Enjoying the Outdoors

Simple Italian Pasta, originally uploaded by razzieswirl.

I love this time of year. It's not excruciatingly hot yet, like most of July and August. In fact it's been raining on and off, but the air is still warm. Last night the clouds broke away to reveal a gorgeous evening for the first day of summer, and the perfect opportunity to have dinner with Asher and Lauren on the back porch.

I'm trying to be really cost effective for the next two weeks because Thomas and I are trying to save most of the money we have and bring in for a 4 day trip we are taking to Portland/Salem for Kelli and Nicks wedding. We are so excited about our trip, we have never been on a real getaway together (unless you count camping), so we're both really happy and want to make sure we have plenty of money to have a great time!

Therefore I'm trying to use what I've got in my fridge, maybe with a few cheap items here and there purchased at the groceria. I've done a pretty good job so far, this, and the Asian Shrimp Noodle dish utilized most things I have in my cupboard. What I love about these dishes is that they're full on flavor, and beauty, but low on cost. They're blog worthy, and still cheap and easy. How wonderful!

This pasta is a combination of leftover pizza sauce (spaghetti sauce), fresh tomato, basil, mozarella balls, spicy italian sausage barbequed (because you have to bbq on the first day of summer) and a sprinkling of asiago. So good, but so little time/indgredients and money. Perfecto!

Recipe: First Day of Summer Italian Pasta Bowl

Ingredients:

- 1 lb. box rotini
- 1/2 cup sweet tomato sauce (spag. sauce)
- 3 vine tomatoes (cherry would be good too) diced
- 1/2 lb. small mozarella balls quartered
- 10 large fresh basil leaves ribboned
- 3 large italian sausages barbequed and chopped to desired size
- 1/4 cup finely grated asiago for garnish

Directions:

1. Boil pasta 7-9 minutes in salted water
2. Put chopped tomatoes, sauce, mozarella and basil in large bowl, mix together and season with salt and pepper.
3. Stain pasta and immediately throw into the tomato mixture bowl (piping hot, it will cause the mozarella to melt just a bit and heat up the sausage, delicious).
4. Serve in a large pasta bowl, in the sun, with asiago on the side!

Hello Summer!