As We Wrap Up Fall Break

And thus concludes our fall break. Ahhhh. It has been so, so good.

Today we hung out at home again. My man had homework (he's going back to school for those that may not know); so, he was in our bedroom all day. Well, he did take time to play monster with the girls a few times. I balanced the checkbook, placed my Honest order, and cleaned the kitchen with roars, screams, and laughter as my background music.

The girls wanted to paint the pumpkins they got at the pumpkin patch this week, which evolved into using paint markers and permanent markers. Which suited me just fine. Less mess.

A girl and her horse!

Meanwhile, I roasted my pumpkin and toasted the seeds. We finally found a recipe we all love; this one's a keeper:

Toss pumpkin seeds with butter, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and red pepper flakes. Roast in a single layer at 300 degrees for about 45 minutes. Crispy and flava-ful! (I did not rinse the seeds because I didn't want to waste the time letting them dry, but I did remove as much goop as possible. The girls helped me dig out all the seeds before I roasted the pumpkin; we called our operation "scoop the goop.")

For supper, I needed to use up a small jar of stewed tomatoes that I made the other night, some bell peppers I got out of my garden this week, and a little bit of left-over white wine. I love Google; I just typed in "pasta white wine veggies" and a whole list of recipes popped up. Isn't that a beautiful thing? This was the one I chose, and as the Mr said, it's a keeper:

Garlic-Butter-White Wine Pasta
(We of course added our own touch. We sauteed green bells and onions in butter, then tossed in the drained stewed tomatoes at the last minute to heat them up, then poured the pasta and sauce in with the veggies. OH! And I used the super-awesomeness of basil-infused olive oil for step 1. I didn't have parsley, but I chopped the basil from the oil and added it back in at the very end. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, see this post.)

1 lb pasta
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
5 Tbs unsalted butter
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup chopped flat parsley
1/2 cup grated parmagiano-reggiano cheese

preparation

1. Heat olive oil over medium heat.
2. Add garlic and crushed red pepper. Saute until golden, about 1-2 minutes.
3. Add salt, pepper, white wine, butter.
4. Stir 2 minutes, remove from heat.
5. Toss pasta with sauce, parsley, and cheese.

You will love it.

And you may be happy to know - but not nearly as happy as I am - that I have almost finished washing the mildewy winter coats. I have soaked every single one in diluted bleach water without any negative effects. YIPEEEEE!!! How can I prevent this from happening again???

Okay, time to get some pumpkin muffins baking and in my tummy. Then date night on the couch with my man. Tomorrow I shabbat. Church, left-overs, books, movies, hot drinks, blankets, snuggles...

Love to all...