Lingering Tomatoes

Our tomato plants are still producing, and tomorrow will be November. My neighbors all ripped out their tomato plants weeks ago, but mine are happily perking along, blossoming, fruiting, and turning red in the sun. The nights are getting cold now, though, and I expect our first freeze could be soon.

These tomatoes are fresh-picked this morning.

Cranberry Almond Biscotti

I made a batch of biscotti and added craisins and almonds to it. It's my favorite variation so far. Excellent dunking in tea or hot cocoa, but hard to stop nibbling.

Good Neighbor Goodies

My neighbor is in the habit of giving our family groceries that he doesn't want. Usually it's one item which he gets free at the market, but he doesn't eat. It might be a sack of flour, a tray of cookies, a bottle of soda, that sort of thing. Today he brought over all his leftovers from his football party: chips, party mix, bread (I don't think this was from the party), salsa, and cold pizza. The pizza didn't hang around long, so it's not in the picture.

We're always happy to take what he doesn't want!

My Bargains of the Week

I had some time freed up this week, so I worked extra hard to collect some grocery bargains. Firstly, a new Target opened in my area, and they mailed out two coupons for $5 off a purchase of $25 or more. One had to be groceries, the other didn't specify. So I hit the new Target. (It's not a Super Target, but it has an expanded food section, without produce, bakery, or fresh meats.) I took my time browsing the grocery section, comparison shopping, checking my price book, and couponing. Some of my best deals were:
1/2 gal ice cream $1.34
5 lb flour .94
Splenda on sale 5.99 minus $3 off on two bags
20 oz Dole pineapple .72 on clearance (And the store just opened! Why clearance?)

I also scored a few deals at Kroger:
Sundown vitamins BOGO. I bought calcium and Echinachea, each rang up less than $3, plus a $3 off coupon on each. Kroger paid me to take them out of the store!
Hunts tomato sauce .62, minus .25 coupon doubled (had 3), net cost .12 each
Armour Sizzle n Serve sausages on sale for $1, plus two .35 coupons doubled. I paid .30 ea box

CVS:
2 tubes Crest Pro Health toothpaste $3.29 each, xbucks $3.29 each, minus a mfr BOGO coupon. I paid with previous xbucks so my out of pocket was just .50 for the two tubes, plus I got $6.58 in xbucks. What a deal! BUT I had to go to three stores before I found the toothpaste in stock.

Aldi:
It's only 10 minutes or so from home, but it's not on my usual route, so I stocked up when I headed that direction.
frozen ground turkey .89 lb, I bought 6 chubs
mandarin oranges .45 each
red grapes .99lb

Birthday Quilt

The blue birthday quilt is all pieced and ready to hand quilt. 10 columns and 14 rows make 140 squares cut from fabric scraps I saved from the birthday girl's childhood clothing. Maybe I'll finish the quilt by Christmas?

Thrifted Baby

I hit a few garage sales yesterday and found three needed baby linens:

A new in package crib sheet, a blue thermal receiving blanket, and a white terry cloth changing pad cover. All look new, even though the receiving blanket and changing pad cover are not. I'm always looking for ways to help the new parents.

Note: The changing pad cover turned out to be too small. But it wasn't that much money, so I don't mind. It was worth the try.

Granola

Fall means hearty grains for breakfast! I made a double batch of granola today ~ that means ten cups of oatmeal. I added sunflower seeds and peanuts to this batch. Here the liquids are ready to pour in. Then stir, stir, stir, pour in a flat pan, and bake.

Baked, cooled, and ready for breakfast. This is popular in our house with plain yogurt. Some of us like it also with fruit, some don't. It will last slightly more than a week, courtesy of our two resident teens.

Autumn Color

It's high time I moved the summertime decorations back to storage and put out my autumn accessories. The problem is, autumn is not my favorite season, and I find the colors don't really mix well with my home. On top of that, it's still warm and summery outside. Even so, the seashells and white candles gave way this afternoon for red and orange leaves, brass candlesticks, and sprays of greens.

These leaves aren't quite at home, but at least they blend better here in the dining room than in the living room or family room.