Orzo Pasta Salad

Last night we went to our friend Lisa and Andrew’s house so I brought my favorite pasta salad.  This is the first time I’ve made this salad this year and I love the way the kitchen smells while I’m putting it together.

I started making this loosely based on an orzo pasta salad my friend Celeste told me she makes.

Ingredients:

• cooked orzo
• chopped up asparagus (I throw it in the pasta water a few minutes before the orzo is done to cook it)
• halved grape tomatoes
• feta (I used reduced fat)
• one lemon zest and juice
• shredded or ribbons of basil
• olive oil

I just mix all the ingredients together after the orzo has cooled and refrigerate until it’s served.

If it’s not lemony enough, you can add the juice of another lemon. This salad tastes like spring and summer. It’s refreshing, flagrant and wonderful. It can be a side or it’s own meal.

Too Much Zucchini?

It’s my understanding that a lot of people with gardens are experiencing an abundance of zucchini right now.  I wouldn’t know because we quit our garden after three years of pretty disappointing results. However, I know some people who are more than generous with their own home grown vegetables.

To use some of our gifted zucchini, we made Feta Chicken with Zucchini, a recipe I found in Real Simple five years ago. For some reason, it seems like it takes a lot longer to cook than the original recipe but otherwise this recipe is perfect. The feta gets crispy and browned and all the flavors work great together.

The side is Trader Joe’s Harvest Grains Blend.  Delicious!