old fashioned chore

I can't even begin to describe how happy I am in this rental house. The pressure of the house on the market is off. The kids can go outside without fear of being killed by a golf ball. There are wonderful ammenities in this neighborhood, such as a pool, sidewalks, playgrounds, and a pond. The best feature so far, though, are the neighborhood kids. Unlike where we moved from, they actually go outside and play and visit unannounced and stay for dinner. Just like the way I grew up. I wanted that life for my kids, and was so surprised that it was exactly opposite of that in our last neighborhood. The kid across the street has quickly become my boy's favorite friend. In this picture, he and S are learning to snap the ends of the beans off for dinner. They had no idea they were doing an old fashioned chore. They thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. Or they would have, if they knew that bread didn't come out of the oven pre-sliced. The "cherry on top" of this chore was that they found an actual worm among the beans. Because the beans were from the farmer's market and actually, gasp, grew in a garden. Not in a can. Sweet boys didn't even know they were learning a lesson.

At dinner, they proudly ate the beans THEY made, and we all decided they tasted like candy. Only better.

"Delightful" summer pasta

It may not look like much, but this pasta is one of the best dishes I've made all week. And that is a week that included grilled ribeye and chicken stuffed with fresh spinach and tomato basil feta cheese.

My 6 year old often turns his nose up at my cooking, and tonight after dinner, he said, "thank you mom; that was delightful." Delightful! What a great word from a 6 year old. Especially when I'm so used to hearing, "ewww, that was yucky." So, I'm officially naming this the "delightful summer pasta." I made up the recipe several years ago, but tonight it was better than ever because I grilled the veges instead of sauteing them. Here's the recipe...

Cook angel hair pasta according to directions.

In the meantime, cut up summer veges of your choice. I used tomatoes, zucchini, squash and onion.

Sprinkle the veges with salt, pepper, a tiny bit of Greek seasoning and olive oil.

Put the veges in a pan made for the grill, and set over the grill on high.

When pasta is done, drizzle with olive oil and a little balsamic vinegar.

When veges begin to soften, some of them color a bit and the skin of the tomatoes are blistered, remove from heat and add to pasta.

Sprinkle with feta (I used the kind that has basil and tomato). Serve warm.

Enjoy~