Friday, July 29, 2011

Summertime Orzo Salad

On Canada Day, I took an orzo salad to our celebration.

Not only was it yummy, it was easily transported in little canning jars.



And it combines asparagus with grape tomatoes along with the orzo and is very easy to make.



The recipe is from Tasty Kitchen, love that site for recipes.

And in case you want to try this salad yourself, here's the recipe:

½ pounds Orzo Pasta
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 bunch Asparagus
1 pint Grape Tomatoes
4 whole Scallions, White And Greens, Sliced Thin
1 Tablespoon Fresh Lemon Juice
5 Tablespoons Pesto (or More To Taste)
1 Tablespoon "A Salt For All Seasonings" (see Note) Or More To Taste

Cook orzo according to package directions for al dente. When it’s done, pour it into your colander to drain and then immediately begin running cold water over it to completely cool it down. Toss it with a Tablespoon of olive oil and set aside.

Slice the tips off of your asparagus, and set the tips aside. Using a peeler, lay your asparagus stems on your cutting board and peel “up” against your flat asparagus, getting some nice shavings… Continue this until you have about a cup full, and set it aside.

Cut all of your tomatoes in half, set aside.

Fill a small pot with water and throw in a pinch of salt, bring to a boil. Add your asparagus tips and blanch them for 1-2 minutes (depends on how thick your asparagus is…you want it crisp tender). When done, remove the asparagus tips to a paper towel using a slotted spoon. Keep the water in the pot and on the heat.

As soon as your water goes back to a boil, add in your asparagus shavings and blanch them for 20 seconds. Remove them with a slotted spoon to a paper towel.

Combine your asparagus, tomatoes and scallions with the orzo. Then, add in the lemon, pesto and seasonings.

This can be made a day ahead… If you do this, cover it tightly and keep in the refrigerator. Add a Tablespoon or two of pesto to refresh it just prior to serving.

Note: The recipe uses A Salt for All Seasonings made by Market Day Gourmet(I didn't have it). Essentially it is a combination of sea (or kosher) salt, dehydrated onion and garlic, paprika, dried parsley and if you can find it dehydrated lemon peel. I used salt and pepper only but do think the use of fresh lemon peel with the garlic and onion would be even better.

Enjoy!

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Little Red Wagon #91 - Heat Embossing

Time for another Little Red Wagon challenge.

This week Deanna is challenging us to use heat embossing.

I stamped a couple of flowers then heat embossed them with Zing embossing powder, cut them out and added them to my card:



I really do need to heat emboss more often. I you're like me, why not dig into your wagon for that embossing powder and link up your creation at Little Red Wagon?

Monday, July 25, 2011

Blooming Right Now

More summer blooms!

Annabelle hydrangeas.



Daisies still looking good!



Pink hydrangea.



Darling Deception Daylily.



Row of tiger lilies.



Delphinium



More summer blooms to come soon! Thanks for stopping by!

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Belated Canada Day Images

Finally, I'm sharing some Canada Day photos in no particular order.


We celebrated Sherry's birthday!


Lovely Canada Day tablescape.


Appetizers in red and white!

Grandma

Hanging around the old Ford pick up truck!




Being goofy!


Thanks for stopping by!



Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Little Red Wagon #90 - Music Note

Hello everyone!

It's my turn to set the Little Red Wagon challenge this week and I decided our creations should feature music notes.

I created the following card using some Basic Grey papers and a Papertrey Ink stamp set.



So dig into those wagons, find some music notes and join us over at Little Red Wagon, we love to see what you create.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Celebrate Banner

A little while back I shared a preview of my piece of a banner swap, here's the finished banner:



Isn't it terrific? Everyone's pennant is so unique and they all came together to create something gorgeous!

Thanks so much to all the ladies who participated, it was fun!


Friday, July 15, 2011

Blooming Now

I love the flowers of summer!

This is what's blooming this week:


A row of blooming hostas.


Another view of of the hostas.


Astilbe and shasta daisies.


More daisies.
Climbing rose.



Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Little Red Wagon #89 - Pink and Lime Green

Wow, I can't believe it's been a whole week since I last posted! I'm going to have to see what I can do about that.

But for today its onto this week's Little Red Wagon challenge, Regan challenged us to use light pink, lime green and white. I must admit to having a difficult time with this one until Karen gave me a piece of pink paper and I found a green cameo and voila!



I'm not sure if you can tell but I also stamped a light pink music pattern on the doily.

So dig into your wagon, find those light pink and lime green papers or embellishments and play along with us at Little Red Wagon, we love to see what you create.


Wednesday, July 06, 2011

Little Red Wagon #88 - Christmas in July

This week Avril is challenging to a Christmas in July challenge. So I dug out my Christmas supplies and created this 'vintagey' ornament:



So are you up to thinking about Christmas? If so, link up your creation at Little Red Wagon, we love to see what you create.

Thanks for stopping by!


Tuesday, July 05, 2011

The Party Dress

Hello there!

Here's a link to another terrific online magazine called The Party Dress.

Hope you enjoy it!

Monday, July 04, 2011

Containers 2011

Happy Monday and July 4th!

My planters have been doing well so far this season and I like to feature them on my blog so that the next year I can go back and look at them again to decide what I liked or didn't.

This is the urn on our front porch with some new varities of petunia-supertunia pretty much picasso and superbells-blackberry punch. I've also included a Baby Tut,cyperus involucratus, grass for something different.



And the back containers with petunia-supertunia bordeaux,superbells-trailing plum, fan flower and potato vine.



Every year I plant the bird bath with impatiens and this year I also planted them around the bottom spilling out of a terracotta pot.



This year I hung a fushia in the tree and underneath some more impatiens.



A closer look:



And the front hanging pot. I bought a hanging pot already made up at the green house then moved the plants to my own pot and so far so good.