September is always a super busy month for us, but this September is even busier than normal. It is good, and we are excited, but it is a lot. The kids have some wonderful opportunities coming up for them, and Rich and I will be doing some fun work together, but it adds to the regular work that we already have.

Last week I mentioned how I was hoping for peaches. Well, ask and you shall receive. We now have more peaches than we have time. We will get to them, probably canning halves in syrup, because that is fast and simple and we enjoy them in the winter and spring. We are getting pears, too, but not quite in the huge quantities that lend themselves to sauce and canning. We are eating them and baking with them, but mostly eating fresh.

This week, we get to eat some of our home cured bacon, and we are so excited. The cure was started at the pig butchering demonstration when we went to the homesteading conference and we brought it home to finish curing, then dried it and smoked it, and the little bit we tasted was wonderful.

We are cooking mostly out of our freezers and pantries as it is September, and we try to do that to rotate through our stores and to cut our budget at a more expensive time of year with all the activities starting up again for fall. And it is most definitely fall now. No false summer temperatures, even for a couple days like we had last week. It is pleasant, though, I only wish it lasted longer. Even the apple pie and beef pot pies are using pie crusts I made before and were in the freezer and the last of the apple pie filling we froze two summers ago. In September, I take our grocery budget down to about a quarter of what we normally spend. Our garden is providing quite a bit for it, as it treats us better than we have treated it. There are still some raspberries to eat, and our yellow crookneck is going gangbusters. We are hoping that the kousa summer squash will take off before the hard freezes set in here. Since it is fully fall here, I'm making a pumpkin spice crumb cake for a breakfast this week. I don't generally care for pumpkin spice except in baked goods, so that is how we have it here.

Although our weekdays this week are not too full, our weekend has people going multiple directions, so we have some pretty easy to make dishes for Saturday. Monday is not only Labor Day (so Rich gets the day off of work!), but also the anniversary of our coming to agreement on getting engaged. We took about a month to renegotiate the timing of our engagement and marriage, and went from planning to wait for about three and a half years to getting married four and a half months later. It is one of the best decisions we've ever made. Friday is the feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos, so it is a fish day, which we will most definitely enjoy.

Aside from all the activities and schedule changes, we also are dealing with some things that need repairs around the house, including two of our stove burners. Please pray. It is harder and harder to use those burners, and because it is a glass top, we are concerned that we will have to replace the top entirely. Not what we need at this point.

• Sunday
  Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs with Cheese, Refried Beans, Toast, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Italian Beef Sandwiches on Herb Bread, Olive Salad, Sliced Tomatoes and Lettuce
• Monday
  Breakfast: Blueberry Pancakes with Buttermilk Syrup, Home Cured Bacon, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Grilled Buffalo Chicken "Burgers" with Bleu Cheese Dressing, Crudités, Fruit Plate
• Tuesday
  Breakfast: Ham, Potato and Vegetable Hash, Grapefruit Halves, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Beef and Vegetable Pot Pies, Salad/Side Dish brought by Bible study members, Apple Pie
• Wednesday
  Breakfast: Oatmeal with Raisins, Chopped Apples and Coconut Milk, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Vegan Egyptian Mahshi, Turmeric Rice, Harissa, Green Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
• Thursday
  Breakfast: Pumpkin Spice Crumb Cake, Sausage Links, Fruit Plate, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Baked Potatoes with Butter, Sour Cream, Scallions, Bacon, Cheese, Fruit Plate
• Friday - Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
  Breakfast: Almond Butter Toast with Honey, Sliced Oranges, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Stir Fried Mixed Seafood and Broccoli, Jasmine Rice, Mandarin Oranges
• Saturday - Feast of the Parents of the Blessed Virgin, Joachim and Anna
  Breakfast: Granola Bars, Fruit, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Dinner with friends, Honey Cake

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

Labels: Church Year, Faith and Morality, Fasting as a Family, Governor Inslee Needs a Frozen Fish to the Forehead, Homemaking, Homesteading, Menu Plans, Romance and Relationship, Tales from the Kitchen