With Katie and Jack gone the house seemed very quiet. They arrived in Denver about mid-day on Monday after a very easy drive. Then the process of settling in started. We got a few updates during the week but otherwise, with the two hour time difference, we didn’t get many. Jack is working hard on getting a job as well as all the other things one has to do to get settled in a new place. Lots of trips to Target and Sam’s Club made up a good part of his first week out there.
They had a quick visit with Libby who is in Colorado Springs which is about 65 miles from where Jack is in Denver. An easy drive to go for dinner. I think it is great for them both to have each other close by but not right in their back yard. This is a happy mama with her chicks. Love the smiles.
And then there are these two goof-balls in Asheville. Edie is back at school and Orin is working very hard on getting more teeth as well as learning how to walk around the house (holding on to things for now). It won’t be long until he is running. Then watch out.
Walking This Week
The dogs and I had some great walks this week. Beautiful September weather every single day made for a very pleasant time out on the trails. We climbed the hill a number of times and had our rest stop by the river every day. We only missed one day out of seven which is pretty darn good for us. I can literally feel myself getting stronger on the hills each time I climb which feels terrific. I usually gauge it by how many times I have to stop to catch my breath and that’s not very often anymore.
Cooking and More Cooking
We have lots of tomatoes thanks to John’s tomato trees and have been making tomato sauce all week long. We cut the tomatoes up, put them in a glass 9 x 10 dish with some onion, garlic, thyme, and olive oil and roast at 425 for about 25 minutes. Then blend them to make a sauce. We have used it in spaghetti sauce and a wonderful recipe we enjoyed for dinner this week. John has pretty much decreed that I am not to do any more cooking as I create a disaster in the kitchen and don’t seem to be able to keep my head on but I gave it the old college try.
Here’s the recipe I made this week when I was under the impression I could actually cook. Hope you enjoy it.
Stuffed Creamy Tomato Basil Pasta Shells
Half Baked Harvest
6 regular or heirloom tomatoes, quartered
1 yellow onion, quartered
6 cloves garlic, smashed
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
6 tablespoons salted butter
salt, black pepper, and chili flakes
½ cup heavy cream
1 pound jumbo shells
1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
2 cups shredded provolone cheese
¾ cup basil pesto
1 cup shredded or torn mozzarella
basil, for serving
How to make
- Preheat the oven to 425° F.
- In a large baking dish, combine the tomatoes, onion, garlic, thyme, butter, salt, pepper, and chili flakes. Bake 20-30 minutes or until the tomatoes begin to char and release their juices.
- Using an immersion blender or food processor, puree the tomatoes until smooth. Add cream if needed and return the sauce to the baking dish.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Boil the pasta until al dente according to package directions.
- In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, provolone, and 1/2 cup pesto.
- To assemble, spoon 1 tablespoon of the cheese mixture into each shell, placing the filled shell into the baking dish full of sauce. Spoon the remaining pesto over the shells and add the mozzarella.
- Bake for 15 minutes until the cheese is melted. Serve with fresh basil. Enjoy!
Now let me tell you how it really went down. I used John’s tomatoes that I picked from the tomato trees just before cooking them. I put them in the glass dish, cut up the onion, sprinkled with chopped garlic, used dried thyme because I didn’t have fresh, used butter which I normally don’t do, lots of salt and pepper and chili powder because I didn’t have chili flakes. Once the timer went off I tried to put the tomatoes into the Vitamix – what didn’t end up on the counter finally made it into the blender. Most of the time I was laughing or maybe I was crying because for some reason this wasn’t easy for me. Then I got ready to cook the pasta. But wait, this pasta is way too small. I practically needed an icing bag to fill them because John had bought large not jumbo shells. So, halt! Put everything on hold and off to the store to see if I could find jumbo shells, NO LUCK! So I bought manicotti instead at least they were big enough to stuff with a teaspoon. Back home again and I cooked the manicotti. But wait, it’s too hot to stuff so I ran it under cold water. Still didn’t work well, those darn things are way to big. What do I do? Cut then in half of course. This I did and it worked but by then I was sweating and swearing big time. It just wasn’t turning into the picture I had in my mind of me cooking us a lovely dinner while sipping a glass of wine – just give me a straw please. Eventually I got it all put together and the above picture shows what it looked like. BTW it was delicious and John banished me from the kitchen for life.
