apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Will be cooking up a steak dinner tonight with rib eye, which I will pair with spinach salad with grilled corn and tomato. I've been having a craving for the same salad I had in Amalfi last month and thought I'd try to replicate!

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Last month, I had this wonderful spinach salad with fresh tomatos and grilled corn when I was vacationing in Amalfi. Since I've been having a craving for it, I am planning on replicating the menu and pair it with rib eye steak!

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Peach buckle [again!] and something with my garden tomatoes!

Now that the temperature has dipped below 30 degrees C, and I have my family's permission to use the oven again, I'm baking zucchini bread using the monster zucchini I found hiding under a leaf in my garden. I can't wait!

Other than that, I might be experimenting with more of Mark Bittman's ideas from that 101 Salads article. So far I'm two for two. His recipe for ranch dressing was awesome, and his suggestion for quinoa salad with tomatoes, pine nuts and parsley, tossed with lemon juice and olive oil was magnificent.

We're having a mess of friends over Sunday, it's one guy's birthday as well as his and his wife's anniversary. On the menu:

Appetizers:
Jalapeno poppers on the grill
Homemade salsa & chips

Main course:
Pork loin kebabs with a peach-barbeque glaze and dipping sauce
Vegetable kebabs of red pepper/mushrooms/ vidalia onions/zucchini
Yummy macaroni salad

Dessert:
Individual peach & blueberry crumbles with vanilla ice cream

Bloody Marys/ Screwdrivers/Rum and Coke/Mojitos (my mint is going craaazy)/beer /wine.

I have some shopping to do tomorrow...

Summer Pistou soup
Peach streusel pie
Sauteed brussels sprouts with garlic
Braised swiss chard with yellow finn potatoes
Purslane, spinach and cucumber salad

I also need to use up some turnips. Does anyone have some great turnip recipes?

I have blueberry scones in the oven at the moment--after enjoying one (or two...) myself, I'm going to take the rest to my staff that has to work this weekend.

Not sure what else but a BAT (bacon, arugula (from my garden) and tomato) sandwich I've been thinking about all week AND batch two of picked carrots--we've already eaten and given away so many of batch one that I need to make more!

My tomatoes and herbs are out in full force.

We're having friends for dinner tonight and are making tomato rosemary scones (from Vegan Brunch,) a vegan creamy cashew tomato sauce with broccoli, a big green salad with cucs and little grape tomatoes, and watermelon for dessert.

I'll probably make more of the mint pesto with pasta and little peas from the recipe posted here about a month ago. I've grown fond of that dish, especially since my mint threatens cross borders in the herb box and usurp the dill's territory.

Made pizza for the first time today with beautiful tomatoes from the farmer's market.

http://makingitwithmeleyna.com/kidspoolpizzareally-good-naps/

Pork ribs last night (thank you hubby!-one nice thing about a layoff) along with homemade red cabbage coleslay and baked beans. Tonight we started this mornign with some awesome scrambled eggs with goat cheese, roated tomatoes, and garlic and ended the day with pesto tortellini with basil from my mom's garden, tri-color tomato salad and bread and to top it off, peach ice cream and almond shortbread. Tomorrow will be tri-tip with chimchurri along with roasted beets.

Trying to figure out what to do with an eggplant. Nothing really fatty, nothing with cheese. considering a ratatouille, but does anyone really like that? Maybe just a marinade a grill?

I just made the Bacon Oatmeal Cookies from Serious Eats...not too sure how I feel about them yet. Anyone else try that recipe? Did you like them?
And I also made Olive Oil Red Wine Cookies (which are more like little bread balls). I think they'd be lovely with some goat cheese.

Roasted butternut squash and kale whole wheat lasagna. So delicious but so many steps.

Made HomesickTexan's Squash Casserole as a main dish-wonderful-and Ina's Peach-Blueberry Crumble only with nectarines because I also made Dorie's honey-peach ice cream, which used up my peaches. Everything lasted over a couple of nights, so everything tasted particularly good!