We finally made something with some of our fresh tomatoes. Last night, Ben made a mean pico de gallo using our tomatoes, cilantro, serrano peppers, lime, and some salt. It was so yummy and there was a lot of it, but we loved it so much there isn’t very much left. This batch and this batch is now all gone, and I can’t wait until we can harvest another big grouping of goods. We all eat the little ones like grapes and the big ones like apples morning, noon, and night!

Today, I am off to a homeschool conference all day long so you can be sure I will be soaking up all I can. I am glad that the week is flying by cause there are some fun things I am looking forward to this weekend.

Enjoy your Wednesday friends!!!

One of the things we like to eat when we go out to eat is Vietnamese Pho. It is also one of the things we have been wanting to try to make ourselves, but never attempted, until now.

We were going to make it during our homecation, but we had already made an over abundance of dishes that we decided to save it for another night. We used this recipe and the prepping for making the broth must be done 24 hours ahead of time, so you must plan for that, but overall, we were happy with the flavor of the recipe. It does taste different from the Pho we get at restaurants, but I think ours was pretty darn good considering ours did not contain any msg. The only thing drawback is that it cost more money to make at home than eat out because 4.5 lbs of oxtails is kind of expensive.

It was a hit amidst the girls, but we mixed their rice noodles in with some soba noodles and once we gave them a squeeze of that hoisin sauce, they went to town! Looking at the pictures and remembering it is making me crave some right now. That’s what happens when you are pregnant and writing a food post.

Any else love Pho or have any experience cooking this dish at home?

We had a bunch of really old bananas, I mean like so old that the banana only came out of the peel squeezed like a tube of toothpaste. That kind of old. Of course, that means they were perfect for making banana bread! The girls were all about that. We used this recipe (from smitten kitchen) and I say this is definitely a keeper, but you can’t really go wrong with something from smitten kitchen. It was so scrumdiddlydumptious!

True’s allergic to nuts (not deathly allergic), so only one side had nuts sprinkled on top for Brave and me. We are already hoping another batch of bananas go bad because this recipe is so quick and yummy that we really need to make it again.

Now, I am off to finish making my ice cream sandwich. I just baked some fresh peanut butter cookies, and I am going to go downstairs to stick some ice cream in the middle, put it in the freezer, wait a bit (10 minutes), and then go and devour it. Sometimes, it is kinda nice being pregnant and needing a bit more calories!

Thanks for the new shop love friends and Ben is currently working on his part of the story, so that may be ready for you tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed…

I had the pleasure of working on a little project for HGTV. They needed some ideas for party favors and this is what I came up with… Petite Pie Party Favors wrapped up in some vintage hankies. Sounds cute and yummy right?!

See my party favor and some other ones here and to get my own recipe and instructions on how to create your own Petite Pie Favor from scratch (well, the dough is from scratch), check it out here.

This project sent a whole slew of baking in the house and there was a lot of pie eating. I think my girls were pretty happy about that.

Anyone else have a sudden craving for pie? Cause I suddenly do. Serve it up with some ice cream please!

I have been doing some pie making lately. Sounds good, but it can be a terrible thing if you end up being the one that eats all of the pies. Good thing they are little pies. Me and sweets together is a very dangerous thing!

Ben is working late, the girls are in bed, now I gotta keep trucking through today’s to do list… but yesterday’s sewing got me into a sewing mood and that is all I really want to do right now!

Danni came over today and we caught up on life, chatted (nerd blog chatted), laughed, got frustrated together and ate a whole lot (and she played with the girls while I got some cleaning done). Something new I learned about Danni is she doesn’t like cheese on pizza! While homemade pizza was on the menu, her side didn’t have cheese.

It is always so fun to have a good friend who loves blogging like I do. I think we have blog speak. We both totally get the blog lingo and it feels like we have mutual friends all over the place when we talk about some blogs we both read. Makes me feel less blog nerdy!

And Danni brought me a yummy treat… I have been craving the bundt cakes from her wedding for, like, ever, and she brought me THREE!!! I want to gobble them up so fast, but at the same time, eat it all so slowly because I never want the yummy tummy goodness to end. Am I dramatic much?! Probably. But hey! I am pregnant after all. Thanks Mrs. Keith, we must do it again soon!!! And in true Danni fashion, the packaging must always be just as good as its contents.

There was also another package awaiting me at the door from Ariel. She sent me something from her shop that I had favorited and yes… it is a maxi skirt! I am sure you will be seeing it soon.

I love things wrapped in brown paper and that tape was icing on the cake. I want to get me some of that pretty tape! Anyone know where?

Friends and packages are always such happy things! I ain’t gonna lie. I love getting packages in the mail! Love! Love! Love it!!! I get extra giddy opening up a box and wondering what is inside. Makes me feel like Christmas! Maybe that is why I prefer to shop online than at actual stores (and the fact that I love ebay and etsy way too much). Anyone else feel the same way?