Smack Dab in the Middle of August

Hello! I hope your Summer is going the way you want it to. Mine has been filled with a lot of visiting with friends, some travel and summer food.

Luckily I enjoy Fall a great deal so the fact that Summer is coming to a close shortly doesn’t bother me. Fall is the lovely combination of warm days and cooler nights. The season provides for some great decorating and getting re-acquainted with warm comfort foods. It really isn’t a bad deal at all!

Before I leap way ahead of myself into Fall, let’s jump right in to what I have for you this week. Remember to let me know if you try any suggestions or recipes. I would love to know. You can do this by commenting on the post or email through the link provided.

Recipes

The following recipe was one of my Grandma Shearer’s. She was born in 1898 and died in 1967. Grandma was a teacher in a one room school-house prior to marrying Grandpa. When I was little we lived in a little house beside them and I would go over to get pickles from her. She had thought her grandchildren would come for cookies but I wanted pickles! This recipe isn’t for her pickles but instead for a delicious sandwich spread.  We are entering the time of year when there are green tomatoes on our plants so this is perfect timing!

Mom’s Green Tomato Sandwich Spread

12 large green tomatoes

6 sweet green peppers

6 sweet red peppers

4 large onions

Grind all four ingredients (think of the size and consistency of ham for ham salad) and sprinkle with 1 Tablespoon of salt.

Let the mixture stand for 15 minutes. Drain. Then add the following ingredients.

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup vinegar

1/4 cup flour to thicken

Boil the mixture for 15 minutes.

Finally you add the next two ingredients and combine thoroughly

1 cup mustard

2 cups salad dressing

Grandma’s directions say to can immediately. I put in jars and refrigerate.

This makes a large batch and I always give some away. You could cut the recipe in half or even smaller so that you don’t have any waste.

Fruit Skewers

Recently a friend and I went to a girls’ summer party. Linda found this recipe online and we made them to take with us for the potluck.

You could use any fruits that you like and think would look pretty on a skewer. We purchased a cantaloupe, a honey-dew melon, strawberries and blueberries. The combinations are really endless depending on what fruits you like and of course the cost.

We cut the melons into bite size pieces and cored and halved the strawberries and we were ready to assemble.

The skewers we used to the small wooden ones that you can find in the grocery store or Walmart. The object was just to make the fruit look attractive when we put it on the skewer. Linda handled that job.

I melted white chocolate chips and dark chocolate chips (separately, of course).

Once the skewers were assembled and the chocolates melted we just drizzled the chocolate in a random manner on the skewers.

Our treat was well received at the party and we thought they were easy to do and the cost to make them was not bad. We bought the fruit for $7.98 total.

Charity

Has anyone ever heard of Amazon Smile? Apparently this program was developed in 2013 for charitable giving. If you go to the homepage for Smile which is smile.amazon.com  and do your Amazon shopping there .5% of your total of eligible products will be donated to the charity of your choice. If your charity is not listed on the site you can add yours. I did this as I wanted any moneys to go to Northern Chautauqua Canine Rescue. You can learn more about this at https://org.amazon.com/

Money Savers

• Routinely call your cable company, internet provider, TV service, etc. to see what they will do to keep you loyal. I just did this and I am going to save big!
• Celebrate your birthday with free eats. thrillist.com has a list of major food chains that offer free items on your birthday. Check them out! I usually go to Denny’s for my free grand slam for breakfast on my birthday.
• Online banks and some traditional banks will reimburse you for fees that you incur when you use another bank’s ATM. You have to ask. They don’t volunteer the information. The worst they can do is say they don’t do that.
• If you drive your car less than 5,000 miles a year you may be able to get a low mileage discount from your insurance company. This is another case of you have to ask about it.
• Prolong the life of your fruits and vegetables. Wrap them in a paper towel and put them into a container or plastic bag. The towel will absorb the water that causes rot.

Kitchen Hack

Yesterday I made some egg salad and realized that maybe not everyone does what I do to chop the eggs. I learned this trick from my Mom. Simply get out your pastry cutter and chop the eggs up in a bowl. The shape of the pastry cutter works well for chopping in a bowl and it goes supper fast. You just chop until the eggs have reached uniformly the size you desire.

Re-Purpose Project

By now you must have learned that I always have a project or two (or three) going. The following project is the latest endeavor of mine. I bought a vintage French shopping cart from my friend, Geri.  I am cleaning off the relatively loose rust with wire brushes and then I am going to cover the tires and spray paint the cart. French shopping carts had wire baskets on the top shelf and on the bottom. I am going to purchase a basket or box to do my own little riff on the original. For the nice weather this will probably be on my porch or deck when finished. I haven’t decided yet if or how I could use it in the house during the Winter. More to come …………………………

      

Thanks for stopping by! Remember to tell your friends. I still want to reach my initial goal of 100 followers. It might seem an ambitious goal but I am sure I can get there.

Have a wonderful week!!