Goodbye Wipeout, Hello Coco-Motion

It's October. Can you believe it? The summer went by way too fast and I am already longing to go back and take one more swim, have one more barbecue and watch one more episode of Wipeout. We had a lot of fun with my family this summer in Utah, here we are all together.

But, with the fall comes other wonderful things. Yellow leaves on my green ash tree, a garden FULL of pumpkins and gourds, and my coco-motion taking it's perma spot on my kitchen counter.

A lot has been happening here in the Burg. Dan is back in school, graduation in April! Can I get a couple WOOT WOOTS from ya'll at home?

I know you thought about doing it, and those of you who did do it, I high 5 you. He's doing great. He is enjoying the new material in class and playing on a intramural soccer team. Undefeated so far! It's fun watching him play keeper, he's not afraid to jump and dive for stuff. He even runs up and grabs the ball from the other team, it's awesome. His nickname on the team is BearClaw, nothing gets past him people, nothing. Pics to come soon. . .

We also have moved into the basement here at the Maple house, it's different from the upstairs but we have made it our own. I do really miss all the cupboard space up there, especially the three drawers I had for my tupperware. I know, it's ridiculous to have three drawers just for tupperware. Let me just say, it was FABULOUS. Now it looks like this:

Lids, containers and randoms all together. I've already had a few of those moments where I was murmuring quite intensely under my breath about the situation.

"Where is that dang lid that goes to this dang container?"

"Hey! I have been looking for that forever!"

"If I have to move this one more time. . ."

"FORGET IT! I'll just use a zip lock bag! So much for going green."

Very troublesome indeed.

Summer literally stayed until last week. We had 80 degree weather the whole month of September. If you know this region of the globe at all, you understand that normally around this time of year there are 3 inches of snow on the ground. Not only are the pumpkins perfectly orange, but we are still getting tomatoes, check it out. . .

I hope your fall has started off as good as mine!

Blue Chairs and Sunflowers

Hi friends, I entered a photo contest at BLOOM and was chosen as a finalist! Visit here to see all the awesome entries. Happy fall.

ps. . . this isn't the photo, but these blue chairs are my most recent thrift store find.

I LOVE them.

:last harvest:

It's September and that's when you pick that last of your garden.

:homemade tomato soup:

Not everyone can enjoy the awesomeness of a vegetable garden. I am lucky to have the space in my yard to grow pumpkins, strawberries, yellow crookneck squash, three varieties of tomatoes and cantaloupe. I picked this yesterday:



About a week ago, I had a ton of freshly picked tomatoes to use up so I pulled out one of my favorite recipes for tomato soup. It's so easy, and so delicious. Whoever you make it for will say "wowza, that's good", trust me, that's what Daniel said as he was eating it. And that, my friends, means alot when you aren't that great in the kitchen. This works really well with fresh tomatoes as well as canned. The first time I made this recipe I used a bunch of canned diced tomatoes, canned whole and peeled tomatoes, and tomato sauce that had been sitting in my pantry forever. The other night I used fresh and canned, so whatever you got will work. Just make sure all the measurements are right.

4 cups diced canned tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
Season to taste (garlic, basil, salt and pepper)

In a large saucepan, heat tomatoes until boiling. Remove from heat; Pour stewed tomatoes into blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Pour back into saucepan and add remaining ingredients. Return to heat and cook on medium until butter is melted and soup is heated through.


Look at the color!

When using fresh tomatoes make sure they are peeled and seeded before they are blended, the texture is much smoother. I usually add whatever spices I like so go crazy. Goes great with grilled cheese, bread bowls with cheese melted on top, a spinach salad, or just plain garlic toast. Let me know if you like it ok?