Carving with Charlie

I was thrilled when I got to my local Winco and discovered pumpkins were only 9 cents per pound! Charlie and I (mostly me I admit) picked out a huge one and brought it home. For the last couple weeks, Charlie has taken great pleasure, despite my protests, in climbing all over our big pumpkin.

But the day finally came when we got around to carving it. I think Charlie was pretty surprised when we took the big knife to the pumpkin, and I really hope he doesn't get it in his head that he can start carving into things--we'll see.

Since carving does involve large, sharp knives, the most that Charlie could really do was watch, but we gave him the big bowl of pumpkin guts to take care of. He was enthralled with stirring the slimy goo and seeds (which he kept calling coins) for a surprisingly long time. When the fun was gone, we gave him a cookie. He was happy til we were done carving.

Charlie did pick the triangle eyes and the diamond nose. And when we were finished, I asked him what we should name our jack-o-lantern. Quickly and decisively he said, "Mark!" I don't know where he got that name. I don't think he knows anyone named Mark. (PS: When asked what we should name his baby brother, Charlie said, "Lewis!" Again, Charlie doesn't know anyone named Lewis. Weird.)

Mark now sits outside our front door and receives many a "Hello" and "Goodbye" with our comings and goings.

 

My Best Pasta Salad

Salad:

1 lb. uncooked pasta, ditalini or macaroni
1 1/4 cup frozen green peas, thawed
12 oz. cherry tomatoes, halved and lightly salted
1 1/4 cup cheddar, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2.25 oz can sliced olives, drained

Dressing:

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
3 T. dill pickle juice
1 tsp. mustard
1 1/2 T. mint
1 1/2 T. parsley
seasonings to taste (onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper)

1. Cook the pasta in 1 gallon of water with 2 T salt. Drain. Do not rinse. Cool and dry in cookie sheet. 2. After all salad ingredients are prepared, cooled, or thawed, combine and refrigerate. 3. Make dressing and whisk until smooth. Refrigerate. 4. Toss salad and dressing 15 minutes before serving.

I created this recipe after talking to my friend Natasha, who always makes delicious pasta salads, and reading a very informative article online. The article does not give a recipe for a salad (it links to two dressing recipes), but it gives guidelines for ingredient ratios (how much pasta to how much fruits/veggies/nuts/meat/cheese to how much spice to how much dressing) and suggestions on how to prepare ingredients prior to adding them to the salad. This article was exactly what I was looking for. I don’t mind following recipes, but I like the freedom of being able to throw whatever I like, or have, together and creating my own meals. If you like to do that, too, then read this article.

I’ve dabbled with making my own pasta salads before, and they were ok. Really, just ok. But I took this one to a pot luck gathering, and I got so many compliments and so few leftovers. Honestly, I feel quite proud of myself.

One step the article recommended that I did not follow the first time is to cool and dry the noodles in a cookie sheet. (I didn’t have a clean one and took the lazy route.) I just left my pasta in the colander to cool and dry. When I went to combine the salad ingredients, my noodles had cooled and dried into one big mass. It was a bit of a pain. I tried breaking it apart, but the noodles started falling apart. I left the noodle mass alone until I was ready to mix in the dressing, because the article informed me that if your noodles stick together a bit, the dressing will help them separate. So after about 5 minutes of very gentle stirring, my noodles were separated and the salad was lightly covered in dressing.

I was also very reluctant to add the mint. The article suggests using a combination of dill and mint. I knew I wanted the dill pickle juice in the dressing because Natasha had recommended it, and I figured I ought to give the article’s suggestions a decent try. So I slowly, reluctantly added a bit of mint. I smelled and tasted. I added more mint. I smelled and tasted. I added more mint. Honestly, I feel like the mint took the dressing from mediocre to fantastic. That said, when writing down this recipe, I had to guestimate on how much mint (and parsley) I actually used. So, if you try this out, proceed with caution. And check out the article I used, so you can make your best pasta salad.