happy 1 year to me!

well today's the day. i've officially lived in texas for a whole year! guess that means it's time to move on, right? haha just kidding (...for now).

and on that note, let me tell you how excited i am with my job right now. my job that gives me a three day WEEKEND (what?!?! i get a weekend off? well...keep reading)!! yeah, that was just like a carrot dangled in front of me until mr. gustav made his way to new orleans. i got to cancel all my plans to hang around onsite for the weekend to sit and wait to see if any one from new orleans was going to take us up on the offer of free housing. well, a whopping 3 people did, which means i got to stay onsite allllll weekend. not exactly what i had planned, but in light of other people's lives being destroyed by stupid natural disasters, i guess i'll take one for the team :) it really wasn't that bad. i got a lot of laundry, cleaning, and gardening done, which was nice. i finally feel caught up from the summer!

oh, and i did some cooking as well, so please let me share some more recipies for you.

pea pesto
in microwave-safe medium bowl, combine 1 pkg peas, 2 tbsp water, and 1 to 2 cloves garlic. cover with waxed paper and cook in microwave on high 4 minutes or until peas are ender. transfer pea mixture to food processor with knife blade attached; cool 5 minutes. add 2 ups loosely packed fresh basil leaves, 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesean cheese, 2 tbsp olive oil and 3/4 tsp salt; process until smooth. makes about 1.5 cups pesto, enough to toss iwth 1 lb pasta, cooked. serves 4.

ok, here's my helpful hints with the pesto. so imagine your favorite food, and then imagine eating the reduced fat version of it. it still tastes the same, but the "wow" is gone, or at least diminished. that's what this pea pesto is like. it's definitely a healthier version of regular pesto, and it tastes good, just not great. also, for one person to make this, DO NOT use a whole bag of peas. i would suggest to just about anyone actually to not use the entire bag. i used about half and it is still A LOT of pesto. just a warning.

i used the pesto as a sauce on a french bread pizza. it was pretty excellent; i enjoyed it.

ok, i have another recipie for you, but maybe we'll wait until tomorrow for that one :) please let me know if youtried any of these!