WEEKLY UPDATE

Sunday was a productive day for us.  Matt was able to work on his truck and repair some issues with it.  We did a Home Depot run and picked up some more caulking for the exterior of the house to prepare it for painting later this summer.  I also picked up some tomato cages and some plant supports (for my mums) as well as a couple packets of lettuce seed.  I installed the tomato cages and mum supports and even managed to get the living room cleaned, swept, and mopped.  Considering how fatigued I've been from the bronchitis, this was a major victory for me.

My poppies have continued to burst into bloom and are beautiful.  I would love to have a huge section of them just like my grandmother did.  Our clematis has also burst into bloom.  Matt's sisters got this clematis for him several years ago and we thought it had pretty well died when I moved in but it has come around nicely with fertilizing and regular watering.  It's strange that the clematis for the past two years has bloomed in September or October, fairly late in the season we thought, and this year it bloomed in June.  I've had to cut back my chives, oregano, and thyme already. 

Last night Matt was in a pasta and cheese mood so I made my cheeseburger mac and green beans for supper.  It was extremely tasty and hit the spot for both of us.  If you don't have tomato soup on hand you could use tomato sauce or spaghetti sauce for this too.  If you don't have stewed tomatoes they can be omitted.  This is a pretty versatile recipe.  Leave the cheese out and you have beef-a-roni.  Use chili powder instead of Italian seasoning and you get chili mac.  This recipe is GREAT with garlic bread to sop up any sauce.

CHEESEBURGER MACARONI

1# hamburger
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
8 oz macaroni, cooked
2 cans tomato soup
1-2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 can stewed tomatoes
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
2 -3 tsp Italian seasoning
salt
pepper


Put water on to cook macaroni.  Fry hamburger with onion until almost done and add garlic.  Add Worcestershire sauce, stewed tomatoes, tomato soup, Worcestershire sauce and seasonings.  Reduce to low and let simmer while macaroni cooks.  Break up stewed tomatoes as it simmers.  Drain macaroni and add to hamburger mixture.  Add cheese and stir.  Simmer until cheese melts.