August harvest time

This month I have put up the following:

4 bushels of tomatoes (spaghetti sauce, diced tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce)

Peppers - yellow, orange and green peppers - all diced and ready to go

Corn - chicken corn chowder, corn off the cob shaved off the cob and nestled right now in the freezer

New things to make:

Zucchini brownies
Zucchini cakes - I hear these taste like crab cakes

Last Bulldogs Game of this Season

Wish us luck for a win today!

Menu Plan Monday

I know it's Tuesday. I am a day behind with the holiday.

Monday - Grilled Salmon with Sesame Ginger, asparagus, cole slaw
Tuesday - Turkey Burgers on onion roll with fixins, pasta salad, fresh strawberries with whipped cream (yum)
Wednesday - Crockpot recipe - whole seasoned chicken, fingerling potatoes, spinach
Thursday - leftover buffet
Friday - Southern hotdogs (using up that coleslaw)
Saturday - Chicken Quesadillas with Havarti cheese and salsa
Sunday - Turkey sausage with pasta

Stock the Freezer project cont'd

The season for "local" items has already started and from my first STF project you know I have put up asparagus, chicken breast and homemade chicken stock. Next item to claim is strawberries, yum!

I hope to get to pick my own strawberries at a local farm this weekend.
What do you do with a pile of fresh picked strawberries?

Here is my list for these beauties:

Freeze loose strawberries for use in smoothies
Strawberry shortcakes
Strawberry Jam
Strawberry compote
Strawberry milkshakes (I know, so bad for me)

Garden Update

Everything is growing nicely in the vegetable garden.
I have planted the following items:

Scallions (or green onions)
Tomatoes - big boy and beef steak
Bell peppers - red, yellow, midnight
Basil

On the farm, we have planted

yellow onions
white onions
green beans
squash
zucchini
beets
carrots
tomatoes
cucumbers

I will need to remember to take some photos to share.

Menu Planning Monday

Here it is, my meal plan for this week. Not very creative, but it will do. And, it doesn't require that I purchase much for this week. Definitely a plus!

Sunday, pizza and salad
Monday, marinated, grilled chicken breast, brown rice and spinach
Tuesday, marinated and grilled steak, grilled onion rings, mushrooms with potatoes and asparagus
Wednesday, Chicken Quesadillas, sour cream, salsa, lettuce, tomato
Thursday, leftover buffet
Friday (luau day), Shrimp Scampi with pasta
Saturday, Kielbasa, sourkraut

I want to pick strawberries this weekend as well. Hopefully they will still be yummy. We have had alot of rain lately.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

We interrupt Thankful Thursdays so we can celebrate Cinco de Mayo! Mexican food anyone?

What a busy day today. Beautiful weather. I have been thinking about when to plant my basil. It's sunning itself in my window sill. Waiting for the day when it will be outside.

Little guy went to soccer practice, now he's out mowing grass. Boy I feel old writing that!

Ahhh it's Friday

Lots of things bloomin around here. Check this photo I took of some of the flowers blooming in my yard.

IN THE KITCHEN

Check out this photo of my green onions, they are pretty big considering little Guy and I put them in 2 weeks ago.

Thankful Thursdays

It's thursday and with it comes thoughts of thankfulness that we have made it through the biggest part of the week. Today I am thankful for my family. I am truly blessed in having a wonderful hubby and awesome, talented child. Yesterday we spent the day at the Washington Zoo. Here are a few photos of our outing. Little guy was a trooper, we were able to see all the amazing animals. And here is a short video of a monkey climbing right above our heads:

Wednesdays Work

Got projects to work on around the house? I sure do, I have lots of big and little things on my to do list.

One small project is converting all my old photos to digital format. Just finished one of my wedding albums recently. It was nice going through all those photos. I have been married for quite a while. Now I can stop worrying about those photos fading. And I can post them here if I want to...stay tuned...

One larger project is getting our yard looking it's best. I don't know about you, but where I live, we pay ALOT for water. So a pretty yard usually means a high water bill.

On the move Mondays

April showers have been abundant around here lately. We had a lovely Easter weekend spend with family.

Lots of blooms around here these days. The dogwood is blooming nicely. The azaleas are ready to pop with their color, and the lilac bushes are wide awake. Tulips are wide awake. And did I tell you I love pink and purple? Well, I do! Especially when it comes to flowers.


Annual Garden Update:
The Onion sets are in and I can see a hint of green peeking up through the ground.
Lettuce is next - the seeds are calling me - maybe this weekend.

Stock the Freezer Project:
April - put up as much asparagus as possible, I found it for $1.50 per pound. This is a really good price! I plan to buy 50 pounds. that is a pound a week for 50 weeks.



It is Monday, here is my menu plan:

Monday -
fish sticks
tater tots
green beans (canned last year)
corn (from the farm)

Tuesday -
Ham (just cooked my ham Monday night)
Broccoli
Corn
(needs to be a quick dinner)

Wednesday-
Pasta with Ham and veggies

Thursday is leftover buffet
Leftovers or Grilled Ham and Cheese panini
(needs to be a quick dinner)

Friday -
Cod Fish
Rice
Asparagus

Saturday -
Grilled Chicken Thighs
Grilled potatoes
Grilled Asparagus

Sunday is crockpot recipe day-
crockpot sloppy joes on a roll
asparagus


Other things I want to try this week:
Cream of Asparagus soup
Breakfast Casserole in crockpot