrant foliage. Seed a row of your favorite basil variety in the garden to ensure plenty of fresh leaves for making pesto or flavoring summer dishes. When planted near tomatoes, basil displays an ability to repel pests such as thrips (tiny winged insects) and tomato hornworms....

Where to Plant False Lupine False lupine, also called Carolina lupine, is native to the Southeast. Much more tolerant of heat and humidity than true lupine, false lupine blooms for several weeks in spring, sending up erect spikes of showy, bright yellow pea-shape flowers that resemble those of true lupine. Flowers are followed by brown seedpods nestled in the upright, grayish-green foliage. It is a great plant for perennial borders, cottage gardens, wildflower gardens, and cutting gardens....

Where to Plant Goji Berry Goji berries are at home in a berry patch or orchard. Plant alongside raspberries, blueberries, and other small fruit crops. Goji berries also can work in a mixed shrub border. Give them plenty of space to expand and leave ample open ground for moving around the plant during harvest. Goji berry fruit quality is best during hot, dry growing conditions. Cool and humid environments produce limited crops of goji berries....

When ingested, the leaves, nectar, seeds, and flowers of rhododendrons and azaleas are toxic to humans and pets. Rhododendron or Azalea? Rhododendrons and azaleas are often confused. Azaleas were once considered a separate genus of plants, but they were reclassified as genetically similar to rhododendrons relatively recently. Now, they are in the same genus. People tend to think of rhododendrons as large evergreen plants with big clusters of blooms and associate azaleas with smaller leaves and shorter plant habits....

Colorful Combinations Available in every color but the truest of blues, species tulips also offer a variety of petal types. You can tiptoe through the options and find many striking looks, including those that have contrasting colored centers when fully open. Most species tulips act like lily-type tulips, only fully opening on sunny days. At night, and on overcast days, the blooms stay closed. Tulip Care Tips Originating in rocky, mountainous terrain, species tulips are made to deal with droughts and won’t tolerate wet soils....

Cast iron pipes are very heavy and must be held in place with special clamps and framing members. When doing repair work on a cast iron pipe, it’s important not to disturb these clamps—if one weakens, a long section of pipe could come crashing down. In addition, some older cast iron joints were sealed with molten lead, but this does not pose a danger to your health because only wastewater passes through the pipes....

The handle is located at the top of the jigsaw, with a trigger switch to turn it off or on. The motor sits just under the handle, attached to the shoe, which is a flat metal base that extends a few inches past the front, sides, and back of the blade. The jigsaw blade extends down vertically from the body of the saw, through the shoe. When the jigsaw is plugged in and the trigger is squeezed, the blade moves rapidly in an up-and-down sawing motion....

At a minimum, winter coats should be washed once a year, at the end of the season, to remove environmental and body soils, stains, and odors prior to storing them. Washing coats twice a season is ideal. Some winter coats, like fleece or performance outerwear, can be washed more frequently, anywhere from biweekly to monthly depending on usage and factors such as visible staining or odor retention that indicate it’s time to wash the jacket....

While these options for how to wash lettuce can’t remove serious pathogens (cooking over 160° F should do the trick), washing greens is a food safety best practice if the vegetables are not already pre-washed. It will reduce the risk that you’re consuming dirt, of course, as well as any bugs, pesticides, or additional contaminants that got associated with your greens during harvest, transport, or handling. Read on for our Test Kitchen’s pro tips for how to wash lettuce in its most common varieties, be it iceberg, romaine, butter lettuce; tender greens like arugula or spinach; or sturdier leaves like radicchio, kale, or collards....

Tips Freeze cooled rolls in a labeled freezer bag or container for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.

1 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened ½ cup butter, softened 1 teaspoon vanilla 5 cup powdered sugar, sifted

Each feathery frond’s rachis, or midrib, is typically a lovely burgundy color that transitions to smaller, gray-green leaflets of silver-white as they progress to the tips. They’re pieces of natural art and accent other garden plants beautifully—whether they act as a stand-alone star or as a soft complement to bold colors and textures in the garden. Japanese Painted Fern Care Must-Knows Most ferns can be more temperamental than your average garden perennial....