Thursday, October 15, 2015

Throw Your Hat in the Ring!

Gratitude.  I'm feeling that right now, for my business page has reached more than 300 "likes"!  Why don't you head over and participate in the giveaway.....winner to be drawn tomorrow (Friday) afternoon!  I want to do something special as a thank you, and I hope to treat somebody to something fun!

I am feeling the crisp fall air and wanting to get some honey extracted today.  Soap making is happening fast and furious around here too.  It smells pretty good in this house!

Thank you, dear people.  TTFN!

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Sunday Lunch

Hello, friends!

Last week we attended a produce auction; we have gone to the same place 3 times previously.  In the past we've bought such things as:  bushels of peaches, pecks of peppers (hi, Peter Piper!), several pie pumpkins, bunches of kale, tons of tomatoes, etc.  This time we came home with 8 heads of broccoli, 3 small baskets of Concord grapes, and over a peck of peppers.  My mother in law bought a 50 lb bag of potatoes, several red cabbages, and some lovely mums.

We were able to slice and freeze the peppers for soups and stews later on, and I made a huge pot of broccoli cheese soup and some broccoli salad.  Did the links work for those recipes?  I also enjoy using Pomona Pectin and was able to make some lower sugar grape jam with my kids popping all the grapes!

So, today's lunch was a delicious conglomeration of many of the above-mentioned items.  With the gift of some of those potatoes from my MIL we had a baked potato (timed bake while we went to church) bar with broccoli cheese soup as one of the toppings.  We also had some leftover broccoli salad as a side.  And then the THIRD form of broccoli was steamed and sprinkled with cheese as another possible potato topping.  My own potato had butter, sour cream, a little cheese, tons of chives (from my herb garden), S&P, and a few bacon crumbles.  The meal was sweetly rounded out with some more produce auction goodness.....pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies using pumpkin puree I had put up last year using those pie pumpkins.

It was an absolutely crazy weird meal with broccoli in so many forms, but we all were quite satisfied and thankful for the auction goodies!  I forgot to mention we also picked up some butternut squash, so I think some Panera-esque soup will be happening soon.

Here's hoping you a cozy fall week.....I love that I can use the word "cozy" a bunch now that some chilliness has set in around here.  TTFN!