Beef and Guinness Stew

It's officially stew weather here in NJ - chilly and rainy. This is just the type of thing to make for days like today; it's thick and the Guinness gives it a really nice, sweet flavor. It takes several hours so it's not usually a weeknight meal for us, but it does reheat well.

And, the smell while this is cooking is to die for. I might make this more often just to have my house smell this good. Seriously.

Beef and Guinness Stew
(adapted from Cooking Light, March 2010 issue)

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 pounds boneless chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1 1/2 large onions, chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
4 cups beef broth
1 can or bottle of Guinness
2 tablespoons raisins
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
5 medium carrots, coin sliced
1 medium parsnip, coin sliced
1 medium turnip, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

In a Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add butter to pan. Place flour in a shallow dish. Sprinkle beef with 1/2 teaspoon salt; dredge beef in flour. Add beef to pan and cook 5 minutes, turning to brown on all sides.

Add onion to pan; cook 5 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in tomato paste; cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Stir in broth and beer, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Return meat to pan. Stir in remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, raisins, caraway seeds, and pepper; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Uncover and bring to a boil. Cook 50 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add carrot, parsnip, and turnip. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and bring to a boil; cook 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Sprinkle with parsley.

Apple Picking

Even though it still feels like summer, it's prime apple-picking season here in NJ. Yesterday morning we headed over to the farm to load up. Despite being a little warm, it was a beautiful day.



We picked a mixture of Macs, Macouns and Golden Delicious - about seventeen pounds total.



Some of them were really big!



After apples, I picked out a little pumpkin and we treated ourselves to freshly-made cider doughnuts. I love those things - I really want to get a doughnut pan and try to make my own.

I'll be cooking up a lot of the apples too. Mark always likes to make up applesauce and I want to try to can some of it this year. Apple pie and the like will follow too, I'm sure!

No 15 Minutes of Fame for Us

Yesterday, we ducked out of work early yesterday for our Newlywed Show taping. There ended up being ten couples for our call time, and nine spots to fill. We were unlucky couple number ten. I want to be able to say we had a good time anyhow and that it was a fun experience, but at this point I just can't.

We both took half days at work to make it into the city around lunchtime. Once we got there, we went through two hours of prep. After two hours, they finally pulled for spots and let us know they didn't need us and we could go. To be fair, they did offer to let us come back another day and not have to go through the lottery, but all the dates they offered were ones we told them during auditions we couldn't make - so our only option was to walk away.

We knew that there was still a chance we wouldn't make it on, but throughout the process they kept telling us we'd be let go early if we're a backup couple. I honestly don't feel like we were let out "early". I feel like our time was wasted.

So, instead of playing the game, we dragged all of our bags back home and went out to dinner.

I'm disappointed that we got so close and didn't get the opportunity to play, but I feel fortunate that I have so many other great things going that I can look forward to.

Peanut Butter Bacon Cookies with Chocolate Thumbprints

I know what you're thinking: "Bacon? In a cookie?!"

Mark was initially a skeptic too but he's been loving these. The bacon adds a really great savory aspect to these cookies.

Peanut Butter Bacon Cookies with Chocolate Thumbprints
(adapted from how sweet it is, originally from Joy the Baker)

1 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
6 slices of bacon, cooked, cooled and diced
1/2 lb. dark melting chocolate

In a mixer combine peanut butter and sugars until well combined, about 2 minutes. Add egg and baking soda and mix for another 2 minutes. Fold in cooked bacon. Roll into large walnut sized balls.

Place on a baking sheet and lightly press down with a smooth object to flatten them out - I used the bottom of a measuring cup; the bottom of a glass would work too.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. When your remove them from the oven, leave them on the cookie sheet but press a "thumbprint" into the center of each cookie. (I used the rounded side of a teaspoon to do this.) Allow to cool for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

When cookies are cool, melt the chocolate using a double boiler. When chocolate is vicious, spoon into thumbprint indents and let cool. Store in an air tight container.

Guess what!

Remember this?


I got a call this afternoon inviting us to a taping!

I had felt really good about the audition, but since it's been a week and a half I had sort of written off actually getting picked so I was really surprised. After some back and forth and schedule juggling, we're officially going into the city for a taping Friday afternoon.

I'm not going to lie, I'm not as confident about it as I was pre-audition. We've been catching some episodes since then and a lot of the questions are -well - questionable. One on today's show was, "The boys of Jersey Shore have a daily routine of G,T,L (gym, tan, laundry) - what letters would represent your husband's daily routine?" As well as we know each other, that's not the kind of question we would get right.

Still, I'm excited: A) What a story to be able to tell our grandkids someday! B) The prize for winning the last few seasons has been a second honeymoon. I'll totally take that gamble!

The last little hurdle is that they schedule extra couples for each taping to make sure enough show up. Keep your fingers crossed that we get put on the show and aren't just a back-up!

The Yankees Win!

Last night after work, Mark and I met a group of co-workers for the Yankees game. It was our first time at the new stadium and it really was beautiful.

Before the game, there was a ceremony to unveil the new Steinbrenner monument. After a video tribute, the whole Steinbrenner family took golf carts around to memorial park - led by the players. It was followed up by a whole bunch of past Yankee VIPs - Joe Torre, Don Mattingly and Yogi Berra. So cool to see them all in one place at one time.

There were also celebs in the crowd - the video screens caught Jay-Z and he was a good sport, hamming it up for the crowd. The people watching alone is enough reason for me to go to NY sports games - you never know who you'll see.

The game itself was a good one - they really fought for the win.

Fun game, fun company and an altogether fun night!

New Bike!

My birthday bike finally came in this week so we got to pick it up over the weekend. I'm super excited about it. Isn't it a beauty?

Now that we both have bikes, we've got big plans to use them to explore our new neighborhood. Stay tuned for bike adventures to come!

Looking Back at Our Hunger Challenge

To recap, Mark and I were allotted $56 for all of our food for the week. Last Sunday's shopping trip came in at $41.16. Here are our day-by-day totals:

Sunday - $6.06
Monday - $6.75
Tuesday - $7.07
Wednesday - $7.80
Thursday - $4.98
Friday - $4.50
Saturday - $5.05

Add in the gallon of milk that got drank but not totalled daily, and you've got a modest $45.10.

I think it's safe to say that we came in under-budget for our attempt. I imagine if I was really relying on food stamps I'd cook about the same, but use that extra bit to slowly work on building up my pantry staples.

Looking at it now, I'm pretty happy with what we ate all week. The fresh produce I was missing last year found their way into our menus (and the days they didn't appear wasn't because we didn't have them). And, I managed two social outings without breaking the budget. There wasn't a meal that I was really unhappy with and at no point this week were either of us truly hungry.

So, what made all of the difference this week? Our allotment from the food bank. I can't really express how relieved I was when I saw that list in my inbox last week and thought, "Oh good, we're going to have plenty of food to eat!" I imagine that someone struggling with hunger would have the same thought when they visit the food bank and get to leave with all of the goodies - a loaf of bread, fresh fruit and vegetables, eggs.

Our food bank freebies allowed me to do breakfast free or cheap quite a few days. For other meals, like the bubble & squeak and carrot salad, it brought the cost down substantially. While we always had an abstract idea of how important food banks were ("They give you some food if you're hungry!"), this week really illustrated the difference.

And of course, we're wrapping up our endeavor with a donation to the San Francisco Food Bank, the sponsors of this challenge. I hope you'll think about donating to your local food bank and helping out the hungry in your area.

Hunger Challenge - Day 7 Eats

Yesterday was the last day of our hunger challenge. I planned a special breakfast as something to look forward to all week:


Cinnamon rolls! The can cost us $0.80. By far not the healthiest choice, but it's really nice to have something to look forward to.

Lunch was chicken and cheese quesadillas ($0.40 for the wraps, $1.13 for the chicken, $1.13 worth of cheddar). And a can of black beans ($1.59).



At $4.25, this was our most expensive meal of the challenge by far. We weren't sure if we'd have company for lunch so we felt it was necessary to plan something that could be easily stretched if need be. Add in a few additional wraps and a little more cheese and we could have easily fed four. The black beans were also more expensive than they could have been - we opted for the more expensive can because it already had the seasonings.

Dinner was leftovers. I had the last of the pizza we made on Wednesday and Mark finished off Thursday's ziti. Since both were counted in those days totals, they're both "free" today.

Our total for the day was a modest $5.05.

Winner! Winner! Winner!

Last night was a long over-due girls' night out with my Mom and sister. We went to the church tricky tray and had a blast.

I know the name "tricky tray" is regional, but I'm fairly certain these fundraisers aren't. For the uninitiated, you pay a certain amount to get in the door and then buy lots of tickets. They have prizes all over the room and you drop your tickets in for the prizes you want to win. After an hour or so, they start calling numbers.

For those of you that remember our wedding pictures, you may remember my home church is small. Since all the prizes they give away are donated, fundraisers like this really help them out. I totally went in with the mindset that I was making a nice donation to the church - and if I won that would be great too.

At the end of the night, I ended up with a pretty hefty pile of tickets:



And ended up taking home some really nice prizes as a result!

I won a $30 Lia Sophia gift certificate, a coupon for a free ice cream cake at the local Dairy Queen and a glass snapwear set!

Since we live a little far from the DQ, we'll probably cash in the coupon the next time there's something going on at my parents' house. I think I've settled on a pair of earrings to get with the Lia Sohpia gift certificate.

But, I'm most excited about the snapwear. The containers are glass with plastic, snap-on lids. With all of the increasing speculation about chemicals in plastic containers (especially when microwaved), I've contemplated switching to glass for a while now. These will be absolutely awesome for leftovers and taking lunches to work.

The only bummer of the night was that I was the only one of our group that won - Mom and Laura ended up empty-handed. I guess that means we'll have to try our luck again.

Hunger Challenge - Day 6 Eats & How you can help!

Before I tell you what I ate all day, I wanted to let you know of a super easy way to help out as part of Hunger Action Month. Tyson Foods has offered to donate 30,000 pounds of chicken to the San Francisco Food Bank - 100 pounds for each person that leaves a comment on this site. If you have 10 seconds to write a quick comment, that's 100 pounds of food in hungry bellies. Totally worth it.

Okay, back to our challenge.

All day yesterday, I was dreading this morning's breakfast - I was supposed to have an egg and toast again. (Have I mentioned I hate eggs?) And then I had a brilliant idea - french toast!

I whipped up some for both Mark and myself - 4 slices of wheat bread (food bank freebie) and 3 eggs (also freebies). I threw a pear on the side (one more freebie). Breakfast? Free, thanks to the food bank.



Lunch was leftover Bubble & Squeak for me (free). Mark took his standard for $2.01.

For dinner, Mark had leftover pizza (free).

I, however, was visiting my Mom and sister for a girls night out. When we planned it earlier this week, I said I'd bring my own leftovers because of the challenge. My Mom would have none of that and promised a hunger challenge-friendly meal instead.

Here's what she whipped up:

English muffin pizzas! English muffins were on sale this week for $2 for the double pack. The little cans of sauce were $0.25. Add in the cheese and pepperoni and divide by the five people that ate it and it came in around $1.50 per person.

Our girls night out activity was a tricky tray at the church. Part of the fun of tricky tray is snacking while the numbers are called - so I also sprung for a $0.99 bag of candy corn to bring to share.

Our grand total for the day for the day was a very low $4.50, thanks to lots of leftovers and food bank freebies.

Hunger Challenge - Day 5 Eats

Breakfast for me this morning was supposed to be an egg, toast and a pear. I slept in a bit this morning and by the time I had to start working there was really no time to make an egg. Even though I really don't like them, I was a little panicked thinking that without it I'd be hungry.

I hate being hungry. I've done everything I could this week to make sure we're not hungry. I was so mad at myself for staying in bed instead of getting up to cook.

I ended up throwing in an extra piece of bread - so breakfast was three pieces of whole wheat toast and a pear. All food bank freebies. And it held me fine until lunch time.

Lunch was my standard chicken caesar wrap and the rest of the carrot salad. When I made the carrots, I knew I wanted them to last for four servings. I definitely skimped other days because today's portion was considerably bigger. $1.14 for lunch.

I've been doing a good job of not snacking, but today I needed a mid-afternoon pick-me-up. Add on $0.20 for a scoop of ice cream.

Mark had his standard $0.62 breakfast. For lunch, some of the leftover bubble and squeak - and since I counted that whole batch in Tuesday's total that was free.

This was dinner:


Hunger challenge style baked ziti - penne ($0.67), a can of sauce ($0.25) and the remaining mozzarella cheese ($1.40). Toast (food bank freebie) with a little bit of butter ($0.15) and garlic powder ($0.05). Oven roasted cauliflower (food bank freebie) with a little bit of olive oil ($0.25) and garlic ($0.05). Grand total was $2.82.

And, we both had some more ice cream after dinner - another $0.40.

Our joint total for the day was a massively under-budget $4.98.

(PS - Blogger spell check is telling me "ziti" and "penne" are not words! They need to get with it.)

Hunger Challenge - Day 4 Eats

Today's breakfast and lunch was identical to yesterday's - for both of us. Second verse, same as the first.



So, breakfast and lunch for me totaled $1.79. Mark's was $2.63.

For dinner I did a variation on another favorite - grilled pizza. This picture is from the last time we made it - no pepperoni this go around - but it looks mostly the same. (And, my camera battery died.)

I usually make my own dough, but the more I thought about it, the more I knew someone on food stamps wouldn't have the luxury to buy each ingredient - or wait for dough to rise.

Refrigerated dough (a real ball from the bakery - not something from a can) was on sale for $1 this week. I used half a can of tomato sauce ($0.13) and half our mozzarella ($1.65). For toppings I used onion (freebie!) and a quarter of the green pepper ($0.20). We had carrot sticks and sliced cucumber on the side (both freebies). Our grand total for dinner is $2.98.

Our total for the day is sitting at $7.40. Ice cream is an option, again. (For the record, Mark ended up with a bowl of ice cream last night - I didn't.)

This is the closest we've come to the $8 limit - but we also have quite a few leftovers to work with. We made four small pizzas for dinner and only had one each - that's another solid meal of food that's already "paid for".

Finishing out today also means we're officially over the "hump" of the hunger challenge. With four days behind us, we're really appreciating our food bank freebies. The food that food banks are able to give out really, really makes a huge difference when it comes to nutrition and variety. There are so many meals that we just couldn't have swung without having that wiggle room.

It's also easy to see how much the economic stimulus helps out. When the hunger challenge started in 2008, participants only got $3 per day. The extra $1 a day is a result of the economic stimulus - and set to expire the end of the year. Without that extra dollar, we'd be feeling much more of a pinch.

In all honesty, we really haven't been struggling all that much. I think lunches for me have actually been better than usual, simply because I've been forced to plan. I tend to grab whatever is around when I'm hungry mid-day so having a good meal to look forward to has been good for me.

I do, though, miss being able to cook on a whim. When I was at the library yesterday I picked up Top Chef: The Quickfire Cookbook. After pouring though it I decided it would be fun to create dinner from the book for the upcoming season finale - until I realized the finale was tonight and no meal from that book would work on my budget.

Fortunately for me, my challenge only lasts three more days. I can't imagine how disheartening it must be to do this for real, long-term.

Bubble & Squeak

This dish is easy, comes together quickly and is so good. It's really comfort food-esque without being overly heavy. I love it.

Bubble & Squeak

(from Eat at Home)

1 package smoked sausage, coin sliced ($1.99)
3-4 large potatoes, chopped (food bank freebie)
1 large onion, chopped (food bank freebie)
1 small head of cabbage, chopped (food bank freebie)
1/4 c. cider vinegar
oil for frying

Brown up the sausage in a skillet. Add the potatoes and onions and cook until potatoes are almost done. Add in cabbage and cover. Once cabbage is wilted and potatoes are tender, stir in cider vinegar and serve.

Hunger Challenge - Day 3 Eats

Today was slightly different because I was in the office - which means breakfast and lunch had to be on-the-go. Breakfast was some cereal ($0.40) and a banana ($0.25) - for a total of $0.65.

Lunch was the same as yesterday, just packaged up. Another $1.14.

Mark did repeats of breakfast and lunch, too. $2.63 for him.

For dinner, I made one of my favorites - Bubble & Squeak. As soon as I saw the list of what was available at the food bank, I knew this would go into our meal plan. The potatoes, onion and cabbage were all freebies. I only had to buy smoked sausage ($1.99) and from the pantry, some cider vinegar ($0.10). I added cornbread ($0.45 for the mix, egg was a freebie) on the side. Dinner cost $2.54 for both of us.

The only thing I "skimped" on was the cornbread mix. The directions call for milk - I added water. It's a cheapo trick I learned in college. It's a little less fluffy, but really no different.

I'm counting the entire amount of tonight's dinner in today's total - but there is a lot left over. Expect a repeat performance later this week.

So, our grand total for the day is $6.87. The night is still young, so it's plausible we'll add another $0.40 of ice cream to our total. Actually, I'd bet on it.

Marinated Carrot Salad

This is a recipe I got from my grandma and I love it. When I saw that carrots and onions (both major ingredients in this dish) were both on the hunger challenge freebie list, I knew it would be a great option for this week. Super cheap cans of tomato sauce solidified the choice. This is half of the original recipe, since Mark isn't a fan of carrots.

Grandma's Marinated Carrot Salad

1 lb carrots - pared and cut in about 1/2" chunks (food bank freebie)
1/2 onion, sliced in thin rings (food bank freebie)
1/2 green pepper, cut in thin strips ($0.40)
4 oz. tomato sauce ($0.12)
1/2 c. sugar ($0.14)
1/4 c. oil ($0.10)
3 oz. cider vinegar ($0.15)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Par boil carrots for about ten minutes. Bring last six ingredients to a boil. Pour over carrots, onions and peppers. Let stand at least over night. This keeps well in the fridge for a week or two.

My total for this recipe came to $0.91. I'm counting it as four generous servings - or $0.23/peice.

Hunger Challenge Eats - Day 2

Day two and we're still doing okay. Breakfast for me was one egg, wheat toast and a pear - all of which were food bank freebies. I had planned to leave it at that and have a free breakfast, but I was doing too many things at once this morning and the eggs got over-browned.

Now, full disclosure here: I really don't like eggs. The only time I ever really ate them was when my Dad would make omlettes chock-full of whatever leftovers were in the fridge on weekend mornings. When I was meal planning for the week, they seemed like the most obvious breakfast choice - after all, they were free.

I decided I'd suck it up for a week but the site of brown eggs this morning made me gag- so they got topped off with some of the cheddar we bought - about $0.20 worth.



Lunch was half a pre-cooked chicken breast ($0.28), a generous helping of salad ($0.34) and some Caesar dressing ($0.10) in a wrap ($0.19) and some marinated carrot salad ($0.23/serving) for a total of $1.14. This will be my lunch for the next several days.



Mark's breakfast was cereal and OJ for $0.62. For him, lunch was a ham and cheese sandwich ($0. , a peach (food bank freebie) and a handful of pretzels ($0.15) for a total of ($2.01).

Dinner was chicken parm ($1.13 for the chicken, $0.25 for thinly sliced mozzarella), whole wheat pasta with tomato sauce ($0.13 for the sauce, $0.17 worth of pasta) and a small side salad ($0.55 salad, $0.15 cheddar, the cucumber and carrots were both food bank freebies). Dinner totalled out at $2.38 for the two of us.



We both have big sweet tooths (sweet teeth?). Doing the challenge last year I didn't really plan for any sort of indulgences - I was just concerned with getting us enough to eat. All of the produce from the food bank gave us enough wiggle room to spring for a carton of ice cream. Mark and I each had a scoop after dinner tonight ($.20 each) - it really hit the spot.

Our total for the day $6.75 for the two of us.

Hunger Challenge Eats - Day 1

My breakfast today was an egg, whole wheat toast and a banana. The egg and bread were both on our freebie list. The banana was $0.26. Mark had cereal and OJ, clocking in at $0.62.



And then we hit our first real challenge of the challenge. Mark's parents invited us over for dinner. One of the challenge rules is no accepting handouts - after all, you could just set up to be at another friend's house for dinner every night.

But, it got me thinking about what would happen if we were really living on food stamps. Would that be the end of social eating? I really don't think so. While I really wouldn't think anything less of anyone using food stamps, I don't think I'd be advertising it if I was. So, I did what I'd usually do - asked what I could bring.

Mark and I ended up bringing dessert. And, in the spirit of the challenge, I wanted to make something that would fit into our $8/day budget. I ended up whipping up another Strawberry Sour Cream Pie. The total cost for the pie was $5.18.

We didn't eat lunch. Our total for the day was $6.06.

Grocery Shopping for the Hunger Challenge

We started off our hunger challenge today with a trip to the grocery store. Because Mark and I are both doing the challenge, we have a collective $56 to spend for the week. We ended up spending a grand total of $41.16, and this is what we've got to work with for the week:


The San Francisco food bank also sent us a list of "freebies" - a list of things you would likely get if you happened to walk into the food bank in need this week. We didn't get everything on the freebie list because I wasn't sure if I'd use it and didn't want to be wasteful, but this is what we did pick:

Hooray for fresh produce! And it seriously makes a huge difference in the food budget - they would have cost us $17.74 of our budget for all of the above.

Right now, we have $14.84 left for the week. There is some stuff I need to "buy" from our pantry, though I'm planning to keep that to a minimum. We also haven't factored in the cold cuts that we have leftover from last week.

I did make some compromises on ingredients. Ideally, I would have liked to get fresh chicken - but to get a good price you have to buy in bulk which wasn't in the budget. Overall, though, I'm pretty happy with what we've got - it's not too far off from what we'd buy on a normal week.

Fashion's Night Out in NYC

We got into the city a little bit early for our audition yesterday so we walked around for a bit. We didn't realize it was Fashion's Night Out until we saw Macy's all dolled up.



They also had a stage set up in Herald Square and were doing a sound check. We made a mental note to check it out later.



So, after the audition and dinner we came back to find a Train concert going on in the street! It was, apparently, the Tommy Hilfiger tailgate party as part of Fashion's Night Out. It was a beautiful night to hang around and listen to the concert.



After the concert, the Tommy Hilfiger models walked out to the cars waiting for them. I can't really say I was excited about the fashion aspect - I don't think I'd want to wear any of it - but it was really neat to see.



After the concert, we started to head back to the train station and ran across Macy's red carpet. I assume it was for the models or some other event, but it made for a fun photo op!

The trip back to the train was not as smooth as anticipated. The crowd from the concert was a little crazy and we had the (not so) brilliant idea that cutting through Macy's would make things go quicker. We ended up walking smack into a Jennifer Lopez appearance and another crowd. We didn't stick around to fight the crowd to see her, but she was there!

It might just be the non-NYCer in me, but I had always thought that the Fashion Week stuff was for an elite crowd behind closed doors. I really had no idea they had events that normal people could just show up to. We grabbed a newspaper for the train ride back and found out there were parties, concerts and events at stores all over the city. So cool!

So, what we thought would be a quiet audition turned into a pretty awesome evening in the city. I'm hoping that next year we'll find a reason to go in for Fashion's Night Out again!

Guess what we did tonight!

I'll give you a hint:


Yes, we auditioned for The Newlywed Game! Kind of awesome, right?

We found out last week that they were casting for shows filming in New York and sent in our application. Monday we got the call that they were interested in us. Tonight, we went into the city for our taped audition.

It was a pretty basic audition - introduce yourself in front of the camera, tell some funny stories about you as a couple and answer an embarrassing question about your sex life. We really turned it on for the cameras and were overly bubbly and talkative - it's not how we normally are so it was almost funny. I really feel like we did the best we couple possibly do.

Casting is moving very fast - they start filming next week. We should know if they want us in the next few weeks.

Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Another Quick & Easy Way to Fight Hunger

If you visit Kraft's Huddle to Fight Hunger and enter your name, zip code and email, they'll donate a meal to Feeding America. Their goal is to donate 20 million meals during the campaign.

My Garden Is Going Crazy!

I'll admit it - I sort of abandoned my garden. The weather got really hot and everything sort of dried up. I half-heatedly watered it and promised to do better next year.

The recent cooler weather and rain have perked things up, though. I have some tiny green peppers growing again and the eggplant and tomatoes are flowering.



The real runaways, though, are the ones I didn't plant and just sort of randomly sprouted around the time we moved in. The cherry tomato plant is nearly a bush. Or tree.



And then there's this monster:



We didn't pull it because I thought it was another tomato plant. I'm not so sure now though, because these don't really look like tomatoes to me:

Or are they? Any ideas?