On Monday, I made a batch of yogurt.

For Monday dinner, as we only had enough of the black-eyed peas w/ brown rice and ham for one, my husband ate that, and I pulled some frozen tomato sauce from last year’s garden. I sauteed onion, celery, and red bell pepper and mushrooms in olive oil, then added the sauce. I added 1 Tbs. tomato paste, 1 ½ tsp. Penzey’s Tuscan Italian seasoning, and a tablespoon each of Worcestershire sauce and red wine, along with some pepper. I mixed it with cooked Barilla Protein Plus pasta, which I bought on sale a while back and found in the pantry. It is a combination of semolina, grains and legumes. It holds together well when cooking. With freshly grated Parmesan, it made a nice dinner, and I have leftovers for lunches during the week.

Tuesday’s dinner was fish and chips, using the last of the swai. (When we were at Aldi’s today, I looked at labels carefully and found the salmon.) I made a sauce for my fish to cover its flavor, using up the rest of some Greek yogurt to which I added 1 ½ tsp. Penzey’s Sunny Paris and ¼ tsp. garlic. It was tolerable, but I do not like the combination enough to make it again. We also had microwaved fresh broccoli.

We had grilled strip steaks, potatoes roasted on the grill with Penzey's Pasta Sprinkles, asparagus, and a green salad. It's good to be home and cooking again. And it is raining, a gentle drizzle for the past 2-3 hours, although severe storms are in the forecast.

We had breakfast for supper tonight.Bacon,eggs,grits and buttermilk biscuits.

I had leftover steak and salad. Husband went to a potluck, with a pasta salad made from everything left in the vegetable drawer.

Today I made Puddingwiches, which I used to make frequently during the summer when my children were young. I used chocolate graham crackers and instant chocolate fudge pudding. Let the pudding set up for about an hour (or less) and then spread a thick glob on graham cracker halves and top with the other halves. Freeze for several hours. You'll need to take them out of the freezer 4-5 minutes before you want to eat them, so they soften enough that you don't break any teeth! It makes about a dozen. Use regular grahams and your favorite pudding flavor. You could even make the pudding from scratch, but who wants to do that on a 90* summer day!

I had a strip steak that I cooked on my George Foreman grill, brown rice and cauliflower and carrots.