Saturday, July 26, 2008

Sunday Dinner, July 27, 2008

Home grown red ripe tomatoes -- It's what's for dinner. Well, those and some other things.

I happen to have a goodly amount of ripe tomaters right now, so sliced tomatoes will figure largely in our Sunday Dinner this week.

I also made a fresh batch of my homemade refrigerator pickles Friday night so those will be available to those who want them. Between them Jessica and Jason can eat a half gallon of them at one meal, and that's no exaggeration.

I'm going to make a pot of sauerkraut and weiners, or weinies and kraut in our local vernacular. I know Jessica loves weinies and kraut and I think everybody else likes them, with the possible exeption of Jason. I don't think he cares for kraut.

I've got a 5 quart Dutch oven brimful of pinto beans cooking away as I type this. They're almost done and ready to season with salt and bacon grease, or as the case is tonight, a little vegetable oil.

I had intended to make some homemade biscuits when I got home from church to round out the meal but I just remembered I don't have any self rising flour and I don't want to fool with adding the baking powder and salt to my plain flour so I guess I'll make some more cornbread to go with the beans.

So our menu for this Sunday Dinner will consist of pinto beans, cornbread, kraut and weinies, homemade refrigerator pickles and sliced homegrown ripe tomatoes.

If you'd like to participate this week just share your menu/plans for your Sunday Dinner in the comments.

By the way, all the pictures of pinto beans, corn bread and biscuits are some I've taken of past Sunday Dinner offerings.A few months ago I was pleasantly surprised when I received an email from a blogger who has ties to my home town. She somehow happened across my blog and after reading my profile she wondered if perhaps we knew some of the same people.

She has friends and family living in my hometown although she lives in the central part of Arkansas. After a few emails back and forth we discovered that one of her relatives was my and CECIL'S middle school social studies teacher, and I do indeed know some of her extended family living in my hometown.

And in the South, that means we're practically family, as anybody south of the Mason/Dixon line will assure you.

One email led to another and KELLI introduced me to her personal blog, KELLI'S CRAZY LIFE, and her online shop, KELLI'S KREATIONS.

Kelli makes personalized bags of several different fabrics and sizes and they are ADORABLE! Click HERE to visit her online shop, and HERE to visit her personal blog.

Kelli was kind enough to gift me with a personalized bag after asking my preferences regarding the colors of fabric and the size of the bag I liked best. I chose the larger bag with a floral lining and details, and purple for the outer fabric.

What she didn't tell me until she emailed me to let me know that the bag was in the mail was that she'd included a little something extra in the package with my bag. She included a copy of her family cookbook that she'd just completed and it has some great recipes in it. I can't wait to try some of them!

Kelli also was sweet enough to send a personalized bag for Emmy, just her size, with E-mo (Elmo from Sesame*Street) fabric lining the bag and bright yellow outer fabric and red details. Emmy loves her bag and has already been carrying it around the house here.

I think Emmy's gonna be a girly girl with her shoes and purses, so this bag is right up her alley.

Kelli didn't ask me to plug her online shop but I think her bags are wonderful and want to give you all a chance to look at them if you think you'd be interested.

I also asked Kelli before I put a link on here to her PERSONAL BLOG. I know some people prefer to stay out of the mainstream and keep their blog more private, but Kelli says she'd welcome your visits to HER BLOG.

If you've a mind to, please drop by Kelli's blog or her online shop and leave her a comment welcoming her to our little online community, and tell her Diane sent you. ;o)

I was going to make a button for my sidebar linking to KELLI'S ONLINE SHOP but I slick clean forgot about it until I started typing this post. I'll try to get that done soon, Kelli.

THANK YOU SO MUCH, Kelli, for the bags and for sending me a copy of your family cookbook! I do appreciate everything! :o)News flash! It's Summer! In Arkansas! For the next week the temps are supposed to be 100F and above, with humidity to match, making the heat index (humidex to some of my readers) rise into the 110's.

Can I just say - Ick! Just....ICK!And now that I've written a small novel I'll leave you with this prayer: May God meet all your needs, and may you have enough to share.

34 comments:

Susie said...

Your dinner sounds yummy! Our tomatoes are really starting to produce and we're enjoying them so much.
Love those cute bags. What a sweet gesture to make one for Emmy too!
Have a great Sunday dinner. We're off to C's and I have no clue what's on the menu. I don't even know what I'm making for dessert. I'll decide tomorrow!
xoxo

Lucy Stern said...

Diane - Your dinner sounds good, but I don't like weiners and saurkrat....I do like hot dogs though. TF, Bonnie and I are going over to, my daughter, Jennifer's for my granddaughter's third birthday. Jocelyne turned three on the 24th, but the party is tomorrow night. Jen is ordering pizza for the occasion. I am in charge of bringing the drinks.

I'm going over to check out your friends blog and her online store. Have a good week!

Our Home Schooler and Jen said...

yum tomatoes!!!

very very nice bags

have a good week Diane
HUGS
Jen

zztop357 said...

Sounds good to me.I haven't decided what we are having yet.I think it might involve beans too.
It's too hot to eat, much less cook.
Love you Sister, Donna

Linds said...

My tomatoes are coming on, but are still very green. I can't wait till they ripen! I spent ages drooling over Pioneer Woman's recipe for beans and cornbread yesterday and I have some pinto beans just waiting for me to try. Do you soak yours? And do you add sugar to your cornbread?

I have no idea what we are having for lunch today. It is going to be hot and humid, and if I could stand, I would do a bbq, but anyway, it will include salad. I have some smoked salmon in the fridge, so I may do a light meal with some cream cheese and the salmon, rolled, with salads and some fresh bread. Ice cream and fresh berries for dessert. I think!

By the way, the most easy and wonderful home-made ice cream is 1 can evaporated milk, chilled in the fridge, whipped till creamy in the foodmixer, add half a tin of condensed milk slowly while whipping, and a teaspoon of vanilla essence. Then freeze. My family absolutely love it.
Have a great Sunday!

Nancy said...

Hi Diane!

You're up late, and I've not gone to bed yet myself!

The bags are darling! I will check Kelli's online shop! Emmy's little bag is too cute for words! Love the Elmo fabric! Small world to meet her online and then find out you know some of her relatives! That's one of the perks of blogging!

Sunday dinner for me is going to be a salad topped with a grilled chicken breast. We call it "Chicken-Chicken Salad." Your tomatoes sound sooooo good, but I can't eat them as I get hives from them, but I love to smell a freshly sliced tomato! We always grew them, as my ex loved them, and I would can them for him. I can eat ketchup, spaghetti sauce, etc. but not fresh tomatoes. Crazy, huh?

Well, guess I will start my morning work with the cats now, and then get a few hours sleep!

Have a great Sunday!

(((((( HUGS ))))))

Nancy said...

Just me...again! Yes, use that bread machine! I never buy bread anymore, ever! I don't like to actually bake the bread in the machine, though. I just use it to make my dough.

I keep my kids and ex in pizza crusts and sandwich rolls. Bread is my favorite thing to bake! Let me know when you use yours! That recipe of mine will make one BIG loaf of bread or 12 dinner rolls or 12 sandwich rolls or 12 pizza crusts. I've been working on my cooking blog a little. I'd like to add a couple recipes each week, time permitting! But then I'm sure you know how that goes! LOL

(((((( HUGS ))))))

Anonymous said...

You know I love your Sunday Dinner posts and this one is no exception - my mouth is watering!

We have not decided for today's dinner yet. As you know we've had blog friends to visit in our vacation home in Sweden and yesterday we had whole baked rainbow trout served with champagne so its hard to top that today.

Wishing you a good one though!

Love and hugs from Renny :-)

Lib said...

Hi Diane,
I just love my visits here. :o)
Your dinner sounds yummy!Its BLT's here,have homegrown toms. I need to use up .Have a few sides i need to use so I want have fridge waste.
Love your and Emmy's bags ,I'll check out Kellis site.
We're 90s all week. I need to do some crafting so I will be indoors, durning the afternoon heatwave.
I hope you have a Blessed day!
Love,Hugs,Blessins',Lib

Anonymous said...

I'm coming over for dinner! MMM...

Mary said...

Diane,

Your dinner sounds scrumptious. I'm sure your family is going to enjoy every bite. I'm not sure what we're having yet. Something simple. That's about all we've been having since starting the renovations. I have tomatoes coming on my vines and they should be ready about the middle of August. I can hardly wait.

The bags that Kelli sent you are beautiful. I can see why Emmy would love hers so much and I love the colors of yours.

It's been rainy here all week and we are to have more rain this coming week, but at least we haven't been having high temperatures and humidity. It got more humid last night after the rain, but not real bad. This summer has suited me fine. I can't take all that humidity.

It was nice visiting with you this morning. Take care and enjoy your Sunday.

Blessings,
Mary

Linda said...

Yummy! Enjoy that delicious dinner Diane.
I love the bags! They look perfect for carrying around all the extra things I seem to think are necessary when we go to spend a weekend with our kids. I will visit Kelli's shop!
Our weather will be very similar to yours Diane. I try to keep in mind that when everyone else is freezing we'll be enjoying lovely weather - but boy it sure is hot now!
Have a blessed day Diane.

Betty said...

I like everything you're having for dinner today, Diane, so fix me a plate with extra tomatoes, please.

Congratulations on your gifts. The bags are adorable, and I'm sure the cookbook has lots of good recipes.

Have a good rest of the day and a good week.

Kelli said...

Thanks so much, Diane, for the kind words! I'm so glad you liked the bags, I like to "pay it forward" and do random acts of kindness for people, and as you said, we're practically related!

You're a sweetie and I thank you again very much. I hope we can meet one day, but I'm enjoying getting to know you through cyberspace!

Have a great Sunday and much hugs!
Kelli

Mim said...

Diane
Now that foods sounds so good and amazing! I will be right over.. yeah all the way from Virginia!
Hope you enjoy it for me.
Mim

~Niki~ said...

Just added you to my fav links. Found you thru my good friend Lib online :) hugs! niki in az

Dawn said...

It was 95 by noon - low humidity here, but still hotter than I like. I didn't feel like turning on anything heat related. Went to the store, got some corn on the cob, which DC cooked out on his camp stove. We had some yummy chicken from the store, some grapes and cherries and raspberries (from our yard) and blueberries, and some yummy bread sticks. We have our first tomato, but haven't eaten it yet. Hope we get lots more.

Cute bags - I am called a bag lady around here. I can't seem to get enough of them.

Have a wonderful week - keep cool!

Brenda said...

I tell you what, Diane, you (and Jessica) keep me drooling when you talk about those fresh-grown toms! And drooling's not lady-like ya know?! I'm one month away from our Colorado visit where I can sit on the porch with my fresh tomato and the salt shaker and I'm going to take a picture and post it just for you and Jessica.
Have a wonderful week! I'll stop by and visit your friend.
God bless,
Brenda :)

mer@lifeat7000feet said...

Hi Diane...I'm sorry it's so hot there.

Your dinner sounds yummy (as usual). I couldn't get enough tomatoes when I was there.

I just left a comment on Kelli's blog. I love meeting bloggers from Arkansas! The bags she sent are so cute...how sweet of her!

Hope your week is a good one.

Mandy said...

Hi Diane! Thanks for stopping by my blog! It's good to be back. It looks like you make a lot of great home-cooked meals, so I will definitely be stopping back by. I am still trying to get the whole "wife" thing down. I am loving cooking for my hubby, but I still have a lot to learn!

Anonymous said...

Hot dogs and sauerkraut - YUM! And fresh-picked tomatoes!

We ate light last night - just big salads. I didn't feel like cooking. Tonight I'm frying some eggplant before it goes bad in the refrigerator.

Those bags are really cute - that was so nice of Kelli.

Sam said...

Hi Diane,

Your Sunday dinner sounds like it was great! I'm so jealous of all of you who have vegetable gardens and fresh vegetables this time of year! I'm thinking next year I'll be able to get it together to have a garden of my own. Of course, since this is my very first yard, I'm a little bit inexperienced with these things. :-)

For dinner we had a big pot of pasta with meat sauce. Very simple and delicious.

Those bags are so cute. How sweet of Kelly. I'm going to check out her site.

Oh, that heat sounds just horrible! I just don't know how you all can stand it! I'd never leave my air conditioned house.

Have a great week, my friend.

Sammy

Anonymous said...

Your Sunday posts always make me hungry. Can you send some pintos and cornbread on over to GA?

Do you have a secret to cooking fried okra you can share? Someone gave me whole mess of okra and my was just awful when I cooked it up. bummer...

Jeanette said...

Gday Dianne, Please Can I come for Dinner its sounds so Yummy and with fresh home grown tomotoes,Oh so tasty.
We have to wait till Christmas to pick home grown tomatoes.plant october..

MightyMom said...

them pickles sound a treat!

Aunt Jenny said...

MMMMMMM..sounds wonderful. I LOVE me some cornbread...I think I will make some tomorrow. The kids and I (the two who didn't go on the pioneer trek) are having big old nice artichokes for supper tomorrow..and cornbread would go perfect with that right???
I had a friend bring over a bag of corn today..so I plan to make a batch of corn relish tomorrow and freeze the rest I think. We may have corn for lunch too!!
Have a fun week!!! I love reading about your sunday dinners...yum!!

Barb said...

Those bags are adorable Diane. How sweet of her to make those for you and Emmy.

We're getting to the 100 degree mark here too but I thank the good Lord every day of my life that we don't have the humidity you have. I grew up in that kind of humidity and I know it makes it seem 50 degrees hotter than it actually is.

I'd say ICK too!

(We had spaghetti and Italian sausage for Sunday dinner. Uhm, two days ago. Sigh.)

Carole Burant said...

Hmmmm, I'm obviously very late for Sunday dinner! lol It's bad enough I'm sitting here at 6:30 p.m., I haven't eaten yet and my tummy is growling really loud...and I see all that delicious looking food you were making!!!!!! There goes my keyboard, I'm drooling all over it!

Isn't it such a small world...how wonderful that you got to connect with Kelli and find out that you know some of her family. I just love the totes she made for you and Emmy...they're so delightful!!

100F?? ICK is right! It's in the mid 70's here and I'm hot! lol Anything over 80 and I'm just plain miserable. My air conditioner has been in the shop for 3 weeks now and I'm not too happy....I want cool air in my house, darn it!!! Watch me get it back when summer is over. lol xoxo

Hootin Anni said...

Home grown tomatoes? Did someone say Homegrown? Where's the salt shaker?!! Mooooooooooove over! I'm so there at your table. Hope you have enough for everyone.

Those personalized bags look terrific. I'll have to drop by her site and see what else she's done. Wow.

Well, I'm out of jury duty as of late yesterday, now I'm catching up.

Hope your day is treating you well.

Mississippi Songbird said...

That dinner looks so good. and thanks for the link to kelli's bag. She has some cute items...

Anonymous said...

Good afternoon, Diane. I enjoy your blog very much and always check out the Sunday dinner menu at your place. I really enjoy the way you (and Jessica) talk about food. It inspires me to get cookin'. Anyway, I may (providing a north Idaho frost doesn't get to them first) have some zucchini pretty soon now. What do you do with your zucchini?. blessings..v

Unknown said...

Diane & Emmy! Two fun girls!!! I can see the two of you having so much fun together shopping.

nancy said...

All the food looks wonderful. I love your little bags. How nice. I did your little test and got a perfect score. I'm not sure if that''s good or bad! :)
Nancy

Rachel said...

Diane, I was reading about how handy you are at installing shower heads!! I didn't know they had the ones with water saving buttons! I am like your hubby in the plumbing department. I have to call in the pros and since you live too far away....well, I have to call someone closer!

You Sunday dinner sounds great. I love weiners and kraut! I like macaroni and cheese with it. My Mom always cooked her cornbread in the skillet and it looked just like yours. The homegrown tomatoes cannot be beat. I have a supply from the farmer's market. Beef hearts I think they are called. Yum!!