It's been a long, long time..

and oh! How I have missed my blog. Let's see, what have I done these last few weeks? Bought a house, had to redecorate the whole house and do a considerable amount of remodeling and updates, ran to numerous junior high basketball and football games, canned tomatoes.. Whew! This weekend I am considering canning some apples, but we will see how the week goes.

I was planning on posting a short tutorial about canning tomatoes, but they are out of season now. Canning the tomatoes is quite simple and the flavor is unbeatable! My favorite dish to prepare from the tomatoes is Tortellini Soup. My total count was 19 quarts from 1 bushel of tomatoes. Four of the jars did not seal, so I made soup and lasagna from two, and put the other two in the freezer (in plastic containers).

Remember the cherries we picked in July? I canned two quarts and one pint from the tarts.This weekend I made my sister a long-overdue cherry pie that she had been asking for, and I made my very first cheesecake. It had a graham cracker/pecan crust and was topped with the cherries.

Last but most certainly not least, it was guacamole and margarita night on Benson Street last Friday! I love guacamole and I always make my own. Again, it is quite simple and the flavor is out of this world.. The ingredients in this batch are:

3 Avacados
1 Medium Tomato
1 Clove Crushed Garlic
All of the following ingredients are to your personal taste or may be omitted:
Red Onion
Fresh Cilantro
Ground Pepper
Fresh Lime JuiceThen just hit the "GO" button and mix it up! When you store guacamole in the fridge, make sure that you put plastic wrap directly on the mixture, as it will turn a darker green. It is still okay to eat, but you will need to mix it up before you serve with your favorite chips! And I know there are so many good margarita recipes available, but we love the Jose Cuervo Golden Margarita. It is ready to serve and so yummy!