tomato thief

Today was the very first day I've been able to bring tomatoes into the house. Even though our garden is fenced in I have noticed some baby bunnies hanging out in it. They haven't been thieving the tomatoes though. It's Abe that's been going out everyday and eating all the ripe ones directly from the plants.

I'm glad to have brought a few lovely ripe tomatoes inside today but in reality I LOVE that Abe can go out back and eat fruit and vegetables from our garden. It must be a fun special summer childhood treat that hopefully he'll remember when he's grown.

Mid September Harvest

Today gave us one big bowl of romas, the last of the black krim tomatoes 

and the first of the bean harvest.

The stores have switched over from summer and back to school merchandise and are filled with autumn, Halloween, and harvest themed products. It certainly still feels like summer but these tomatoes and beans are harvest blessings in my book. Feeling thankful.

Tomato Soup Time

This year's tomato harvest was a bit smaller than last. I'm not complaining; we still had tomatoes galore. The weather this summer was a little odd and I put the plants in the ground quite a bit later than normal so all things considered I'm thrilled with the harvest.

Yesterday I made this year's second batch of tomato soup. I've just decided that fresh from the garden tomato soup is my very favorite thing to do with the plethora of tomatoes. I've taken to growing two varieties. For a few years now I've been growing a plain standard roma that my son and husband love to just gobble up cut in half with a bit of salt sprinkled on. The romas are good for so many other things too but in this house they are mostly just eaten fresh from the garden. The second tomato I've been growing is a real ugly heirloom called black krim. Honestly, once you cut into it it's not ugly at all. It's actually beautiful swirled with bright greens, very deep magenta reds and bright reds, filled with sweet juices that you can see all surrounding the seeds, it's lovely! They are perfect for anything (that you don't want too much tomato juice on). Fantastic for making sauces and salsa. I love a big slice of black krim on a hamburger or inside grilled cheese... the list goes on and on.

And, the black krim makes an awesome tomato soup! The tomato is so incredibly juicy and sweet that the soup resulting from it is unbeatable. I made the first batch from this summer's bounty about three days ago. I used three tablespoons of oil, a teaspoon of chopped basil, a teaspoon of salt, and some black pepper to saute five (large) chopped cloves of garlic. Then I added two cups of homemade chicken stock that I had in the freezer. To that I added an awesome colorful heap of largely chopped black krim tomato slices (I think it was about 8 large chopped tomatoes). About 30 minutes later, after simmering for at least 20 minutes I had a pot of awesomeness. Add a little whole milk or heavy cream, plop in the blender and get it all pureed and... amazing!

Last year I froze several bags of soup but this year after two large batches there's nothing to freeze. We can't stop eating it. I have to say, I'm excited that fall is just around the corner. I love the cool breeze in the air, the apple harvest, pumpkin season, sweatshirt weather... amazing colors everywhere the eye can see. Fall is awesome but for right now I'm still REALLY enjoying the joys of summer, even though soup sounds like a cold weather sort of thing : )

Tomato Soup Day

We picked well over 30 pounds of tomatoes this week. They're not all pictured as I've been using them and giving them away but I couldn't resist the photo op even so. The tomatoes we picked on Tuesday alone weighed in at 22 pounds and we've picked considerably more since then.

I planned for most of the week to make a big batch of tomato soup to freeze but I had to make chicken broth for it first because my husband won't eat store bought. That was my sticking point. I finally made the broth on Wednesday. That allowed me to make a very big batch of tomato soup as well as chicken and dumplings yesterday. My kitchen is officially trashed but I'm thrilled to have accomplished my mission.

I LOVE these tomatoes. They are so juicy, so sweet, and so ugly. The tomato soup recipe I use is HERE. I really really like it. Although I don't add heavy whipping cream when ready to eat but instead use whole milk. And it says to go ahead and leave the skins on. It doesn't bother me in the least to do it this way but unless you have some sort of turbo blender the soup does end up with tiny flecks throughout it. Not as many as you might imagine but enough to notice.

Yes, we ate dino nuggets with our soup. It was a fabulous lunch!

Backyard Edition, July 27

This morning I slinked along. Ever so slowly I accomplished all the essential morning chores before I grabbed a cup of coffee and two slices of toast with blackberry jam. Since the heat wave hit I've been battling some serious sinus pressure and congestion but despite the incredible heat little Abe and I headed out back with our morning treats. He sat in his little green chair and I in mine. My tan little boy wore a simple pair of navy shorts, no shirt. He looked like every wonderful moment I can remember from my childhood; sun kissed skin, golden tinged hair, and the look of a well lived summer all over him.

We sat in the hot morning sun listening to the gentle breeze rustle the leaves on every tree. The birds were at work singing their morning tunes as usual despite the unusual temperature. The tomato garden in all of it's splendor spread out before the both of us and neither he nor I mumbled a word as we sat and ate.

I realized in that moment that I was experiencing perfection, pure simple wonderful perfection. A quite hot summer morning just relaxing with my son. Both of us enjoying the fruits of our labor, having fought the blackberry bushes together to collect the treasure. We then turned the fruits into the delectable jam. And now here we were, silent, together, enjoying the treat on such a splendid summer morning right alongside the garden we've so diligently tended to all summer long. These moments don't last long, but in them I find myself overcome with pure joy. I am forced to stop and think, to smile greatly, and to realize again each time, "this is life at it's finest!"

And now I document the garden growth.

First tomato turning red

Pie pumpkin plant in front.
Bidwell Casaba melon in back.

One of two bean plants.
I planted the seeds a little late this year but they should still do great.

One month of sunflower growth.
These are two different plants.
The photo in the upper right had corner is the first
sunflower sprout just over a month ago.

Happy Place

I'm in my happy place today, a lazy cool Sunday as the weather insists on switching back and forth between sunshine and a light drizzle.

• I've harvested some of the first tomatoes and have green tomato chutney cooking away on the stove. 
• A wonderful friend who lives in New Zealand is visiting for the first time in eight years and I was able to spend some time with her and her family yesterday (and tomorrow). 
• One of my very dearest friends delivered her first baby the other day; she's now a mom to an absolutely perfect baby boy and I am over the moon happy and excited for her. Welcome to the world little blessing!!!
• I don't work today, have compounded happiness from all the wonderful blessings, and am loving every minute of mine and little Abe's lazy day together.

This is this year's first tomato, the first to blossom, the first to form and the first to be picked. I love the ugly beast! And he (along with four smaller green gems) will make this year's heavenly batch of green tomato chutney, a treat I discovered last year after my dog trampled my tomato plants.

Happy Sunday!

Tomatoes

It's been really cold here. It's Michigan. I know you can never tell what the weather will be but it's been really cold here. Three days ago it actually snowed. I've had these little tomato plants on my kitchen window sill for days that I need to get into the ground. I've hardened them off and their roots are getting too big for their egg cartons but the weather forecast keeps showing nighttime temps in the 30s. It's starting to drive me crazy.

The weather forecast finally showed 40 for last night and then it went up, up, up from then on. I took the plunge and we put the plants in the ground yesterday. I think it got colder then 40 last night but they look great this morning. (we are past the frost date for our area but at this point I'm not sure that means anything)

I put the one surviving Bidwell Casaba melon plant in the back bed as well (I had three). I had less hope for that surviving the cold temps then the tomatoes but it looks great this morning. I think I've got a keeper. I'm starting one more seed of that so the plants will be several weeks apart with growth. I will just see how both do.

Let the gardening begin! Carrots, Spinach, Tomatoes, Melon, Strawberries... Beans, Sunflower, and Pumpkin to come. Don't tell me you can't garden in a little city lot with limited space for garden beds. Woohoo!!!

Sunday Ramblings

This year's tomato seeds are well on their way. I have these little guys set on the kitchen window sill behind the sink. Same as last year. It's official that one of my greatest joys during the spring season is watching the little sprouts on the kitchen window sill lean toward the sun and get bigger and bigger each day. I love seeing the start of new life, new fruit, new growth in it's very beginning stages just sitting there in the sunshine each time I need to use the sink for anything. For me this is pure joy.

(for the record, seeds grow really well in egg cartons and old strawberry containers. (I poke a hole in the bottom of each egg holder))

Speaking of little sprouts, I used some dollar store construction paper to cut out letters and rectangles. My little sprout glued each letter in place. He may have adhered a few hanging off edges and he might have glued down one of the 'P's backwards. It made the "Happy B-day Daddy" sign all the more personal. I wasn't expecting Abe to glue all the letters down. I thought he'd lose concentration after the first six or so. Nope, he did every single one all on his own. I'm not sure how much my husband loved it but we're quite proud of ourselves and our efforts and for that I'm giving us a pat on the back and two gold stars. It turned out really cool. (I love being frugal)

Fruits of our labor

Autumn is upon us. One day I'm looking intently to find leaves in the trees changing their hues and only a few days later the horizon seems to be splattered with color throughout forests. Photos of people apple picking and strolling through pumpkin patches are beginning to decorate the many corners of the world wide web. The stores are in full swing Halloween mode. I've enjoyed several candy corn binges. Oh autumn! (I LOVE fall)

It's getting cold at night now but the day time temps are keeping really nice. My four tomato plants are scraggly and probably ready to be pulled but these babies keep cranking out the fruit. There are even new blossoms all over them. I think my tomato plants have yet to get the memo. Summer is over.

The fruit has gotten smaller and smaller as the summer has drawn to a close but it just keeps on coming. Today I went through the plants and picked all the green tomatoes. Oh, I love how they smell as I'm pulling them from the plant. Gardening is a gift I'm joyously grateful to have partaken of again this year. 

The small batch of green tomato chutney I made in August has all been eaten and I've learned that I LOVE green tomato chutney. My very favorite use for it was to spread on top of cream cheese that I'd spread on a hot morning bagel. So I was eager to slice up all these beautiful green gems. I tripled the last batch I made. I took a photo of all the fresh ingredients in the pot and somehow deleted it before it made it's way to the computer. It was really pretty. So instead you just get to see the brown goop simmering away. Oh, the yummy brown goop.

I've been wanting to have a go at canning (or bottling if you live in the UK) for quite some time but I'll admit I've been terrified of it. I could never bring myself to just buckle down and give it a try. I always figured that one of these days I'd rope a friend into showing me how or learning how with me. Until today. Okay, I have a confession to make. Chutney because of it's high sugar and vinegar content is self preserving. You don't need to technically "can" it, you know with the boiling water bath and pressurization and all that jazz. BUT, I says to myself, "ah ha, here's a chance to have a go at canning and for the most part I can't screw it up and give someone food poisoning from a faulty seal or whatever because, well, chutney is self preserving." Perfect! I did buy these jars today so this little venture ended up costing me $7. I did not however buy any of the canning supplies that are beginning to fill stores now a days. You know the lid plopper on-ers, the wire dunking in pot basket, the green puller out of pot thing; yes I could go on and on and on. There are so many canning accessories. It really boggles my mind.

And there you go. I now have nine jars of green tomato chutney (that I LOVE) all properly canned. My very end of summer, beginning of autumn fresh green tomatoes that I grew from four little seeds are all tucked away in those brown jars with apple, onion, raisins, a lot of brown sugar, a good helping balsamic vinegar, and ginger. In all honesty my cup is overflowing right now. I feel like a conqueror. AND my kitchen is clean (that's another victory for me; normally a day like today would include my going to sleep for the night with a very messy kitchen). I've had a really great day!

Ahhh, good night!

Living off the land

Tonight's dinner was one of the best dinners of my life. Sounds like a bit of an exaggeration but this dinner was packed full of flavor, nutrition, pride, accomplishment, and blissful satisfaction.

Today's harvest

After planting all the seeds, endlessly watering them, watching the beautiful plants grow, and eagerly awaiting all the fruits and veggies tonight is the kind of night a gardener relishes.

Wild goose

Lightly steamed green beans

Fresh sliced tomatoes

Green tomato chutney

and

A wild rose from our rose bush for atmosphere

I am happy! And may I just give another shout out to Frugally Challenged for the chutney inspiration and for letting me know that its recommended to be eaten along side meat. YUM!!!!!!!!!!!

Also, the goose didn't turn out gamey AT ALL this time. So, so, so delicious!

Spending rundown today: $0. NO SPEND day 66 for the year. Side note: tonight's dinner cost NOTHING!

My budget for the month is $513.62 which leaves $392.58

Average daily spending for 2015: $18.04

Only for my own reminder I seared each side of the goose in a hot pan with oil, 3 minutes each. Took the breast out, deglazed the pan with chicken broth, turned the heat back on, returned the meat to the pan and cooked the breast for 15 minutes with a cover on (making sure less than 1/3 of the meat was submerged in broth) and turned every few minutes. Then removed from heat and let rest for 5 minutes (probably should have let rest a bit longer).

Garden Photo Updates

It's been cold and rainy for a few days now; not good weather for watermelon but so far my one gorgeous melon is holding in there, still growing, and the heat is supposed to return here shortly.

The three bean plants are filling up with beans now. These beans have yet to make their way to a dinner plate as I keep picking and eating them fresh. I LOVE them! The sunflower was planted directly next to them and was decimated by bugs and squirrels but nothing has even so much as touched the beans. Hooray!

On the tomato front we're up to 208 red ripe romas picked from my four plants. One of our dogs picks about 4 to 6 fruit a day with his snappy little jaws. It could just be coincidence but I'm pretty certain the tomatoes help with the joint pain in his hips so I can't bring myself to stop him. In other words I've lost a great deal of tomatoes to the dog which I have not kept track of. I also didn't tally the ones I used for the green tomato chutney (due to the other dog) or the ones that I gave to my neighbor.

We made pizza again today. For the record peeling the tomatoes is worth all the work just to get to see the little guy squishing them all with his hands; again the instructions for the pizza sauce specifically say to crush the tomatoes with your hands. Just being honest, crushing tomatoes in ones hands is the neatest feeling ever. He was skeptical at first but he LOVED helping make the pizza sauce/ squishing the tomatoes with his little hands.

That is today's garden update. Fall is certainly in the air. I leave you with one of little Abe's very favorite songs. He only knows it from the YellaWood commercials. I'm not entirely sure why but he just loves this song:

The sun comes up and the sun goes down
work away, work away

Well clear that acre, stake the claim
Gather up the timber, tie that chain
Cut that line, sand the plain
Sing a little song and do it all again

The sun comes up and the sun goes down
work away work away

Well haul the lumber, lift that frame
Get a little shut eye and do it all again

The sun comes up and the sun goes down
Work away work away

TOMATOES! Soup

I have a piece of paper on the fridge where I'm keeping track of all the ripe red tomatoes we've picked from the garden this year. So far I've used them fresh for tacos, guacamole, placed on top of hot bread with warm cheese. I've made pizza sauce out of them, spaghetti sauce, and used them as toppings on our homemade pizza. Until recently the tomatoes have been getting eaten about as fast as they've been getting picked. The fresh produce of summer is possibly my favorite part of summer.

The tomato tally is up to 81 tomatoes this year. I didn't tally the green ones I used for the green tomato chutney or the 10 or so that I gave to the neighbor. All of the sudden though my counter was filled with these lovely red romas and I began looking up new ways to use them. Today was my first attempt at tomato soup from scratch and now I'm left wondering why in the world I've ever purchased the stuff pre-made. Little Abe helped me by dumping and pouring all the ingredients into the pot. The soup took about 5 minutes to prep and not quite 20 minutes to cook. And let me tell you this is by far the yummiest soup I've ever eaten. Of course I am bias; It's made with fresh tomatoes from my very own garden but oh my did it turn out heavenly!!! We paired it of course with hot, melty grilled cheese sandwiches. I made mine from the bread I baked the other day. Weekends, delicious lunches, the little guy getting to play with his buddy next door; there is always something to smile about.  

HERE is the recipe I used for this soup (mostly)

FOOD!!! (Green Tomato Chutney Recipe (sort of))

I've struggled with depression for decades (thankfully not at the moment). It always passes but its never fun at the time. I am very artistic and pretty unorganized by nature but I'm a perfectionist in most aspects. I'm certain that perfectionism raises stress levels especially when you're always juggling 100 balls at once. While I know that I'm a perfectionist there's a catch 22 because I don't believe perfection is attainable.

I heard on the radio the other day that the human mind is incapable of experiencing two conflicting emotions at the same time. Stress, sadness, fear, anxiety; these all go together. Just go ahead and experience the lot of them all at the same time. Happiness, excitement, contentment, joy; again, our mind can handle these all at once. But try and mix happiness and anger together, or try stress and contentment and apparently our little finite minds can't do it. Interesting to say the least... 

I shouldn't admit it but there's absolutely no denying that food really makes me happy. I suppose you could surmise that while I'm eating momentaryly stress just melts away, the anger subsides, and the anxiety of a perfectionist trying to keep 100 balls in the air all the time takes a little break. No wonder we human beings spend so much time (and money) with loved ones at restaurants dining out and chatting over food or hot beverages or cold beverages. We almost create for ourselves these little moments of happy, of peace, of "shut down all those negative thoughts little mind of mine because I'm going to work on being content for a few moments."

Now these "few moments" is probably why I really enjoy cooking as well as eating. I love food! I love the billions of different flavors one can experience through combining a few different ingredients. I love what heat can do to a few eggs, some flour, butter, sugar, and just to bring it up a notch add some cocoa powder. Food is amazing! But the experience of eating it is, lets admit it, short lived (unless you eat all day long non-stop; I've been there). I enjoy cutting up all the fruits and veggies for a meal or a salad. I relish mixing together flour, sugar, and salt for a loaf of bread, combining it all with milk, butter, water, and yeast. Putting my hand in the bag of flour to sprinkle all over the table so that my son and I can take turns kneading the dough is delightful. Pressing the rubbery ball of ingredients out on the table and working it back and forth with my hands, taking turns with my little helper, is therapeutic. Then once the very long process of bread making has almost come to a close and the loaves are ready to go in the oven that wonderful aroma begins to fill the house. All the work, all the anticipation, that smell; it's so close to the moment when we can take the hot loaves from the oven, cut them up immediately and spread melty butter on that first slice that steam is still wafting off of. For me, baking takes those happy moments of eating food and extends them much further along. I suppose gardening has a similar role. Not only am I transforming food into delicious dishes but I'm growing the plants that grow the food, tending to them, watching them come to life and bring forth life.

I love to bake, I like to cook, I am delighted at gardening and I really, really enjoy food. 

Lunch today consisted of that green tomato chutney I made yesterday spread on slices of homemade bread that I lightly buttered, topped with chunks of pepper jack cheese and popped in the oven until the cheese was hot and melty and the bread was nice and warm (I spread the chutney over the cheese after it came out of the oven). I ate the wonderful treasure with a fresh cup of steaming hot coffee (even though I normally try and keep my caffeine intake to mornings only).

Needless to say, and I sort of did just spend four paragraphs saying it, I am at peace right now. Green tomato chutney made from tomatoes grown in my garden on bread that little Abe and I baked together yesterday, yep, that's happy, happy, and happy right there.

^ Longest intro ever to a recipe but here it is, not so much so you can try it because I altered it quite a bit and I've never made nor eaten chutney before now so I am in no way qualified to give anyone a lesson on chutney, in fact I'd read it was to spread on toast but a little birdy just told me it should be eaten on cheese or cold meat (notice I added cheese to my toast up there? That's partially because I love cheese and partially for you Frugally Challenged) but because I love the way this turned out and in case I ever lose the note card I jotted it down on I can at least come back here and find the concoction I've done up.

Linked HERE is the original recipe I used to make my crazy concoction.

Green Tomato Chutney (my recipe)
2 cups Green tomatoes - diced small (that's 2 cups diced, not 2 cuts whole tomatoes)
4 ounces of balsamic vinegar
4 ounces of water
3/4 cups raisins
1 cup brown sugar
about a quarter to a half of a large sweet onion - diced small
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 large apple - diced small

Boil for about three hours (until desired consistency)

Add juice of half a lemon just before removing from heat

I made a pretty small batch seeing as I wasn't really even sure what chutney was and I was trying to use up all of my fallen tomatoes. As for the vinegar water thing, I feel I should explain. I did not have any white vinegar on hand and although I'm fully aware that it's not the best idea to add balsamic vinegar in place of white vinegar I actually love balsamic vinegar, did have it on hand, and decided to just chance it. I used half the amount of vinegar called for because I knew the strong balsamic flavor would cook down and I might be left with something gross and substituted the other half of vinegar with water because again, I knew the balsamic would cook down and I figured the water would counteract that a little. I'm pretty sure I put in too much brown sugar, but honestly who is ever going to notice that, and I did not put in the chili peppers called for in the original recipe. I added the lemon juice at the end simply by intuition. I read no where about doing so but I like the little hint of tangy it added to this savory sweet yumminess. Despite my madness and possible chutney blasphemy I am very happy with how this turned out. It is super yummy and as usual I'm thrilled to have made a new food/ recipe.

Spending rundown today: $16.95 on groceries. The basics really; milk, cheese, eggs, butter, an apple, strawberries. Can you really get more basic then that. Oh and I bought a bag of frozen french fries (a rare treat around here) and some lunch meat that I ate while working (placed between two slices of bread I'd made the night before).

My budget for the month is $436 which leaves $186.80

Average daily spending for 2015: $18.04
^ SOOOOO close to being under $18 a day again!!!
A no spend day tomorrow would put me under $18
Darn it I think I need to buy dog food tomorrow, gah!

Oblivious!

You know what I'm in the process of doing right now? I'm making green tomato chutney. You know why? Because my husband is completely oblivious. Have I ever made chutney? Nope. Have I ever eaten chutney? No. Do I even know what chutney is? Not really...

So, tomorrow is our 13th anniversary. Lucky 13? I think in a last ditch effort to see if this thing would stick he planned this morning out for me. I was in a rush to leave for work. My dear husband scheduled himself a doctors appointment pretty much during the middle of my work day (keep in mind that we work around each other; no child care needed here). He told me the day before his appointment that his mom would be coming to watch little Abe while he was at the appointment. (for the record it was a consultation for an annoyance he's having with his hand and I actually asked the office if it'd be okay for him to bring the kiddo with. The lady laughed at me and said that would be totally fine and normal) I've been really stressed out at work and I'm in no way trying to sound like a jerk with this post but I get REALLY stressed out when the MIL is at my house alone. For many various reasons I don't cope well with it. Okay, sigh, get over it, get over it.

My husband is NOT good at feeding our child (one of the MANY reasons I work part time and dream of being a stay at home mom). For crying out loud my husband is not good at feeding himself. He's equally not good at communicating to his mom what the child should eat while she's here with him. There are quite a good selection of fresh fruits and veggies in the fridge, cheese sticks, and frozen kiddie tubes of yogurt but to be honest almost all the food in my home needs to be prepared. I strategically left the kitchen SPOTLESS this morning (well, as spotless as my kitchen will ever be) with the exception of a box of mac'n'cheese on the counter, two tablespoons of butter set next to it, and I even put the measuring spoons alongside the pair (as the box calls for 3 TBS of milk). Well there's one issue "resolved."

Point number two of stressful morning, we only have one car that's in good working order. The other car clumps. It scares me. We really only ever drive it around town at this point like if I want to run to the store (less than a mile away) when my husband is gone or working. Well guess who got to take the clumpy car to work (over a 30 minute drive) because I wouldn't be driving over 70mph whereas hubby would need to take the express way to the doctors appointment? 

I was getting ready to walk out the front door with my creamerless coffee (haha, I just had to throw that in there) when I hear my dog barking like crazy out back. I pretty much always let the dogs out but hubby chose to do the task this morning, bless his heart. I also walk my girl on a leash because she's kind of, hm, she's a bit of a neighborhood nuisance and although she listens rather well indoors she becomes somewhat of a deaf dunce out of doors. I took a detour to see what the little darling was barking about and I see my husband standing there asking her to, "quite, quite girl, go potty." Meanwhile there is a cat in our driveway and my dog is jumping up and down inside of my tomato plants barking her head off at the cat, as if trampling my plants is going to catch the cat for her. The plants are next to our fence, next to the driveway. If you've ever stopped by this blog before you're probably aware that I'm quite fond of my garden, treat my plants as if they were my own children (okay, not quite that extreme), and am over the moon proud of all the fruits of our labor outside. Well, MANY of the fruits of my labor were trampled under doggy feet this morning while my dear sweet hubby of 12 years, 364 days just stood there and watched.

Off to work I went in the clumpy car! Yay!

When I got home my kitchen was a mess. I have no idea how it got so messy and what do you know the box of mac'n'cheese, butter, spoons and all sit there untouched surrounded by the mess. Head back up to the photo and you'll see the three just sitting there (I took the photo after I re-cleaned the kitchen) and the pot on the stove has the green tomato chutney cooking away. Guess where all the green tomatoes came from? Thank goodness for pinterest and a neat recipe I saw about a week back for making green tomato chutney. Thank goodness for Frugally Challenged who's mentioned chutney a few times on her blogs and gotten my interest up. Despite the changes that I've made to the recipe (seriously I cannot help myself at this point; I alter every recipe) so far it seems that it will be quite delicious AND I only had to purchase raisins in order to make it.

Oh, and from what I can deduce, after having cleaned the mess in the kitchen little Abe has eaten very little today. My husband said something about trying to feed him a burrito that he picked up for himself after the doctors appointment but that little Abe didn't like it. He probably ate strawberries and cheese all morning.

Spending rundown today: $4.76 on raisins, an anniversary card and several groceries (I used a $20 store reward today).

My budget for the month is $436 which leaves $203.75

Average daily spending for 2015: $18.04
^ SOOOOO close to being under $18 a day again!!!

Garden Pizza Night!

Tomato tally is at 29 beautifully ripe red tomatoes from the garden so far this year.
Today was the first time I've ever peeled tomatoes.
Oh my goodness it is so much easier than I'd anticipated.
I learned that I LOVE crushing tomatoes with my hands!!!
That's what the tutorial said to do to make the tomato sauce.
This evening we ate really, really, REALLY yummy pizza for dinner.
The homemade spaghetti sauce wasn't amazing but the pizza sauce turned out awesome!

The title kind of makes it sound like we ate a pizza covered in veggies. Hehe, nope, just cheese but the pizza sauce, now that's what I call garden fresh!

Spending rundown today: $0. NO SPEND day 61 for the year.

My budget for the month is $436 which leaves $211.78

Average daily spending for 2015: $18.26

Tomato Tally and Rides

With today's 7 we're now at 11 awesome tomatoes from the yard this year.

I caramelized a small amounts of sliced onions with a clove of minced garlic. These seven tomatoes were then rinsed, chopped, and added to the pot. I added an organic spaghetti sauce spice mixture (the easy way to go especially if you're randomly cooking up odd proportions of tomatoes) and simmered for a bit. Because I know you're supposed to remove the skins (for whatever reason) and I was not about to take the time to peel these babies I then plopped the simmered sauce into the blender and pureed.

Added some cooked up ground turkey and boiled spaghetti noodles and little Abe and I had fresh from the garden spaghetti tonight. Was it the best spaghetti sauce ever? No. But you know what, it was good, and it was so fresh, and we both liked our dinner. If you were to ask me I'd say we dined like kings.

My brother got tickets to a local amusement park from work and invited us to join his family today. (The tickets he gave us were worth $120) It was a strange day in that I had to go into work really early (I am NOT a morning person) but I was really excited for the fun filled day. Then my hubby was kind of grouchy at the park (this dramatically affects my mood). The kiddos really enjoyed themselves but little Abe crashed (mentally/ emotionally) at the water park because it was WAY past naptime. He then had his own little three year old version of a melt down. It wasn't any sort of terrible melt down but we needed to leave shortly there after so he could sleep. He actually fell asleep in his stroller in his wet bathing suit wrapped up in his green froggy towel as we walked to the car.

I am unbelievably tired right now and feel like I may be close to having my own little 30 (something) year old melt down shortly.

Spending rundown today: $1.79 on a coffee while on my way to work. 99 cents on active dry yeast to make pizza dough so I can pick more tomatoes tomorrow or the next day and turn them into pizza sauce. $15 at the park on a bottomless pop. It REALLY wasn't worth the money but my brother paid $30 for us to get this snack/ meal deal thing where you can eat at the park all day every 90 minutes. He then offered to buy us the $15 refillable pop cup and we said no but he offered again later and then my husband decided he better go buy the cup himself before my brother spent even more money on us. For the record my brother does not think we're poor or anything like that (I was reading back over this and it sounded like maybe he was feeling sorry for us). He was just being really nice. I think because he invited us he was sort of hosting in a way.

Oh, shoot I forgot we played two games. Okay, plus $10 on games. We played the water squirt gun game twice. Once was specifically so my niece could win a big Pikachu (I have no desire to look up the correct spelling on that) and the second time just little Abe and I played the game while everyone else was riding rides that were too big for him. He did not know that he was going to win a prize. Oh, the innocents of children. He really thought it was just for fun, you know, to squirt the target. When he beat me and the girl handed him this really cute little stuffed giraffe he was over the moon. He feels like he won the grand prize.

My budget for the month is $436 which leaves $252

Average daily spending for 2015: $18.32

Spending time in the yard today

There are four tiny watermelon on the first watermelon plant now. I still have no idea how they will turn out but at least we've got a start. Yay!

I thought the strawberry buckets were done several weeks ago but we've still been getting one or two great berries every day for the past several weeks. Yum, yum, yum!

Some of the tomatoes are FINALLY turning red. I had honestly started to think they were not going to ripen. I feel like I've had plants filled with green tomatoes for months. I'm afraid patience is not my strong point.

We're heading back outside now. It's kind of a gloomy cooler day here and in truth I'm happy about that. It hasn't been a super hot summer but I do like cooler days where you can spend lots of time in the yard without sweating up a storm. (It's very humid in Michigan... especially a mile from the lake)

Spending rundown today: I made an executive decision to buy two cups for little Abe and a set of three bath squirters for $7.71 today. I needed to spend another $7.45 in the baby department to earn a $10 store reward. I will have $10 to spend on my next purchase at the store since I bought the cups and squirters today. The way I look at it, I basically got the cups and squirters for free.

I spent $41.97 on groceries today which included $9 worth of organic yogurt, 5 boxes of the tube yogurt (like go-gurt). We like to freeze it and little Abe eats it as popsicles. Normally a box is $3.09 so I saved $6.45 today just on yogurt. I bought a strange assortment of stuff (lots of cheese and yogurt) but between sales and coupons today was a good trip. I saved 45% on my total bill. I'm thrilled whenever I'm at the 50% savings mark and that 45% is close enough for me. That doesn't include the $15 worth of rewards I earned and $4 worth of good Catalina coupons that spit out on this trip. Yep, good shopping day here.

My budget for the month is $436 which leaves $321.24.

Average daily spending for 2015: $18.34

The Garden

I am continually amazed at the garden. Today I took the pruning sheers to the tomato plants. They are covered in fruit and I read that side shoots (just stems with leaves that don't produce fruit) should be pruned off and that each piece of fruit should be in the sun, not covered and shaded by leaves. Well my plants are way too close together, were covered in leaves, and most of the fruit wasn't getting any sun. I hope I didn't shock the four big fellows but I can see all my fruit now and all of my fruit can see the sun. (also look at the growth of that sunflower in just 10 days!)

The fact that just a few months ago I planted these four small seeds in some dirt in an egg carton that sat on my kitchen window sill and now I have these enormous healthy plants that are covered in green roma tomatoes just astonishes me. I intend to keep gardening through the years and I wonder if the miracle of life that's contained in simple seeds will always seem so miraculous to me. I am thoroughly amazed by it. 

These are the crazy tomato plants up close

The Garden; Weekend of Carrots

I'm declaring this the weekend of carrots. I was hoping to eat two or three carrots a day (and we have been) until they were all picked. Yesterday I noticed these little rust colored beetles in the bin. I don't know if they'd harm the carrots or not but they killed my beautiful basil plant last summer so I didn't want to risk it. I pulled up about half of the carrots that were left and I'll probably pull the rest of them Sunday or Monday. Now to eating carrots! (These grew so well in the bin)

As for the rest of the garden my tomato plants have gotten huge and they are doing grand. There are little green roma tomatoes all over them. These little green beauties make me so happy.

There are three bean plants (that I didn't snap a photo of) that seem to be growing VERY slowly but they look good. And the two watermelon seeds I planted have sprouted and look really good, tiny, but good (also didn't take a photo). The watermelon seeds threw me for a loop. I planted two and one sprouted. The other did not, until at least two weeks later. Maybe it's our region, maybe it's watermelon but everyone I've talked to says they never had much luck with watermelon. What I hear from most people is, "I tried growing them one year." The two plants look good though so right now I am hopeful. Our strawberry bins are done producing but I know the u-pick strawberry places around here are done for the season too so my little guys had a very good run this year.

My sister in law, who I grew some tomato plants for grew some sunflowers from seed for me. She gave me eight plants and thanks to the neighborhood rabbits I have ONE left. I've never grown sunflower before and this plant makes me so happy. Now that it's made it to this grandiose size the rabbits are leaving it alone (Also I surrounded it with used coffee filters that I weighed down with coffee grounds. The rabbits have stayed away from it since the day I put the filters down. My theory was they wouldn't want to step on them and it seems I was right). 

Seeing this regal thing with such a hearty strong stem and large course leaves that grew from the tiny little sprout she gave me is just, hm, in a way it's miraculous. I can't wait for the flower to open either. It's going to be SO big. I imagine it's very much a novice of a gardener type thing but I truly love looking out the kitchen widow at different times of the day and seeing the sunflower tilted and bending this way or that depending on where the sun is in the sky, attempting to soak up as many of the radiant beams of light that it can get on the top of it's sunflower head. Makes me smile every single day.

Average daily spending for 2015: $18.11