September Recipes 1 & 2

Happy fall blog world! September is officially winding down and October is a night's sleep away!

Recipe 1:  Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

September started out with a continued abundance of tomatoes from our veggie garden.  To use up masses of homegrown tomatoes I made homemade spaghetti sauce for the first time ever.  I used a very basic recipe I found online.  The whole process probably took less than 1 hour.  I'm sure there are more flavorful recipes out there in which you simmer tomatoes all day but, ain't nobody got time for that!

I served the spaghetti sauce over "homemade" noodles purchased from the grocery store and I topped the sauce with some not-so-homemade meatballs.  Add some toasted french bread, a glass of red wine and enjoy!

 

Recipe 2:  Scalloped Potatoes & Ham

There is something about the autumn season that beckons potatoes for dinner.  For me, scalloped potatoes are a hearty, homey meal.

I estimate that I began preparing this meal around 6:30pm after returning from a 9+hour day in the office.  An hour later I finished peeling the potatoes.  Next, I had my first ever onion induced cry as I diced onions.  Finally, it was time to put dinner in the oven...only to discover that it was going to take 2 hours to cook.

With 2 hours until dinner time I raced to put ingredients in the bread maker and set it for the quickest setting.  Nothing like warm homemade bread with melted butter to pair with this meal!

At 9:45pm, Hubs and I sat down for dinner.  Late dinner was memorable and delicious.  This meal also fed us all week.  Note to self:  Don't peel half as many potatoes next time!!!

Yarn Wreath with Felt Flowers

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a yarn wreath online.  I wanted to replicate it as fall decor for the front door of our house.

The photo that I saw online actually came from a blog post where the original creator details the "how-to" details much better than I ever could.  Please visit the original creator's blog for all of the how-to details.

The online inspiration

My final product:

 What do you think?

Color Running!

A few weeks ago I saw an advertisement for a Color Vibe race in Vermont.  At first I brushed it off a little.  I didn’t think I was ready.  I totally fell off the bandwagon for my running group.

Also, I saw the advertisement two weeks before the day of the race.  Could I really get back in shape in 2 weeks?

I put the invitation out to a few of my friends to see if I could get any buy in to give me some extra motivation.   All 3 of the friends I asked had interested in doing a color run.  However, only one was able to register and sign up to participate.  I was so happy to have someone onboard with me for the race!

With a friend signed up to run with me, I kicked it into high gear and got out running.  I set my alarm for 5am and got outside and moving almost every morning before the race.

Here is what 5am looks like around here:

Despite the initial “Oh-my-gosh-it’s-5am” feeling, it does feel really good to get up and start moving.  I found that it set the tone for the day.   (Now if I could only keep this up!)

Here were my expectations for the race:

1.       Have fun

2.       Get some color

3.       Catch up with an old friend

All expectations were met.  I had a good time!

The night before the race I was able to pick up my registration packet which included my t-shirt, color packets, sunglasses, and registration bib.  When I picked up these items it became clear that this race was not competitive at all. The bib numbers weren’t matched up to names and there was no tear away piece for the finish line.  Clearly the goal of a color vibe race is to simply have FUN.

Upon arriving at the race a zumba instructor was getting the runners warmed up with some fun tunes.  A DJ then took over and began to release waves of runners every 4 minutes or so.

The course followed a golf course around a few holes, went into the woods for a bit, and then popped back out in a field for a long straight away to the finish line.

Every so often on the route there were packs of volunteers dousing runners with color.  The color stations were fairly evenly spaced throughout the race.  It is impossible to run through them without getting color.

Before:

During:

After:

I would definitely recommend this race to anyone looking to have some fun.  You don’t need to be overly athletic to participate. Many groups were walking or walk/jogging through the race.

I do recommend purchasing extra color packets.  My friend and I carried packets with us and sprinkled runners that we ran past.  It was a little extra motivation for runners that we were passing and a little extra fun for us.

Cheers to a 30/30 accomplishment and a great day of fun with a good friend!

August Recipes 1 & 2 and EXTRA!

We have had a bountiful harvest from our little raised veggie garden this year.  Our tomato plants have done wonderfully.  We’ve harvested 26 tomatoes from our 2 tomato plants so far.  There are many more green tomatoes in the works. 

I focused on tomato based recipes to use up some of the delicious harvest.  YUM!

Recipe 1:  Fried Green Tomatoes

This recipe required a special trip to the grocery store to purchase cornmeal.  I didn’t use nearly as much oil as the recipes called for and the result was still delicious.

Making these made me want to watch the movie Fried Green Tomatoes.  If you haven’t seen this one you should check it out.  It's a great story about friendship.  A classic in my book.

Also noteworthy, I served this meal with iced sweet tea.  So southern of me!

Recipe 2:  Green Tomato Pizza

Throw some green tomatoes on your pizza crust, sprinkle them with salt and pepper.  Add caramelized onions and top with mozzarella cheese.  So good!

Green tomatoes taste different then red tomatoes.  They have a little more bite.  I like eating them green.  Who knew?

EXTRA:  Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

August was our month for hosting a dinner meal with our friends.  We have had some frozen rhubarb from Hubs sister’s garden and I was curious to try strawberry rhubarb pie.  I had never had it before.  This pie was a HUGE hit.  And by huge I mean everyone had two slices the night that I served it.  It was completely gone within 2 days of baking it. 

I think I discovered my favorite kind of pie! Next time I may try making a fancier top pie crust.  I’d like to try weaving or cutting out shapes to make it look a little more special.

Cheers to September and another month of kitchen experiments!