Prosciutto, Pine Nut and Spring Greens Salad

I love having friends that are wonderful cooks.

I especially love it when they invite me over for dinner.  My friend Merrill is one of those wonderful cooks.

He and I did a bit of a trade.  I went and spoke at a church meeting he was asked to speak at, a presentation on social media etiquette and in exchange he cooked dinner for Jim and I.  I think I got the better end of the deal!

Dinner was delicious and the presentation was amazing as it always is.  Merrill’s the one that taught me the trick for the presentation of the Nutty Brown Rice.

I think one of my favorite things from the meal though was the salad.  I love a good salad and this one was great.

The salad consisted of spring greens, toasted pine nuts, fried prosciutto and a delicious dressing made from white balsamic vinegar and gorgonzola cheese with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese on top.

Can I just say, heaven!

I would have been a happy camper if this was all he had served for dinner that night.

It was a nice light salad but full of amazing flavors.  The crunch of the prosciutto and pine nuts is perfect and added a wonderful texture to the salad.

I found the white balsamic vinegar at Trader Joes. This salad would make a lovely addition to any dinner party or any dinner.

Ingredients

Salad:

• 1/2 lb. prosciutto
• 2 -3 tsp. olive oil
• 1/2 C toasted pine nuts
• Spring greens
• Parmesan cheese for sprinkling on top

Dressing:

• 1 C olive oil
• 1/2 C Gorgonzola cheese crumbled
• 2 Tbsp white balsamic vinegar
• 2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Salad:

• Fry prosciutto in a pan with a little olive oil
• Cook until crisp and break into small pieces
• Toast pine nuts in a few Tbsp of olive oil
• Stir constantly so they don’t burn
• Cook until they begin to lightly brown
• Spring prosciutto and pine nuts onto salad after dressing
• Top with shredded Parmesan

Dressing:

• In a blender add 1/2 C olive oil and Gorgonzola cheese
• Blend until smooth
• Add in remaining 1/2 C olive oil and vinegar
• Adjust to taste
• Add in 2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese
• Add more oil or vinegar depending on thickness and taste

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An Empty Nest – A New Purpose

So it is official, we have an empty nest.  Tessa, my baby, has left for college.  She is attending summer term at BYU in Provo and will then continue on to Fall term.

I had been dreading this day for a while, for years actually as we have moved closer and closer to “that day.”

That’s how I referred to it in my head  “that day.”  “That day” when all four children would no longer live at home full time.

Well, we are there.

It is hard when, after 27 years of full time service, you are retired.  Yes, I am still their mother and they will still need me but that day to day service and work of being a mother is over.    It does take a little coming to terms with and adjusting.

I have had a whole array of feelings in regards to this new phase of life.  They have ranged from one end of the spectrum to the other.  There have been tears.

But thanks to some wonderful advice from friends who have gone before me in this new adventure I think I’m doing o.k.

Several years ago I read a book called “In the Sanctuary of Outcasts” by Neil White.  It is a true story and takes place in a minimum security prison that is housed in the last  leper colony in mainland America in Louisana.  For some reason I have a fascination with books on leprosy and leper colonies and hope to one day travel to India to volunteer in a leper colony.  The book is wonderful and has lots of life lessons to learn from it.

In the book, the author has served his time and is preparing to leave the prison/leper colony. During his time in prison he worried about how you should change, what his “new” life would be like, what his purpose was.  One of the residents of the leper colony had shared a life lesson with him.  In the prison/colony there was a garden that was lined with Coke bottles.  During the 1950’s the Coca Cola distributors would send their chipped and cracked bottles to the colony and then refuse to accept the return bottles.  They were afraid that if the public learned that the bottles had touched the lips of leprosy patients they would boycott the company.

So the leper colony ended up with more drink bottles than they knew what to do with.  The patients found some new uses or rather new purposes for the bottles including using them as flower vases for beautiful arrangements, they used them as sugar dispensers in the cafeteria.  They would use them as bowling pins on the lawn and they were also turned upside down and put into the dirt to line flower beds and walks on the prison grounds.

As Ella said in the book, “CoCola bottle still a CoCola bottle,  just found ’em a new purpose.”

So I guess that is how I am feeling about being an empty nester.  I’m still me. I am still a mom to Logan, Clark, Cali and Tessa but I now have the opportunity to find a new purpose, a new use for the time and energy I have put into raising my children for the last 27 years.

As a friend said to me, “You are just reshuffling a bit.”

Part of that reshuffling as well as  time and energy will be going into this blog.  I have some fun and exciting changes to share with you over the next few months.  I truly believe that when that little voice told me to “Start a blog” almost four years ago when I really didn’t even know what a blog was, I was being prepared to transition into this next phase of my life.

Who knows, maybe some of that time and energy will also go to working in a leper colony one day!

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Week at the Beach

Each summer we enjoy our “Week at the Beach.”

We are blessed to own a second home on the Oregon Coast.  The house is rented out the majority of the time but each summer we enjoy a “week at the beach.”  This has become a very special, treasured and highly anticipated family time.  Sometimes it is just our family but more often then not we love sharing that week with our extended family and friends.

The beach is a magical place where we can just be together and enjoy each other without many of the distractions of everyday life.  It is a blessing to be able to remove ourselves from the busyness of life and just be together.

There was lots of good food and lots of fun!  Thought I’d share with you today a few of my favorite pictures from our “Week at the Beach.”

The best part was these four cute faces were there together, at the same time!

I love seeing my three boys hanging out together.

We had lots of fun celebrating the Fourth with Grandma and Grandpa and our neighbors who joined us at the beach.

We loved the small town parade in Manzanita.

And getting all decked out in red, white and blue.

There were bonfires on the beach and of course s’mores!

And on the Fourth there were sparklers and lots of fireworks!

There were lots of amazing sunsets…

..and walks on the beach.

Of course we did a few Totally Tessa photo shoots.

We always love hanging out at the beach and getting a little reading done.

and showing off our cute new polka dot bathing suits!

There was lots of game and card playing too.

We had fun doing a little shopping in downtown Manzanita and especially loved the vintage candy shop.

All in all it was pretty much a perfect Week at the Beach!

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Pretty Aprons – Flirty Aprons

I have always loved the William Morris quote:

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.

I believe this quote also applies to aprons. Not only are aprons very useful, I wear one every day (I’m a messy cook), but they can be beautiful too!

I love a pretty apron and have admitted to my apron addiction here on the blog before.

Aprons can be so beautiful that you want to hang them on your kitchen wall like a piece of art work.

Just so you can look at it whenever you want.

They can be so pretty and stylish that you want to wear it all day long like I did yesterday. O.K., so I didn’t wear it to church but I did the rest of the day!!

Flirty Aprons recently sent me one of their beautiful kitchen aprons and I am in love.

I chose the Venetian Rose Women’s Apron. I loved the vintage floral pattern and the tiered ruffles along the bottom. The aprons fit great and are cut so they don’t make you look wider than you are like many aprons do. Who wants to look heavier in an apron!?

I love just looking down and seeing ruffles! Ruffles just make me happy.

Join me and Flirty Aprons – No more ugly aprons!

 

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