Now I’m really not sure what to call this, its not quite a thick chili, but its a little thicker than a soup and rather than just call it a sili I can’t think of anything that’s not so…silly. Most of the time I just refer to it as a stew then try to explain it.

Its one of those dishes that is very comforting and can be as spicy as you want it to be depending on how much hot stuff you put in it.

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We all know about my love of making mass meals to freeze and have waiting to take to work.

Well I think I got just a little too inspired the other day in my cooking conquests.

I made 3 different meals, and enough to feed an army as well. I really do have this really annoying habit of not being able to cook for 2 people easily.

This time I made Un-Stuffed Bell Pepper, Beef Stew/Chili, and Balsamic Chicken Pasta.

Very motivated.

Very crazy.

Very dirty kitchen.

I guess I was hungry.

I made a total of 19 meals. Holy crap that’s a lot of food. I could have very easily just had a party and fed the entire block.

I need a nap just looking at all that.

I got more tomatoes! This time they came from another coworker and he gave me quite the bag of them!

There seems to be such a difference in people’s gardening styles. The first tomatoes I got from my friend were soft, fully ripened and ready to eat. This second batch I got from another coworker is more on the unripened side, a little more orange inside and not quite there yet. But I can understand the reasoning for them to ripen on the counter and last a little longer.

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Sometimes in the morning I’m really not awake. It takes me forever to wake up.

So the other morning I was chopping my apple for work and I saw what looked like a worm in the core. When I finally focused my eyes I realized that it wasn’t a worm, but a seed that had started to grow inside the apple!

I would have gotten a picture of the little seed but like I said, I wasn’t awake. It was 5 am, give me a break.

I did though put it in a pot I had in the kitchen, so I’m really hoping that it’ll grow and be a big strong tree! The last time I tried this, the little seedling died after a while, so hopefully my black thumb wont come in to play here.

Its tomato season! It seems everyone is having the same problem of tomatoes or other produce just running wild in their gardens. Which means I benefit by having everyone give me bags and containers of tomatoes!

Tomato season now makes me so excited, ever since my coworker brought me home grown tomatoes for the first time.

Last year I decided I was going to make something I had never actually tried, let alone try to make. Tomato soup. That’s right I had never eaten tomato soup and grilled cheese as a kid. Not sure why, I had a weird culinary upbringing.

I love her. And her tomato growing dad.

So when she brought me my first round of yummy, lovely tomatoes I proceeded to give myself heartburn before I had to stop eating the cherry tomatoes and I knew I just HAD to make more tomato soup this year.

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A few years ago I made a trifle by the seat of my pants for a little get together. Now keep in mind there were only 4 of us and I used my largest mixing bowl to make it. We ate the whole thing. Just the 4 of us. Insanity.

I made it again for a little party on Friday night. This type of dessert is quite awesome for those times where you won’t have enough time just before the party to get anything together and get ready at the same time, and it only gets better as it sits and all the flavors combine.

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I don’t know about you but I’m exhausted. It’s been a trying few days and all I wanted and needed to do was just sit on my butt and relax for a bit.

But then again I don’t relax. I just don’t. So I had to do something.

I found this box of recipe cards at a local Good Will, you know me and my love for a good thrift store, and for only $3 there are hundreds of recipes in there. Awesome.

It even had little tabs to separate each section. I must have spent hours looking at all the recipes and getting ideas for new things to cook and different methods of cooking different meats. Besides it was a great way to relax, having the fire place going, covered in a blanket and reading through new and interesting recipes. Ah, heaven.

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Well it really did work.

I didn’t kill them! The only thing I did was change the water half way through the week. I’m really shocked at how quickly these things grew. I’ve seen the obligatory growing a potato in a jar but I never really grew up with growing an onion so this is pretty neat. The edible science experiment. Maybe the schools should look into growing onions instead of potatoes, and then teach them how to use the onions!

I think I’m reaching a little far with today’s school systems.

Oh well, at least I have fresh onions for this winter.

I love buying in bulk. I always love walking through the little aisles and finding something new to try.

This time I decided I wanted to try the honey. I never really knew there was a difference to honey until now. At the store I shop in, they have 3 different types of honey to bulk buy. Blackberry, Clover and Orange.

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There are times where I think I have a black thumb. Its not green, it kills things. An old coworker I had once gave me three tomato plants one year. Guess how many tomatoes I got off of those suckers?

Three.

Yep. Just Three.

I told you my thumb is black.

Now I’ve decided to try again. But this one involves no dirt, feeding, composting, or any of that crap. Just water.

I saw this in a magazine sometime before, that you can just stick the green onion bottoms in some water and you have instant onions! Well maybe not instant, they do have to grow a bit.

Besides this is kind of a fun project to do now that the weather is starting to cool off here and it’s really not a good time to be planting anything out side.

I’ll let you know next week how its doing!