Yummy Summer Squash Pasta

This week was super busy but I was feeling the need to make something fresh tonight. I've been out and about and just eating sandwiches and simple stuff the past few days. Tonight I wanted a real dinner! Plus, I really needed some leftovers for tomorrow at work.

After a day at the beach with a long time friend (lunch- PBJ and some crackers) and then evening activities for the kids, I picked a dinner to try tonight and quickly squeezed a shopping trip to the local hfs.
Today I was at a city library and found some vegetarian/vegan/healthy cookbooks that looked good. I dropped my daughter off at her tumbling class and skimmed the books and found something I could make tonight.

Tonight's dinner was based on a recipe in "The Vegetarian 5- Ingredient Gourmet" -- Overall I like this book. Naturally, I can't just make something the way it's written if it's simple. I'm not a cook, so this doesn't always turn out for the best.

The recipe I started with was Spinach Fettuccine with Summer Squash. Like the cookbook says, it's just 5 ingredients: spinach fettuccine, olive oil, 2 medium yellow squashes, tomatoes, and Parmesan (copy Parm) cheese.

While getting things together, I had to make a little something to eat because the PBJ from 11:30 this morning was long gone (it was 7pm). So I whipped up a quick bit of what my husband and I call 'almost bruschetta'.  I have a gourmet friend who totally scoffed at this and it makes us laugh whenever we say we're having bruschetta now. All it really is chopped basil, garlic, tomatoes, and a touch of salt, pepper and very little olive oil served on pita crackers. My husband likes it with goat cheese too.

For dinner I found an interesting dry pasta that was calling my name. A dry pasta with spinach and chia. The texture was a little different and it cooked up really fast, but tasted pretty good.

While cooking the pasta, I chopped up and sauteed the yellow squash and some asparagus. Then I added some halved cherry tomatoes and tossed it with the past. I didn't use the oil because I didn't need it. The recipe did call for a little salt to taste, but was really good.

Last week I made a wonderful veggie chili. I love how colorful the peppers and onions look all cut up!

County fair

Do you enter the local fair?

Our's seems to be more about having fun and concerts than the traditional fair stuff, but I still try to enter something every year. The past few years I've entered a lace crochet shawl. I don't think crochet gets really good representation in the public view.

This year I got third and an honorable mention for my shawl. Normally I place higher, but I'm happy with this. I really liked the one that got second place.

4th of July

Well, the 4th of July has passed and was a fun day.

At the beginning of the week my girls decided they HAD to have new outfits for the 4th. We didn't have any big plans, but they wanted something new. So, I told them to look in the sewing room and find some fabrics and think of a design.

My younger girl is 7 and decided on a tiered dress in a few fabrics. We had a few problems with her first plan (it wasn't quick and easy for Mom), so this was plan B.

The pattern is McCall's 5798. I just saw that it's OOP, which is sad, because it's a nice pattern. It's one of those that looks better sewn than it looks in the drawings.

My older girl wanted to design her own outfit. I wasn't so sure of the style she wanted, but I have to admit, it turned out better than I even came  close to imagining. She wanted a romper style outfit. Basically we made a pair of shorts and attached a rectangle of fabric to the top of them :)

Hints for those making one of these --- For the shorts, you'll have to cut off a bit from the top because you will have no elastic at the top where you normally fold them down. Her shorts were a touch too small, but in general, you'll need a drawstring or elastic at the waist somewhere.
The top was a rectangle (folded the fabric in half and cut across the top and bottom) with loose elastic at the top. The straps cross at the back and snap.