All Things Mimi

We are harvesting a bumper crop of grape tomatoes this year.  We are picking them faster than I can figure out what to do with them.

Day before yesterday I made my all time favorite pasta dish with some of them.  I have blogged about this a hundred times, but I swear- I make this dish more often than just about any other dish in my rotation.

I oiled an 8x8 pyrex brownie pan.  In it I threw lots of pretty little grape tomatoes, a chopped zucchini, several cremini mushrooms and about 3 cloves of garlic, minced.  I salted and peppered it all and roasted it at 450 degrees for about 25 minutes.  I added some chopped raw shrimp, about half a block of feta (crumbled) and maybe half a container of gorgonzola crumbles.  After adding a little more olive oil, it went back in the oven for about 10 minutes.  While that was happening, I boiled some bow tie pasta for the 11 minutes it recommended on the package.

When the pasta was done, I drained it, put it back in the pot, and poured all the oliv…

So tonight's dinner was easy.  When I'm on bus duty, I'm always tempted to cheat and throw a frozen pizza in the oven.  These longer school days- then afternoon duty on top of that- are really kicking my butt.

Fortunately I thought about that yesterday, and prepped a chicken to cook in my crockpot while we were in school today.

I totally made this up as I went along, but it turned out pretty well.  I cleaned out my ice box veggie drawer and put some trimmed green beans, peeled and chopped sweet potatoes, thick sliced onions, three cloves of coarsely chopped garlic and one sad looking chopped zucchini in the bottom of my crockpot.  I salted and peppered a 4 pound organic chicken and put it on top of the veggies.  I knew I needed a little liquid to get things started, but I didn't want to use water.  The only other thing I had was some spicy tomato juice, so I used it.  Next time I will plan ahead and dump a beer or a cup or two of white wine in.

I put it on low this mo…

I love having people over.  I'm not sure from whom in my family I inherited this trait, but I got it big time.  My husband is not so thrilled with company.  I think it's because he's a neat freak, and he feels like the house has to be spotless if people are coming over.  I am the exact opposite- I feel like people are coming over to have fun and hang out- not give my furniture the white glove treatment.

Anyhoo- I am having the grade level team leaders from my school over tomorrow afternoon for our kick off meeting.  I hosted all our meetings last year, and I love it.  We hang out on the patio and I get to try out all kinds of new appetizer recipes on them.  It's a win-win.  They get a comfy place to meet away from school, and I get to cook new stuff AND get immediate feedback.

The menu for tomorrow's meeting is:  veggie chips with herbed yogurt dip, cheese plate (this time around we're having Brie and a smoked cheddar), fruit, mixed nuts, gorgonzola/brie chips…