lazy days

Cooler weather at last. And some rain which was much needed.

T is growing again - out of his shoes last week so it is a good thing I had already bought a bigger pair and they were stashed in the cupboard waiting...In the summer it is harder to see the growing as he is in shorts most of the time. That's usually how I notice, when his pants suddenly get a lot shorter! He also tends to get rounder around the tummy just before a growth spurt and then goes all lean again afterwards.

He's been fascinated by toilet paper lately - making paper snakes so I'm having to reroll paper in all the bathrooms!

We have to go to the library every week to get more truck books - we recently found the fire truck section so this weeks books have been heavy on the firetrucks with a couple of books on road building machines.

The garden is also growing. We're getting tomatoes, basil, thyme, beans and zuccini at the moment. The slugs have eaten all the lettuce so I replanted in a different container and I might try radishes again in a different location and container as they did not do well in the shady patch of garden.

I made moonblush tomatoes again - here's what they look like after 18 hours in the oven.

Friday night supper was cheater mexican lasagna - onions, peppers, mushrooms, corn all sauted, then a jar of tomato sauce added, some grated cheddar cheese and then I added in quick succession, 1/2 package of non-ground round (Yves Veggie) and some torn up tortilla (plain and tomato which is what I had in the fridge).

Saturday I made another buttermilk lemon cake (smittenkitchen.com) but this time with blackberries, blueberries and raspberries as all three needed to be eaten. It was delish!

I also made tomato and spinach tart (variation on the zuccini tomato tart from digginfood.com).

Saturday night we had vegetarian moussaka - a recipe I adapted from one in Country Living UK. This time I made it in a 9x13 lasagna pan in 3 layers and it was wonderful. Layer thinly sliced and cooked potato, 1/3 jar tomato sauce, 1 roasted eggplant (thinly sliced) and then 1/4 of cheese sauce (3 tbsp olive oil, 100 g butter - once melted add 120 g flour and cook for 2 mins. Add 800 ml milk, mix well and cook for 5 mins. Cool and add 2 eggs, 100 g each of parmesan and feta cheese). Repeat the layers twice more - spread the last of the cheese sauce evenly over the top of the dish. Bake at 350 deg for 50 minutes or until the top is nicely browned. Let cool slightly before serving.

Sunday morning we went to the farmer's market in the rain. T had a great time splashing in the puddles with his Cars boots and looking very cute in his Thomas raincoat. There were lots of people shopping at the market as per usual which I was glad to see despite the rain. We are loving the second season strawberries now. Yum.

After lunch, T and I and Auntie K went to the Family Day at the local automall. T got to sit in a real fire truck (he got all goofy shy around the firemen and women unfortunately so missed a chance to wear the headset). He went on the kiddie ferris wheel and down the bouncy slide and then played on the bouncy pirate ship. After the rides, etc closed and the fire truck drove off, we had ice cream and then came home.

Sunday night I made a casserole layering uncooked potato slices, lengthwise sliced zuccini, parmesan cheese with 1 tsp flour, pepper and thyme, potato, zuccini, cut up cooked turkey, corn taken off a couple of cobs (uncooked) and then topped with a layer of potatoes, sprinkled parmesan cheese and 1 tsp flour, pepper and thyme and then spread a thin layer of sour cream over the top and more parmesan cheese. It was pretty good but time consuming. I baked for about 45 mins at 350 deg.