Pasta Salad

What I Have Had On Previous Days
That I Would Have Had Today
Had I Not Had Something Else
(title)



Really cheap (in every sense of the word) beer in my Mason jar.
I did drink out of my Mason jar today, but it was iced coffee, not beer.
And I did drink beer today, just not out of my jar because it was dirty from my coffee.



Pasta salad. Atop a bed of lettuce.
Wanna know the recipe? Here it is:

Pasta Salad a la Missus Mustard

roughly 200 g uncooked whole grain egg noodles
a handful of grape tomatoes
a nice bed of lettuce
2 tbsp olive oil
(vinegar if you want)
1-2 tbsp pesto
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1-2 tsp fresh, chopped basil
salt & pepper
dollop of cottage cheese
sprinkling of parmesan cheese
(mozzarella would work nicely too)

1. Cook pasta in salted water
2. Cut grape tomatoes in half, set aside
3. Drain pasta, put back into the pot (make sure it's not too hot) and add oil (vinegar), pesto and spices. (Add enough oil to coat all pasta quite thoroughly, it should not be at all dry. I suppose you could add a little water too if it's too dry and you don't want to add extra oil.)
(At this point I also stuck a lid on the pot and put it outside to cool down. You don't need to, but Mr M wanted the pasta cold)
4. Plate on top of lettuce with cottage cheese and parmesan.

Mister Mustard put vinegar and sliced black olives on his and he loved it.
I'm sure it would be tasty with a lot of different things thrown in too.

Strawberry Turmeric Salad & Burritos

Let's start off with something really delicious-looking, so you will stay to read the rest of the post...



The thing with toasted nuts and I, is that, I burn them. All the time.
This is an extreme example, but when I was toasting these pecans and cooking something else on the stove at the same time, I smelled something burning. BURNING = CHECK OVEN. "Oh, it's just a crumb under the burner on the stove". I kept smelling it. "Hm...". "OH #$%*" Oops. Oops, indeed.
And pecans are expensive, people!

Strawberry Turmeric Salad


The second batch of toasting was great, and it turns out this salad really needs the pecans; they add another level of yumminess.

For the salad:
lettuce
a few sliced strawberries
a few small cauliflower florets (though you could use anything you have on hand, really. I actually would use something else next time.)
a handful of toasted pecans

For the dressing:
2-3 tbsp x-virgin olive oil
3 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp liquid honey
2 tsp ground turmeric
salt and pepper

Toss with salad.

*** I feel like I should have a disclaimer for the recipes that I make up myself:
I don't measure!
I throw in whatever I have on hand!
I go by taste!
So please just adjust them to your own taste and use them as more of a guideline.

Leftovers Burritos



We used our leftover guacamole and refried beans (with some whole beans thrown in) from tostads, combined them with some sauteed, spiced onions and green peppers, threw them on a tortilla with cheese, salsa and lettuce. To make it vegan, just cut out the cheese.
Nom nom.