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The party was a rousing success! Far more people than I expected showed up and we had a grand time. The menu turned out pretty much how I planned except I left out the potato packets because I ended up with Amish potato salad instead. One thing that surprised me was how fast the Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno's were devoured. I had made half of them with my home-grown Bulgarian carrot peppers that are very flavorful but also very spicy. We learned that even a single seed left in them will make your eyes water. Even with the heat lottery going on we ended up making a second batch later in the night.

I realized I forgot the Bay leaf in the brine for the Grilled Chicken recipe and I forgot to link to recipes as I put them online in the menu.

Now I just have to figure out what I am going to server as munchies until my brother gets off work.

I was horrified when asked this weekend what I was planning for the following weekend for Labor Day. I had no ideas Labor Day had snuck up on me. I always throw a party for Labor Day weekend. My brother and one of my best friends birthdays always fall around Labor Day so started a tradition of throwing Labor Day parties many years ago. Unfortunately I am recovering from some type of flu so I couldn't feel less like planning for a party.

Luckily Ree over at Pioneer Woman is more energetic than I am and her Labor Day menu was able to spur me on to plan my own. I am going to borrow a few things from her menu like her Potato Bundles which I will be revamping in my own way and posting here this week. With a garden full of spicy Bulgarian Peppers waiting for me I will have to try her Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Thingies. I am going to have to buy some actual Jalapenos so that the weaker stomached of the group can still enjoy them. The Bulgarians have incredible flavor but their heat can peel the paint off your car. I am not sure how I can improve on her recipe for them but I will let you know if I decide I can make it better. I may even try a hand at her Favorite Burger recipe. This one I know I will be changing up. I just can't make a recipe as it is listed on the page. I think that is why I am not the best baker. Baking is a science and cooking is an art.. I am much more of an artist than a scientist.

This is what my menu is looking like at the moment. I am sure it will change 3 or 4 times before Saturday.

Grilled Chicken
Hamburgers - recipe will be posted
Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Thingies
Amish Macaroni Salad - I must admit I buy this at Wal-Mart but I will work on a recipe
Potato Packets

Peanut butter Pie - I think I have one on the site at the moment but his is a no cook version that I will be posting
Rhubarb Custard Pie

As you can see I have a lot of recipe work to get done this week. I imagine I won't be posting an more pictures until next week when I can do a nice wrap up post.

The tomatoes have been roasting for 3.5 hours so I thought it was time to mill them and see what they turn out like. Well here are the pictures to show that my tomatoes are just hopeless this year. I guess there won't be any tomato sauce this year.

Starting making tomato this weekend. Unfortunately we found that my tomatoes this year are like 90% water. We cut, seeded, seasoned and baked about a bushel of tomatoes just to find that we ended up with tasty tomato juice. Well that is until we tried to cook it down to sauce and accidentally burned it. Now we are starting over and this time I am trying to bake them longer to reduce the moisture at that stage. I start them at 400 F and then turn them down to 350F for at least an hour. My current batch is on its third hour. I am going to pull them out soon and see how they turn out. The picture above shows one of the pans I started with seasoned with chopped garlic and onion with salt, pepper, basil, oregano and thyme.