This and That

The past week or so I have been doing a bit of organizing. Not huge overhauls. But little spots here and there that have gotten out of hand this past summer. I like these kind of projects because they take all of 15 to 20 minutes. I feel like I have accomplished something and to me it makes a big difference. When I organize an area I try to leave empty space somewhere. I like that.



The kid's drawers for instance. They look nice, yes?



The closet in my mud hall. Much better now.




A lady in my Ward told me a really good way to organize Scout awards. I checked that off my list.




And in between my itty bitty projects I have been roasting up batches of tomatoes. Have you tried them yet? You must.

Sign of a Successful Camping Trip

Are we heading in the right direction?

Chase running inside the house loudly proclaiming "Mom I pooped outside, just like Andi." (Andi is our dog.)

Sure enough. There is was right in the grass.

At least he didn't play with it.

Today My Home Smelled Like Heaven

Being overrun with tomatoes I knew I needed to do something with them. I cannot bear to see ripened homegrown tomatoes hanging on the vine. I have seen recipes for oven roasted tomatoes before, but for some reason I have never tried them. What was I thinking?

The first hour they were cooking, my house smelled like garlic. Not a bad smell at all. But the second hour the tomatoes took over. I can't even tell you how good it smelled, but divine is the word that comes to mind.

Looking at the finished product, I had serious doubts about the taste. I was fully prepared to be disappointed. Nothing could taste as good as that smell. And let's be honest here. They look like a recipe that went horribly, horribly wrong.







And the taste?

Wow. Wow. Wow.

I have never been more surprised and delighted with something that looks so unappetizing. They are amazing.


Oven Roasted Tomatoes

tomatoes
garlic
olive oil
sea salt and pepper

Cut your tomatoes in half if they are smaller (Roma size) or in quarters if they are bigger.

In a bowl, pour in enough olive oil to lightly coat the tomatoes. Sprinkle in salt and pepper.

Place tomatoes in the bowl and make sure they are evenly coated. Put on baking sheet, skin side down.

Mince up garlic and sprinkle right on top of tomatoes, making sure most of the garlic ends up on the tomatoes instead of on the cookie sheet. The amount of garlic depends on your taste. The garlic taste intensifies so unless you enjoy eating a lot of garlic, go easy the first time.

Lightly sprinkle a little bit more salt on top of tomatoes.

Bake 325 for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, until blackened around the edges, but still soft in the middle.

I cooked mine for 2 1/2 hours and I probably cooked them about half hour too long.

Let cool slightly, pluck off baking sheet and pop into mouth!

Beware

To all those who frequent my home...frequently,


I have had to use this product a lot the past several weeks. And it is not because of our dog. She is house trained and knows where to do her business. It is my babe that is having some issues.

I haven't been pushing the potty training on him. I learned my lesson several boys ago about that. On his own he is taking an interest in pooping in the potty. That is a good thing and I am encouraging it wholeheartedly.

Here is the problem. He is also taking an interest in pooping in his diaper, taking off the diaper and then sitting down in multiple places. We won't even talk about the finger painting. The first few times he stayed in our playroom on the steps. All hard surfaces. Gross, but easily cleanable. His last incident occurred in his bedroom, and unfortunately a swimming noodle got the brunt of his artwork.

I have never had a kid do this. I am hoping he gets bored of this really soon. So please use caution when you enter my house. As much as I scour and clean after I catch him in the act, I don't know what is lurking. And it may be a good idea to wash your hands after you leave.

A sure sign of summer at my house

filthy feet and mismatched flip flops

Camping

Because we go camping so often in the summer we have it down to a science. We also have our little routine that everyone is happy with.





The packing actually starts with me. I tell the boys to bring up to my room 2 things - a change of clothes and a jacket. They can usually remember the jacket and one other item. I then go and fetch the rest. I have learned how to pack the boys overnight duffel for efficiency. On the bottom goes the least-likely-to-be-used items. This is usually their jeans. On top of the jeans go the clothes for the next day. Then pajamas and last but not least jackets on top. When I open the duffel I know that jackets come first before jammies and clothes come after jammies. No digging around in the dark with a flashlight trying to find what I am looking for. I just grab what is on top.

Once the van is packed, see post below, we head out to one of our favorite camping spots.

Immediately upon arriving the boys usually head to the creek to begin the first hour of rock throwing madness and Scott starts building a fire. We have learned that getting the fire down to coals and then cooking our dinner always takes longer than what we think. Scott prides himself on using only 1 match and no paper to start a fire.




We always have tinfoil dinners. The boys would absolutely revolt if they weren't on the menu. And who could blame them? Do you want to know the secret to a great tasting, perfectly cooked tinfoil dinner? Get fatty ground beef. Pre-cook your veggies. Add a healthy amount of seasoning. And use two layers of tinfoil with wet newspaper as insulation in between them. It works every time.

Oh and don't forget Red Vines. What would we do without our Red Vines?







While the fire is doing its magic to our meal, we work on getting the tent set up. The oldies get a nice cot with memory foam on top. The boys. Well they get a sleeping bag thrown on the floor. I haven't heard any complaints from them yet.


By the time dinner is over it is starting to get dark so other activities begin. The boys start clambering for their flashlights and glow-sticks. Within a few minutes they all look like the African ladies with large earrings, 10 bracelets and 15 necklaces hanging off their bodies. No worries about them getting lost. They glow for hours.






We also start to think about dessert. Now don't think that we are so set in our ways that we won't try anything new. That is not the case.

This year we have experimented with one of our favorite desserts - dump cake. Sounds delicious right? It is. We make this routinely when we have neighbors over for dessert. We decided to try it in a dutch oven and it tastes just as good.





Have I told you I have been without a camera for 3 months? True. My iphone is just not cutting it these days. Once our dump cake was finished it was dark, so I had Scott shine his flashlight on it.

I still haven't told you what dump cake actually is. So when I am done with this post I will put the recipe on my other blog.

As if this dessert isn't enough we then pull out the roasting sticks and start on our s'mores. And here is another little secret we learned this year. Do you want to try a new twist on s'mores? Replace your chocolate with one of these. You won't be disappointed.



Finally it is time for bed. Once the boys are in bed, the routine goes one of two ways.
1) They are asleep before their heads hit the pillow.
2) We end up yelling at them for an hour because they can't settle down.

The next morning, bright and early, we see signs of camp sleeping. Bags under the eyes, hair that is standing on end and dirty faces. That is what camping is all about.




And another thing we tried this year. Scones with honey butter. It can't get better than this.

The rest of the day goes as follows:




Hanging out by the fire.




Throwing as many rocks in the creek as possible.




And going for hikes around the campground.

That is our way of camping.