Friday night grateful list

Oh lovely weekend, welcome. My arms have been wide open, waiting to welcome you, since at least Wednesday. Thanks for finally showing up!

It's been a wild and wooly week, as my mom used to say. Lots of unusual things popping up to be handled--nothing too unusual, but perhaps it was the volume? Buckets instead of cupfuls, or to have a happier metaphor: a giant rainbow cake of awesome "things that need to be handled." No cupcakes around here, oh no. Whopping layers of cake. Yum.

Meanwhile, the grateful. Such a glorious time of year around here. Long, long days, with lots of light to wake me early, and keep me awake on the other end too. Very grateful for the blinds we have in our bedroom that help keep the light out--this week it had to keep out that strawberry moon business too, from Monday night. Seth and I were out for a bit of exercise when the moon rose, and it was lovely to see it rise in that harvesty way that is mammoth and warm.

And early in the mornings too, when I'm out with the dogs and the chickens, I'm struck by how green and beautiful everything is. We haven't ramped back up the HOT weather yet, just lolling around in the low 80s. Very hammock weather. I walk past our hammock. That's about how hammocky my week was. (Insert wink emoji here.) (I really want to wake up one day in a post-emoji world, but then I think to myself, how on earth would I add an extra "touch" to my texts?! Amiright, Ma?!)

Having Seth home is such a gift. There's really no other word for it. Just knowing he's here, even when he's not in the room with us, makes me smile. He started his new job this week, as a WalMart cashier. I saw him in action tonight as I got a few supplies. He was intent on his scanning responsibilities, and I kept the proper Mom distance. There's a rule that family and friends have to avoid their relative worker, so I behaved, even though I was sort of tempted and if caught would have pulled out my ID--look, different last names, we're not related. You can see I thought through this a little bit. Such a silly mom. Such a silly, grateful mom.

Seth and I are on track to eat a record amount of watermelon this summer. If there isn't a watermelon currently cut up and being eaten, there are leftovers in the fridge, or another one on the counter ready to cut, or both. Of course it's a little early for truly local melons, but we have been enjoying some real gems who have taken a trip north to our bellies. The other food item we are quite ahead of the game on is pesto. The one thing I got planted early is basil, and it is beautiful, bushy and fragrant. I love keeping it trimmed of its blossoms, and having the lovely scent on my hands for awhile after. Happy summer days! So grateful for produce, especially the local farms.

For this week especially, my grateful list includes (but is not limited to!):

Sweet husband and his thoughtful ways.

Our haven of a home, where I can tuck away for a day of rest and come out the other side energized.

Friends who drive hours to come to town for lunch and a visit and a laugh. Who can cut through nonsense in zero time and get to the heart of whatever really needs discussing.

Our pups and their unconditional love. Nothing like the greeting those three give us all at the end of the day. Is it about food? Possibly--especially for General. But those border collies, boy do they embody the "love is love is love is love is love is love" philosophy.

Cold brew coffee. The perfect summer drink. Easy to make, oh-so-easy to drink.

Early morning energy.

Instagram.

Coworkers who put in extra when needed, without being asked. (It's the "without being asked" that's especially awesome.)

Berries. All. The. Berries.

Summer rain. The smell, the feel in the air, the lovely morning after.

Wishing you a joyful, restful weekend.

Peace.

Baked ricotta salad with pesto

ummer eating just keeps on rolling... the tomatoes are finally ON, daily, and the corn is minutes away from being truly harvestable (which didn't stop me from harvesting some today anyway!). The basil keeps churning out new and even bigger leaves, and I can't help but whiz up pesto with alarming frequency. Well, I'm not alarmed, but I'm pretty sure you would be if you saw the big dallops I put on just about everything but my granola. Ah well, tis the season, right?

Here's my current favorite salad, combining all these flavors and another new yum discovery: baked ricotta.

First with the ricotta:

Baked ricotta
1 small container part-skim ricotta
2 eggs
1/2 cup shredded parmesan
1/4 cup flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Either with a hand-held or stand mixed, beat ricotta very well, until fluffy. Add the eggs and cheese, beat again. Add the flour and mix well, until incorporate.

Spread the cheese mixture into a non-stick-sprayed 8x8 baking pan, and put into the hot oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the cheese sets up and is golden.

Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature.

Baked ricotta salad
Serves 6 as side dish
One recipe baked ricotta (see above), cubed to 1/2 inch squares
4 medium tomatoes, cubed
1 cup fresh pesto
2 cups fresh corn, cooked, cut off the cob (about 4 ears) (totally optional, I made it one day with, one day without... both were lovely)
Salt and pepper to taste

Toss all ingredients together in a medium mixing bowl. That's it. Enjoy!

Tips: If you prebake the ricotta and it's refrigerator cold, take it out in advance and bring it back to room temperature before making the salad. You can also microwave it briefly to bring some warmth back to the cheese. The flavor is much better when not ice cold.

Pesto makes everything better!

This morning the frost was definitely getting a little too close for comfort--some really white patches in the garden prompted my turning into Garden Destructo Gremlin. Time to take it down to the ground!

I went out with my picking containers and was amazed to find that many things have continued to ripen, even with the steeply declining temperatures of the past few days. I picked about 30 butternut squashes, a couple of large containers of tomatoes, a few cucumbers, and of course there were still a few zucchini and summer squash.

There were also a number of lovely squash blossoms, and I decided that lunch needed to include one last foray into the stuffed blossom world... but this time with a twist. Pesto! Plenty of pesto still in the fridge, and so I mixed a generous scoop of that in with my usual ricotta mix; because of the pesto, I didn't add the herb mix as I do with the plain cheese mixture. It was quite delicious... pesto DOES make everything better.
Ricotta mixture pre-stuffing.

Blossoms, all fried up and ready to eat. Heaven.
I just love those little squashes still attached to the blooms. I'm already looking forward to the garden again next summer... sort of. I am also looking forward to a few months of gazing at the garden patch without the guilt of thinking about what I should be doing out there...

Chicken and veggie pesto salad

I did a photo shoot on Thursday morning of chicken and veggies skewers on the grill. Yummy and very summery, and then I ran off to have lunch out, thinking, when am I going to get those skewers eaten up?! But I had plans on Friday to have lunch as well (yes, husband's away, Sher does play!) and so this time we ate in and I turned the veggie skewers into a salad of sorts. My friend brought along some locally grown orange honeydew, which I don't remember eating before, and it was delicious. It was a perfect end-of-summer lunch, complete with great conversation!
Veggies I used:
Green, red, yellow and orange pepper
Baby red potatoes
Mushrooms
Broccoli
Zucchini
Summer squash
Corn
I pulled the veggies and chicken off the skewers (and cut the corn off the cob) and chopped them up into about 1/2 inch bite-size pieces. I then added about 1/2 cup fresh pesto--I think I have finally used up the basil!--and a handful of pine nuts and parmesan. I tossed it all until it was well coated, and it made for a delightful lunch--in fact, I'm off to have leftovers now!

Springtime pesto delights

So there was before:

And here's after!

When the basil gets THAT tall, something must be done about it! I know, I know, pesto is so '90s... but it is one flavor I can't get enough of! And especially since my last basil overdose feels like months ago (because it was), I was more than ready to pull out the pinenuts, parmesan and olive oil. As I seem to be more and more sensitive to garlic lately (I can't really belive I'm saying this, it makes me feel old to even say it) I just left the little cloves stay intact and made a garlic-less version.

There are all sorts of recipes for pesto. But I find it turns out best when you add a bit of this (basil), a little of that (cheese, parm and oil) and play around with it until you have achieved the consistency you're going for. The video below gives a good idea of how to accomplish that. Complete with an accent! Oui oui!

I am so happy spring is here! Maybe, just maybe, summer will follow. I don't want to get all freaky optimistic here, but all signs point to warmth and sunshine in the coming weeks. Yeah for that!