Tomato Basil Pasta Salad & A Leaf Bug

Last night’s dinner came straight out of my mom’s Martha Stewart Living magazine.  Everything looks so darn delicious in these magazines!  We decided to make the tomato basil pasta salad from the July issue.  My mom hit up the grocery store AND a farm stand near our house yesterday so we had plenty of fresh ingredients on hand.

This pasta salad can be served hot, chilled or at room temperature.  You can use any type of pasta for this dish.  We chose campanelle because it looks fancy .  My mom cooked up the pasta first then we added the other ingredients:

• Farm stand tomato chunks
• Fresh basil
• Fresh mozzarella cheese
• Olive oil
• Garlic
• Salt and pepper

Toss everything together and eat!  We served this simple and yummy summer salad with slices of fresh baguette.

The finished product

My plate. I had seconds obviously .

Glass of antioxidants .

We also had a handsome dinner guest!

We ate outside again tonight since it was such a beautiful evening.  I love outdoor dining WITHOUT the bugs (more about bugs later).  I know I say this a lot but summer dishes really are the best. I wish I had access to such wonderful produce all year round!

Dessert was so yummy thanks to our friend Jo Ann!  She came over before dinner to spend some time with my mom and brought along freshly baked chocolate chip cookies and homemade blueberry crumb cake.  She always makes the best desserts!

Cooooookies .

Blueberry crumb cake.  I had to have a piece!

I fell asleep around 8:30pm last night!  I knew my body needed the extra sleep so instead of heading to BodyPump at 5:40am this morning, I’m going at 5:30pm tonight instead.  I had extra time this morning to make a fabulous breakfast, but I loved yesterday’s breakfast so much, I decided to recreate it.  I’m so interesting, aren’t I?

This morning’s yogurt bowl included:

• 1 cup Dannon vanilla
• 1/4 cup Kashi Autumn Wheat square
• 1/4 cup Honey Bunches of Oats with almonds
• 1 sprinkle of slivered almonds
• A few pecans
• Blueberries – not pictured, I added them after I snapped my pics!  Sorry!

I had company for breakfast as well .

He’s kinda cute isn’t he?

Bug butt.

I’m not sure what kind of bug this is…maybe a green leaf bug?

My mom loves her Martha Stewart mags as well as Bon Appetit for their delicious recipes.  The recipes are awesome but most take a lot of time to prep and cook – good weekend recipes!  I’m still in school and for the most part, short on time!  I’ve recently started to look into getting a magazine subscription or two.  Maybe one with cooking/recipes and the other a fitness/healthy living magazine like Shape, Fitness or Health.

Question of the morning: What magazines are you subscribed to and what do you like about the magazine(s)?

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