A different kind of Creating

Today is the 4th day of the corn harvest, and so far everything is going well, praise God. No breakdowns, accidents or injuries, and the corn itself looks like a quality crop. I am managing to keep my cool and stay loose and go with the flow and all that... but I will still be thankful when it is all over for another season and everything is safely stored for the winter.

With Jake on a tractor all day, working like a machine and almost no time to eat, I have been indulging myself in a massive cooking and baking effort. He SAYS he doesn't have a sweet tooth, but in 4 days he has demolished a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies and a loaf of banana bread almost by himself. I haven't baked since I started my diet last January, so the girls were not happy with him when they got home yesterday and all the goodies were gone already!

I'm doing monkey bread today. There should be enough to keep him going and provide an after-school treat for the girls too. There should be enough...

I don't know if you can tell from this photo, but there are 4 different varieties here of tomatoes here, all from my garden. The bushes are going crazy right now and it is all I can do to keep up with the harvest. This family LOVES tomatoes. No tomato, whether red, yellow, or purple, raw or cooked, whole, sliced, or chopped that is safe from any of us. However, even our greedy appetities can't keep up with this year's bountiful harvest, so I am making soup base this week.

A pot like this will make enough base for 2 or 3 meals next winter, all tasting just like the jewels of summer these beauties are. Can you see how good they smell?? A steaming bowl of tomato soup with a warm slice of garlic bread on a cold evening... Yum!

In the meantime, I am slicing and dicing as fast as I can. Thank goodness the weather is cooling and I'm not pouring hot steam into an already hot kitchen!