What's for Dinner

Update: salad was a hit. I don't think it was anyone's all time favorite meal, but Rick and I thought it was a definite do-again; Zane didn't say anything but was in the kitchen later in the evening looking for leftovers (good sign); Isaac said it was OK, which is what he says to everything that isn't mac and cheese or pepperoni pizza, he did say he would eat it again. I probably would add cucumber next time.

Another quick and easy meal tonight. Not sure how yummy yet. Sitting waiting for family to be ready to eat. Luckily- not a hot dinner.  Someone gave me a subscription to Taste of Home magazine (I can't remember who, but thank you to whomever it was.) The recipes have been fun, but hit and miss as far as "do again" meals. 

Here's the recipe for this (hopefully) yummy summer salad. 

Spinach Penne Salad

Ingredients

• 1 package (16 ounces) uncooked whole wheat penne pasta
• VINAIGRETTE:
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• SALAD:
• 1 package (6 ounces) fresh baby spinach
• 3 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 3/4 cup (6 ounces) crumbled feta cheese
• 4 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup sliced ripe or Greek olives

Directions

• In a Dutch oven, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse in cold water; drain again.
• Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk the vinaigrette ingredients. In a large bowl, combine the pasta, spinach, tomatoes, feta cheese, onions and olives. Add vinaigrette; toss to coat. Serve immediately. Yield: 10 servings.

Nutritional Facts 1-1/2 cups equals 327 calories, 15 g fat (3 g saturated fat), 7 mg cholesterol, 233 mg sodium, 38 g carbohydrate, 7 g fiber, 11 g protein.

The magazine suggested doubling the vinaigrette and using it as a chicken marinade, which I did, then grilled the chicken.

 

Someone gave us these cute pasta bowls and serving dish for our wedding. (Apparently, I'm very bad at remembering who gives me things.) We use them often. Love them.

 

 Here's the finished salad ready to eat. Come on peeps. I'm hungry. :) I'll add an update later to see if the fam thinks it's a "do again" meal.

On an unrelated note: I have to add this pic of Isaac on his last day of 7th grade. He and his friends decided to "Suit Up" for the last day. Big brother, Zane, helped Isaac look hipster. The belt is very cool- a gift to Zane from my mom for Christmas. (See I can remember other's gifts.) It has piano keys on it.

Weekend Report

I did a poor job taking photos this weekend. It started with my Friday off and a morning bike ride. I've heard from everyone that Draper has great mountain biking trails. I've been in the area almost 3 years and never tried them. I was held back by my fear (unjustified I learned- just like my fear that Suncrest was too hard to ride.) I just supposed that everyone was hardcore and I'd be in the way puffing up the trail or riding my breaks down. We figured a Friday morning would be pretty traffic free to give it a try.

We started by riding to the flight park and jumping on the South end of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. My mountain bike goal for the summer is to ride the whole BST in the Salt Lake Valley. The ride was spectacular! Lots of climbing and probably the best cardio workout I've had all year. Our simple 1 hour morning ride resulted in 2.5 hours (and a sunburn). 

It was a little scary at first as the trail was very narrow next to a steep mountain slope.  But it soon widened a bit and we were graced with either a sweeping view of the valley or beautiful tree lined trail.

We rode up the mountain and under the road which took us to the top of Corner Canyon. We followed Annie's Trail (Draper Rim Trail) until it hit Clark's Trail then headed down. Much quicker getting down then up. Then it was just a short road ride back home. Lovely. We will do it many times I'm sure. There are so many options to explore once we hit Corner Canyon. Here are a few pics.

Can you tell I'm out of breath! This was during the long uphill climb.

Are you jealous? Isn't it lovely?

 

Saturday morning I met one of my roommates from BYU. I have not seen her since the 80s! She was in town for her daughter's soccer tournament so we grabbed breakfast and caught up on each others lives. It was so great to see her. I'm bummed I didn't take a pic. Hopefully, we will get together again soon.

Saturday evening we went up the canyon for dinner with another old friend, this time from high school. We've had lunch a couple of times since reconnecting, but never had some good hang out time. Her husband treated us to a dutch oven dinner. We played some games, ate and chatted. 

Jody always gives me good working-mom advice. We were discussing how there just isn't time to do everything you want/need. She imparted the wisdom that it's important to rotate what you don't have time for instead of letting the same one or two things always slide. Good advice- and made me feel better that my kitchen floor hasn't been mopped in 2 weeks. I'll get to it next weekend for sure- but don't expect the yard to get weeded!

 

 

 

Rick, Zane, Isaac and Evan playing Apples to Apples

 

 

 

 

 

Chow time- yum!

Saturday was busy, but so rejuvenating. I've been lamenting my lack of girl friends lately and it was so comforting to have old friends around. As Jody mentioned (which also applies to Jenny), it is so nice to have friends that you can see after 20 years and the time just melts away and we are still the same friends we always were. Love those girls. It reminded me that I need to make some time to cultivate new friendships because they are not just going to appear.

Ride Report!!!

Yay. Great ride tonight. You know when something seems really daunting in your head, then you do it and you realize you made it into something it really wasn't. That happened to me tonight. I've always been afraid of riding Suncrest thinking its too long and steep. I thought I'd set a goal to make it to the top over a few weeks, going a little farther up each time. Tonight was my first attempt.

The hardest part was the first 10 minutes. Never fun warming up by heading straight up a mountain. By the time I hit half way, I knew I wasn't going to stop until the top.

(Adding photo of me at the top. Not sure where it will attach since I'm blogging on my phone app.)

I got to the top and called Rick to tell him I was going down the other side and asked him to pick me up at my parents house a few miles from the bottom. It was a really fun ride and not as daunting as I thought. I'm excited to extend the ride next time and ride through Alpine, out to the freeway, then take the frontage road home.

I was thinking on the ride about riding with Missy and Shelly before my mission. We'd ride some big hills and I learned not to think about how far to the top but to "just keep peddling". That would go through my head over and over when I wanted to stop. "Just keep peddling."

A few months later, I left on my mission and came up with my biking/life analogy. My mission was this big mountain. I was at the bottom feeling overwhelmed. I told myself all I needed to do was keep peddling. Not worry about the top, just focus on the moment and keep peddling. Fond memories for the ride tonight.

There was a hefty price for the ride though. I started down and was unprepared for how bumpy the road was. My loosely secured iPhone tumbled out of my bag and hit the road hard. Luckily the car behind me didn't hit it. Even with my hardcore case, I ended up with a cracked screen. Sad. Actually worth it though.

Holiday Weekend

Here's the run down of Memorial Day weekend.

Friday/Saturday- Rick and I cleaned the storage room. I wish I had before and after pics. You could barely walk in there before and now it is so neat and organized. Huge pile to DI. Huge pile to throw away. Feels good.

Late Saturday afternoon we headed to Provo. We picked up Rick's dad and niece, Michelle, and went to the Provo Cemetery.

Gene, Rick and Michelle at Rick's mother's grave.

My grandparents

We had a nice dinner at Rick's favorite Italian restaurant, La Dolce Vita. Then went to see Battleship (review on side bar). Michelle came home with us to spend a few days.

Sunday we were up early to go to Dustin's missionary homecoming. What a great experience. Dustin was a good friend in Orem. It took him a while to decide to go on a mission. He went when he was 24. Such an example of a very good person evolving into an amazing person. He gave up a lot to go, but obviously gained so much more with the experience. He is on fire with missionary work and serving the Lord. 

We spent a little time after seeing old friends and neighbors. I think it made Rick and I little melancholy to remember how fun it was hanging out with all the neighbors. We've missed that and so have the boys.

Sunday night we barbequed teriyaki skewers. They were yummy. This will be a new standard for the fam this summer.

 

Monday started with a morning bike ride. My hardcore sister joined us- she had a baby 6 weeks ago. We've been helping her find a bike this Spring, and this was her first ride with the new bike. The road is quite rural and usually traffic free; although, we learned that holiday weekends it is used by people coming back from vacation.

Ride Stats-

Location: South end of Redwood Road

Miles: 30

Sunburns: all of us

Dead snakes on the road: about 20 (also a dead owl - is that bad to think that is cool)

Large trucks with trailers that scared the crap out of me: Too many

Fun rating: 10+

Rick accidentally took video instead of pics. So this is the only image of the 4 of us on the ride.

Danny and Rick. You can see a glimpse of the lovely scenery along Utah Lake.

Rick's niece and nephew spent Monday with us. After the ride we headed up to Salt Lake to the new mall. Michelle has an internship in NYC this summer so she needed some new clothes. We found her a few new things and Danny bought some pants as well. Very successful.

We came home and Danny and Michelle watched a movie- after the long bike ride in the morning and shopping in the afternoon, I was in bed and asleep very quickly. Party pooper. 

Very satisfying weekend!

May Flowers

I love when my yard is in bloom. I often come home from work and walk around the yard to see the progress before going into the house. This week the roses have started to bloom. I cut a few to bring in for the table.

They smell lovely too!

I love this pink one. This rose bush was sent to us by Rick's sister. The unique flowers are awesome!

Our backyard has lots of ground cover. This is just starting to bloom and will be really pretty in the next week.

I planted some columbine this year and it's not doing too well. I'm wondering if it's not getting enough sun. Any suggestions?

I don't know what these are called. We planted them a couple of years ago. They are my favorite.

I also don't know what this is. Some sort of ground cover that is beautiful when it flowers. I was hoping it would spread more quickly, but still looks pretty in its little space.

The snapdragons are flourishing, even if the columbine is not.

Can't wait for these to bloom. Bright orange lilies. Last year the deer got to them before they bloomed. Fingers crossed they'll make it this year.

We planted a bunch of fuchsias. They are thriving in all shade in our backyard.

It also looks like we will have a nice little crop of boysenberries, raspberries and strawberries. I can't wait! Not bad for our tiny yard.