Happy Labor Day!

It's Labor Day! A day we celebrate all the labor achievements of the American worker and take the day off work. Our original plan for the day was to hang out in the hammocks outside, turn on the sprinklers and have the kids run through them, and just in the heat outside.
But there's fires that broke out over the weekend and the skies are hazy and smell of smoke.

There's an ash layer that's forming over everything outside, so instead of hanging out outside today, we're staying inside. The kid's trampoline early in the day.

We can still have fun inside today. Like playing Dance Dance Revolution together. 

The tomatoes in our garden have exploded within the last week. There's so many red ones that are ready. We need to figure out something to do with all of them. I have the perfect idea. Why not bruschetta! I love that stuff.

Theresa picked a few plum tomatoes and then a few more little cherry tomatoes.

And some fresh basil from the garden too. Perfect.

That's going to be a tasty dinner. Here's the tomatoes for now.

And quite a few tomatoes for later.

If we're having bruschetta, I need to make a few baguettes. I'm using a recipe from bakingamoment.com for Crusty French Baguettes. It's a simple recipe with only 4 ingredients. Flour, water, salt, and yeast.

There's no kneading involved. Just bring it all together in a shaggy dough.

After letting it rise for a couple hours, it's time to divide it up.

Four dough balls for four loaves.

I formed them and let them rise a second time by the oven.

Once the loaves have doubled in size, I scored them with a knife and got them ready for the oven.

The oven has been preheating at 425F with a pan of water in the base in order to make a nice steamy environment. It'll help form a nice crunchy crust on the baguettes.

35 minutes later, a delicious smell has filled the kitchen. This bread is ready to come out of the oven.

It's tradition to grill on Labor Day, so I've got a few steaks ready to go.

Mmm, those tomatoes look great. Theresa used a recipe for Double Tomato Bruschetta from allrecipes.com.

Combined with the bread it looks yummy!

Though it is a little messy to eat.

How many thumbs up Alli? Ten? Wow.

The kids loved the steak and bread for dinner.

As did Rich and Chi.

Good job Theresa! Happy Labor Day!