Wordless Wednesday

So Beautiful

Italian Wonder Pot

I've seen this recipe floating around on the internet and decided to give it a try. The original recipe calls for just adding the ingredients to the pot and cooking them all at the same time, but I made a change and sautéd the onions and garlic in olive oil first. It was tasty and also pretty to look at! Nick and Jake ate with us, too, so it was even more special. Here is the recipe: ONE POT WONDER TOMATO BASIL PASTA (Serves 4 to 6 as an entree) 12 ounces linguine pasta ~ 1 can (15 ounces) diced tomatoes with liquid ( I used Italian style) ~ 1 large sweet onion, cut in julienne strips ~ 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced ~ 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper pot ~ 2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves ~ 2 large sprigs basil, chopped ~ 4 1/2 cups vegetable broth (I might try using water next time) ~ 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil ~ Parmesan cheese for garnish ~ Place pasta, tomatoes, onion, garlic, basil, in a large stock pot. Pour in vegetable broth. Sprinkle on top the pepper flakes and oregano. Drizzle top with oil. Cover pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a low simmer and keep covered and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes or so. Cook until almost all liquid has evaporated – I left about an inch of liquid in the bottom of the pot – but you can reduce as desired . Season to taste with salt and pepper , stirring pasta several times to distribute the liquid in the bottom of the pot. Serve garnished with parmesan cheese. Bruce said that he liked this recipe, but wasn't sure if it was better than my usual recipe. I guess it's good to have different things once in awhile, though.

Half Gallon of Milk

Jake texted me at work yesterday to say that the gallon of milk in the fridge had gone bad. This might not seem like a big deal, but it kind of is. I say this because I started to think about how life has been changing in our home lately. I remember a time not so long ago when we had four gallons of milk in our fridge at a time, and we drank all of it in less than a week. Now a single gallon goes bad? My house is emptying out of people to drink the milk, and I'm not sure I like it! We've also been talking about how the neighborhood is changing, with new families moving in who have babies and small children. We used to be the young family! And, then ... Jake, my baby boy, turns 19 on Thursday. So time keeps marching on, I guess. Nothing to be done about it except roll with it. I also only bought a half gallon of milk this week. We'll see how long that lasts.

Family Reunion

We hosted a family reunion up at the lake this past week. The weather was gorgeous, the guests were great, and it was wonderful to see family that I haven't seen in many years. We had relatives from Colorado, Nebraska, and Minnesota. We ate well, played a few games, and went out to paddle board and boat. Jessie loved all the attention, of course, and was a very good dog. I'm thinking that we might just do this again in a couple of years.

Wild Times

I can't believe this summer. Just in the last week alone, we were without power or water for an entire weekend, my sister-in-law came for a week's visit (arrived exactly one hour after our power and water was restored), my Aunt Harriet passed away, (funeral is Wednesday), family reunion we are hosting is less than two days away, and we need to move Katie to her new place in the middle of it all. I'm a little tired and I think I'd rather focus on more peaceful things. Thus the picture of my strawberry pots... I found that it's not so easy to add dirt to a strawberry pot as the dirt has a tendency to come out of the side pockets, but the dirt eventually got added and I think the plants ended up looking kind of pretty. One is a strawberry plant, the other is sweet basil, and I really hope they live because I don't have much of a green thumb. They're fun to look at, though, and they're a nice distraction from all the craziness.