Radiation is still kicking my tush.  I am still nauseated on a regular basis.  I am also exhausted most of the time.

However, the show must go on.

My Mother in Law or MIL was here in April when I had surgery.  My husband bought some plants for her and my youngest to put in our garden bed.  I have no recollection of any of this happening.  I assumed that there would be a variety of vegetables but it turned out, they planted tomatoes.  Just tomatoes. Lots of tomatoes  Mostly cherry tomatoes because that’s what the little guy likes.

Well, my little guy watered that garden all summer and did he ever get a bumper crop!  We had mounds and mounds of little tomatoes all summer.

We thought we were done with tomatoes a week or two ago.  Apparently this is not so.

Here is yesterday’s harvest:

My husband is thinking of making sundried tomatoes with this batch.  I made chilli with the last batch.  He made a huge vat of tomato soup with a couple of the hauls.  We have been up to our ears in tomatoes!

The little lad is so over it.  He is tired of picking tomatoes.  He stopped watering a while ago and we still are getting huge hauls of them.  He claims he will soon rip the plants out by their roots!  I have enjoyed them.  They make me happy.  And they are so sweet and delicious.  And my little 8-year-old did this all by himself with some help from grandma in the beginning.

It’s been very cool.

And speaking of fresh fruits and veg, we joined a CSA of organic fruits and vegetables.  It’s delivered to our door every week and it has been an adventure.  Here’s a picture of one of the deliveries:

We used every bit.  Although I must admit, I am not thrilled about squash.  It’s nobody’s favorite around here.  At one point, we received a butternut squash.  I was baffled and intimidated.  The husband chopped it in half for me and I roasted it with some agave syrup drizzled on top.  Then we didn’t want to eat it.  So I found a recipe and purreed it into soup which we kind of half enjoyed.  I made a salad with the lettuce, carrots and heirloom tomatoes and that went over much better than the soup.

I still had half a roasted squash left so I processed a puree and made squash muffins:

The little lad decided they needed frosting:

And after all of that, we unanimously decided, that we as a family, don’t care much for butternut squash.  Lord knows we tried.

Lastly, in an effort to de-cancerify our home, we’re trying to get rid of our nonstick cookware.  That coating is toxic, you know, especially if it has been scratched.  We had already bought a small cast iron skillet and The Husband ordered a bigger one on Amazon.  We knew it was going to be big but not this big!

Look at that pan!  It’s ginormous and its also quite awesome.  You can make a stir-fry that lasts for a week in that pan.  And it was $39!  I love it.  But I don’t love cleaning it.  I am learning though.  Cast iron is not quite as convenient as non-stick but it does the job.  It’s like we’re pioneers!

We are also trying to phase out all of the plastic stuff in the kitchen.  Did you know when plastic is heated, it leeches chemicals onto your food?  I did.  But I thought I was good as long as I wasn’t putting plastic in the microwave and reheating.  But think about it, hot food on a plastic plate is also a danger.  My kids everyday plates have been these Make-it Plates that they have been making since preschool. You can see my son eating his not so delicious muffin on a Make-it plate.  I love Make -it plates.  They remind me of my boys at every age.  They make me happy BUT they’ve been retired to a box in the garage.  Got to lose the plastic if you want to be safe. Right?

This is what I’ve been up to during radiation.  Besides sleeping and eating and a great deal of t.v. watching.  I thought this step would be pretty easy but it’s still quite challenging.  Thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.  We still need them and we still need you.