Aunt Kelly's Bread Stuffing

Next to my Grandma's Noodle Gravy, this is my favorite part of Thanksgiving! Growing up I would go to my mom's side of the family Thanksgiving (famous for the Noodle Gravy) and then my dad's side of the family Thanksgiving (famous for my Aunt Kelly's Bread Stuffing). So now when I go to Thanksgiving with Justin's family I bring my grandma's gravy and aunt's stuffing. It's like the best of both worlds! Now if I could only get my Aunt Mina's mom's pie recipes... then I may just have the best Thanksgiving dinner possible!

On Thanksgiving we went to Justin's parents' house for dinner. Before I tell you what Abbott said you should know that we've never been hunting and we've never eaten game meat. Not that we have anything against hunting, we're just too lazy to get up that early in the morning... that and no one in my family could stomach the thought of killing something ,-)
So, while we were getting ready to leave for Thanksgiving, Abbott asked "who’s bringing the turkey"
I said "Grandma"
Abbott asked "Did she hunt it?"
"No" I said
"Oh Crap! It tastes terrible when someone didn’t hunt it!" exclaims Abbott
"Well grandma bought it from someone who hunted it (meaning the store)" I say
"Oh phew! I am glad she bought it from someone. The hunted kind tastes so much better than the kind you buy at the store!" Abbott said

So... weird fact about Abbott #1,836- Abbott thinks hunted turkey tastes better than store bought turkey.
Weird fact about Abbott #1,837- Abbott's under the false impression that he's eaten a hunted turkey before.

Ingredients
2 loaves of sandwich bread, aired out for a few hours to get stale and crusty
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 cans chicken broth
2 eggs
1/2 cup white onion, minced
1/2 cup butter
2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions
In a large skillet over medium heat, warm the butter, onion, poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper.

Slice up the celery stalks and add them to the pan (I stir in each celery stalk after I cut it).

Once all the celery is cut, add 1 can of chicken broth and turn the heat to medium low. Cook for 8-10 minutes until celery is just soft. Then remove from heat so it can cool.

While the celery is cooking cut the 2 loaves of bread into cubes (or if you prefer you can cut the bread earlier in the day, I'm lucky because while I'm cutting and cooking celery Justin cuts up the bread).

Whisk 1 can of broth and 2 eggs together. Slowly pour the egg broth over the bread, stopping to toss the bread (with your hands) in-between drizzles. You don't want to soak the bread, just spread the egg broth around evenly.

Now, hopefully your seasoned celery broth is cooled to just being warm (you don't want to scramble your egg with boiling broth). Using a spoon (or in my case a measuring cup), ladle on the celery and broth.

Toss the bread after every couple ladles, (so the bread doesn't get too runny) you want to evenly distribute the celery and seasoned broth.

Spoon on more celery and broth and toss. Repeat until you're out of seasoned celery broth.

Put the stuffing in a baking dish and smash it down. I prefer a deeper dish to keep the stuffing really moist (I used a 2.5 quart cast iron pot), but a 9x13 works fine... it's just a little more dry.

Bake, covered, at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Uncover for 15 minutes or so until nice and browned on top.

Mashed Faux-Tatoes

These mashed faux-tatoes look like mashed potatoes, taste like creamy rice, but it is really cauliflower!
... This was my opening line to my family but their response was "it smells terrible"! I admit that boiling cauliflower doesn't smell like roses but I thought it really did taste good! I quite liked these faux-tatoes! They couldn't ever substitute real mashed potatoes but they are great as a vegetable side dish!
I've been a reading fool this weekend! I read the Wake Trilogy Books by Lisa McMann in two days! Once I start a book (or book series) I just can't stop though! I've got a whole week full of boy's activities ahead of me though so I need a new book to read! Do you have any book suggestions?

Ingredients
2 pounds cauliflower, trimmed
1/4 cup low fat sour cream
1/4 cup low fat cream cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced

Directions
Boil cauliflower until soft. Mix cauliflower with rest of ingredients in blender or using a mixer. Cook on stove-top for 15-20 minutes.

Broccoli Salad

This broccoli salad is great for potlucks! I wanted to make it yesterday for the 4th of July but decided that watermelon and cantaloupe was good enough... I love my cooking logic when I get too tired to cook anymore ,-)
Justin hasn't ever had this salad and blew me away by eating a couple helpings! He usually hates broccoli! He said that he didn't hate this salad, but he didn't like it either... the sweet, salty, and earthy vegetable tastes confused his taste buds. So he ate bite after bite staring it down like he was trying to figure it out. It was funny!

During the summer there's not too much on TV so we've been watching Oprah's debt diet... mostly because it's entertaining to gawk at the people in debt, but it also got us thinking about our spending habits. We do pretty good, we hate shopping so we don't have the debt that Oprah talks about. We spend too much money on eating out though. So, for July we're challenging ourselves, we made 3 rules...
1. No eating out- no fast food, no desserts, nothing!
2. We must have a fruit or vegetable with every meal!
3. Corn and potatoes don't count as vegetables!
We're on day 5 of our July challenge and we're doing great! We haven't wanted to eat out once... I get tired cooking every meal though, it would be nice to have a break :-(

Ingredients
1 head fresh broccoli, cut into bite size pieces
2 tablespoons bacon, crumbled
1/2 cup red grapes, cut into fourths
3 tablespoons white vinegar
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 cup mayonnaise

Directions
In a medium bowl, combine the broccoli and grapes. In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, sugar and mayonnaise. Little by little, pour the dressing over broccoli mixture... you won't need all of the dressing, it depends on the size of your broccoli head and how much dressing you like on salads. So just pour a little, toss, and then pour some more if you like. Refrigerate for at least two hours. Before serving, toss salad with crumbled bacon.

Sweet Corn on the Cob

I know what you're thinking... Corn on the Cob... seriously Carrie, corn on the cob isn't a recipe. But this recipe will give you that "sweet taste" every time you make it, just by adding a few ingredients to the water! Corn on the cob seems to be hit or miss for me, this makes every cob taste like a winner... I'll never make corn in plain ol' water again!

So, summer is officially here, the boys are having a blast and getting their days and nights confused! I haven't felt like my summer has started though. I'm not sure why, I just feel like I'm in a funk! Maybe it's the week we spent in the hospital with Andrew... or not being able to go to the pool (Andrew can't swim with his incision)... or not going on a summer vacation (we can't afford it this summer)... or the fact that even when I'm home for the summer I work 24/7 on getting everything ready for the next school year. I just haven't felt like doing my usual summer stuff. I usually love summer and relish the extra day-time to prepare meals, but I've found myself making hot dogs twice a week lately. I've tried reading a couple books but I'm not interested in anything but re-runs of The King of Queens! I need some help getting out of this funk, I need to enjoy my summer before it's over! Any ideas?

Ingredients
4 ears of corn
water (enough to cover the corn)
3/4 cup Heavy cream (I substitute with milk)
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons butter

Directions
Fill a large stock pot with enough water to cover the corn. Add milk, sugar and butter. Stir to mix. Bring to a boil, then add corn cobs. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 8 minutes, or until just tender. Do not over cook or the corn will become tough. Also, never salt the water, as it also toughens the corn.

Mary's Roasted Vegetable Medley

My good friend Mary (the vegetarian) told me about these roasted vegetables last week, she made them sound so delicious, I couldn't wait to give them a try! I've never met a vegetable I didn't like.... with the exception of the vegetables served in my school cafeteria (I swear there's more pepper than vegetables). My lovely husband however rarely meets a vegetable he likes. To his defense he's WORLDS better then when we first started dating, he only ate corn and potatoes back then. Now he eats any kind of salad, spinach, green beans, and avocado (ok, you caught me avocado's really a fruit), but he's come a long way in the last 14 years! This vegetable medley really pushed his tolerance though, he almost threw up twice at the dinner table, it was hilarious actually. He was really trying to eat all his vegetables but he said the mushrooms did him in, I broke out into giggles two when he dry heaved.

Ingredients
2 pounds red potatoes, quartered
1 zucchini, cut into chunks
1 yellow squash, cut into chunks
1 onion, halved then cut into chunks
1/2 pound button mushrooms
1 cup of sliced carrots (this was my addition, not in Mary's recipe)
4 tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil
2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions
You cook these vegetables in two parts because the potatoes need to cook twice as long as the other veggies. So we'll split the oil and seasonings between the two groups of vegetables. So first put the quartered red potatoes in a large ziploc, add two tablespoons oil, shake the ziploc to cover the potatoes with oil. Then, add 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper to the bag and shake the ziploc until the potatoes are coated and pour them out onto a baking sheet. Cook for 20 minutes at 425 degrees.
Next combine zucchini, yellow squash, onions, carrots, and mushrooms in a large ziploc (I use the same Ziploc as the potatoes). Add two tablespoons oil, shake the ziploc to cover the vegetables with oil. Then, add 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper to the bag and toss them again to combine and spread them out onto a baking sheet with the potatoes. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes at 425 until tender.

Cobb Salad

I love Cobb Salad! But it has to be a GOOD Cobb salad, they’re hard to find you know! Justin and I have had many disappointing salads from our local grills and steakhouses. Homemade is usually the best because the ingredients are fresh and cold! For my upcoming birthday I am going to the restaurant Ingredient, they have THE BEST salads! There are a couple rules to a good salad:

• Rule #1- Lettuce needs to be chopped into small bite sized pieces! There’s nothing worse than digging into your salad only to get a head of lettuce on your fork!

• Rule #2- Serve the salad already tossed/mixed together! First put the dressing on the lettuce and stir. Next are all the toppings and then stir it again! I know in restaurants they serve you a salad with all the ingredients neatly laid out on top but it never mixes together the same once you pour the dressing on.

• Rule #3- Eat everything that comes on the salad! This is a salad, not a salad bar! If Andrew made his own salad it would only have bacon and cheese (my boys hate eggs and avocados, but too bad)! You can’t taste individual ingredients in a salad and each ingredient has a special purpose! Once I’ve mixed everything together the boys happily dug into the tossed salad not even knowing what’s in it… and you know what? THEY LOVED IT!

Ingredients
2 heads of Romaine Lettuce
8 slices bacon, crumbled
1 hard boiled egg, diced (I would prefer 2 eggs but my boys draw the line at 1)
3 cups chopped, cooked chicken meat (I sprinkle lemon pepper seasoning on my chicken as it's cooking)
2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
3/4 cup shredded cheese (I used Cheddar but any cheese works great)
1 avocado - peeled, pitted and diced
1 cup Ranch salad dressing (make your own, it's so much better! 1 cup Hellman's mayonnaise, 1 cup milk, and a pack of Hidden Valley Ranch seasoning mix)

Directions
Place egg in a saucepan and cover completely with cold water. Bring water to a boil. Cover, remove from heat, and let eggs stand in hot water for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from hot water, cool, peel and dice.
Lay bacon in a 9x13 pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Cool and crumble into pieces.
Put your chicken breasts in a baking pan, sprinkle it with lemon pepper seasoning and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

While everything is cooking you can chop your lettuce, tomatoes, and avocado. Before/after chopping keep everything in the fridge to keep it cool. I even put my chicken, bacon, and eggs in the fridge! When you're ready to serve the salad get a large bowl and toss in the lettuce. Drizzle the ranch over the lettuce and toss it together with two large spoons. Now add the rest of the toppings (bacon, eggs, chicken, tomatoes, avocado, and cheese). Use the large spoons to toss everything together. Plate the salad on a serving platter or on individual plates.

Chad's Sesame Ginger Grilled Chicken Salad

** Remember to click on the pictures for full screen view ;-)
My brother-in-law Chad is a really good chef (for further proof check out Chad's Steak). I am a good cook, I can follow a recipe like it's nobodies business. Chad creates his own recipes though, it's craziness! Justin has similar skills he just isn't allowed to use them... he tries to taste and add ingredients (I discourage this because he makes everything spicy)! So, last week Justin got a text picture from Chad, it was this beautiful salad! Justin actually thought they went out to eat without us and were rubbing it in! I should have known... Chad made the salad, it was just a recipe he thought up! We made it tonight and it was amazing!! It was fairly healthy too, with only a few tablespoons of dressing and cheese! It fed the four of us without any side dishes, I can't wait to make it again!

Ingredients
Corn Pico de Gallo
3/4 can of whole kernel sweet corn
1 1/2 medium size Jalapeño peppers
2 romano tomatoes chopped
2 tablespoons cilantro
1 tablespoon chopped parsley (I didn't have any so I omitted it)
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 1/2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar (I only had white-wine vinegar)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder

Sesame Ginger Grilled Chicken
1 pound boneless chicken breast
Lawry’s Sesame Ginger Marinade (I couldn't find this particular marinade so I used Lawry's Baja Chipotle)

Salad Mix
Do Not Use Iceberg Lettuce in bags!!!!
1 head of fresh green lettuce, chopped
1 head of fresh romaine lettuce, chopped
4 tablespoons Kraft Parmesan Romano Dressing (I couldn't find this either so I got Kraft Caesar dressing)
Shredded Colby cheese and Parmesan Cheese

Directions
Prepare Pico in a medium bowl; combine the corn, peppers, tomatoes, cilantro, parsley, orange juice, vinegar, cumin, and chili powder. Stir well then chill for 30 min.

Marinade the chicken for 45 min., meanwhile start charcoal in grill. Make sure when you grill you position charcoal to one side of grill so that you have a hot side and a cool side. When top part of coals get white hot put chicken on cool side of grill; cook and flip chicken every 5 min. for about 20 min. (depending on how hot you have your grill.) Make sure chicken is white in the middle, but be careful you don’t overcook!

Mix Salad and dressing together, add about 1/2 a cup of Colby cheese, then top with chopped grilled chicken, add 1/2 cup of pico mixture, then top the salad off with shredded Parmesan cheese and enjoy!

Tomato Cucumber Salad

I love tomatoes and cucumbers! ... and broccoli, and mushrooms, and zucchini; Ok, I love most vegetables! This is a quick and easy salad, perfect for summer! I love cold raw vegetables in the summer, they are so refreshing!
Tomorrow we are heading to the lake for a couple days; our last hurrah before going back to work and school. I feel like I've worked the entire summer so it's a little sad going back to work. I really enjoy my job though, I can't wait to catch up with my students and co-workers!

Ingredients
1 large cucumber, peeled and diced
3-4 tomatoes, diced
1/8 cup oil
1/8 cup vinegar
Salt and pepper

Ingredients
Whisk the oil and vinegar until it emulsifies into a smooth sauce. Salt and pepper to taste and add the tomatoes and cucumbers. Personally, I like a lot of salt on my tomatoes. Store in the refrigerator, the salad is best chilled. I have a friend who adds a teaspoon of Dijon mustard to the sauce!

Sauteed Mushrooms

I am a huge mushroom fan! I love mushrooms any way they are served but they are especially good when sauteed! I eat these all by themselves and they are yum-o-licious!
I saw a trailer for the new movie Julie & Julia and got so excited! You have to watch this trailer! I could swear this was a movie about me, I am Julie Powell! I was once lost and found myself through my cooking! You see, I went from being a child living with my parents to being married and having my own child. There wasn't time for any self exploration or hobbies. So, as you can imagine... as my boys grew older and needed me less and less I became more and more lost. I had no idea what to do in my newly acquired free time. I decided that I needed a hobby, everyone needs a hobby! I've always enjoyed cooking so it seemed natural that I start a cooking blog. I didn't start my cooking blog because I wanted people to read it, I started it for me and my family. As I post recipes I imagine my boys one day making them for their own families! It's like my own personal cooking scrapbook, I love it!

Ingredients
1 pound large white mushrooms, cut into quarters
2/3 cup butter
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Directions
Melt butter in pan over medium heat. Add garlic, mushrooms and Worcestershire sauce. Stir to coat mushrooms. Saute until mushrooms turn brown and start to caramelize, stirring occasionally. Takes approximately 10-15 minutes. Drain excess butter and serve immediately.

Asian Noodle Salad

This recipe comes from Pioneer Woman, she has an amazing blog with step-by-step pictures for this salad, check it out! I've had my eye on this recipe for awhile and I finally had the perfect opportunity to make it! I took it to work to celebrate Shalee's (one of the secretaries) last day of work for the summer... we celebrate the small things ;-)
I am kicking myself for not making this earlier! It was absolutely fantastic! I was always hesitant to make it for my family because of all the veggies, I knew my husband and boys wouldn't eat the cabbage or bean sprouts. However, you can't even taste them! Seriously, I am going to make this for my family, for my non-veggie eating in-laws, and maybe even my boy's Friday night sleepovers! Ha! This may be the best recipe I've ever found to get my kids to eat healthy vegetables! You have to make it!!
**Important tip! This makes more salad than I've ever seen in my life. I brought my two giant salad bowls to work to serve it in but they weren't big enough. I had to borrow one of those industrial sized steam table pans from the high school cafeteria! Salad Ingredients
1 package linguine noodles, cooked, rinsed, and cooled
1/2 to 1 head sliced Napa cabbage
1/2 to 1 head sliced purple cabbage
1/2 to 1 bag baby spinach
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 orange bell pepper, diced
1 small bag bean sprouts (also called “mung bean sprouts”)
3 sliced scallions (green onions)
1 cucumber, peeled and diced
LOTS of chopped cilantro—up to one bunch
Dressing Ingredients
Juice of 2 limes
16 tablespoons olive oil
5 tablespoons sesame oil
12 tablespoons soy sauce
2/3 cup brown sugar
6 tablespoons fresh ginger, chopped
4 cloves chopped garlic
2 hot peppers or jalapenos, chopped

Directions
Grab some comfy shoes and a cutting board, you're going to be here for awhile! Chop and dice all the salad ingredients. Mix them together with the chilled linguine noodles or put in a Ziploc and store in the fridge for later. To make the dressing you whisk together the ingredients and pour over salad. Mix the salad with tongs and serve in a large platter or bowl. The dressing keeps up to three days in the fridge before serving.

I took my salad to work so here's what it looked like before I left. The veggies were all chopped in a bag, the 3 cups of dressing was in a sealed travel bowl, the cooked linguine noodles were in a bag, and I left the spinach and sprouts in their bags. Then when I got to work I put everything in the fridge until lunch. At lunch time I just dumped the bags out into the serving tray tossed with the dressing and served. Everyone loved it and I can't wait to make it again!

My Favorite Vegetable Medley

I just found out about the most amazing thing! Did you know that there’s an organic produce delivery service in Kansas City?! Well there is! It’s called Door to Door Organics and I’ve signed up to receive their weekly bitty box which is a $26 box of assorted fruits and vegetables.
Door to Door Organics is offered in other cities across the U.S. but it's new to Kansas City. Once I signed up for my bitty box I adjusted my preferences and listed produce that I don’t want to have in my box and put some of my favorites on the "prefer" list. I got an email on Sunday letting me know when my box would be delivered and what would be inside, I could substitute individual items as well... which I did! I was supposed to get fennel but I substituted celery instead. So here's what was delivered to my doorstep on Friday

3 Fuji Apples
2 Mangos
2 Navel Oranges
1 pkg Strawberries
1 Cucumber
2 Red Peppers
1 Romaine Lettuce
1 Celery Stalk
5 Tangelos
3 Zucchini
... all for $26, organic, and delivered to my doorstep! I am in love!
I couldn't wait to use the zucchini and red pepper in my favorite vegetable medley! I love to eat this mix as a side dish but I also LOVE to wrap these veggies in a flour tortilla with a little sour cream for a dinner all on it's own, it's like a vegetable fajita! Seriously I love this vegetable medley, I get giggly and excited whenever I make it!

Ingredients
1 Onion
1 Pepper (I usually use green but had a beautiful red pepper from my organic box)
2 zucchini
1 package of mushrooms
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sprinkle of salt, pepper, and italian seasoning
Optional- Flour tortillas and sour cream

Directions
I coat a large skillet with the olive oil and set it over medium-low heat. I toss the vegetables into the skillet as I cut them starting with the onion and then the pepper (they take more time to cook than the other vegetables). Cook the onions and peppers for a few minutes, you want them to soften up before you add the rest of the vegetables. Next add the chopped zucchini and mushrooms. Stir the veggies and sprinkle on the salt, pepper, and italian seasoning. They will cook for probably 5-10 minutes, once the mushrooms have softened and are starting to turn brown it's ready to eat!

Broccoli Cheese Rice

I have a long standing love affair with broccoli cheese rice! Growing up it was sometimes called green rice or broccoli cheese rice casserole but by any name it’s one of my absolute favorite side dishes! This is Justin’s Aunt Nancy’s recipe and I love how easy it is to make! Since I’m the only person in my family that eats broccoli (what’s wrong with these boys) I make it and keep it in the fridge to snack on for days. It is just as good reheated as it is the first day!

Ingredients
2 pounds frozen chopped broccoli
2 cups minute rice
1 (15 ounce) jar Cheez Wiz
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 chopped onion
1 stick of butter
1 cup water

Directions
In a large skillet/saucepan cook the butter and onion on medium heat for 5-10 minutes until the onion has softened and is almost translucent. Add the broccoli, cheez wiz, soup, and water (if your broccoli is frozen then cook it with the butter/onion until it’s thawed before adding the cheez wiz and soup). Cook and stir until everything is warm and mixed together. Stir in the minute rice and pour into greased casserole dish. I use a 2 quart casserole dish and it fills it to the brim perfectly. Cover with foil and cook at 350 for 30-45 minutes, the top will be starting to brown and it will be hot and bubbly. Yum Yum!

Sauteed Spinach

I am hopelessly addicted to the TV show “Jon and Kate Plus 8” and although I disagree with Kate on many things (I think she is an anal retentive meany) I like her meal policy of “eat it or go hungry”. My husband Justin is the worst, the only two vegetables he says he likes are corn and potatoes (which technically… I don’t think either are really vegetables, they’re starches). So for years (10 to be exact) I have forgone the yummy green vegetables for plates of prosaic yellow. This has been to the detriment of my children because they too will only eat corn and potatoes. Well not anymore! I am taking Dr. Oz’s advice and we will have something green for every dinner from here on out! Mary’s spinach stuffed shells were such a hit a couple weeks back I decided to try spinach again. I made all three of my boys (yes this includes my husband) take at least 1 bite. Personally I thought this spinach was scrumptious but the boys thought 1 bite was enough, lol! I don’t care though, we will go for another bite tomorrow and even if it takes years I am determined to get my family to eat more vegetables!

Ingredients
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 (10 ounce) bag spinach leaves
2 minced garlic cloves
Salt and Pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
Heat the olive oil and minced garlic in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the spinach to the skillet and cover; allow to cook 5 minutes. Stir in the salt and pepper and cover again for another 5 minutes; remove from heat. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese to serve.

Cheesy Corn

We went to a wedding celebration BBQ this weekend and were asked to bring a side and dessert. The dessert was easy, we made the ever popular Whoopie Pies. Justin wanted to bring his favorite side, Cheesy Corn (which can be found in some midwest BBQ joints). We found a knock off recipe a couple years back and it’s been Justin’s favorite side dish ever since!

Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter/margarine
4 teaspoons all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder (Very little, don’t over do it!)
3/4 cup milk
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese
1 (3oz) pkg cream cheese, cubed
1 (32oz) pkg frozen whole kernel corn, thawed
3oz diced ham

Directions
In a large saucepan, melt margarine/butter. Stir in the flour and garlic powder and stir to make the roux paste. Add the milk and stir constantly over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Stir in cheese (sharp cheddar and cream cheese) and cook until melted. Stir in corn and ham and transfer mixture to a 2 quart casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Tomato, Tomatoe

We went to Bungfest last year which is an annual gathering of our high school friends; it was a lot of fun but the old-timer in me noticed the tomatoes! The Knapps had these delicious grape/cherry tomatoes! Patty said they were the “sugar shack” variety and they grew them, so I decided to try it myself!

I researched online and found that “sugar shack” and “sugary” seem to be the sweetest grape/cherry tomato variety. Around the first or second week of April I went over to Heartland nursery and got 2 of each. They were just babies! Probably 6 inches tall at the most and came in Dixie sized cups.

I immediately repotted them into liter sized pots and kept them by our sliding glass backdoor (inside our house but right next to the glass door so they would get lots of sunlight). I watered them almost daily and mixed a little miracle grow into the water once a week. I had every intention of taking pictures of the baby plants but they grew so fast and before I knew it they were as tall as I was! Last week we had to replant them again, this time in the biggest pots I could find! I also added a tomato cage around them because they were starting to lean and fall over.

We are just barely in the 2nd week of May and I already have a few tomatoes coming in (you can see two small green sprouts in this picture), I can’t even believe it! I am starting to think that keeping them indoors sped up their growth because I don’t think it’s normal to have tomatoes in mid May, but what do I know!?



June Update
Here is a picture of the tomato plants on June 15th. They are all starting to ripen and there are literally hundreds of them!

July Update
We have so many tomatoes we can’t eat them all, we have started sharing with neighbors and friends! We have all come to the consensus that the “sugary” variety is much better than the “sugar shack”.