Sept harvest time

I hear popping in the kitchen as I write this. It has got to be one of my favorite sounds. I made my 4th batch of salsa this morning and the hot cans are doing their job. We put a new garden in this spring behind the garage. I planted pumpkins and cucumbers out there with tomatoes and green peppers. The pumpkins took over everything but I did get a few extra tomatoes and one huge cucumber. Our garden in the back plus our side tomato garden has produced a lot of tomatoes this year. I tried a new speghetti sauce recipe to freeze. Here it is: 14 blanched, peeled and crushed by hand in the crock pot. 1 large onion, 1 large pepper, 4 cloves of garlic, pureed in food processor. 1 bay leaf whole, 1 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of pepper, pinch of crushed chili's. 1 tsp of sugar, 1 tsp of oregano, fresh basil chopped, plus one can of tomato paste. - Cook in crockpot on low for 10 hours (over night works good) Freeze in containers.

Crock pot Mac and cheese

Today I made Mac and cheese in the crock pot for lunch. Try this : 2 cups of milk, 4 cups of mostly cooked macaroni noodles, 1 can of cream of mushroom soup, 1 tsp of mustard, 1/2 cup of sour cream and pepper. Cook on low for 3 hours. Stir in 2 cups of shredded cheese when it is time to eat. This is enough for 4 people. Great to pack in a lunch the next day.