Pesto Pasta Salad

PESTO PASTA SALAD

So easy. And this makes enough for a crowd. Perfect for a backyard supper on a warm summer evening with crunchy loaf of La Brea Bakery bread and a tumbler of Sangria.

Cook 1 pound of your favorite pasta until tender (I like the Barilla mini penne). Cool.

Mix it with 8 to 10 oz. of pesto. (Trader Joe's makes a nice refrigerated pesto)

Then stir in:

hard salami, chopped into small pieces
small bits of fresh mozarella or gouda
good olives
chopped red & green pepper
about 3 oz. baby spinach, sliced into thin slivers
parmesan cheese to taste
pine nuts
halved cherry tomatoes (if you like them, I don't!)

This makes enough for 6 to 8 big main course platefuls. Que aproveche!

Luxury

My friend Joannie was a missionary in Haiti when she was younger. Living among such poverty, she had a new understanding of the luxury of the lives we lead here. She summed it up for me when she remarked "Luxury is having a choice." She lived where people had few choices about what they would eat, where they would live, about their chances for education or even medical help.

My life is awash with possibilities-- gathering meals in the grocery store, making plans with friends for the weekend, mapping out a vacation, for Pete's sake think of all the choices when we remodeled our kitchen last year! I live a luxurious life. And I'm trying to be appropriately thankful. Also to honor God with all (so many!) choices he's given me. So much luxury...

Mom

Is it too late for Mothers' Day? Nope-- because I just adore my Mom every day of the year.

I was with her Thursday night when we dropped in on an old friend of hers who is in an Alzheimer's unit. She talked so tenderly to her friend who just responded with a slight smile. Mom chatted about the woman's family and held her hands and prayed for her to find peace in these days. That's my mother--understanding other people's needs and helping them as best she can.

I used to remark on all the things I learned from my mother growing up-- how to bake a cake, sew on a button, how to teach Sunday School or throw a birthday party, how to raise 4 kids and love a husband... But I'm finding I'm learning even more now that she's (almost ) 78 and living an amazing life -- organizing the CD ministry at church, shepherding people around the Nixon Library as a docent, knitting caps for children overseas, volunteering at a charity thrift store, keeping track of grandkids on facebook!, leading tour groups all over the world, serving on the missions board, "mothering" me and a whole lot of other people. The single word I think of when I think of my mother is "unselfish." I hope to be like her. She is an amazing, godly woman, Lorraine Dupray.

Current Pizza Favorite

One of my (many) favorite pizza moments occurred in front of Cheeseboard Pizza (Berkeley, CA). It's a small place that makes only one daily selection of pizza. The line that snakes out the front door and down the sidewalk moves quickly because only one type of pizza is being made and pizzas just keep popping out of those ovens. Ani, Laurel and I ordered a few slices and because the two small tables in the store were already full, we joined other picnickers out on the grassy median of the Shattuck Ave for a pizza feast, as cars zoomed by on either side of us! A homey crust, topped with olive oil, garlic, spinach, gouda, mushrooms, walnuts and piles of carmelized onions. That's memorable pizza! So I've been making my own version:

SPINACH/ONION PIZZA

Crust: Dissolve 1 pkg of yeast in a cup of warm water. Add 1 tab. sugar, 2 tabs. olive oil, 1/2 tsp. salt and then 2 1/2 cups flour. Knead 3 to 4 minutes and spread onto 2 12" pizza pans sprayed with Pam. Put in a warm place while you prepare the other ingredients.

Toppings: Onto each pizza spread-- 1 tab olive oil mixed with 2 cloves finely minced garlic, one large onion carmelized in olive oil, baby spinach leaves cut into shreds, mushrooms (if Laurel is not at dinner), 6-8 oz. grated gouda, and pine nuts.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Good and garlicky! mmm