I woke up yesterday morning at 4 a.m. to get ready for work and I had the worst stomach ache.  Which is weird, because that hardly ever happens.  But I know I have to eat something because once I get to the shop I have to hit the ground running packing everything up.  I had a toasted English muffin with a schmear of peanut butter.  After a while my stomach settled down.  Weird!  It was a pretty sunrise when I got to the shop.


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I was doing a new market for me, so I was unsure of how it would go.  The previous record for this market was $1006, so that was my goal to beat that.  This one ran from 7 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.

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And for the first hour and a half.  Ghost town!  We were situated right by the Metra station, but hardly anyone walked by.  A Frenchman who sold hummus and olives next to me told me that he keeps telling the market director that this market shouldn’t open before 9, but they won’t listen.  So I walked up and down the street with my breakfast burrito demo and took “vendor” orders for $5 each instead of $8 to get the ball rolling.  I walked back with 7 orders.

I hardly ever sell our mini cheesecakes, so I was determined to sell at least half that I had, and I did.  I did a demo of our mini mixed berry gluten free cheesecake it it was a hit.

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I did the bulk of our sales between 10:00 and 12:00 and ended up with a new sales record – $1126!  I am a tad bit competitive, no?! Smile with tongue out

After work, I headed to Hannah’s work to get lunch.   My stomach was feeling fine and I was really hungry.  She made me their “El Dorado” sandwich.  Grilled turkey panini with chipotle sauce, bacon and cheese.  I ate half and am calling it 10 points because it was on sourdough bread.  So good. 

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We were talking about what to make for dinner, when I remembered that I had ricotta cheese and baby spinach at home.  I am still participating in the Food Waste Challenge, which is going really well.  It does make you think to use up what you have vs. going to the store a few times a week.  Well, I did have to stop at the store for large pasta shells.  That’s one type of pasta I rarely keep stocked in the pantry, even though it’s one of Hannah’s favorites.  As I was walking through the store, I stopped in my tracks. 

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Halloween candy!  Not only is it out, but it’s also on sale, which is weird to me.  I love fall, and Halloween, but when the temps are 50 degrees and there are leaves on the ground.  Not when it’s close to 90 degrees outside.

My friend Alison grew a garden this year and has a bounty of tomatoes.  Like three large Trader Joe’s paper bags filled with tomatoes!  She and her family are on vacation this week, so she asked if I could use them.  Why yes I can.  Actually I am going to be making giant batches of my base pasta sauce and then can it for them to use later on.  They should at least get a benefit from their hard work of tending to a garden!

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Aren’t these gorgeous?!  Normally I would have cheated and bought sauce to make it easy on myself after a long day at the market, but after I took an hour nap I caught my second wind.  This cherry tomato sauce is so easy, it really could be made on a weeknight.

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I made this with five shells as a serving, but after plating, I realized 4 would be plenty and it was.  Each plate with the 5 shells comes in at 11 smart points.  I had 15 points going into dinner, so it’s all good.

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When I was at the market trying to drum up breakfast business with the other vendors, I came across Standard Market, and they had the most amazing bread display.  I didn’t have my phone with me, but if I work this market again, I am definitely going to take one.  When Hannah was little I used to make her rainbow bread for her sandwiches.  I would make four different loaves of bread, all a different color, then use 1/4 of each colored dough to make my loaf and bake it.  I haven’t thought about rainbow bread in years.  So imagine my surprise when I saw rainbow bagels!  They sold me a 4-pack for $4 (vendor price!) and I surprised Hannah with them.

This morning she is working at the coffee shop.  I woke up at 7:30 this morning to a text of her breakfast – she made a bagel sammie with the rainbow bagel.

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The dogs ended up sleeping with me last night.  They do hog the bed, but I don’t mind.  In the morning, Roman is extra snuggly as he wakes up.  So cute!

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I have WW this morning.  I didn’t go last week, and not sure what the scale will say.  I always do a sneak peak weigh in at home on WI day, but I stepped on it right out of bed, and the battery is dead and I don’t have any replacements.  Oh well, it is what it is.

Since I worked yesterday I have today and tomorrow off this week.  I have lots of pasta sauce to make and canning to do – among the usually laundry list of things to do.  Make it a great day!