Ready to Eat

Here are the oven dried tomatoes, gently tossed with garlic, basil and olive oil. Yum!

In Which I Am On A Roll...

My life seems to be filled with babies lately and this is great! Between friends and family members there will be at least 6 babies in the next few months so it is time to get sewing!

Last night I sewed for several hours and made 9 receiving blankets, numerous hankies and 5 burp cloths. Back at it again tonight. I figure why haul the sewing machine out every week when I can go into mass production all at once!

I also have a few special projects planned for Christmas gifts and my sister's baby shower so these will be featured soon too. I'm really excited to get crafting again!

Stay tuned for pictures and more updates!

Dried and Ready

Here are the tomatoes after drying in the oven at 200'C for about 5 hours. Tomorrow they will be turned into a jar of oven dried tomatoes with basil, garlic and olive oil. They taste so delicious - like concentrated sweetness. Even Hubby tried one and he doesn't eat tomatoes!

Thrifty Saturday

Today Hubby, Junior Jay and I went bargain hunting at Value Village and man did we SCORE!

A bucket of duplo legos and an equal amount of Mega Blocks ( a ridiculous amount of lego) -$3.99

Getting a scrub in the sink!

A laundry basket full of Mega Blocks - including a castle set and pieces to make a house - two bags - $11.99 total. We didn't realize that there were this many blocks in the bags.


A Fisher Price Circus Play Set - $3.99

A Fisher Price Dump Truck (with Little People driver) - $3.99

A play table for Mega Blocks/Duplo - with a storage compartment underneath - $9.99
Lift the yellow lid and there is a storage compartment underneath. Also has adjustable legs to change the height.

A bag of kids books, several unique shaped glass jars for canning ($0.49 each), a tiny little teapot (so Junior Jay and I can have tea parties), two shallow corningware baking dishes, and several little tub toys/play toys for Junior Jay.

Also picked up some Hardy Boy books for my brother.

A successful shopping day with some great bargains!

Ripe and Ready

Yellow Pear, Juliet (grape tom), Tumbler, Sweet Million,
Sweet One Hundreds and a few orange Sun Sugar's

These are going in the oven tonight and will hopefully turn into something delicious tomorrow. Yum!

Canning with Mom

Yesterday my mom and I "put up" some cucumbers and peppers. We made a tonne of yum yum pickles, two jars of pickled jalapenos and two jars of pickled banana peppers. We also made 5 pints of pickled beets last week. Pictures of the jalapenos to come - my camera battery ran out just as I was trying to take the last picture.

A productive day. Next on the agenda - tomato sauce - with carrots, peppers and zuchinni!

Burst of Energy

Last night Junior Jay (my son) went to bed pretty early and I had some pent up energy so I decided to spend some time in my crafting room. It felt great to be creative!

I made seven cards using the pattern of a card I first saw at my friend H's house. I liked the way the front of the card was folded back on itself and also the use of patterned paper. I added the little band myself - my cards needed a little something extra so they weren't too plain. I used my cricut to make the cutout of the boy and his puppy. I love that machine! Best birthday present ever! I used my scor-pal to make sure the folds were nice and crisp. The Thinking of You stamp was a $1.50 stamp from Michael's. Cute little stamp.

I made a few of each card. These are the results!

Garden Roundup

I had some time tonight to spend in the garden. The raised garden beds have been very productive this year - especially the peppers! My hubby loves his peppers and he wanted to try growing a variety this year. We harvested ancho chilis, habanero peppers, banana peppers, jalapenos, and bell peppers. Thank goodness the rabbits don't have a taste for peppers! I'll be turning the bell peppers into tomato sauce and freezing for stir fry veg and pickling the jalapenos and banana peppers. I am at a loss of what to do with the anchos and habaneros. Friends have suggested to try to dry the anchos and then grind up to put in chili etc. If you have suggestions, please share!

Yellow banana peppers, dark green anchos, light green jalapenos

I also grew six different varieties of tiny tomatoes - Juliet (grape tomato), Yellow Pear, Tumbler, Sunsugar (I think they are called), Sweet 100 and Sweet Million. I plan on making sun dried tomatoes with some of the small ones and of course they are perfect for snacking on or for bruschetta! I planted all of these in containers hanging in baskets or on the deck. It's been a bumper crop!




I also have several varietes in my garden (Manitoba, Celebrity, Roma, Fantastic, Early Girl). Maybe a few more - I forget now! The rabbits have been eating the ripe tomatoes so unfortunately no vine ripened tomatoes for me this summer. I have been picking them in at the first site of orange! I will spite those rabbits if it is the death of me!


The cucumber corner is full with cukes too - slicing, pickling and long english.


Tomorrow my mom is coming over and we will get to pickling the bounty! The beets have been pickled already - yum! Love pickled beets!

Harvesting the Bounty

Well it's that time of year - time to harvest the bounty from the garden. A bumper crop of cucumbers and peppers calls for attention! Pickles, pickled jalapenos and banana peppers are on the menu. I plan to make tomato sauce using zuchinni, onions, tomatos and peppers from the garden. The beets have been harvested and pickled as well.

I found a recipe to make sun dried tomatoes and will try this recipe with my tumbler and juliet tomatoes. I have basil drying in the oven now using the method I used last year.

Unfortunately the beans and peas were decimated by the rabbits this year. Only little stumps left. The carrots have been chewed down and I don't have much hope for them either. Probably enough to make some carrots and dip!

What plans do you have with your garden produce this year?