RiverMom Eats: Labor Day Weekend 2010

Welcome Fall!

Well, almost. Oh how I've missed you!

Saturday morning I awoke to 60 degree temps with a nice cool breeze and blue gray skies. I could not be happier! I know its Labor Day weekend and everyone is lamenting the end of summer, but honestly, I am over it and more than ready to welcome fall. 'The Summer of Tina' is over!

Friday night, we started pulling out the fall decorations. I started putting touches of fall around the house, but mostly in the kitchen. I even finished painting just so I could hang a garland over the window!

The picture doesn't do justice, plus it was daytime. Its really pretty glass beads & leaves. Just because the kitchen is not finished does not mean I am refraining from decorating!

Even the half bath gets done up.

Okay, I know, its a little early for this lady, but I love her! Its like the metal me. haha. She sits in the corner of the half bath so you have some company while doing your business. Some may find it unnerving.

As for the mantel, I do it differently every year, every holiday. I think I'm happy with this for now, but honestly, who knows.

Sunday was a glorius day! The sun was out and the temperature hovered right around 72 degrees-perfection.
I picked up the missing ingredients for a pot of scallop corn chowder to make this week. While a great summer dish, I find it a perfect dinner for the beginnings of fall.

Then the hammock beckoned and Brian and I lounged in the breeze watching the leaves blow and relaxing for a bit. Sadly, I can't lie still that long, so I got up to cook. BabyGirl took over as the 'snuggl-ee' and I got to work. The first thing I made was Grilled Stuffed Tomatoes. Cooking with the Neelys (who drive me nuts!) on Food Network aired this recipe this week and I had to make it ASAP! I decided not to use orzo and went with acini de pepe instead. I just felt the smaller noodles would work better.

This dish was kind of a fail. My tomatoes were fresh garden tomatoes, not the hard tasteless things from the grocery store. Well, you can't really core & seed soft garden tomatoes, at least I can't. So I shoved them all alongside each other in a glass loaf pan so they would stand up. I kind of stuffed them but really just dumped the filling all over the top, drizzled with EVOO, shaved a little parm on top & shoved it in the oven. Upon plating, the tomatoes totally fell apart, but it was still tasty. So I just dumped all of that into the bowl with the remaining filling. D & I polished it off in to time at all.

I also created a delicious pasta dish you may want to try. I'll post that recipe for you tomorrow. But in the meantime, here's a picture of the deliciousness.