July Wrap-Up

I know I say this every month, but I can't believe it's the end of July!  This has been a super busy month.  I started it off with a nice overnight trip to Long Beach Island to visit my college buddy, Mamie, and her family, and new roommate, Hannah.  I had a ton of fun with them, and it was a great way to start this hectic month.  

On the ninth (which also happens to be my sister-in-law's birthday, Happy Birthday Michelle!) Aaron and I became homeowners!  Yay us!

We've been super busy working on the house.  It needs a ton of work, and the list is never ending.  So far the kitchen is the closest to livable.  

My DIY projects have been hyper focused on getting the house ready, so the only crafty thing I did this month was stamp my handmade calendar for June and July.  They came out super cute.  I need to think about what's happening in August, and get that together!  

I've been most happy with my Thirsty Thursday series this month.  So many yummy fruity creations!  I'm having a hard time picking a favorite.  It's a tie between the Plum Kiwi Pineapple Cocktail and the Tropical Creamsicle.  They are both good in a fruity way, but for completely different reasons.  

I've also continued on with my self-indulgent series, This Is Me.  I like that this series gives me back a bit of my weekends, while still pushing me to think creatively.  I want to think about making more  imaginative self portraits in the future.  

We also celebrated my brother, Chris' engagement.  We went out to dinner with his fiance, Jamie's family and got to know them.  We had a lovely time!  They are awesome people.  I wore this cute little number to the fabulous Half Moon, where we wine & dined.  

I've loved everything I've cooked for Nom Nom Monday, but my favorite this month is my Fresh Tomato & Bell Pepper Pasta Salad.  It could be because I grew the tomatoes, peppers, and basil in it.  Or because I had it for dinner last night, and I also ate it for lunch, AND as an after-work snack.  I definitely liked this dish.  :)  

Speaking of our garden, haven't these little paper pulp seedlings come a long way?  Look at one of our many fruitful harvests! Just as yummy as it looks.  

I hope you had a good July too, and happy DIYing, chris!  

Fresh Tomato & Bell Pepper Pasta Salad

Happy Nom Nom Monday!  Today I made a pasta salad using some of the fresh pickin's from our garden.  Cold pasta salads are perfect for lunch or dinner in the summer.  I could eat it everyday.  

I used some green grape tomatoes, riesentraube tomatoes, a couple black cherry tomatoes, and the peppers are technically purple beauties.  I couldn't wait until the peppers got purple, they've been tempting me for days, weeks on end.  Then I looked to our herb garden, and decided the lemon basil was the way to go.  I based my recipe off of this Lemon Pasta Salad with Tomatoes and Feta I found on yummly.  

Ingredients:

- 7 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil

- 2.5 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice

- 3 tablespoons of dijon mustard

- 2 garlic cloves (where were out, what! so I substituted with garlic salt)

- 12 ounces of bow-tie pasta

- 2 cups cherry tomatoes

- 1 1/2 cups bell peppers

- 1 1/2 feta cheese

- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese

- 1/4 cup white onion

- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon basil

Directions:

I began by boiling water, and cooking the pasta.  While that was happening I chopped all of the my cherry tomatoes, peppers, and onion up.  I also tore my basil into small bits and mixed that in.  Next I mixed together the olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, and garlic salt together in a medium bowl.  When the pasta was done I mixed the pasta and veggies together, then I poured the sauce over them, and mixed throughly.  Finishing with the cheeses.  Now truthfully I didn't have that much cheese, I used what was left in a half used feta tub, and about a tablespoon of freshly grated parmesan cheese.  I threw some black pepper on for seasoning, and called it lovely!  

It was tasty.  Even my hubby who usually doesn't go for cold pasta salads had seconds of this one.  I think the only thing that could have made it better was if I had more cheese, and fresh garlic.  

I love eating pasta salads the next day.  The flavors have a chance to really culminate and become alive together.  I already have this packed up for work tomorrow.  Hope ya'll are having a wonderful Nom Nom Monday, and happy DIYing, chris!

Garden Pickin's

I'm exhausted!  Aaron and I woke up early, and got some stuff at Lowe's before he had to go to jury duty.  Then I headed over to our house, and started working on scraping the floors.  My hands are so sore, and there is only a three foot by four foot section done.  I got another section scrapped, but we still need to go over it, and get the super icky sticky bits that don't come up with the large scrapper.  While I was scrapping I would occasionally take a break and scrub the kitchen.  Every inch of the house is covered in nasty grime.  I made up a solution of washing soda, bleach and warm water to cut through the ick.  It worked really well, but some spots, like around the stove needed something more powerful.  I sprayed those areas down with goof off, and let it soak for a bit before rubbing the dirt away.  It's looking better, but I still need to do a TON of scrubbing.  I don't have any photos to show of the house today though.  

Instead I have some photos of my first tomato harvest.  The first heirloom tomatoes that were ripe were our riesentraube tomatoes.  It's historically a German  heirloom that was commonly found in Philadelphia during the mid-1800's.  It has massive yields of flavorful cherry tomatoes.  

This is a black cherry tomato with a blue jay feather I found on our deck.  

This is the last bit of healthy lettuce I was able to pick.  I love all the varieties we tried out this year.  I want to figure out how to grow some lettuce through out the winter months.  

I love the colors in this variety.  So pretty.  

Hope you enjoyed, and happy DIYing, chris.