Just Trust Yourself

."

It's birthday weekend...

My fifth birthday... love the cake!

Well it's the first of two birthday weekends - that's what happens when your birthday falls on a Monday; people tend to drag it out.  Sounds fun (and it is!!), but really it can be fattening.....lots of drinks and dining out!

Today was a big, fat brunch at Il Fornaio with the family, then drinks with friends.  Tomorrow is my first stand up paddleboard experience (at least I'm trying to work in something to offset the eating frenzy!) and then off to Napa with the girls for an afternoon of champagne tasting at Domaine Carneros.  Monday is more food, food, food.... lunch in Saulsalito and then dinner in The City.  Hopefully I can work a hike in there somewhere!

Tonight, I came home after having drinks with friends to my only chance of cooking for a couple days.  I'm reading this great book The Improvisational Cook, and it inpires me to just trust myself with what I have available. So here's another one of my no recipe-recipes....you can do it!  Trust yourself.

I just received some tomatoes from my friend Chris's garden (and knew that had to be the star).  I also had onions, red bell peppers, baby spinach, garlic and kalamata olives.  I was thinking pasta (when aren't I?).  I had some orzo, so I boiled some salted water and threw in the orzo.  Orzo only takes 9 minutes, the pefect amount of time to saute up some fresh veggies.  I started with onion, red bell pepper and garlic.

Then I tossed in the olives and tomatoes with a little red wine vinegar.  When you think of tomatoes, what else comes to mind....basil, oregano and parmesan.  Of course!  I clipped the herbs from my garden and shredded a wee bit of parm into the skillet.  Before draining the orzo, I saved a little of the starchy water to add to the skillet to create a "sauce" along with a squeeze of lemon. Add the orzo and the baby spinach, stirring to wilt the spinach, then season with salt and pepper, and maybe a little more vinegar.  And viola!  Yummy and healthy dinner in a flash.  It's that easy...

I always like to add some chopped nuts to my pasta, for texture, healthy fat, and protein.  Pecans and walnuts are my faves.  This was so good that it was hard to not go back for seconds....but tomorrow morning is me in a bathing suit on a paddle board, so I thought better of it.  For now, I'll be patient.  There's always tomorrow.....

Yum it up!!