Toads-in-the-Hole

Henry and I scored eight pounds of bright, beautiful strawberries this morning at one dollar a pound! Our hands our pink and our faces are sweet as we find ourselves unexpectedly freezing and jamming strawberries as the outdoor thermometer reads 120 (Our thermometer kind of shrugs and gives up when the weather gets hot; it'll read correctly in the early morning hours, but after about 7:30 a.m., it's done working for the day. So, we don't know how hot it is exactly, but - per Mr. Thermometer - we should just sit down and stop working!).

We're in conservation mode here in Toadsland, pinching our pennies and trimming the fat from our waistlines. We're grocery-shopping on a budget only once a week and making do with a little less ... A little less dessert, a little less booze, a little less period. We're down-sizing purposefully to preserve our savings and our health, but cheerfully making our ends meet.

To wit, this week we ran out of sandwich bread. Gasp! Yee gads! What's a mother to fed two hungry kids for lunch?? Mac n' Cheese? Nope, we ate all of that earlier in the week. Salad? Are you kidding? Leftovers? Don't even mention it. I opened the cupboard doors looking to be inspired and saw that I had: flour, salt, honey and a packet of quick-rise yeast. Armed with my beloved Best Recipe cookbook, I made their version of Whole Wheat American Sandwich Bread. Ha! PB&Js all around!

Oh, no! Gasp! We've run out of J? Absolutely no J in the house whatsoever? Back, back you Dogs of Want, now we've got ten jars of strawberry freezer jam! Ha!