8.25.2010

[ Gordo says it's good ]

Driving home from work I was thinking about fresh corn on the cob and wondered if the local fruit stand is open - so I drove to 400 North and 50 West and sure enough, the open sign was out and I could see the big wooden tables covered with bushel baskets of tomatoes, zucchini, onions, beets (regret I didn't buy some beets - they still had dirt on them and big beet-greens stems). And there at the entrance...lots of corn. So I loaded up. While bagging my corn, (silk heads down and stems up as directed so as not to rip the bag), I got a kick out of the brown cardboard handwritten sign that said, "Please bring your own bags. Next time." Which I plan to do.

When I got home, I started a quick casserole using good ole hamburger which I fried up with chopped onion, green pepper, and diced zucchini. I added a can of diced tomatoes (saving the garden tomatoes for slicing) and 3/4 of a bottle of makes-any-kind-of-pasta-taste-pretty-darn-good sauce called Newman's Own Sockarooni. While it cooked I got two big pots of water boiling and dumped in a l-pound box of my favorite pasta - the really-quick-cooking Barilla Farfalle Minis (little bowties).

I drained the pasta - there was a lot so I put the pasta into a extra large bowl. Then I mixed into the warm pasta a 16-ounce carton of cottage cheese and a 16-ounce carton of light sour cream. Stirred it all up and added some salt and pepper and a bit of garlic salt 'til it tasted good.

{ NOTE - I only used half of the pasta mixture for my dinner dish - the other half went into the frig and will taste good on another night with chicken or something. }

Next I put the casserole together in a 'vintage' pyrex casserole dish that I got for my wedding (36 years ago on Sept. 4). I put a layer of the extra sauce on the bottom of the dish, then about a 2 inch layer of the mixed-up pasta, then a layer of shredded mozzarella cheese, then I poured all of the hamburger-sauce-veggie mix on top. Into the oven it went, and while it baked I went outside to take pictures of Scott, Mike, and Gordo practicing their climbing skills by going up the ladder to our roof and repelling down the side of the house. Photos tomorrow.

When they finally came in to eat, we cooked the corn and ate the now, somewhat overbaked casserole. Gordo, whose Mom is a gourmet cook, said it was good, and that's when I decided to post it on my blog in case you have some fresh corn, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, and peppers. Yum.
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