Tomatoes - Fresh fro the Garden

Last night as we were finishing up chores, I wandered down to what is becoming my weedy garden. I really need to spend some time out in the garden weeding but it has been very humid and hot. However ,things are still growing splendidly!

I picked these four big gorgeous tomatoes that I took to work and ate for breakfast and lunch.

And half a colindar (red on red doesn't make for the best picture) of scumptious cherry tomatoes that the farmer took to work for lunch.

So delicious. So summer.

There may be lots of tomato sandwiches in our future!

Lisa

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

A good friend gave me this recipe and it couldn't be easier. My kids also LOVE them!

1 box Spice Cake Mix
2 cups pumpkin puree

Mix together and bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.

My friend used the pumpkin pie mix but I had pumpkin puree in the freezer from last fall. I like the pumpkin puree better, it seemed to make a denser cake. Either way they are yummy and healthy. If you make 24, they come in at about 69 calories each and 12 muffins are about 138 calories each.

Lisa

Dinner at the farm

I truly love summer eating. Our dinner tonight.

Chicken - Our farm. I cooked off two chickens a couple nights ago in the crockpot and we're been eating on them for a couple of days. I'd much rather have it roasted in the oven but its been hot, really hot!

Corn on the cob - Local farmer.

Tomatoes - Our garden! YUMMY! Sometimes when it gets hot, I really question why we garden and farm. Then I smell a fresh picked tomato and all my doubts go away.

Green Beans - savanging find. Seriously!

My brother called me this morning and told me that he was driving home with one of his boys and came across a ditched filled with green beans. They stopped to see what it was about. A semi-truck rolled over the night before (the driver is okay) and spilled the entire load of green beans. The kids and I went up to get some and ran into a couple of county highway workers who said to spread the word so people would come get them before whatever wasn't gone by Monday morning would go into compost.

I hate wasted food and thinks our society throws away entirely TOO MUCH purely because it doesn't look perfect. This accident is a perfect example. The company didn't want the green beans because they tumbled out of the truck onto the ground.

Here's what I came home with.

Actually this is about half of what I came home with. I spent the afternoon visiting neighbors, friends and relatives giving away beans.

Now tonight I'm canning. Lots and lots of canning. I barely put a dent in these and most of them are going to church with me tomorrow to give away the rest.

Lisa

Cloth Diapering using padded underwear

I wish I would have gone this route with the first child. This could quite possibly be my favorite cloth diapering option. If anything, it cuts done on the number of regular cloth diapers needed thus making cloth diapering even cheaper. They are less bulky than regular cloth diapers and sew up quicker.



The little babe now has a nice little stash of padded underwear for daytime wear along with three new fleece covers. Running around outside, or even inside as long as I'm watching for when he goes, he doesn't need a cover. There are thick enough to absorb urine but not so bulky as to make them uncomfortable for a little mover and groover! I did the gerber training pants route with our oldest and these beat them hands down, not even a good comparison, blows them outta the water (not that I'm tootin' my own horn or anything here  :)  ).

Cost-wise these cost me $8.59 to make 10 pairs of padded underwear and three fleece covers. The only thing I had to buy was the underwear, the rest came from my fabric stash. The cost would have been approximately $25 if I had to buy the materials (FOE $1.50 for 3 yards, fleece $7.00 for 1 yard, flannel $8.00 for 2 yards and underwear $8.59 for 10 pairs).

As far as sewing, they are very quick to sew up. I did 10 pairs of underwear and 3 covers in about 2 hours and that includes the time spent measuring and cutting materials.

You could use any type of material for the cover (fleece, wool, PUL). If you used a pattern such as Katrina's Soaker Pattern (free pattern), it would eliminate having to use foldover elastic.

Hope everything is staying cool. Temperatures here in Wisconsin are hoovering around 100 degrees!

Lisa