It's a busy month in the nannyhood!

It's been busy around the nannyhood. Seems like for the past month or so we've been going non-stop. I try to get in a couple of miles of fast walking/jogging on workday mornings so my days start at around 5:40 a.m. Add to that a full time job, so many hours of necessary training to keep up my professional license, end of month and end of fiscal year reports, grandkids out of school for the summer and wanting to spend some time at nanny's house, and full blown canning season. Oh and I forgot to mention we moved my mother-in-law in to a new house and she has a LOT of stuff! Whew! That made me tired just typing all that.

I've gotten on a canning kick lately and am trying to stock what seems like a years worth of food in a couple of months. I've canned dill pickles, spicy pickles, bread and butter pickles, sweet potatoes, peaches, peach jelly, stewed tomatoes, tomato soup, spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce and salsa Plus I put up quite a bit of squash and green beans in the freezer. I still want to try canning chili, stew and chicken pot pie filling to make those quick winter meals. But that will just have to wait until things slow down just a little bit.

Oh....I almost forgot.....we're in the middle of remodeling our bedroom too. So my brain is dancing all over the place. Check back for updates on the remodel. I can hardly wait to get it done. I'm still on the search for the perfect bathroom door. I'm kind of very opinionated that way.

If the zombies start heading this way at least  I know my family will have food for a little while. LOL

Home made spaghetti sauce....trust me it's amazing!

I've been doing a lot....and I mean a LOT of canning lately. Our tomatoes did nicely this year and I don't want even one to go to waste so I've searched all kinds of recipes to can tomatoes. I came across this recipe http://aquietlifeacademy.blogspot.com/2011/07/homemade-prego-spaghetti-sauce.html for home made spaghetti sauce and it hit the spot! It tastes like Prego but fresher! It's fairly easy to make. I made it with mostly cherry tomatoes 😲! You can freeze it or pressure can it for later use. It made 3 1/2 quarts. It's thick and full of flavor. So whether you're planning to make it for a get together or store it for later use....it's definitely worth it! And yes.....it does take 28 oz of tomato paste just like the recipe calls for. Try it out.....you won't be sorry!

Vandalism in the Nannyhood

This morning started off as normal. The hubby and I rushing around to get out the door on time for work, with the dog  my little sweet baby following me around from room to room. Now it has always just been an understanding that the last person out the door puts the "baby" in his kennel, and the last one out the door is usually the hubby.

Well.....the hubby forgot in all of his rushing this morning and left the "baby" out to roam around the house free and unsupervised. AND we had someone coming by to do some work inside the house for us today. AND the "baby" thinks he a 200 pound attack dog.

When I walked through the door this afternoon and saw the "baby" roaming around free I knew the first thing to do was check on the guy doing the work....you know....to see if he had been attacked. Well turns out the "baby" only shows off when his parents are home. He had been perfectly fine all day with this guy until we got home then he decided he was that 200 pound attack dog and started barking at him like he'd never seen him before! Nice try baby, nice try.

Next thing to do was to look for my flip flops. For some reason he likes to chew the strap off of just one, and only if we're gone. Well I found my flip flops and sure enough.....one of the straps was chewed in half......and only on one of the shoes.

Guess I can't complain too much, there were other shoes that weren't touched and he did choose the cheapest thing in the house to chew up.

Good thing he's so cute!

Homemade Tomato Soup.....You'll never go back

We are getting an abundance of tomatoes around here right now and I love to can them for use in the winter months for chili, stew etc. I came across this recipe http://www.thyhandhathprovided.com/2009/03/classic-tomato-soup.html for homemade tomato soup about a year ago and thought what the heck.....let's try it. Well let me tell you......it was so good it never made it to the winter months, we ate it all up.

So this year, I'm making enough soup to last through the winter (if I can keep my hubby  myself out of it). Once you try this soup there will be no other tomato soup that compares and the store bought stuff just won't cut it anymore.....just a fair warning.

It calls for butter and flour so if I make it that way I obviously don't can it, I freeze it instead. I have made this numerous times and haven't used the butter or flour. It's a little on the thin side when you do that but tastes amazing.

If you love tomato soup.....GO TRY IT.....what are you waiting for?! Your tummy will thank you!