It’s almost August and our garden looks like this: A big, sunburned, sprawling mess – but this is when all the best stuff comes out of it! (Can you spot my gnomey?)

Floppy Plants

I’ve been slowly collecting a massive harvest of roma tomatoes and have been meaning to make marinara all week. I don’t know if it’s really “marinara”, but I roughly chopped up all the tomatoes, added 2 tbsp olive oil, a couple of leaves of basil, 7 garlic cloves (Yes – it is shameful – I will never have a torrid love affair with vampire Erik Northman.), 1 cup of red wine, 1/2 a red onion and some coarse sea salt and pepper. I let it simmer down for awhile until it got really juicy and then added one can of tomato paste.

No Ragu Up in this Hizzy

I mixed it with the pasta I had on hand – mini rotini – some leftover garlic bread – and voila! A delicious, carbolicious dinner. (How many WW points? 7. (5 for pasta, 2 for sauce) But the garlic bread was 6.) Home made pasta sauce tastes so much more rich and has a delightful tang.

Nom Nom

Here I am enjoying my dinner – don’t judge on the frazzled “Almost the end of a crazy week” face.

Mmmmm dinner!

And because I think they are the coolest things on earth, here are my new hot dog boxers that I scored for only $7.95 from Old Navy. If I can’t eat Chicago hot dogs every day, at least I can wear ’em.

WEINERS!

I weigh in on Saturday and am hoping to have better results this week. My pants are feeling loose and I was able to twirl my wedding band around my finger which usually tells me I’m not bloated like a water balloon, so I consider these good signs. I’m avoiding salt tomorrow and I’m heading to the gym right after I hit “publish”. Cross your fingers for me – hope you’re having a great week!