Dinner without Jon…

Ha – no, I didn’t go on trek.  Jon did.  Usually when he’s gone, or is going to go, unusual things start happening.

On Saturday our fridge died.  Friday night he left it open a crack (accidentally of course) and on Saturday morning it was up to 60 degrees.  Two brand new gallons of milk, cheese, bacon, mayo, and more food wasted.  Not really that big of a deal – we all make mistakes, no use crying over spilled milk, so to speak.  He cleaned it out, shut the door and turned on the “power cool” feature and we left to go to Costco to replace the food and buy a new matress.

When we got home, the fridge was down to 40 degrees (or so the thermostat said).  We put the food away and then he had some errands to run while I went and got a massage and then we went over to EmaLee’s house for poker night at about 7.  We left Em’s at 11 so that we could stop at the store and get a few last minute things for Father’s Day dinner to be held at our house the following day.  We got home at 11:30 to find the fridge at 60 degrees again.  Now we have two more brand new gallons of milk, cheese, chicken, shrimp and lots of vegis (among other things) that we have to try and refridgerate at 11:30 Saturday night.  We knew that breaking the Sabbath to buy a fridge on Sunday wouldn’t be the right thing to do so we had to think of something.  Jon, being the genius that he is, went back to Ralph’s and got some ice then to his work and got some dry ice pellets.  He brought it all home, put a layer of dry ice in the bottom of all of our coolers and regular ice on top of that, put the food in the coolers (the stuff that HAD to be refidgerated) and poured the rest of the ice over the top of that.  The milk was find Sunday morning and half frozen on Monday morning but all of the food survived!  The freezer side of the fridge was still working so we didn’t have to worry about that food, thankfully.

Anyway… 

Trek officially starts today.  My day was normal up until I got to the train station and found out that the train was cancelled.  Luckily, Gregg had introduced me to a couple of ladies who ride the train almost every morning and they were both there so we carpooled up.  I drove, just grateful for the use of the carpool lane!

Here’s why the train was cancelled.

Fun times.

There was a guy on the train today that had a very private conversation very publicly.  I was a few rows away from him but heard every word.  Unfortunately for Gregg, he was sitting directly across the table from him.  Here’s a combination of mine and Gregg’s accounts of the conversation:

Hey Ted….  Yeah, so Janie tried to kill herself last night, or at least made it LOOK that way….  Yeah, I found her laying naked on the floor covered in blood with a barbeque fork next to her and a big cooking knife next to that…. Yeah, she’d poked herself a few times with the fork but didn’t use the knife…..  Yep, called the paramedics and they took her to a mental institution…….  I’m going to go in on Monday and file a restraining order.  I’m so done with it…….  Yeah – next time it could be me!  ….. so anyway, I’ve got a rental truck coming…. Yeah, I spent three hours cleaning up blood last night.  It was real fun. …. I talked to her sister and she said there’s nothing I can do but I told her I just wanted you to know……  she’s so out …… so that’s all there is so why don’t you meet me around 8 o’clock tonight and you can help me move out ….. (long pause then even LOUDER starts laughing and slaps the table (hard – it made me jump four rows away) and says) …..  I know!  But whatcha gonna do? ……  Ok – talk to you later.”

You can’t make this stuff up.

I wanted to make something for dinner but knew that we didn’t really have anything in the house to make anything with.  I had to stop at the store to get some mousse anyway so I started looking around for some fresh stuff to make dinner with.  The first thing I thought of was corn on the cob.  I LOVE corn on the cob.  No luck – it was all gone.  The first thing to catch my eye was a big, juicy looking onion.  Mmmm…  I love onions too (if cooked right anyway).

After some thinking and some looking around I ended up leaving with my mousse, an onion, three roma tomatoes, a box of fresh sliced mushrooms, a zucchini (or Italian squash), some shredded parmesan cheese, a bag of penne and a smoked sausage.  Mix them all together and what do you get?  This:

In case you want the “recipe” here ya go…

• 2-3 tablespoons butter
• 1 juicy looking onion, chopped
• 1 medium Italian Squash, peeled and chopped (you could leave the peel on if you want more color)
• 3 Roma tomatoes, diced
• 1 box sliced mushrooms (about 2 cups)
• 1 smoked sausage (or any flavor you think tastes good with pasta)
• 1 bag penne pasta
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasonings (or as much as you want)
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder (powder, not salt and you could sub in 1 or 2 freshly chopped cloves if you’d prefer)

In a medium/large pot, cook the penne as directed on the package.

While that’s cooking, melt the butter in a large skillet (the big ones with the high sides work best – a wok would work too).  Saute the onion until the sides start to go clear.  Don’t cook it all the way (unless you like them mushy).  Add the mushrooms and Italian squash and saute together.  You can also add the Italian seasonings and garlic powder here too.  Some salt and pepper is always a good addition as well.

When the vegis start to soften, add the sausage.  You may prefer to add it at the same time as the onions but if it’s already cooked/smoked all you really need to do is heat it up – so you can really add it whenever you want to.  I like to have all of the different flavors so I add things separately rather than letting them all soak up the same flavor.

Once everything is heated and the penne is done and drained, mix the pasta with the vegis.  Let it sit for about 5 minutes over medium/low heat.  Make sure that the pasta has been tossed enough to be coated with the butter sauce.  Once everything has been mixed together, remove from heat and add the diced tomatoes.  Serve with shredded parmesan on top.

Some other yummy options…

• Artichoke hearts would be a yummy addition.  I would add them with just enough time for them to heat through.  If you use the bottled kind, drain them.
• Asparagus would also be yummy – grilled, steamed or cooked with the onions.  They tend to be a little tough so you’d want more cooking time with them.
• I would have put some olives in with the tomatoes but Jon doesn’t like them.
• A tiny bit of lemon juice with the butter in the beginning would be yummy too.
• Any kind of noodle would do, it’s just easier to eat the smaller pasta with the vegis.

Let me know if you try it and if you liked it 🙂