Po-Ta-To

August 19 was National Potato Day.

We ate Slow Cooker Swedish Meatballs (from A Season of Family Meal Plans, volume 3, by Jordan Page) with rice and Bacon Ranch Potatoes (from Instant Cooking by Six Sisters' Stuff) and some cucumber from our garden. Yummmmm. 

Garden's Bounty

I am thrilled with how our garden has done so far this year.

Jet wanted to pose with our most recent garden picture.

 

I'm also thrilled with what we've done with what our garden has produced. 

I cut a bouquet of basil and made homemade pesto (a couple times). The recipe came from Shelf Cooking 101 by Jordan Page.

Some I froze to be used later. Some I used to make pesto alfredo. Oh, that's yummy.

We've used banana peppers in sandwiches and in salads.

 

We ate one cucumber and have more to use. We're still figuring out cucumbers.

 

We've used jalapenos for various things including mini jalapeno popper egg rolls, which I love so much, but didn't get a picture this time because they didn't last long and got all gobbled up. 

 

We used zucchini to make zucchini bread- LOTS of zucchini bread. 

This year since we actually grew zucchini early enough, I took some of that zucchini and on August 8, I baked zucchini bread. Then I put some bread on a friend's porch and sent her a message saying, "Happy Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Night. Look on your porch." I didn't actually want the zucchini bread to sit there all night and it was fine that she knew it was us. She likes my zucchini bread so I like to give her some when I bake enough.

 

We also harvested enough tomatoes (and basil) to make homemade spaghetti sauce, which we used in more slow cooker beef lasagna (from Six Sisters' Stuff). 

I am so happy with our garden this year. 

More Recipes from Six Sisters' Stuff

July 29 was National Lasagna Day. In order to beat the heat and not turn on the oven but still celebrate the holiday, I tried another new recipe from Six Sisters' Stuff.

Easy Slow Cooker Beef Lasagna

I had ground turkey available so I used that instead of beef (and cottage cheese instead of ricotta). It turned out well and tasted good.  

Another day as a last minute dinner because I didn't have anything on the menu plan, I pulled out Instant Cooking by Six Sisters' Stuff and threw Bacon-Ranch Potatoes in the Instant Pot. It was a hit with most of us and I needed to use up potatoes anyway. I need to remember the next time I make it to double it. We could have happily eaten more or enjoyed leftovers later.

 

Six Sisters' Stuff have been great lately for making meals without having to use the oven.  

July Recipe Challenge

You know I like a good challenge. Often it's a reading challenge but Six Sisters' Stuff has been doing recipe challenges recently.

For July, it was Slow Cooker Smoky BBQ Pulled Pork.

It was easy and made plenty but didn't last long even as leftovers. My pickiest eater had several sandwiches the day I made this recipe.

Thanks again, Six Sisters' Stuff. 

Eat What You Want Day

Once Screen Free Week was over, we spent too much time on screens. Sigh.

May 11 was Eat What You Want Day so dinner was FFY (Fend For Yourself) but I just so happened to make a new recipe from Six Sisters' Stuff if anyone wanted any.

Instant Pot Hawaiian Meatballs

Craveworthy for me, that's for sure. 

Air Fryer French Bread Pizza

I've learned some things from Six Sisters' Stuff over the years. Because of them, I am not scared of using my Instant Pot. Instant Pot Honey Garlic Chicken with rice is one of my go to recipes when I'm in a hurry.

I don't have a lot of experience with my air fryer but thanks to Six Sisters' Stuff again, I got to try out another new recipe. Air Fryer French Bread Pizza.

Simple and I like the result. Great crunch. And pizza's my favorite food anyway. I look forward to trying other types of pizza besides pepperoni now that I know this is a thing. 

Catching Up March 2025 part 3

March 16 was Artichoke Hearts Day. We used it as an excuse to make a yummy alfredo pizza.

March 17 was St. Patrick's Day. I made two recipes from Sarah M. Eden from The Fiction Kitchen Trio Cookbook. Dublin Coddle and Katie's Irish Soda Bread. 

For dessert we had Oreo Mint Truffles.

 

March 18 was Sloppy Joe Day. We had open faced sloppy joes. It was also Forgive Mom and Dad Day. I kept asking the kids to forgive me for silly reasons. 

Lucky, Jeremy, and I went to see one of Jr.'s orchestra concerts that day. I love that he enjoys orchestra so much because music is very important to me.

See Lucky hiding behind that book? The elementary school read-a-thon was going on during that time so Lucky wanted to get as many minutes in as possible. He ended up being one of the top readers in the school and got a prize for it. The read-a-thon was Roald Dahl themed this year. One morning, Jeremy, Jet, and I were able to go to Parents and Pastries with Lucky.

March 19 was Poultry Day. We ate chicken that day. 

It was also Chocolate Caramel Day. I may have celebrated that observed the next day by making Olloch the Glutton's Caramel Biscuit Bars to go with our Vernal Equinox (March 20) food, Easy Fairy Folk Tortilla Pizzas, both from The Fablehaven Cookbook.

 

March 21 was Fragrance Day and French Bread Day. We took some of those artichoke hearts and made Cheesy Artichoke Bread from the Six Sisters' Stuff cookbook, A Year With Six Sisters' Stuff.

March 22 was World Water Day. It rained. 

I got a little break from the rain when I went out to the water of the lake. I was just going to take a quick jaunt out to look at the pelicans on the lake then I kept going and going and going. There were plenty of birds to see. What else was I supposed to do? I ended up making a complete loop around the Geneva Ponds between Vineyard Beach and Lindon Boat Harbor.

I finally got some sun... but it was in my eyes. Did I mention that March 22 was also National Goof Off Day?

After my morning off, my ministering sister invited me to her house for lunch with my other ministering sister to celebrate Nauryz, a celebration of the new year and Spring and a renewal of nature. We enjoyed some traditional foods from Kazakhstan. 

What a wonderful day for that.

Later I went for a nice little drive up the canyon. Beautiful on that rainy day.

Some Other Things We Did in October

Here are some other things we did in October.

Tried some new recipes using substitutions as needed. And did a little more shelf cooking.

Jr. Jr., Jet, and I dressed up and went to Jr.'s Halloween orchestra concert.

Jr. had another concert where he performed in a "rockestra" with other students from around the school district. They played rock music with their strings. It was conducted by Mark Wood. Jr. got a fun t shirt for participating.

 

Jet, Jeremy, and I went to the "Grand Lunch" at the elementary school with Lucky.

 

Lucky had white ribbon week (internet safety) at school so he got to dress up for Mustache Day and Pajama Day and Crazy Hair Day.

I took a bit more Me Time and went walking in Provo Canyon. There were still some Fall colors. I went to a place where I often see American dippers. I didn't bring binoculars or birding camera so didn't think I would get a good look if there was one. However, I looked down from the bridge I was on and right there up close was a dipper. Ha Ha. So I did get a good look. Nice.