Labor Day Weekend

This weekend we did alot of relaxing.

Well i did do laundry :( its my arch enemy)

But mostly alot of chillaxing.

The girls jumped in the sprinkler almost everyday for literally hours.

It was kinda hot. That is until actual labor day. our high is 66!

We also had Emma over. They played dress up and pop star. where everyone sings and makes up dances.

Me and Derek did a ton of cooking. It was so fun.

Friday- First we made a pie.

I call it Very Berry Pie:  

it consisted of crust,

 peaches, blueberries, and raspberries (you remember all those berries we picked and froze) also the peaches were Pennsylvania peaches-yum

the filling was made of half n half, egg, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, flour, and sugar

it was so good. words can not explain. Derek's new summer favorite.

Second we made a huge mexican salad.

-meat,beans,cheese,lettuce,tomatoes,blackolives,sourcream,avacados,chips.  everyone ate it up super quick.

sry no pic.

Saturday- Emma's mom sent over a giant box of green and yellow beans. And I do mean giant!

Our poor little gean bean bushes (and our sugar snap peas) did not stand a chance against the monsters, a.k.a. zucchini and squash. so we only had a few nights of beans. But, Emma's mom has a 50 x 50 garden so she has 4 rows of beans. and lucky for us, she is super generous. So back to the beans. There were so many in that box  that even if we ate them everyday this weekend for breakfast, lunch, and dinner we would still not consume them all. So i googled how to can greenbeans. We have several cans from all the pickles we made from our garden. But i had no pressure cooker. There seemed to be some health risks without one. So i googled freezing them. That seemed to be easy enough. Clean, snap, boil each batch for 3 minutes, then blanch each batch in ice water for 3 minutes, drain, and finally bag in freezer. we made about 9 bags! Plus i had a huge fresh pot to cook for dinner. Heck i even had a big pot of green/yellow beans that i smothered in gravy and mixed with dog food. My dogs do love them some veggies:)

Sunday-  My hubby has been eating alot of greek yogurt and granola these days. We really like both organic.  Well, thats super expensive and i try to be on budget. So i googled how to make granola. I liked two different recipes so i  made up my own.

I made a huge batch.

ingredients:

 rolled oats(not the done in a minute kind)

oat bran

sunflower seeds

almonds, pecans, walnuts

shredded coconut (not to much b/c Derek doesn't like big quantities)

salt, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla,

 real maple syrup (got it at our downtown organic farmers market)

raw honey

apple sauce

lil' bit of oil

all the ingredients were organic except oil and applesauce

cooked at 250 degrees for one hour and fifteen minutes- stirring every 15 minutes for even cooking.

The house smelled so good. The hunny loves it and so do all the girls:)

next time i'm gonna try a peanut butter granola.yum

we ended up with two of these filled
plus i sent some home with Emma

And finally chicken tetrazzini with green and red bell peppers from our garden:)