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Shawna Coronado

Food

Best Tequila Glazed Fish Tacos with Avocado Salsa Recipe

Ryan and Shawna cooking up one of Shawna’s favorite dishes. My friend, Chef Ryan Hutmacher, won ABC’s The Chew Search for the Weight Watchers® Chef a while back. Before that, when he still lived in Chicagoland, he and I filmed a series of awesome cooking videos where we used fresh ingredients to prepare healthy recipes for all you wonderful peeps. Chef…
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Garden

How to Prune the Wave Petunia

One of the terrific things about the Wave Petunia is that it requires very little maintenance there are no complex cutting procedures, for instance, if you want to trim back the petunia itself. Cut mercilessly and with vigor. The results will be more waves of flowers and a beautiful display. Watch this quick video sponsored by the Wave Petunia company and…
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Wellness

Lucca Italy is a Fantastic Walking Tour Destination

Visiting Lucca is very much like stepping back into time. Unlike Rome, which is a large bustling metropolis with honking horns and constant sirens, Lucca offers peace and quiet with an old world feel. Lucca Italy is a fantastic walking tour destination. In the early morning, as the light is just starting to touch Lucca’s walls, I found solace on…
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Wave Petunia in Elevated Beds

How to Prune the Wave Petunia

Garden

One of the terrific things about the Wave Petunia is that it requires very little maintenance there are no complex cutting procedures, for instance, if you want to trim back the petunia itself. Cut mercilessly and with vigor. The results will be more waves of flowers and a beautiful display. Watch this quick video sponsored by the Wave Petunia company and…
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Glodea Garden Furniture Bench X70 Sky Blue

A Blue Bench in the Garden Saves the Day

Garden

Blue. It’s always been “a thing” for me in the garden. I once had a very famous local garden expert come over to my place, look at all the blue I had around and pronounce his opinion, “How vulgar!” I’ll never forget how high my eyebrows went up on my forehead that afternoon as I consider blue beautiful and a…
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Chef Ryan Hutmacher and Shawna Coronado cooking in her front lawn

Best Tequila Glazed Fish Tacos with Avocado Salsa Recipe

Food

Ryan and Shawna cooking up one of Shawna’s favorite dishes. My friend, Chef Ryan Hutmacher, won ABC’s The Chew Search for the Weight Watchers® Chef a while back. Before that, when he still lived in Chicagoland, he and I filmed a series of awesome cooking videos where we used fresh ingredients to prepare healthy recipes for all you wonderful peeps. Chef…
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Japanese Beetles partnered on canna lily 2

Get Rid of Japanese Beetles

Garden

Japanese beetles are pretty much the biggest battle in the July garden in the Midwestern states and everyone is trying to figure out the best way to get rid of them. It is guessed that they originally migrated to New Jersey as larvae from Japan through a shipment of iris bulbs before 1912. They are about ½ inch long and…
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Cutting Garden with Elevated Beds

How to Cut Flowers in a Cutting Garden

Garden

This season plant a cutting flower garden! A cutting garden is often dual purpose serving as a pollinator garden and an oh so very beautiful source of cut flowers. Cutting gardens continue to give generously throughout the growing season. I wanted to share with you how to cut flowers in my own cutting garden so that you can better understand…
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How To Make Authentic Corn Tortillas

Food· Travel

Learning how to make corn tortillas with Margarita in Akumal, Mexico. For those of you who are joining the gluten-free lifestyle, rice and corn qualifies as a gluten-free grain. A few years ago my team went to Mexico and filmed a culinary series on regional Mexican cuisine – perfect inspiration for the gluten-free crowd. While we were there we met…
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Aphids on Back of leaf

How To Find Bad Bugs in the Garden

Garden

Tips on How to Find Bad Bugs As bugs go, there’s the good, the bad, and the ugly – and all of them seem to hide when I go looking for them. Just how do you find those bad bugs that are eating your plants down and seem to be eluding capture? Many bugs are predators or prey, so they…
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Shawna Coronado and Carlos Capistran with Shrimp Veracruz

How To Make Gluten Free Cold Shrimp Cocktail Veracruz Recipe

Food

Chef Carlos Capistran and Shawna Coronado cook Shrimp Veracruz Cocktail With Vegetables Several seasons ago I filmed regional cooking in Akumal, Mexico at the Lol-Ha Restaurant. I learned how to cook amazing meals and appetizers for under $10 or $15 per meal using fresh vegetables, such as this amazing Shrimp Veracruz Cocktail. Cooking on a beach with a chef who loves…
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Amaryllis in Shawna Coronado garden Christmas in July

Plant Amaryllis in Summer For a Flower Surprise

Garden

Every winter holiday we garden enthusiasts go absolutely bonkers for Amaryllis as houseplants. I love them passionately and have been growing them for years. Having some blooming sunshine in mid-winter is a joy in itself and this Amaryllis ‘Apple Blossom’ was the light of my life for several weeks while it was flowering. The flowering heads are so large I…
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Shade Vegetable Garden Elevated Bed Spring

Grow a Shade Vegetable Garden

Garden

Traditionalists believe that full sun is the most important ingredient to success for herbs and vegetables, yet not everyone gets 6 to 8 (or more) hours of sun per day on their homes and balconies. Some get only partial sun and shade (4 to 6 hours of sunlight per day), and others have full shade (less than 4 hours of direct sunlight per day). When…
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MGK Ladybug

What are Beneficial Insects

Garden

Beneficial Insects Beneficial insects help you by pollinating or controlling pests in your garden. They can hunt and kill bad bugs for you, for example. They are saving you the hassle of having to pollinate by hand or take care of pests yourself, thereby enabling your garden to grow stronger as Mother Nature intended. We all need beneficial insects in…
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Till Free Garden Shawna Coronado

How I Built a Till-Free Vegetable Garden

Garden

When I tell people that I built a till-free vegetable garden in my front lawn and that it is till-free they seem surprised and ask how I have growing success. For generations, traditional garden beds have been turned over in order to loosen the soil. Yet from an ecological perspective turning the soil over is bad because all the millions…
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MGK Japanese Beetle

How to Get Rid of Bugs in the Organic Garden

Garden

Watching bugs in your organic garden is like watching a soap opera. There are good bugs and bad bugs, drama queens and sneaky culprits. Your garden is dripping with romance, excitement, and of course murder on a daily basis – what a show! In the past I have essentially ignored pests and bugs or occasionally spot sprayed them with soapy…
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How to Plant a Tomato with a Trench Technique

Garden

For years I struggled with tomato drama. My tomatoes performed poorly, caught diseases, had issue after issue and I could not figure out what I was doing wrong. Then one day a very successful tomato growing friend of mine asked me HOW I was planting the tomatoes. My response, “Uhh.. dig a hole, add some fertilizer, throw in the plant.” …
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