This time of year I’m supposed to be working my fanny off putting up fruits and veggies, and I am, but this year’s produce is so limited. The work won’t last long and it’s yield won’t last long either. I hate to think that we will have to resort to store bought products this winter. I guess I’ll have to be thankful for what little we’ve grown and then make another trip to the farmer’s market.
This year’s blueberry crop was very short. Last year I froze 12 six cup bags. This year we only got about 12 cups total. I tried to make the most of what we did have. We enjoyed a loaf of Blueberry Bread and another went into the freezer. Peach-Blueberry Upside-Down Cake is also one of our favorites, but it is only good when  freshly prepared.

The first peaches come into season when the blueberries are beginning to fade. Just as we do for May’s strawberries, we make an annual pilgramage to a local orchard for peaches, usually a couple of times, so I’ll be concentrating on peaches next.
This past week was pretty run of the mill. I changed The Sticky Menu Plan up a bit, but mostly just because I wanted to. I’m not a big fan of pizza to start with, and it didn’t strike me as appealing on Monday, so I swapped things around. We had Wednesday’s freezer food, Chicken Tortilla Casserole  on Monday instead.

I’ve been cooking up some of our home-grown tomatoes, and one of the recipes on the stove has been Pizza Sauce.  Veggie Pizza did make it to the table on Tuesday, using that homemade sauce.
More tomatoes became Homemade Marinara Sauce and was paired with some of my Meatballs for Wednesday’s Spaghetti and Meatballs.

Thursday we took a detour. On a whim, I decided to teach myself to make Pork Carnitas. This dish is a Mexican favorite of our daughter-in-law, Jen. I scoured the internet for recipes and settled on a few to combine for my own version. Uncertain of my prospective recipe, I talked Michael into going to a Mexican restaurant to sample the real thing. These flavorful cubes of pork loin can be eaten as a plain meat dish with sides of Simple Refried Beans and Salsa Rice or dressed up in a tortilla with Guacamole, Mexican Cream, or your favorite salsa. I made my first attempt at Pork Carnitas on Friday. They were pretty darned good! The carnitas were nicely browned on the outside, but still tender and juicy. Michael and I both agreed that the spices should be increased, but that’s about all that should be changed. Sometimes you just get lucky on the first try.
Be thankful for what life gives you.