Summer Pesto Pasta Salad...

I got the inspiration for this pasta salad from a pasta primavera I recently made. This recipe is SO easy and so yummy!

*1 pound cooked pasta (any shape you choose)

*4 carrots, cut into bit size pieces

*1/2 green and 1/2 red bell peppers cut into bite size pieces

*1 can sliced olives

*10 cherry tomoatoes, each cut in half

Combine all these ingredients in a large bowl. Now for the pesto sauce:

*2 cups basil leaves, packed

*1/2 teaspoon salt

*1/2 teaspoon pepper

*1 garlic clove

*1/4 pine nuts (toasted if you have time)

*2/3 cup olive oil

*1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Combine first 5 ingredients in a food processer and blend. Add about 2/3 cup olive oil until a creamy sauce forms. Lastly, stir in cheese. Add this sauce to your pasta and vegies and you have a fabulous pasta salad! Enjoy! (Can be served warm or cold.)

Soft Cheese Pretzels

A few days ago Maddie and I made cheese pretzels. This was a great activity to do with Maddie--and a great one to do with any small children for that matter. It is a simple recipe that you can mix up in minutes, makes a minimal mess, and it's like playing with play-do only you get to eat it in the end. My mom used to make these with us when we were little. Maddie and I had a lot of fun making pretzels and we have all enjoyed eating them! They are particularly yummy hot from the oven.

Soft Cheese Pretzels

In a small bowl mix together:
1/4 cup warm water
1 tbsp yeast
1 tsp sugar
Stir together and let sit until it begins to foam.

Using the dough hook on your kitchen aid, add to the mixer and mix briefly:
4 cups flour (to be more nutritious, I used half whole wheat and they still came out light, soft and chewy)
4 cups grated cheddar cheese
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar

Add the foamy yeast mixture and begin mixing. While mixing, slowly add up to 1 1/2 cups of water. Add only enough water to make a soft but firm dough. The dough should not be sticky at all.

Let the dough rise to double in size. Punch down dough and begin to form soft pretzels. We made 24 small pretzels. Let the pretzels rise until double in size. Brush the tops with an egg white and sprinkle coarse salt on top. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes.

Here's Maddie rolling out the "snakes" for the pretzels.

Maddie started getting creative. Here she is pinching her snake before making it into a pretzel.


Here are our pretzels formed and getting ready to rise.


When we were making the pretzels, Maddie and I talked about who we could share some with. The next morning we took some over to Maddie's friend Carson.

Summer Pizza...

Fresh vegies and herbs...
Pesto chicken added...
Topped with cheese and baking...yum!

Summer has finally hit, here in San Diego! It took a little longer than I thought it would, but the warm weather inspired this summer pizza. This was a piece of cake to put together. Trader Joe's sells pre-made whole wheat pizza dough, as well as bottled pesto sauce. I often stock up on both for those evenings when I am tired and need a quick and tasty dinner. This pizza I did as a sauceless one, opting to coat the top of the pizza dough with seasoned dipping olive oil (plain olive oil would do just as nicely). I then cooked some sliced chicken breast in pesto sauce. While this was cooking, I then layered fresh tomato slices, yellow bell pepper, fresh oregano, basil, and rosemary on the pizza dough. Once the chicken completed cooking, I then placed that on top of the vegies and topped with sliced mozarella cheese and baked on my baking stone at 400 degrees until pizza dough baked through. Enjoy!!