Today was my first day back to work but I’m not here to talk about that…I’m talkin’ tomatoes. I have an abundance between the CSA box and my own plants.

This was one morning’s harvest. Crazy right!?! Especially since I really don’t have that big of space.

I saw a recipe from our CSA farm that was called September soup which as a roasted tomato soup. I decided to do my own take on the soup with the fresh produce I had on hand.

I used several kinds of tomatoes including cherry size, sweet peppers, garlic, onion and one very hot jalapeno. I seasoned with oil, salt and pepper. I roasted the tray for about an hour I think. I actually had to stop and start partway through for some reason I can’t even remember now…

I dumped the tray of veggies into a stock pot and covered with water. I cooked it down for another 45 mins or so. Then I took my immersion blender and pureed the whole works.

I ended up with a quart and a half of some really rich tomato soup. Its a little on the spicy side so I’ll likely mix some milk or cream into it when I heat it for soup. I’m just going to freeze the soup.

Or maybe I’ll sample it as Bloody Mary mix…

That was a yummy taste test this weekend! It needed to be thinned out some but good flavor. Here in the Midwest (at least in Minnesota and Wisconsin) a “snit” or beer chaser is always served with a Bloody Mary. Is that a thing where you live?

Here we are in late August…things changing as they always do this time of year.

The garden and CSA box are providing beautiful produce to eat fresh and preserve for winter. I like to freeze bags of chopped onions, peppers and celery as a start to a few different recipes. Its a quick grab and get cooking after work. And aren’t these so pretty!!

The garden is beginning to look a bit tired…August marks the beginning of the end for the garden. Soon I’ll be pulling up the plants, covering the garden in compost and start the composting process all over again with those spent plants.

This was the beginning of the pile for Mini-me. We moved her to college on Friday. No tears. Lots of sweat… It was over 90°F, nearly 100% humidity (it was thunderstorming on and off), 3rd floor, no elevator and no A/C. We got it done though. She’s been busy with welcome week activities and starts classes tomorrow.

The pile for J starts today…he moves to campus this weekend for his senior year.

Marvin seems a bit confused, a bit needy.

Check out the cool art deco bowl I picked up at an occasional shop on Saturday.

I absolutely love it…the colors and design.  I picked up a few other things but this is my favorite.

It’s raining here this morning which is very welcome. The thunder is rumbling as I write my list for the day. I do love a good thunderstorm as long as its not damaging.

The clock is ticking on the kids leaving for college. Mini-me goes in a week and a half, J is the week after. The piles of supplies are beginning. Last minute orders and trips to the stores, doctor appts, new glasses just to name a few items on the list. But slowly, we are making progress.

To add to the busy time…the garden is also producing like crazy.

That means that I need to preserve the harvest.

I’ve canned 7 pints of spicy beans and 3 pints diced tomatoes.

Air drying herbs as well as trying to dehydrate some.

Mini-me seemed to have an allergic reaction to the herbs in the dehydrator so after we finally figured out why her nose was running like a faucet, I shut it down and got it out of the house. Poor kid.

I was attempting to dry some of this mint as well. Its really growing like crazy. Since the dehydrator seems out of the question, at least until she leaves the nest for college, I tried making some tea with fresh mint and nasturtium blossoms.

It was ok. Not bad but not very flavorful…which is not surprising. I know herb flavors concentrate after drying.

I may try to dry some but I am not holding out a lot of hope that I will enjoy the end product so therefore I am not super committed to the process.

One day last week, Mini-me and I took a quick drive over to IKEA and the Mall of America. We were able to get a few items on her list for college ay IKEA. Obviously a lot of other people had the same idea before us since several of the things on her want list were sold out. We decided to go into MOA since it is literally across the street from IKEA.

I quickly snapped this photo of a few of the truly massive Lego creations that sit atop the Legoland.

And Nickelodeon Universe. The mall was really not busy at all which was very refreshing. I don’t think we would have stayed if it had been busy.

I’m posting this on Monday evening because I have an eye appt in the morning. I know she will dilate my eyes so I won’t be able to see much of anything for several hours. I’m not a fan of it but I know its to check eye health so I will do it begrudgingly.