Long Weekend

And I'm back! It's been a pretty crazy week so I took time off from blogging. But I'm back now with two, count 'em two new recipes. We had a nice long weekend swimming and hanging out by the pool. Everyone told us that a pool would be a lot of work when we bought the house but really it's not too bad. V does most of it but we just skim off the top of the water regularly and then we have a little vacuum to get yuck off the bottom and that's really it's maybe 5 - 10 minutes and we are ready to swim! I also painted the beautiful adirondack chairs and now need to pick out a color to paint the table. I'm thinking white would accent the chairs nicely. We both love swimming and just reading in the pool. For some reason there is an overabundance of ants in the pool which is mildly annoying... but not terrible.

Now I am working on finding recipes that don't require me to do much work so I can swim instead of spending all my time cooking. Which means, lots of grilling this summer. One day we had the summer veggie pasta and another we had creamed corn casserole with grilled asparagus (and V had a steak). Plenty of tastiness to go around! Both of these recipes are from Pioneer Woman's website.

Creamed Corn Casserole

This is really good. I added a little too much cream but I just used a slotted spoon to serve it and it turned out fine. It's not a light dish but it was easy to make and very good.

8 ears corn - shucked and silks removed

2/3 cups cream

2 tablespoons butter (the original recipes called for 3 but I thought it was a little greasy)

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350. In a big bowl with a big knife remove the corn kernels. Then scrape the back of the knife over the cobs to get out all the yummy corn milk-stuff. Pour in cream. Add butter (I cut it in small pieces so it would better disperse), and salt and pepper.

Pour into a casserole dish. Bake for 30-45 minutes, until warm and bubbly.

Summer Veggie Pasta

This is very good also. The ricotta has a slightly odd consistency but once you get used to it, it adds a nice texture to all sorts of dishes.

• 16 ounces pasta shells
• 1 pound Asparagus - ends removed, cut into bite-sized pieces
• ½ pounds Broccoli, Cut Into bite-sized pieces
• ½ pounds Zucchini Diced
• ½ cups Frozen Peas
• 3 whole Green Onions cut into little pieces
• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 4 Tablespoons Butter
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil (though I used letter butter and more oil)
• 20 ounces, weight Ricotta Cheese (20 - 22 Ozs.)
• 2 whole Eggs
• 1-½ cup Parmesan Cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat over to 350.

Melt butter and olive oil in a pan. Put in asparagus and cook 5 minutes (the original recipes said to add garlic first but I like to add it later so it doesn't get bitter). Add broccoli, cook 1 minutes. Add zucchini and good another 2 minutes. Add in garlic and onions and frozen peas. Set aside to cool.

Cook the pasta. Combine ricotta, eggs, salt, and pepper.

In a greased 9x13 baking dish (I used two 8x8 pans and froze half) layer food - pasta, ricotta, parmesan, veggies, pasta ricotta, parmesan, veggies, parmesan. Bake for 25 minutes or until warmed through. Enjoy!

Easy Tomato Sauce

Our flowers are blooming! The hydrangeas are still pretty small but they are getting some flowers and the blanket flowers are getting bigger, but still no flowers. The biggest surprise has been the roses growing by the deck. They were getting really overgrown so this spring I cut them back a lot so that there were basically just 3 twigs sticking out of the ground. We had planned on digging them up but never got around to it. Now they are blooming like crazy! They've got a bunch of vines and bright pink flowers. V bought some trellises and has been winding the vines around the trellises everyday. It's going to be so pretty. We even have a new rose plant growing where I threw some clippings that I forgot to clean up. It's a miracle plant!

The rest of the backyard has been on hold. It keeps raining here so we haven't been able to stain. Happily, this weekend we are supposed to have 4 dry days so I think we will be get some more staining done this weekend. Finally we can put out our new chaise lounges! Unfortunately I also have to mow the lawn Friday night... boooo.

Tonight I tried out a new tomato sauce recipe. I was all around the food blogs last fall so I bookmarked it but never got around to trying it. The great thing about it it that I've had the ingredients for weeks, just waiting for the right night to make it. The sauce was so good! My only complaint is that it was a little thin. It still had good flavor but next time I might leave out some of the tomato juices to help thicken it up. But on the whole it's a keeper.

Tomato sauce with butter and onion

28 ounces whole canned tomatoes (I added another 14 ounces petite diced - I think I would drain this can next time)

5 tablespoons butter

1 onion (cut in half and skin removed)

salt to taste

Put tomatoes, butter, and onion in a sauce pot. Bring to a boil at medium then reduce to low and let simmer for 45 minutes. Mash the tomatoes against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon every now and then. Discard the onion and add salt as needed. Serve on 1 pound of pasta. Enjoy!

Gimme Shelter

Once we decided to keep the kitties, the next step was to figure out where the would sleep. Obviously they will never be indoor cats. I wouldn't get their claws removed and they are too curious to be happy stuck indoors all the time. And I don't clean litter boxes. Ever. There were a few options for kitty homes. They had been sleeping under our back deck and seemed pretty happy about it. But, winter was coming and the deck is not windproof and I don't think there is any source of heat down there (but we suspect the dryer vet might be under the deck, we aren't sure though). The people at the Humane Society with outdoor cats said they just had basically lean-tos that they put straw in for the cats to use in the winter. However, V and I thought that wouldn't be warm enough since Inky was only 8 months old and Little Caiti had recently fractured every bone in her left paw.

V found a petgloo on Amazon that was windproof and pretty water proof. It was insulated and also had a heating pad that we could buy to put inside. That seemed like the best option for softies like us. However, it wasn't cheap. I've learned that nothing about having pets is cheap. We were a little worried when we initially bought it because the kitties didn't want to go in there. To get the used to the igloo we started putting all their food in it (including their favorite wet food) so they gradually got used to going inside. Now they love it! They sleep in it, eat in it, and generally lounge. It's definitely they new home. It's also nice because I can sit and watch them cuddle while they are asleep in it. It's gratifying seeing how much they enjoy it. It has been one of the best purchases we made... so far!

Now, I need to find outdoor shelter for myself. We got some really nice wooden chaise lounges for reading by the pool. I love sitting and hanging out by the pool with a history mystery. Sadly, I can't sit outside very long because I get burned really easily. So... the next thing I'm saving my money for is an awesome cantelever umbrella! That way I can chill by the pool in the shade while the kitties enjoy their petgloo.

Creamy Cauliflower Pasta

It keeps raining here! We haven't gotten any additional staining done. There are still several days worth of work left to do but we can't get it done because it won't stop raining. I thought V could stain this weekend but they just started saying it is going to rain on Saturday AND Sunday. Boo. I'm ready to be done with this mess. Hopefully we can finish it by the end of May so we can relax by the pool for the rest of the summer. If I angle my chair so I can't see the unfinished part of the deck the backyard looks pretty awesome.

For dinner tonight I made another internet recipe and I forgot to save the site. But, I made a few changes to it and it was really tasty. Nice and garlicy. My only complaint is that the sauce didn't stick to the pasta very well. I think next time I would thin it out with more pasta water.

Creamy Cauliflower Pasta

3 cups cubed italian bread

1/3 cup olive oil

6 cloves garlic

3/4-1 pound tube pasta

1 cup ricotta (I used skim)

2 cups cauliflower (I just used about a bag of frozen and then steamed it)

1/3 cup parmesan

fresh basil or parsley

Toast the bread crumbs. Dice the garlic. Cook in the olive oil until it smells like garlic. Chop bread in a food processor to make into crumbs (I also put the garlic olive oil in the processor to get the garlic extra small. ) Mix together oil and crumbs. Set aside.

Cook pasta. Reserve about a cup of the starchy water.

Puree cooked cauliflower and ricotta in a food processor. Stir in herbs, parm, salt, and pepper. Stir into the cooked pasta. Add as much water as is needed to thin out the sauce and help it stick to the pasta. Either mix in the bread crumbs or sprinkle over the top. Enjoy!

Lazy Days

We had an exciting homeowner surprise this weekend. In the planters there were some bulbs and they grew leaves but we never saw any flowers on them. Then we woke up on Friday and they had bloomed! Into big, beautiful irises. It's so nice to have some flowers in the back yard while we are working on V's jungle he's going to make back there. Our roses are blooming too. They are pretty hearty suckers. I cut them back so much that I was certain they would die. But they are back and budding. V bought a trellis for them to grow on and it's quite pretty. It's all starting to come together.
This has been a really fun casual weekend. We weren't able to stain anymore of the deck because it's supposed to thunderstorm tonight, tomorrow, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Yesterday we did a little work on the outside of the house, then we FINALLY got to enjoy our pool! V swam and I lounged in our new chaise by the pool reading and listening to the fountain. It was so nice. I still need to get an umbrella because I am just to pale that I can't be outside for too long without getting pink. I don't really tan and if I did tan I don't want to get all leathery. But I like reading by the pool so an umbrella is a must.

Today we worked on restaining the old adirondack chairs. Unfortunately, they are going to need a lot of coats. They used to be a dark brown but the only premixed colors Home Depot has are redwood (our deck color) and a light brown. I went for the light brown but I think I should have waited in line to get a darker color mixed because you can still see some of the old stain I couldn't strip under the new stain. I think next time I might actually paint them a color and not just stain them. I love the look of painted adirondack chairs.

I made a key lime pie this weekend and it tasted pretty good. Unfortunately, I can't list the recipe because the one I used was completely off in oven temp and time so I had to improvise. Happily it didn't seem to affect the taste!

Deck

Blogging is going to be slow the next few weeks. We are working on staining the deck, and we have a whole lot of deck. The problem is, when staining a deck, you have to do two coats, and both coats need to be done within 48 hours. Then you need at least an additional 24 hours after that to let it dry without any rain. In April/May in the midwest, 3 days without rain is a rarity. We've got the top portion done and it looks great! We can't work on it this weekend because it's supposed to rain on Sunday so we wouldn't be able to stain on Saturday and we won't have time to do two coats after work tomorrow. I think this is going to be a long long process. But it will be totally worth it... once we are finally finished!

Goat Cheese Pasta

Tonight's dinner was super easy and super tasty. It's from Martha's new cookbook Fresh Flavor Fast. I think it's a good spring/summer dinner that's fast enough to make after work and after sweeping the back deck. Roasting asparagus smells a little funny but ignore it, it's worth it.

Goat Cheese Pasta

1 pound twisty pasta

5 tablespoons butter (approximately)

5-6 ounces goat cheese (depending on the size of package you find)

2 bunches asparagus

chives (if you want, I didn't want to spend the extra money)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450. Start boiling water in a big pan.

Break off the thick ends of the asparagus. Break the remainder into big-bite-sized pieces. Dot with 2 tablespoons of butter and toss in salt and pepper. Roast for 10-15 minutes.

Cook the pasta. Save 1-1.5 cups of starchy water. Drain.

Mix the butter, goat cheese, and 1/2 cup of the water. (I did this in the pasta pot to keep the number of dishes to a minimum.) Melt together. I added extra salt and pepper at this point. Stir in pasta and asparagus. Add in extra water until a sauce forms. I ended up using a little over 1 cup of starchy water. Enjoy!

Pool Toys

We finally went swimming today! It was astoundingly cold. I only went in up to my waist but V swam around a little. We also put in our two pool toys. A floating fountain and a Star Wars X-wing fighter with a squirt gun to get the baddies. Hopefully it warms up soon so we can swim some more!

Oatmeal Fudge Bars

This Saturday was kind of wasted day. Our next project on the house is to stain the deck. Unfortunately, to stain the deck, it has to have been dry for a day and remain dry for a day. Unfortunately, April showers bring May flowers and all of that. It thunderstormed terribly yesterday and was supposed to rain again tonight. So, staining was put off for tomorrow. Then about 3 this afternoon it became nice and sunny and was not going to rain after all. But, 3 is a bit late to start a big project like staining the deck. I ran errands this morning and now we are watching Sherlock Holmes (love RDJ). It's kind of nice to have the day off but I really want to be finished with the deck so we can relax and enjoy the pool!

This afternoon I also made outmeal fudge bars. They are pretty interesting and very rich. There's a thin oatmeal base, then the chocolate later is so fudgy and creamy that they shouldn't be so easy to make. I would recommend them to bring to the office, or an outdoor party. I'll definitely make them again.

Base
1c brown sugar
1/2c butter- softened

1 egg - room temp

1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4c flour
1 1/2c oatmeal
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Filling
12oz semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon butter
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350. Line a 13x9 baking pan with parchment.

Cream the butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla. Mix in the remaining base ingredients.

But 2/3 of the base mix in the pan.

Combine the filling ingredients in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for a few minutes until melted and combined, stirring every 30 seconds. Pour filling over the base. Then dot the remaining 1/3 over the filling.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting.