Dinner Time

Guess what everybody.....today it was 86 degrees... yeah! How about that. I am so loving this summer weather. So, to celebrate the fact that I can go out side and not melt, and be outside and not blow away, and have figured out where the BBQ grill was, and found the briquettes, and bought lighter fluid, and found matches, and went to the Farmers Market and bought fresh vegetables and then I cooked. Outside. In the shade. And loved every minute of it.

Tyia and I prepared the veggies for the most wonderful summer salad.  It comes from The Pioneer Woman Cookbook.  It is SO good.  It isn't hard to make....so we made.

8 Ears of corn husked,
Red onion,
Summer squash (I used yellow squash and zucchini)
Red Onion, quartered
Diced Tomato
Diced garlic
Balsamic Vinegar

Olive oil

Fresh Basil leaves

There is something magical about fresh herbs.  Fresh Basil.  I grew that in  Arizona.  I miss it.  So I bought a little plant with roots at the Win Co.  The package on the basil said "put it in water", so Ty did.  The house smells so good with that little plant.  The leaves are wonderful!  They are going into the salad.

The veggies were put out on the BBQ grill, and cooked. If you really want to know how to do this salad I suggest that you go to The Pioneer Woman's blog and find the recipe.  It is worth your time.  If you are really smart, you will order her cookbook, like I did.  See, I am really smart too.  Why should I go to all the work to take the pictures and develop the recipe when she already did.

This is the result. 

You just want to dive into the bowl.

You want to share it with everyone you know.

Then, I prepared the "made from scratch" macaroni and cheese.  Yes, from scratch.  It is another recipe from the same cookbook.  Although, now that I have made it, I think I would alter the recipe a bit.  Something like: bottled mustard is just as good as dry mustard.  I say that, because that is what I did.  I didn't have any dry mustard.  Oh, and I think cream, or half and half would help a little.  But, I used the milk that the recipe said to use.  But after it was done, I just wished it was creamier.  But, that makes it really fattening.  So, on second thought, milk is just fine.

You just follow the recipe.  Make the butter melt, add the flour, then the milk (yes, milk, even though I wish it was cream) :)

And you just keep going with the whipped egg, and add a little of the hot flour and butter stuff..... and add the cheese, and stir....and then you have........

.......You have this.

This is after I put a lid on it, and smashed the macaroni down.

So I had to take some of the macaroni out of the bowl

and put it in another bowl.

So, without realizing it, I had enough food for an army.

I was going to feed 5 of us, and ended up feeding 11,

and still have some left.

I shared it with all my neighbors.

Even my neighbor Norman and his wife Connie.

They made the mistake of giving me the code to their garage,

so I did a little breaking and entering.

I wrote a note on a paper towel and left it on their counter.

I hid the food in the fridge, on top of the eggs.

These are my hands.  I have a band aid on because when I was cutting my hair this past weekend I cut my middle finger really bad.  It did the  "drip drip drip" thing for a while.  I still need to wear a band aid to keep the skin flap down.  (TMI)

If you know me at all you know I have had acrylic fingernails for about a zillion years.  Well, I don't anymore.

I am saving my money.  I missed the long hard nails for about a week, but now I am okay with the stubs that are growing out.  It isn't so bad.  Although the dogs miss the scratching on their backs.  It just isn't the same.

My hands are making a marinate for the chicken breasts.  They soaked in a Ziploc bag in the marinate, which consisted of: balsamic vinegar, olive oil, seasoned salt, pepper, chopped garlic and a tiny bit of lime juice.

They cook out on the grill, too.

Makes your mouth water doesn't it?

If you mouth isn't watering, well, that means you just ate and you are full.

So my neighbors: Norman and Connie, Jeff and Diane, Marlese and Nate all got salad and  macaroni and cheese  for their dinners. 

The chicken only went to my mom, dad and brother Jeff, and Tyia and me.  There is still a bowl in the fridge of salad and another bowl of macaroni.  I really did feed an army.  It was like bread and fish.... have you heard that story?  Yeah, it was like that.

But when it is so nice outside, and I find the briquettes, and all that stuff, and go to the effort to make some good fresh food, I just have to share it.  I hope it puts energy and vitamins and all that good stuff in our bodies.  I hope we all have strong bones and red blood cells. 

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you...we had brownies for dessert.  Yes, we were cooking fools today.

Tomorrow I am ordering pizza to be delivered.  I am not dumb enough to do this two days in a row.