I can’t believe it’s Sunday night already.
And it’s weird because I think I’m a little sad that Teacher Man goes back to school tomorrow. Usually I’m ready to get back to the structure and routine of the school year. Somehow tonight, though, I’m mourning how quickly the summer went by. It was a great summer, mind you, but I’m not quite ready to say good-bye yet.
Admittedly, also, my sadness might possibly be related to Joe starting middle school the day after Labor Day. He’s ready for it – but for his mama, this transition has seemed harder than kindergarten. I’ll get over it, I’m sure, as life marches on and we’ll be busy with homework, piano lessons, band practice, confirmation, and whatever else gets added to a 6th grader’s life.
But still. Tonight, I’m of the mind to make time stand still for just a little longer. (I wish.)
The weekend was stellar, though. And I say this because we didn’t go anywhere or do anything spectacular. I need weekends exactly like this once in awhile.
Here’s what I did:
I sat outside on my front porch on Friday evening, sipping wine and watching Earl the pug explore as much as a 14-year-old senior citizen pug can and wants to explore. (See that hole in the dirt? This was made by our resident chipmunk, Todd. Yes, we named him. And he’s been very, very busy all summer long.)
Then I went back in the house (after the mosquitoes decided to ruin my peace and tranquility), and I made the Best Chocolate Sheet Cake Ever – recipe courtesy of The Pioneer Woman, aka my idol. And it really is the best – totally no fail and super chocolatey.
I realized Saturday morning that I am very, very, VERY late to the whole school supplies shopping scene at my local Target store. Oops. (But I have no regrets – and thanks to Amazon Prime and a quick stop at Office Max, Joe is good to go.)
Teacher Man and I took Joe and his good friend, Cody, mini-golfing. This was an attempt to get these two vampires boys outside of the house and away from their video games for a little while. And yes, it was actually pretty epic. 😉
We Facetimed with this little bug, our Miss Morgan. She is talking like crazy now and repeated the word “uncle” about 12 times! This photo is a little blurry but how could anyone resist this infectious smile?
I made my favorite sriracha turkey burgers for supper Saturday night, along with carrots from the garden and mashed potatoes. Joe and his friend weren’t overly impressed with the meal (I mean, seriously?), but Teacher Man and I were quite pleased. I have also realized, thanks once again to the brilliance of The Pioneer Woman, that cooking up burgers on my electric griddle is amazingly easy.
I cooked up a magnificent new recipe from Smitten Kitchen for breakfast this morning – Bacon Corn Hash. Okay, imagine fresh sweet corn, crispy bacon, green onions, and red potatoes all fried up in the bacon grease and topped with a gorgeous sunny-side up egg. Yep, I know. It was easy (although it took about an hour from chopping to serving to get it on the table) and sooooo yummy.
You are futile to resist this hash. 🙂
And finally, I roasted a bunch of my tomatoes with olive oil, garlic cloves, and basil leaves for about four hours in the oven; then I put all the ingredients in a blender for about a minute; and voila! Simple roasted tomato sauce via Foodie Crush Magazine that can be stored in the fridge for a week or frozen for future use. This was incredibly easy – especially for someone like me who doesn’t want to waste my tomato harvest but doesn’t really get into canning. I can imagine adding some heavy cream to the sauce to make tomato soup, or heating up some turkey meatballs with the sauce for a sandwich. This is definitely a keeper recipe for me!
I’m hoping to post a new recipe for Turkey Tuesday that was a winner last week for both Teacher Man and Joe – watch for it. In the meantime, have a great start to the week!