Home-cookin'

Three day weekends are wonderful things.  I think Labor Day is an especially helpful holiday for students and those of us working a school schedule, as it makes it a little easier to ease into the Fall routine.  I have no idea what happened to me this weekend . . . . but I spent more than a little time cooking.  Anyone who knows me well. . . and especially my family. . . knows that I have a relatively small repertoire when it comes to the kitchen.  I remember my dad once asked me what I would have in my "dream kitchen".  It only took me a minute before answering. . ."NOTHING!" 

It must have started with the pumpkin pancakes on Saturday.  Since I had a LARGE can of pumpkin, I still had quite a bit left after the pancakes. . . so on Sunday afternoon it was time for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.  That still didn't exhaust the supply of pumpkin. . . .so today, the inspiration was pumpkin applesauce chocolate chip muffins.  Woody doesn't know what hit him!  We also had a friend stop by with tomatoes, chili peppers, and some other goodies from his garden.  I am not a huge fan of tomatoes, but these were truly calling for salsa. . . . so I made a "Noreen" version of chunky salsa. . . which is heavy on the "chunky" and light on the tomatoes.  I was so amazed by my efforts that I did a "Heidi" thing. . . I pulled out my camera to take some pictures.  I am no photographer, but these do look almost good enough to eat!

 
171.  Fresh garden produce - God's bounty
172.  Chocolate chips - in almost everything
173.  An extra day