Wednesday, August 5, 2009

kitchen crafting

Funny, as I was looking through some old posts, I've realized that my time crafting has really taken a back seat this summer. I haven't spent that much time at the sewing machine or knitting for that matter. Gardening and cooking have been taking up most of my time as of late-and really I love it (well, especially the gardening part). Because when winter comes, and the garden is put to bed, I'll be able to snuggle up on the couch with some nice yarn and a cup of tea.
This morning I took some photos of my kitchen. Our kitchen is super small, I do indeed wish I had more counter space, but we manage-by shuffling stuff around and storing stuff in drawers and cabinets. The kitchen, my creative space this summer~


~this is right above the sink, something pretty to look at


~veggie scraps,getting a bit out of hand-saving for compost


~jars of everything (tea, oatmeal, rice,couscous, pasta, old coffee beans)


~cookbooks with some bread on top



~and finally today's lunch, pasta salad

And in the coming weeks I'm sure that I'll probably be in my small kitchen even more, trying to figure out why in the world did I plant five squash plants-but thankful too that I did (my dear friend, I'll bring some over :)
Then I'll try my hand at canning (which, to tell the truth I'm a bit intimidated by), freezing, and maybe a little dehydrating-and before I do I'll be reading this again.

here's the recipe for today's lunch:

tomato-squash-cucumber pasta salad

~1 box of rotini pasta (I used most of all the pasta, just left a small amount in the box, I do that for some reason, but if you want you can prepare the whole box).

~1 good sized cucumber chopped

~as many cherry tomatoes as you please

~1 good sized yellow squash (sliced or chopped)

~4 cloves of garlic

~5 leaves of basil (chiffonade :)

~vinaigrette dressing*

~salt and pepper to taste

cook pasta according to directions on box, drain then place in bowl. To pasta add vinaigrette (I add the vinaigrette to the pasta when its still a bit warm because it seems to soak up the flavor more). To this add cucumbers, tomatoes, garlic and basil.Now with a small amount of olive oil in a pan, saute' squash for just a couple of minutes-till it slightly browns on the outside, add to pasta mixture.
Taste salad, add pepper and salt as desired.

*(for the vinaigrette dressing I use 1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar,
1 tablespoon of brown mustard, 2 teaspoons of sugar, mixing it up well-add to pasta.
Once this mixture is added to the pasta I then add the olive oil-I add enough olive oil to make sure that the pasta is moistened well, but not to much that it's over oily).


Next its on to refrigerator pickles, my oldest daughter has been wanting to make these for a while now-she loves pickles! So hopefully we'll get around to making them before the end of the week.

4 comments:

  1. oh you made me drool!!! I think I might make that today... hehehe!

    Hey, I saw in Libby's blog that you were interested in joining the swap... if you still want to, send me an email or leave me a comment today, and I'll add you to the swap list!

    See ya!

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  2. This looks so yummy. I had dinner at some friends' house yesterday and they made a yummy salad that I feel that you would like. As soon as I get the recipe and post pics, I'll let you know. Yummy goodness here. :-)

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  3. I love your pictures. They are so vibrant in color and movement.

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  4. I like your thoughts about where your creativity is this summer, I can relate to this so much!

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