Greek Pasta Salad

I did a small container of tomatoes, basil, and rosemary this year for gardening.  I planted three little tomato plants that consisted of a grape tomato plant, plum tomato plant, and a yellow heirloom plant.  I have tomatoes out my ears. Well, not literally out my ears, that would look really silly. 

I have shared some with neighbors, but the majority of them Jay and I have consumed.  My favorite way to eat fresh tomatoes is with a little salt and pepper.  Jay prefers tomato with feta cheese and dressing, and that my friends is the inspiration for today's recipe.

One of Jay's most favorite salad is a Greek salad.  He will eat it anytime of day.  He has been known to eat it for breakfast.  I decided to put all his favorite Greek salad toppings into a pasta salad.  I made it the other night, and thought for sure it would be a couple of portions.  I was mistaken, he ate it all in one sitting.  I guess it was a success.

recipe (serves 2)

1/2 lb. short cut dried pasta, cooked and cooled (penne, rigatoni, etc.)
1 cup tomatoes, I used a mix of yellow and plum tomatoes sliced and quartered
1/2 c. black olives, sliced
1/4 c. pepperoncini, sliced
1/8 c. sliced red onion
1/2 c. crumbled feta cheese
1/2 c. prepared Greek dressing, you may use more or less depending how you like your salad dressed

Simply cook pasta and allow to cool.  In a large bowl mix all the sliced veggies with pasta.  Gently add the feta cheese with the dressing and toss until well mixed.  You may want to season with salt & pepper, but be careful feta can be quite salty.

Allow to chill in the refrigerator for several hours.   Serve with pita bread or nice crusty baguette.

This would be great for this coming Labor Day picnics!

Also, here are a few pictures of my littlest playing soccer.  I still need to get pictures of my oldest.

15 Minute Shortcakes

We are busy busy busy with soccer season upon us.  Both boys are playing and with them being in different divisions, it means we have soccer Monday through Saturday.  Fun times!

With our busy schedules, dinners need to be quick and easy, as well as the occasional dessert.  So today's post is a quick shortcake.  Just a disclaimer, my shortcakes here appear a little more brown in color than yours will.  The reason behind that is, Brandon was helping to make them, and decided we needed extra vanilla (which equated to triple the amount).

ingredients (yields 6 to 8 shortcakes)

2 1/4 c. baking mix
1/4 c. plain or vanilla yogurt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. lemon zest
2 tbsp. melted butter

2 c. sliced strawberries
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1 to 2 tbsp. water

whipped cream

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Combine sliced strawberries with sugar and water, set aside to form sauce.

In a large bowl combine baking mix, yogurt, vanilla, melted butter, and lemon zest.  Stir with a wooden spoon until a soft dough forms (the dough will be tacky).  Drop biscuits by tablespoons onto an ungreased non-stick baking sheet.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.  Biscuits will be golden brown and no longer tacky.  Allow to cool for 5 to 10 minutes.

Slice biscuits in half.  Spoon berries over the sliced biscuit and top with whipped cream.