Summer Recipes

One of the best parts of summer is when the garden finally starts producing! We have an abundance of zucchini & crookneck squash so I've been trying to think of new and yummy recipes to use them up. I wanted to share these ideas I've come up with in case anyone out there has a ton of squash they don't know what to do with! I've also used the onions, peppers and tomatoes from my garden in all of these recipes. (You may have to click on the pics to see the recipes better)

The first was probably my favorite. Macaroni and Cheese is a classic, and I just added some veggies to make it better!
Next is a definite comfort food for me. Anytime you add potatoes, hamburger and cream of anything soup it makes for a filling meal! This reminded me of tin foil dinners!
This was a really yummy salad, a good healthy lunch!

Lastly, something that I wasn't too sure of, but it actually turned out SOOO GOOD! It is a twist on chicken tacos, but would make good enchiladas if you layered and baked it too!


Hopefully if you try out these recipes you think they are as good as I thought they were :) If you try them out let me know!

Becoming Domesticated

Now that I am older, I have been thinking a lot about all of the things that I had when I was a little girl. When I was little, I never thought twice about the work and effort that went into the things my mom did for us. I always just thought that things were easy, and just always assumed that I had the things I had because that was just the way it was! As I become a "grown-up" and a wife, my eyes were opened up to me about how much work actually went into all that was provided to me as a kid. I've learned that dinner doesn't just appear on the table, laundry doesn't just clean itself, and water & power don't come free!

In the last few months, I have really started to look at the things that my mom and my grandma have done for me, and decided that I wanted to learn how to do those things so that someday I will be able to provide my kids with the same great things. First I started fiddling with sewing. My grandma has made me so many wonderful things, including a beautiful quilt that I will cherish forever. I am slowly learning this skill, and hope to be able to make a quilt of my own soon!

Today, I learned a lesson that I am so excited to have learned! Canning peaches and salsa! My mom & Grandma have canned salsa for as long as I can remember. I would always just grab a bottle, sit down and eat the entire thing in one sitting I loved it so much! So I decided that I really wanted to learn how to do it, so that I can keep my storage full! I also wanted to can some peaches while they were on right now. So today me, my mom and my grandma all got together and did both! I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to can peaches...I can't believe I haven't done it before now!

Me and my grandma processing peaches and skinning tomatoes

Salsa on the other hand... I have gained such a great respect for my mom and grandma! It was a time consuming process, but well worth it! I just love the smell of the house when you are making salsa!

Stirring for 3 hours to get the right consistency

The mess... and oh boy did it make one!

In the end, half of our peaches weren't quite ripe. So we only did about half of them, but still we got about 13 bottles. I'm planning to do more later in the week once the rest are ripe. We ended up with 27 bottles of salsa, which should keep me supplied hopefully until next summer!

So a big thanks to my mom and my grandma for helping me learn this lesson in domestication! I am so excited to have this skill under my belt! Next on the list...Making Thanksgiving dinner!