July 25th, 2010

Back in St Louis, we are in de-vacationing mode.  Laundry (8 loads to be exact), getting the car washed, mowing, unpacking, grocery shopping, and tending to the garden, which went in overdrive when we were out of town….or I just didn’t realize what happens to a garden when you neglect it for 8 days AND hire a neighborhood girl to water it. 

We have a crapload large amount of tomatoes to say the least. That big one on top has seen better days, but I figured I could salvage a part of it.  I decided to make a big batch of spaghetti sauce with meatballs.  So Lauren and I cleaned and pureed.  About halfway through I noticed we were getting to the top of the sauce pot and still had quite a bit of tomatoes leftover.  Good thing we have garden-less neighbors.  Lauren and I became the tomato fairies and gave out boxes and bags to our 5 favorite neighbors (well one isn’t really our favorite, but they are around alot…..really alot, and promises of tomatoes were made early on in the garden process).

I save ends of bread in a bag in the freezer and then whenever I need breadcrumbs, like for meatballs, I grind them with garlic, salt, pepper, whatever herbs sound good, and parmesan cheese.

I normally cook my meatballs in the sauce, but there was no room in the pot, so I roasted them.  I am officially a convert, roasted meatballs in the oven are way better than cooking in the sauce.  I’m not a fan of saying this, but I’ve been doing it wrong and stand corrected.

I love a vacation, but Dorothy is totally right, there’s no place like home.