Definitely no gardening today. I woke up to a severe thunderstorm warning and winds gusting over 50 mph, so this food will have to suffice for a garden post, there's a little of the garden in each one, we are quickly getting down to the bottom of our freezer and canning stash of veggies.
More bangers & mash - this is quickly becoming a staple around here, but I'm soon going to have to sub out those potatoes for salad and Guinness for water since this dinner will definitely sneak up on waistlines before we have time to even notice! Bangers & Salad?! Not sure if the Irish in me will be able to handle that. This one just has frozen onions from the garden and fresh parsley.
This bread was not as good as it looks, LOL. It was kind of doughy still in the middle but I had a feeling it would be since I waited so long to start it, then at 6:30 pm with it still trying to cool the kids were "starving" so we had to slice it! This one had fresh basil, peppercorn & parmesan. Those are my freeze-ahead stuffed shells which makes dinner prep fast, they have my canned tomato sauce in them and fresh basil (those poor basil seedlings are taking a beating!), also still trying to eat to the end of the frozen garden bean supply.
This was a nice surprise at dinner last night...
After hurriedly getting the kids ready for school this morning before we lost power, I decided that the library and sewing would be the perfect way to spend the day, since the driving sheets of rain and 40+ mph winds were expected to last all day, with temps dropping like a rock after noon. Was 80 yesterday, tonight in the 30's? A.D.D weather...
I did get to the library first thing, and this is what's on the reading agenda this week...
and then life got in the way of my sewing plans... I realized we were low on milk and a few other things so that turned into a whole grocery shopping ordeal and literally rained on my sewing parade. When I got home, I had exactly 1.5 hours left before Thing 1 and Thing 2 get home from school, and that doesn't leave me with enough time to properly get any sewing planned or started, so I decided to do some more cooking:
I made made meatballs! These are simmering in my canned tomato sauce and canned stewed tomatoes and will be dinner tonight with pasta, and also dinner for hubby to take to work tomorrow. The rest of the meatballs were quick frozen on a baking sheet and dumped into a bag for ready-use later. I'm trying really hard to always cook ahead and store things, since it helps keep us from eating out on busy nights. I'm hoping if I do this for long enough it will just become habit and I'll forget all about my favorite salad bar and sandwich place in town!
So no sewing, just cooking... think of me this way:
(I'm still so puzzled by her!)
yeah, right!
One more thing, we are resuming family reading tonight! We were working our way through the Little House series before hubby left for deployment. These were my favorite books as a child, and when I found out hubby hadn't read them, it became top priority to inflict my passion on those around me! He was enjoying them so much while we read to the kids nightly, that when he left for the Middle East I stopped at the end of 'Farmer Boy', and waited for him to return so he wouldn't miss any. So tonight we begin 'By the Shores of Silver Lake'... I can't wait! When I was a kid I loved Laura Ingalls, but now that I'm all grown up, I love reading these over again this time channeling my Ma Ingalls, now that woman knows how to homestead! :)
