What a dreary day.  Makes me want to make chicken soup from the roasted chicken I made the other day.  That's the plan for tonight.  Every day I check to see if the tomatoes are ripe.  Well, they are almost there!!! Wow, it takes a while when you plant them from seed.  Also the butternut squash is almost ready as well.  I heard it sweetens them to leave them on the vine until a light frost hits.  It's the same with brussell sprouts.  Who knew?

Today was a whirlwind.  The only problem with harvesting all the grapes yesterday meant that I had to make the grape jam today.  Well, 4 hours later....twenty five jars of grape jam are complete!!! Yay! Just finished making a roasted chicken, risotto stuffed peppers, baked yukon gold potatoes and peppers & onions.  Even though I had fun while making everything, I am glad today is almost over.  Opening a bottle of cabernet to enjoy with dinner. Have a great night everyone :)

Today feels like a beautiful fall day. Have the pot roast cooking, and the chicken/potato cooking for the chicken pot pie I am going to make later.  I tried something new with my pot roast.  I took oregano, garlic, basil, and thyme from the garden.  Then I blended it into a chunky paste and when I was searing the meat I spread it all over. Wow...let me tell you, the smell in the house is heaven!  Rice crispy treats are made for dessert.  Now, to pick all the grapes off the vine.  What a busy girl I am today.

So, I am thinking this is a good weekend to make grape jam!!!! yay! It's my favorite thing to make and actually very easy.  Tomorrow going to buy all that I need.  With all this cooler weather I felt the need to decorate the house for the fall season...aaahhhh. I know, it's early to do that, but we only have a short season then Christmas creeps up on you and the next thing you know Walmart is screaming holiday music! So, I have to enjoy my fall decor.  The grapes are definitely ready to harvest.  Oh, and I picked my first grape tomato and Big boy....soooooo good.  My only problem is they are all going to be ripe at the same time.  Hopefully that's when the sauce and salsa come in to play.

Gardening Adventures

This is my first year with a real garden.  I have made a lot of mistakes and have learned a lot!!! My garden includes; three varieties of tomatoes, three types of peppers, brussell sprouts, broccoli, red cabbage, green cabbage, celery (which did not do well at all, ugh), lettuce, butternut squash, cucumbers, garden beans, 4 varieties of onion, garlic, carrots.  The herb garden includes; thyme, cilantro, rosemary, basil, lavender, chives, chamomille, oregano, curled parsley.  The fruits include grapes and raspberries.  I have to say it's an on going adventure. I have harvested most of everything but am still waiting for the tomatoes to ripen.  These cooler nights should help the process speed up.  The other vegetables are continuing to produce and I have to say I can't wait to see what fresh brussell sprouts taste like.  Just split them in half and add to a pan of olive oil with some herbs and voila...you have a beautiful side dish! Yummy!  I have made 3 batches of Kosher Dill Pickles and tried my first one today. The verdict is...perfecto!  I am not a fan of the bread and butter variety but am going to make some since I have gotten requests.  We will see how they turn out. he grapes will be ready to harvest this weekend so I will be a busy girl making jam.  I have plans to make salsa and tomatoe sauce but we will see if I have enough to do that.  I guess you need 20 lbs of Roma tomatoes to make a sauce?! Is that true?  Yikes...we will see.