This mornings harvest.

 

Our tomatoes are so happy! This is what we pick this morning.

 

So of course I knew what I had to make for dinner, Lidia Bastianich Pasta with Baked Cherry Tomatoes.

First I halved the tomatoes and put them in a large bowl.

 I added 3 TBS of Olive Oil, 1/4 tsp. pepperoncino flakes and 1/3 cup fine dry bread crumbs. Mix gently and place on baking sheet and place in 350 oven.

While the tomatoes were in the oven I sliced 10 cloves of garlic and chopped 1 cup basil and grated 1/2 cup pecorino.

I put a large pot of salted water on the stove and just before the tomatoes were lightly caramelized  I added the pasta.

Next I added the sliced garlic and 1/2 cup of olive oil in a large pan.

Once the oil starts bubbling I added 2 cups pasta water and turn heat up so I had a rapid boil. Reduce the liquid by half.

 

Next I removed the tomatoes from the oven.



 

Once pasta is AL denta, I lifted it out of the water and into the pan of garlic and olive oil.

Lightly toss pasta and then add tomatoes.

Remove from heat and add the half cup of Pecorino and basil.

Next I add small dollops of Ricotta.

 

As my dear sweet Mother would say "Manga"

 

Sorry for the poor quality of the final picture, it was still steaming and it cause the picture to be a bit blurry.

 

 



 



Cooking from our garden.

Our garden is producing some amazing vegetables!

 

Last night for dinner I made Lasagna using Zucchini instead of noodles.

 

 

I used my mandolin and sliced my Zucchini lengthwise and replaced the noodles with Zucchini.

I place a small amount of Olive Oil on the bottom of my baking dish and put my first layer of Zucchini down.

Next I took Ricotta cheese and mixed in one egg, chopped Chives from the garden, grated Romano Cheese, grated Mozzarella, crushed garlic and salt and pepper.

I then spread a thin layer of the Ricotta mixture over the Zucchini and then laid another layer of Zucchini on top of that. My next layer was sliced tomatoes and lots of fresh Basil on top of the tomatoes. Another layer of Zucchini, more Ricotta another layer of Zucchini and then I topped it with Marinara sauce and grated Romano and Mozzarella cheese.

Baked it in a 350 oven for 30 minutes and let is sit for 15 once out of the oven.

It was delish! My daughter went back for seconds and that says a lot!

Our Cherry tomatoes are starting to turn red and yesterday I picked our first Cucumber. We planted Watermelon and  Pumpkins yesterday and will plant more Sunflowers and Musk Melon this weekend.

We have really enjoyed our garden and learning about the growing season in Arizona.

 

 





Summer Purse

This is one of those projects that I start about a month ago and  almost finished it but them didn't like the straps, so it sat until I got inspired again.

When I first saw this purse I loved the look of the Burlap. The original pattern by Kenzie Mac called for the straps to be Burlap as well. Very cute in theory but when I sewed the straps they felt so scratchy I knew they would drive me crazy so I decided to make the straps fabric instead.

Now this is where my anal retentive personality kicked in. I could not decided what fabric I liked for the straps. I absolutely love the line of fabric I made the purse with. It's PB&J by Basic Grey. The whole line is wonderful. The baby quilt I posted recently was also made from this line.

The problem was I kept laying different prints from the line next to the Burlap and I just was not feeling it. So my poor purse laid in my sewing room for weeks unfinished.

Last week I was out to lunch with my friend Sherry and we stopped at the Quilt store. Now Sherry doesn't sew, I know right!!!! But I love her anyway.....

I told her the dilemma I was having regarding the strap and showed her the line of fabric I was working with. Well, she helped me picked the fabric out. It's helps to have a neutral eye sometimes.

This pattern is called Elite Tote and has the option of three different sizes, I went with the medium size. The original pattern had two straps side by side but I changed it to one longer strap so it would hang better off my shoulder.

Of course I had to add a little bling and flowers to the purse because that's just how I roll.

 

 

 

 

Garden Update.

I have been crazy busy lately!

 

 My husband had his 4th 50th birthday last week and I had two different dinners for him.

My daughter was off to Sea World for her 6th grade trip. Oh what fun she had.

I have had no time in the sewing room other than to make 12 cloth napkins.

 

We have also been very busy with our garden. It will be no time until we are harvesting all of our wonderful goodies.

Our first little head of cabbage is forming in the middle, so cute!

 

Look at all those Cherry Tomatoes, and that's just one of many plants.

 

It's had to see in this picture but there are several white flowers on our pepper plants, won't be long before we will have lots of peppers.

 

This is one of 6 zucchini plants, boy are we going to have lots of zucchini!

So many beautiful variations of Sunflowers!

There is nothing better than creating a garden, this was something I wanted for years but I have to say I not sure who is getting more enjoyment out of it, me or my husband. 





 









Couldn't wait to share!

I had so much fun working on this baby shower gift, I just couldn't wait to share.

 

 

I have been getting a lot of my inspiration from Pinterest, the fabric blocks were originally a post by Camille Roskelley.

Aren't these fun!

 I used all different types of ribbon to add a sensory feature on these blocks.

 

I saw a quilt similar to this on Pinterest and thought I could make my own version using half square triangles.

 

Because there was so much empty space on this quilt, I really wanted the quilting to pop so I added two layers of a poly batting.

 

My daughter wants me to make those blocks for her. I think they would be fun with some wild fabrics and made much bigger, I will post them when we get around to making them.    







My second passion.

I don't even have to tell you what my first passion is!!!

But this has quickly become my second passion.

 

Our garden.

This is the first year for a garden so we are what you call newbies.

Yes, we have made a few mistakes but are thrilled with this years results.

We have planted onions, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, eggplant, leeks, several varieties of lettuce, two different types of peppers, strawberries, cucumbers, zucchini, basil, sage, thyme, mint, parsley, rosemary and several different types of tomatoes.

Everything is blooming and taking off nicely.  We added ladybugs over the weekend to eat all those annoying bugs.

We really had to work our bad Arizona soil this year and with the help of our compost we hope to have even better soil next year.

I have been doing a little research and we are contemplating adding a few chickens. I love the whole idea of chickens and all the benefits that come with having them, but I am just a tiny bit scared. I think I have to go visit a few local back yard farms that have them.



It's a secret!

I have been busy making a few baby shower gifts, the Mom might read my blog so I have to be careful not to post anything.

This has been a fun project and I can't wait to share it on my blog, but it will have to wait until Sunday night.

In the meantime my daughter went to another birthday party, which means Mom was busy making presents.

 

This tote is such a great gift, it is reversible and really holds a lot.

For the smaller one I used Me and My Sister's Strawberry Lemonade Charm pack. I love using charms when making the smaller tote. It makes it quick and scrappy, two of my favorite things.

 

The second bag, yes she got two, most the time I only make one but this is a very close friend.

Abi plays volleyball so the second bag is perfect for carrying all her sports stuff.

  I love that this bag is reversible, it's like having two bags in one!