Garden Gumption ~ Post #7

Holy Tomatoes, Batman!

How are everyone's gardens coming along? Good, I hope!

Today's post is just a brief update on mine. My husband and I managed to get my veggie garden all fenced in to ward off those pesky little groundhogs, so we can check that off our gardening to-do list! Now we just have to tie up my HUGE potatoe plants so they stop hiding all of my onions and garlic! Hopefully that will be accomplished this weekend.

My garden is coming along surprisingly better than last year. My cucumber plants are actually growing and flowering, as well as my pea plants and zuchinni. My lettuce and cabbages are starting to grow back quite well, considering they were attacked twice by the groundhogs before we constructed the "fence".

And then we have my tomato plants!!!! I have 25 in total -- all grown from seed (as are my other veggie plants). I already have a large group of tomatoes growing -- my last count being at least 30!! I'm very excited, because that means this year I can make some homemade spaghetti sauce!! If I do an official tomato count later today, I'll let you know.

Is everyone having as much luck with their gardens as I am? I'd love to know!! For all of my gardening friends out there, I hope we all get to enjoy a good harvest this year!! And for those of you who don't have a garden, help support your local farmers at farmers markets and local produce stands!!

~* Happy Gardening!! *~

~ Recipe of the Week ~

* Jamie's Chocolate Chip Cookies *

Do you LOVE chocolate chip cookies? Well, here is the BEST chocolate chip cookie dough recipe I have come across yet!! I can't take credit for this recipe, but I would like to give a shoutout to one of my dance students -- Jamie L. (and her mom for copying down the recipe for me!) -- who shared these delicious delights with us one night at dance. I was finally able to make these yummy cookies with my son today, and so of course I HAD to share it as my "Recipe of the Week" this week!! Believe me when I say, you can't eat just one, I PROMISE!!!! ENJOY!!!

Preparation and Cook Time: 20 minutes
Makes approximately: 48 cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 - 12 oz bags of chocolate chips

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
1) In a large mixing bowl, cream together the shortening and brown sugar.
2) Add the 2 eggs and vanilla, and mix well.
3) In a separate small dish or cup, dissolve the baking soda in 1 tablespoon of hot water; then add it to cookie dough mixture.
4) Add salt and flour and mix ingredients together.

5) Finally, mix in the chocolate chips.

6) On a greased cookie sheet, scoop out cookie dough (approximately 1 tablespoon of dough per cookie) onto the cookie sheet -- fitting about 12 cookies depending on cookie sheet size.

7) Bake the cookies in the oven for 10 minutes or until the bottom of the cookies are slightly browned and the insides are thoroughly cooked.

8) Remove cookies from oven and allow them to cool on a wire rack.

Serve with a nice, cold glass of milk and ENJOY!!!!

*~*~*~*