I made a batch of tomato sauce from the Blue Zone cookbook. It's a fairly plain, yet full-of-flavour, sauce made with Italian tomatoes, garlic, and fresh basil, halved carrot & celery (which are removed after cooking), a bay leaf...and of course, lots of good quality olive oil. I served it with spaghetti as one of our vegetarian-night meals and then made a wonderful barley-rice casserole with some of the leftovers (and still had enough to freeze a container full).
The casserole is another great meatless meal and I used the Instant Pot to cook the barley in no time. Combined with some cooked brown rice, the barley/rice mixture creates the first layer in a baking dish. I sautéed some onions, peppers, and yellow zucchini for the second layer then topped it all with the tomato sauce, sliced fresh tomatoes, and a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese. So yummy! I did include some pork tenderloin for that meal, pounded thinly, breaded, then baked in the oven and served with a side of roasted apples, onions, and sliced fennel bulb.
Between all this cooking, cycling, and eating there hasn't been much time for quilting or scrapbooking. It's pretty hard to resist being outside on beautiful summer days so I guess there will be time in the winter months to catch up with stuff in the workshop. Luckily I still have my hand-piecing to keep me in the stitching mood although I need to get more fabric cut and basted!
Happy Canada Day!
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