Saturday, August 20, 2011

Flea Market Fun

T has really enjoyed researching antiques and vintage finds with me lately.  As a special treat, I took him for a mommy-son "date night" to the all night flea market at the Wheaton Fairgrounds.  He was beside himself with excitement as this was his first flea market ever.  It had been a really long time (too long!) since I had gone....

We paced ourselves and I taught him to compare prices, make mental notes and plan out his purchases.  He found a midgetoy ambulance right off the bat and fell in love it.  When he asked the best price, he was so thrilled that it was $1.  Later he found two Tootsie Toy cars for $3 each.  He politely offered $5 for two and the seller said "yes".  I purchased an old, heavy 2-hole punch as well as a bag of 4 cookie cutters from her.  They were both from her bargain $1 table.

Early in the evening we saw a fantastic carrom board in great vintage shape.  It was a steal at $10 and we offered $8.  Planning on hanging in the "new" basement-it's big, cool and looks funky.

We also bought what may be my creepiest purchase ever: an old mechanical monkey that blows bubbles.  He is part tin, part well-loved fur and 100% scary.  For $5, I thought he would be a great match for the other monkey that I purchased for the nursery years ago.

T chose 1/2 pound of caramel creams to share; they were $1.75.  A healthy dinner of nachos & funnel cake was washed back with soda.  T joked that we probably burned off a little bit from all our walking.  I won't tell you how we got the funnel cake for free, but yes, it was free.  And no, I did not pick it out if the garbage.  That's just most of my furniture....

Here are some photos of our treasures:

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Another Salsa/Produce Post



Picture 1 is the salsa ingredients in the pot.  That square shaped chunk is chipotles with adobo sauce.  I can never use a whole can, so I freeze what is leftover and then break into chunks for salsa making.

The 2nd picture is just a sampling of all the beautiful colors from my heirloom varieties this summer.
We had two pots of salsa on the stove and made 6 pints and 2 quarts for the freezer.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Putting Up Corn

Summer is starting to wind down and we picked up a huge amount of fresh sweet corn from Mr. Kerr late this morning.  T & C helped me shuck it on the back porch-perfect weather!  I just followed my standard steps: removed silks, boiled for 7 minutes, shocked in ice bath, sliced kernels from cobs and packed int freezer bags.  We have 8 full quarts for winter.  Now to tackle the zucchini...I wish I knew someone who wanted to trade their upright freezer for a cubic one!


We had a fantastic family getaway in Rockford, just had fun watching soccer and swimming and meeting new (and old) friends.  The hotel stay was so much fun for all of us and much needed.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Easy & Healthy Chicken Recipe

There was a terrific recipe that I saw on youtube this week via one of my channel subscriptions.  It is for a "Mexican Style Chicken" and was so simple that I had to try it.  Huge success because it was so quick, inexpensive and got a thumbs up from all the guys.  I changed the recipe a bit and used 2 pounds chicken, 1 pkg. fajita seasoning and aboout 1/2 cup breadcrumbs.

http://youtu.be/1mx4Q-WzwwY

T and I went to Great America for his "special day" yesterday.  Roller coasters & I are no longer friends....I cannot fathom that I used to be able to ride coasters all day long without a headache or dizziness.  We had a great time and made some good memories.


10% off everything in my etsy store for August with coupon code :AUGUSTSUGARCOOKIE

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