Simple Fruit Fly Trap

This fruit fly trap works so well and costs almost nothing!

Fruit fly season is in full swing during the summer at my house.  If you eat and cook with fresh fruits and vegetables, you may be doing battle with them as well!  This simple to make trap will solve your problem!

You'll Need:

A wide mouth quart jar

A sheet of white paper

Tape

Bait - Almost anything that the flies are attracted to will work for bait. Wine, vinegar, fruit, etc. (Just use leftover items if they are available; no need to expend fresh resources on such pesky insects!)

Instructions:

1. Form a sheet of white paper into a cone shape.  Leave the small end open no larger than the size of a pencil.  Tape in place.
2. Place your bait in the bottom of the jar.
3. Place the paper cone in the jar.  Be sure the bottom of the cone does not touch the fruit or liquid in the bottom.
4. Place your trap in the location where you have the most fruit flies.  Flies will be attracted to the bright white paper and the smell of your bait.  When they make their way down through the cone they won't be able to find their way back out.

If you add a liquid to the jar rather than solid fruit, many of the fruit flies will drown in the jar. Either way, step outside before removing the cone from the jar so as not to release the flies back into your house!

Bone Broth Made Easy

Homemade bone broth is so satisfying and healthy. It is full of minerals and gelatin and flavor! - You can read all about that on other sites. - Bone broth (or stock) can also be a great way to use up scraps and leftovers. Here is a simple method that can be altered as you like:

Ingredients

Bones and meat scraps
Chicken feet
Vegetable scraps
Onion, Celery and Carrots
Apple Cider Vinegar
Slow cooker

Planning Ahead

1.) When you eat meat that has bones in it, save all the bones and put them in a container in the freezer. As you go through more bone-in foods, just keep adding the bones to your stash. If people have chewed on them, don't worry. They will be frozen and then cooked long so no contaminates will transfer to your broth.

Also, save any trimmings that you cut off meat: skin, fat, parts and pieces and add this to your freezer container.

2.) When you see a great sale on chicken, buy a few pieces of the cheapest cut (wings or legs) to add extra flavor to your broth. You can just reserve these in the freezer until broth cooking time. Also, pick up a package of chicken feet when you see them. You won't need many and usually a package will last for 4-5 batches.

3.) A week or so before making your bone broth, start saving the scraps and ends of vegetables that you might otherwise compost or throw away. I save almost everything except cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, broccoli, kale, cauliflower) as I don't like the flavor these impart to my stock. Keep these in a container in the refrigerator. If you are making bone broth pretty regularly you can just have an ongoing supply of these additions.

Making the Broth

 When you have plenty of bones, it's time to turn them into liquid gold! Place them in your slow cooker. Add 2-4 chicken feet, a couple of wings or legs and all your reserved vegetable scraps. Go through the refrigerator and find any leftovers that might be a good addition to the stock: green beans, tomatoes, zucchini, parsley or cilantro... almost anything that needs to be used up can go into the pot! If you add something that is highly seasoned, that will of course transfer to your bone broth so just be aware. Add some extra chunks of onion, carrot and celery.

Now cover the bones and vegetables with water. Don't add too much or your broth won't be very tasty. Just barely cover the majority of what's in the pot. Add 2 Tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. This helps leach all the minerals out of the bones. Let this all sit for 30 minutes to an hour to give the vinegar time to get working.

Turn the slow cooker on high until things get good and heated up then turn down to low and cook for about 8 hours. You can cook it all day or start the slow cooker before bed and let it simmer through the night.

Strain out all of the chunks and your broth is ready to eat or store! That's it!

Variations

One of the great things about homemade bone broth is that the variations are endless. You can use chicken, beef or pork bones or any combination. Did you forget to pick up celery? No problem, just leave it out. Do you like garlic flavor? Put a few cloves or a whole head in.

If you make a big batch, you can freeze the extra broth for future use. Just be sure to label it well. It's difficult to distinguish different stocks in the freezer!