Closet Space

Hello, lovelies! Happy Labor Day! I hope that none of you had to work today and got to enjoy yourselves on this long weekend as much as I did.  I hosted a BBQ for the people in my program this weekend as a way to celebrate and get to do one of the things I absolutely love – cooking for other people.  We had burgers, hot dogs, pasta salad, baked beans, and apple crisp.  Guests that came along supplied clam dip, strawberry short-cake cupcakes, and amazing Caesar salad.  I’d say we had a pretty good line-up!

One of my favorite foods of all time is pasta salad. I mean, YUM-O, right?! I usually do the same old thing, but yesterday I decided to change it up, to much avail. I got a lot of compliments on it and I’ve developed my own version that I’m going to stick with.  Since I love you all so much, I’m going to give you an opportunity to try it out.  I don’t have any pictures of it… because I ate the rest. Haha.  Here goes!

Awesome Pasta Salad:)
1 box garden rotini
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
2 whole carrots, julianned
1 jar green olives, sliced
1/2 tsp. McCormick salad seasoning
1/2 bottle light italian dressing
1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese
1 handful shredded sharp cheddar
1/4 tsp parsley
pinch each: rosemary, black pepper, garlic powder

The assembly directions can’t be any easier – just dump it all in a bowl, stir it up, and you’re ready to go!  It’s delicious, trust me. I love cooking and making new things, and I was very excited when I put that all together and got a really sweet side dish.

I’ve been in the cooking mood ever since earlier in the weekend when we finally got a dining room table.  It was so weird to sit on the couch with our plates in our hands eating – it didn’t feel like home.  So, I searched Craigslist for a week and a half and found a great table and 4 chairs for $30.  It was a real steal, so I was really excited.  Ryan and I drove out to pick it up and man, was that an adventure!  Ryan’s got a Saturn – enough said, right? That thing is tiny! So, we had to take the legs off of the table, shove the chairs in the trunk/backseat and tie the table top to the roof.  Boy, did we get some funny looks coming home!  It was hilarious. So, once we got it (and a cool new rug) home, it really, finally, felt like home.  So, we put together a wildly adventurous grocery list and planned out our meals for the whole week.  We’re really trying to save up some money, so we did this so that we could go to the store and only buy what we needed for our meals and nothing else and we made a pact not to go to the store for anything else until we run out of food (except TP, of course!).  So far, so good – we’ll see how it goes.

Some of our awesome menu for the week includes the following: Parmesan Pasta Florentine (we made this tonight, it was FABULOUS! It’s green pasta sauce, so it’s totally weird… but it is so amazing!), Chicken Farfalle, Pasta with Tomato and Cream Sauce, Sweet/spicy stuffed chicken and stuffed peppers. I’ll let you know how it goes.  Of course, we have other random meals in there to keep us in touch with reality, haha. Also in line with cooking, I’ve discovered a new love – frozen veggies.  I’ve been a canned girl my entire life, but I got some frozen ones last week and let me tell you – they are a million times better!

Okay, enough of that. I’ve got some news!! On searching Craigslist, I got Ryan and I a present… for free! Meet the newest additions to our clan:

Turk

J.D.

Excuse the bad pictures, my camera lens needs cleaned! Meet Turk and J.D.! Can you guess where the names came from… haha.   These little guys were listed online because the couple that owned them was going through some tough times and couldn’t afford to keep them anymore because the husband was going in for back surgery.  We were glad to take these red-eared sliders into our hearts. <3  My little brother had turtles when he was little, so I have experience with them.  Their new home is all set-up and the little guys are enjoying creeping on Ryan and I all day.