We spent the weekend farm sitting for Darren’s parents.  Two calves were born while we were there–so cute!

I’ll  admit that I came “this close” to throwing a tantrum while we were preparing to leave to go there.  I had a lot of things to do at home and I felt like I needed some time to be home without a crazy schedule.   Once we got there, the house was quiet and there were lots of places for the children to play outside.  Grant took two 4 hour naps on Saturday and let me work.  I can’t believe everything I accomlishedin just 12 hours!

I finalized the text on my latest ebook, read two hardcover books from cover to cover (Tribes:  We need you to lead us; and The Westing Game), finished my September menu, and wrote Heidi’s lesson plans for September and October. 

I also got to do my Fit Yummy Mummy interval workout on the gravel road, which I decided is just about as good as running on sand to add extra resistance and balance into a workout.  Plus the scenery was breathtaking!  I ran and ran and only saw 2 houses before it was time to turn around and head home.  Another benefit was that the country blocks are exactly 1 mile long, so I could judge my distance easier than at home.  I did 2 miles in a little over 15 minutes.

Ooh, I almost forgot, I also took Grant’s 4 month pictures.  He gets cuter every day (proud mom talking.)  I miss the newborn floppy, cuddly stage.  But there is no bad stage.  He’s getting very vocal about letting me know when he needs to potty.  Which is so helpful, since this distracted mom needs LOUD potty cues, lol.  And he laughs hilariously when I make pig snort noises–but only when he can see my face at the same time.  I also love seeing him get super excited when a toy comes his way.

I learned enough from my reads to figure out that I wish I had some computer programming courses under my belt.  Darren and I talked about sending our 9 year old son to classes so he can create Android Apps for our businesses and earn the money for his college degrees.  That boy is Smart!  He beat Darren 6 times at Stratego this weekend which is something since his daddy is a brain himself. 

Part of the fun of being on the farm is arriving without a menu plan and cooking with what we can scrounge up from the garden and create.  Bonnie had a pile of beautiful eggplants, okra, and fresh blueberries.  What a treat.  Here’s the recipe for the Italian Eggplant Bake we had for the main dish.  It was the first time any of us had tasted eggplant and we loved it!

2 eggplant (approx 1 lb each)

cooking spray

garlic powder and salt

2 lbs ground beef (you can use 1 lb or even better that yummy Turkey Italian sausage from Aldi)

1 jar spaghetti sauce

1 lb mozarella cheese, shredded

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Slice the eggplant 1/2 inch thick and place on a greased cookie sheet.  Spray with cooking spray and sprinkle liberally with garlic powder and salt (to taste)  Bake for 10 minutes, then flip and spritz and sprinkle the other side.  Bake for 10 minutes more. Reduce temperature to 375 degrees.

Meanwhile, brown the hamburger or turkey sausage (also liberally sprinkled with garlic powder and salt) and drain and rinse the fat.  Stir the spaghetti sauce and hamburger together.  Place a small amount of sauce in the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 dish.  Cover the bottom of the dish with eggplant slices.  Top with half the sauce mixture and half the cheese.  Repeat the layers once.  Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and golden brown.

Serve like lasagna–Yum!  And very low carb.

(Note:  This is how we made the dish with what was available, but I thought a little parmesean cheese in the layers would have been fantastic.)