Dinner's on!

Here is an idea for a yummy dinner for those of you who are looking for new ideas. Stuffed peppers. I have never been a fan of stuffed peppers but I really loved these. I think it's because they are used with a different kind of pepper and stuffed with fresh veggies and beans. We had gotten some huge sweet red peppers from a friend and the banana peppers are from our garden. We stuffed them with cheese, rice, black beans, sauteed onions and garlic, and a little taco meat that I had left over. Can you tell we like Mexican food?
After we stuffed them, Stephen was so nice to grill them. Yum! Happy cooking.

A pretty good crop

I am so excited about our garden this year. It really gave us a good crop and I only had to water it once all summer! I think moving it to a different location in our yard and leaf mulch were the key ingredients. (Tip: if you get leaf mulch from an outside source, make sure you watch out for poison ivy!)
I planted 3 early girl tomato plants, 1 heatwave, 1 grape, and 1 roma. I got enough from the early girls alone to restock our canning supply. Great!
Now that summer is coming to a close, I can concentrate more on fun little sewing projects, recipes, and fun field trips. What an exciting fall it will be!
How has your summer been?

Salsa

Here is a yummy recipe for tomatillo salsa. It's one of my favorites!

• 1 1/2 lb tomatillos
• 1/2 cup chopped white onion
• 1/2 cup cilantro leaves
• 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 2 Jalapeño peppers OR 2 serrano peppers, stemmed, seeded and chopped
• Salt to taste

Remove papery husks from tomatillos and rinse well.

Cut in half and place cut side down on a foil-lined baking sheet. Place under a broiler for about 5-7 minutes to lightly blacken the skin.

Place tomatillos, lime juice, onions, cilantro, peppers, sugar in a food processor (or blender) and pulse until all ingredients are finely chopped and mixed. Season to taste with salt. Cool in refrigerator.

Serve with tortilla chips. Yummy!

Jubal had a great first day in Kindergarten. I am so proud of him. I cried all day and wondered how his day was going. When I picked him up he gave me a great big hug and said "I had a super duper duper super fun day!" That made the day golden.

Big changes ahead

Today is a reflective day for me. My little guy goes to kindergarten tomorrow and I am having some very mixed feelings today. Apart from doing my best not to cry in front of Jubal, I have such a heavy heart because I am going to miss him a lot. I am also so excited about the things he is going to learn, the friends he will make. I also pray that he will be used by Jesus in his new class.
We met his teacher yesterday and she seems very nice. The assistant is nice too. It was funny because they both remembered that we will be riding our bikes to school some. They also remembered Jubal's name too. That was impressive. Jubal is nervous but I think he is excited too. He got really hyper once the shock and nervousness wore off after meeting the teacher.
Being a mommy is a hard job. We deal with behavioral issues, we take care of their boo boos, we feed them, we train our children the best we can in being good kids and making good decisions. We even try to teach them things they can do to become more independent. Yet, when the first day of kindergarten rolls around, it's one of the hardest things yet (for me anyways). I feel really good about his school, his teacher, and the things he is going to learn. But I am still going to miss my little buddy. I can't believe how time has flown. God has taught me to cherish these days and to cherish Jubal. Tomorrow is going to be a big day for me, Stephen, and Jubal. Big changes ahead and many more fun memories to look forward to as well. Sniff....sniff....sniff......

New products

Props to Jesseca Bellemare and The Modern Baby Co. for new baby cuties! She has started all new items with vibrant fabrics and fresh designs. Check them out at www.themodernbabyco.com. Another cool thing is the onesies are organic, super soft and super cute! Let me know what you think!

A cool find

We are so blessed to have a fantastic grocery store here in Asheville. It's called Amazing Savings. They sell organic (and some conventional) food at very discounted prices. Some of it is outdated but it's still good for the most part. The fun of it (apart from the prices) is you never know what they will have. It's different week to week. I love it! This week I went and found an incredible thing called Soap Nuts.

I have never heard of it before so when I found it, I was immediately sucked in. To educate you a little, soap nuts are the shells from the fruit of the soap nut tree. This tree grows in the wild in India and Nepal. When the nuts are in the water, they release a substance called saponins. It's a natural substance that works like soap to clean dirt and oils from textiles and other surfaces. The other cool thing is that I can reuse the nuts up to 3 times in the same day. What a great money saver and a healthy alternative too. So, if you see any soap nuts, now you know what they are. Have a great day today! Enjoy your family.