I Was Wrong and I'm Glad

I was so wrong about my overgrown tomato plants not producing; just take a look at this.I have only spotted a few, hidden inside the center of a few plants, but I have hope there are more that I cannot see.

And look at what is growing under the tomato plants...

Yummy, be still my heart!

A Life Without....

A life without fresh eggs is just too hard, so hard that I considered buying laying hens; but paying 10 to 15 dollars a piece was just too much. Thankfully I found a lady needing to down size her flock. Many are older and most are bantams;

But for 2-dollars a piece I was not complaining! And look at this...

Five eggs the very first day!

Out in the Garden

It is a strange year for tomatoes. My plants are tall and healthy;

But no tomatoes, just lots of pretty blooms. I have heard that others are having this same problem.

What I thought was Serrano peppers...

Have turned out to be bell peppers.

My jalapeno peppers that struggled to come up and then struggled to grow....

Are now producing cute little jalapeno peppers. And the onions are still growing despite the fact that I am constantly stepping on the green tops.

With the drought we are having I wasn't sure how well my garden would do, but this years garden is one of the best I have had.

I Miss You

Dear Eggs,

I miss you. Last week we purchased store eggs for the first time in years. You made my day brighter and satisfied my taste like no other.

We hope to see you again in February or March.

Love,

Patty

Another Puppy

In the middle of our busy summer we stopped long enough to enjoy a birthday party.Elizabeth requested I make a puppy for the birthday girl; it was well received.

Granola Bars

Elizabeth has been so anxious to learn to cook but I tend to say "I don't have time" too often. To solve this problem I have begun letting her make simple recipes when I am busy elsewhere. In my recent coupon magazine I found a recipe for homemade granola bars that looked pretty simple to make.

While I was busy in the sewing room Elizabeth took over the kitchen; all in all she spent about an hour and a half preparing them for the oven.

Elizabeth did a great job, all I had to do was answer questions and remind her to measure in a separate bowl before adding ingredients to the mixing bowl. She was scared when measuring the liquid ingredients and had me stand nearby to watch!

How did the granola bars taste? Well, they were good but not very sweet; so we dipped them in honey!

Brown Sugar

I tried making brown sugar for the first time more than 20 years ago and it was a disaster. Recently I decided to give it a try once again.

To make brown sugar you will need white sugar and molasses.Pour sugar in a mixing bowl.

Add some molasses to the sugar and begin mixing.

Continue adding the molasses slowly; roughly a tablespoon or two at one time.

As you add more molasses you will begin to see how the color is changing and how the sugar is beginning to look moist.

When the sugar is as dark as you like stop adding molasses and just let it continue to mix.

Stop mixing when it looks well blended.

Store in an air tight container.

The first time I tried making brown sugar I mixed it by hand, using a mixer really makes a difference; just wish I hadn't waited so long to give it a try again.