Tastes of Summer: Pasta Caprese

Summer is not my favorite season - it is a little too hot and humid for my tastes here in North Carolina, and I am not a big fan of amazing array of creepy, crawly critters that thrive around here (including the 3 black widow spiders we have found so far this summer!). So, I am quite happy that fall is on the horizon. But, there is one thing that I will definitely miss from summer - our garden, or (more specifically) our tomatoes. There really is nothing quite like a freshly picked tomato. So, in honor of our slowly dwindling plants, I would like to share one of my favorite summer tomato recipes that I originally found in Cooks Illustrated a few years ago. Enjoy!

Pasta Caprese 

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 tsp fresh squeezed Lemon Juice

1 minced Garlic clove

1 small Shallot, minced

1.5 lbs of fresh Tomatoes, diced

12 oz. Mozzarella cheese, cut into cubes

1 lb Pasta (penne, rotini or shells work well)

1/4 cup fresh chopped Basil

1 tsp. Sugar

Tomatos from our garden

INSTRUCTIONS

1. 1. Whisk oil, 2 teaspoons lemon juice, garlic, shallot, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper together in large bowl. Add tomatoes and gently toss to combine; set aside. Do not marinate tomatoes for longer than 45 minutes.
   
   
   
   
   
2. 2. While tomatoes are marinating, place mozzarella on plate and freeze until slightly firm, about 10 minutes. Bring 4 quarts water to rolling boil in stockpot. Add 1 tablespoon salt and pasta, stir to separate, and cook until al dente. Drain well.
3. 3. Add pasta and mozzarella to tomato mixture and gently toss to combine. Let stand 5 minutes. Stir in basil; adjust seasonings with salt, pepper, and additional lemon juice or sugar, if desired, and serve immediately.
   
   
   
   
   
   Bon appetito! 

WW: Fresh from my garden

Three years in the making...

I have been thinking about starting this blog for about three years and now that I finally have it all set up I am sitting here staring at the screen wondering where to begin. How do you go about introducing yourself to cyberspace?  Hello, my name is Claudia and I am ...

• a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a niece, a granddaughter, a great-granddaughter, a best friend;
• a stay at home mom = a cab driver, a nurse, a chef, a baker, a dishwasher, a housekeeper, a child psychologist, a life coach, a professional organizer, a teacher, a singer, a dancer, a human bouncy seat, a photographer, an historian, a human chew toy, an interpreter, a sherpa, a travel agent, a bookkeeper ...
• an amateur gardener
• a craft person (sewing, crochet, needle felting, doll making, general arts & crafts)
• an eternal student with a couple of fancy pieces of paper on the wall in even fancier frames that cost me a lot of money (which I will be paying back until I am well into retirement...)
• a traveler and a wanderer
• a wanna-be locavore/foodie

Why am I starting this blog? Many reasons. I like to write. My brain needs some exercise, and I need somewhere to put all the random thoughts that bounce through my head on a daily basis while I am chasing after two kiddos. I want to share some of the knowledge and resources I've collected over the past few years on parenting, gardening, crafting, etc. I want to be one of the cool kids with a blog :)~
So I can't really tell you up front what you will find here - maybe some tutorials, maybe some recipes, most likely some random musings on parenting and motherhood and life. We will just have to wait and see. But for now I would like to issue you an  ...

INVITATION

by Shel Silverstein ( from Where the Sidewalk Ends)

If you are a dreamer, come in.
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer . . .
If you're a pretender, come sit by my fire,
For we have some flax golden tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!

Oh yeah, and I guess I am now ... a blogger :)