Harvest

All these beautiful vegetables came out of my very own garden. Pretty, eh? Would anyone like some zucchini? Please.. I'm begging.. take some zucchini! Or tell me what to do with a kitchen full of zucchini when we've already had zucchini bread, grilled zucchini, zucchini brownies, zucchini bran muffins, chocolate zucchini cake, sautee'd zucchini.... etc. etc. Anyway, onto the rest of the harvest. Besides new potatoes with fresh herbs, fresh salsa, caprese salad, BLTs and tomato cucumber salad, here's one of this summer's favorites:

Tomato Basil Mozzerella Pasta Salad (based on this recipe from the WA Post)
Ingredients:
8 ounces pasta (I like gemelli or bowties)
Salt
8 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/4- to 1/2-inch dice
Tomatoes (a couple of big ones, diced or a bunch of little cherry or grape tomatoes) 10 to 12 medium or large basil leaves, coarsely chopped

Dressing
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 T balsamic vinegar, or more to taste
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the pasta until it is done, but still a little firm to the bite. Drain and rinse with cold water until the pasta is completely cool. Let it drain for a few minutes and transfer to a large bowl. Add the mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Add salt and pepper to taste, adding more vinegar if desired. Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Note: Great as a side dish, or I even added leftover grilled chicken one day and made it into a main course. No mayo in this pasta salad, so its a good one for outdoor picnics and such. Enjoy! (And much thanks to our kind computer genius neighbor Bryan who cleaned our computer of all sorts of spyware and viruses! )

Summer

I know its winding down, but we love summer around here. Here's a few reasons why:

Crusing in a convertible at Lagoon

Checking out the "wildlife" at the zoo

Playing in mountain streams

Riding bikes & eating ice cream cones while wearing only a pj top with your brother's Sunday shoes.

Sidenote: My computer is infected with a virus. Blogging is no fun with a computer virus, so expect posts to be even more sporadic than usual until I get it fixed.