Southwest Pizza

For something different we enjoy a Southwest version of pizza. Make your favorite pizza crust.

This one isn't my favorite but it's grain free, made for me. I made a regular yeast dough with spelt for the rest of the family. They ate some of mine too.

Put a good layer of salsa over it. Medium was my choice. Use what you like.

Add a layer of burger. I like to use chicken or turkey burger but only had one pound of chicken burger so I added a pound of ground beef.

Next put on the onions and peppers.

Top it off with a good layer of Colby cheese. (Mine was free- from my bro-in-law who drives a food truck. We get rejected cheese and it's pretty good!)

The ooey-gooey goodness. Make one for yourself!

True story-
On Sunday we were baby-sitting a young family's children. The oldest is 9, the next is 5 or 6 and the youngest is 3. I remarked to the middle one that they could appear to be our own, stair-stepped down from Christopher. The youngest, who is fairly new to speaking, was listening and he surprised me by asking, "Do you want me?" 

Recipe for Canned Salsa

1/2 bushel of tomatoes, peeled, diced (or chopped with a Kwik Cut) and drained in a colander.
8 large bell peppers, diced or chopped with a food processor.
3 (or more if desired) jalapeno peppers, diced. Leave the seeds in for more heat. Be sure to use gloves to cut these up.
6 large cloves garlic, minced or pressed.
4 large onions, diced or chopped with a food processor.
1 cup apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons cumin

1/2 Tablespoon of each of the following ingredients-

Morton's seasoned salt
celery salt
onion salt
garlic salt

Place all ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil. Boil down to desired consistency, or thicken as desired with cornstarch, dissolved in water. Fill canning jars, clean the rims, put lids on and boil for 20 minutes in a hot water bath. Turn off the heat, remove the jars from the water and allow to cool. 

You can reuse jars from the grocery store,
that you have emptied. 

What is your favorite canned salsa recipe?

What do you use salsa for?

Thank God for lots of tomatoes this year! And peppers! And onions!

Fall Bounty & Beauty

Our friends in Delray recently blessed us with apples, tomatoes and peppers. We picked them with their help.

 The tomatoes were turned into canned chunks, salsa, juice and soup with the help of my mother. 

 The tomatoes and peppers are so large and beautiful. Planted in wood chips as Back to Eden suggests.

 Watermelon crop from our garden. Obviously there are potatoes in the pail. The boys keep bringing me a bucket at a time as needed. About once a week. So nice to have food from the garden!

 The peppers (from our garden) were useful in making salsa. We also put halves in the freezer for four or five meals of stuffed peppers.

The onion crop has been a blessing. It is fast disappearing.

 A day's labor- tomato juice and applesauce. A friend taught me to cook tomatoes and then use the blender to make juice. I think she runs the final product through a sieve but I just put it in the jars, seeds and all, for a thicker juice. I make soup the same way.

 The Crepe Myrtle was filled with blooms this year.

 And this bush that I haven't yet figured out. A type of hydrangea possibly?

Have you had a bounteous summer/fall?

Do you expect a hard winter? 

It is sometimes difficult to just enjoy all these good things when people in other parts of the world are suffering from hurricanes, wars, earthquakes and fire.

A Pictorial View of Our Lives

Christopher has a knack for finding unique bugs- can you find the beautiful moth here?

 Stephen has begun a donut business. He employs his brothers and cousins. This Mama is so happy there is at least one female involved! (Cleanup issues) And that the cooking has moved to an outdoor burner!

Matthew

Austin

Mervin

Sylvia

We had a very successful week of Summer Bible School in the town of Romney. Peak attendance was 80. A busy, happy week.

 Fence work for the garden and orchard has been happening this summer. Tear down the old, install the new. It has not yet been completed but it is exciting to see it progressing.

 Lots of canning going on this summer. Lots of green beans. Some peaches. Not as many peaches as usual because of the price this year.

 The boys enjoyed getting to know more of my cousins' children on the Summy side of the family. We had a reunion at Wilda Lake in VA.

 My sister Doris and family followed us home from the reunion and were with us for a few days. Here is one of her cutie pies.

 Speaking of pies- we made 100 for the Romney peach festival. After that ordeal, the weekly 16 or less seems puny. We made 50 crusts two days in a row, then 50 pies two days. They are asking me to do 120 next year. I'm having a hard time making up my mind!

 The boys and Grandpas did the bulk of the corn while I did other things. Not a super duper crop but enough.

Melvin

Grandpa

Grandma

Christopher

 My co-teachers and I took a couple of the girls from Kid's Club on a bike ride- the few that earned a treat. Sixteen miles of biking. Thankfully it was a continual slight downgrade. Even so, it was hard to sit for a few days.

 We took a trip to TN for a Troyer/Schwartz family reunion. It starts with a list, you know. We stopped in Gap Mills for lunch and business. All five boys were sitting on the bank eating lunch but one moved before the picture was snapped. Aunt Katie is 95 years old and has a large family. The family graciously invites other relatives to their annual reunion. I met relatives I didn't know I had this time around- my dad's cousins and their children. The aunts stay young by playing Scrabble. And the boys decided that this is a reunion worth going to again though they balked about going (as usual).

Aunt Katie

Cousin Barbie Schwartz looks on

Aunt Fannie

 Our latest venture was going camping with the church youth group.

 Peppers anyone? We harvested 3 (5 gal) buckets this week.

 I've been listening to a lot of webinars, helping me to understand the best ways for schooling our sons. One screenshot. Have you ever heard of a commonplace book? A wonderful idea for a profitable avenue of writing. Donna Goff has a lot of helpful webinars at her Mentoring Our Own site. Check it out if you are homeschooling.

 The men so graciously put up a laundry line for me this spring. If you've never been able to step out the washroom door and roll your laundry out on a line, you don't know what you're missing! It has been such a tremendous blessing.

Photo of first post set (taken from laundry room door)

Second post

In use

We are so rich! 

Luke 16:19-31 is my challenge for myself.