A good weekend...

We've had good weekends in the last three years, but mostly "good" has been qualified with how much stuff we were able to get done around the house as far as cleaning and laundry goes. Good means we did pretty well. However, with my new (awesome, I might add) schedule things just don't pile up like they used to and I think good will take on new meaning as far as time and weekends go. This weekend we had the house cleaned by Friday and the laundry done by Saturday morning. We had time to see our friends Sam and Andrada who came to visit us from Salt Lake and they even cooked us dinner (a very delicious curry). Then, I've been able to not only meet my goal of cooking family dinners again, but I'm really enjoying cooking again. Before the Ph.D, I could say absolutely that cooking was my favorite pastime aside from reading. However, that has not been the case in quite some time as I was always rushed and meals were culled from restaurants or whatever we had on hand. This weekend I learned that I'm coming back into my hobby...I have cooked and cooked and loved every minute of it. Two recipes that were successful were a great pot roast (how very traditional of me!) that was moist and melted off your fork and a really simple pasta salad that will be one of our go to recipes on busy nights...Here are the recipes if anyone wants to try them:

PEPPERY POT ROAST
4 lb. roast
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp onion salt
2 tsp. celery salt
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce (I love how these two words sound together!)
2 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup ketchup
1 T. liquid smoke
3 T. brown sugar
1 T. dry mustard
dash of nutmeg
1 T. soy sauce
1 T. lemon juice
3 drops hot pepper sauce (optional...we left it out with success because we're lightweights)

Place roast in slow cooker
Combine remaining ingredients and pour over roast.
Cover.
Cook on high 6-8 hours.

We have enough left over for dinner tomorrow! I haven't had this kind of bounty in awhile.

EASY EASY PASTA SALAD

2/3 c pesto
2 T white wine vinegar (we used rice...vinegar is what I crave with this pregnancy)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 T olive oil
3/4 lb. Orzo pasta (any small pasta would work though; or large, for that matter)
1/2 lb. tomatoes cut into small pieces
6 oz. spinach cut into bite size pieces.

1. Make the vinaigrette; in a large bowl, whisk together th epesto, vinegar, 1/4 tsp. salt, and a pinch of pepper. Graudally whick in the oil until smooth.
2. Cook the pasta; bring a large pot of water to boil. add 2 T salt and the orzo. Cook, stirring ocasionally to prevent sticking, until the pasta is al dente. Drain, rinse under cold running water and drain again. Add the orzo to the vinaigrette and toss to coat evenly.
3. Add the tomatoes and spinach and toss generly to combine. Serve.

Done in 15 minutes...thank heavens for small pasta.

I'm off to grade a stack of high school research papers. One more week for this semester and then I'm done with this group of high school kids. I'll teach one section of English 1010 next semester and that's it at the high school for teaching. It's a work intensive class though with lots and lots of grading becuase I let them revise many times so that they'll learn that is the key to good writing. The research papers are long but will be done completely on Thursday so my evening is one small sacrifice to move them forward as writers and hopefully (?) prepare them for college. Though I think the stark reality of college itself will prepare them far better than I will.

All's good at the Hays. It's going to be a fantastic year.