California-Style Buttered Pasta Is Easy And Delicious

California and Italy have much in common, which explains why many simple Italian dishes featuring fresh ingredients are popular in the Golden State. One dish that deliciously merges the Old World with the new is California-Style Buttered Pasta. 

While red sauce is the most familiar match for Italian pasta, as you move into Northern Italy the tomatoes and olive oil give way to creamy butter as a popular pasta topping. Northern Italy is a major dairy region, much like California, which is the largest milk and butter producer in the U.S.

This delicious dish couldn't be simpler to prepare, combining cooked pasta with the rich natural taste of California butter. The dish comes together as quickly as you can cook the pasta. 

A topping of toasted breadcrumbs adds a pleasing crunch. And for a uniquely California variation, substitute grated Dry Jack for Parmesan. Dry Jack is an aged form of the ever-popular Monterey Jack, both of which were created in California. 

Hearty enough to serve as a main course with a green salad on the side, California-Style Buttered Pasta is also a perfect accompaniment to any type of meat or chicken dish. It also goes well with fish because its rich yet subtle flavors do not overwhelm even the most delicate fish.

This recipe works best with slightly wider forms of pasta, such as linguini or fettuccini, which provide a nice balance between the pasta and butter coating. It will also work nicely with a penne or rigatoni style of pasta. But feel free to use your favorite type. 

CALIFORNIA-STYLE BUTTERED PASTA

Yield: 3-4 entrée servings 

or 6-8 as a side dish

1 pound (16 ounces) dried or fresh linguini 

2 tablespoons salt

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) California butter

1 cup (4 ounces) freshly grated California Dry Jack or Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup toasted breadcrumbs

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. In a large (6-8 quart) pot, bring 4 quarts of water to a boil. Add salt and pasta.

2. While pasta is cooking, cut butter into 1-inch pieces and set aside to soften.

3. When pasta is cooked to desired doneness, drain in a colander, reserving 1/4 cup of the pasta water. Return drained pasta to the cooking pot and add butter, half the grated cheese, and half the breadcrumbs. Toss, coating well. Add the reserved pasta water to moisten. Season with freshly ground black pepper. 

4. Transfer to a serving bowl or portion into individual pasta bowls and sprinkle remaining cheese and bread crumbs on top. Serve immediately.

For a simple and hearty meal or a delicious side dish, try California-Style Buttered Pasta.

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Getting to Know Your COMPOSTING Equipment

Green Waste - Photo: Pixabay

The equipment you use in your composting will help make or break your pursuits of building your compost. If you are really bent on making the most of your composting goals, a good familiarization of the tools that will help you achieve your goals is very much appropriate. The tools will not necessarily be in the form of objects, because there are also elements of place and space that are in play when it comes to obtaining the optimum performance of your compost. 

A Good Composting Site

The site of your composting activity is the primary consideration and one of the best tools you need to master before you do any composting activity. The place must be free from obstruction and well capable of obtaining the right temperature needed for your composting. Aside from this, you also need to be thoroughly familiar with the site which you chose for composting. In addition, you also need to be able to access the site frequently as composting requires a lot of monitoring on a frequent basis. 

Compost Bin

Your compost bin must serve the functions of the particular type of composting you intend to have. If you are up for the industrial level of composting, you may need more than one compost bin to satisfy your objectives. This compost bin needs to be cleaned every once in a while and must be of the right size depending on the number of materials you are to put.

Be sure that you are able to manage the compost bin you choose, and for beginners, it is often recommended to start small and then branch out once you get the hang of it or at least get comfortable with what you are working on. 

Thermometer

Composting requires you to maintain a specific temperature. So a thermometer may come in handy for you as you do your daily rounds of inspection on your compost pit. You need to make sure that the thermometer is properly calibrated. Some shops also sell thermometer that is tailored to suit the needs of compost owners, so you can also check these out. The specifically tailored thermometers may prove to give a better advantage for you. 

Garden Fork

The garden fork has a great variety of uses. In the aspect of composting, it will really help you mix your materials especially if you are dealing with a large composting pit or bin. The garden fork will help you rake in the materials, mix them and test the texture and softness of your compost mix. For a garden rake, you must choose one that is optimum for the size of your composting operations and with a complete manual and warranty so as to maximize its usage. 

Other Containers

You will not only need a compost bin but if you are a sucker for combining and categorizing your materials, you may also need additional containers that can help you manage your compost materials. In cases where you need to monitor your Carbon and Nitrogen ratio components in the mix, you have to make sure that you are adding the right type of materials to maintain the right temperature, mix, and ratio needed. 

Room for Growth

The spatial aspect of composting involves having more room for growth should you decide to pursue higher levels of composting. Your area must be spacious enough to accommodate your present composting needs, but at the same time, it must be able to hold in expansions, should you decide to increase the capacity of your compost pit.

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Tips For Hosting A True Texan BBQ Party

Photo: Wikimedia

As the saying goes ‘Everything is big in Texas’, the Texan BBQ Party is no exception. You do not have to go to Texas. Stay where you are and we offer you swashing ideas for a Texan BBQ Party.

Set the backdrop

Texan BBQ Party will be a fun – frolicking experience for you and your guests. To be swept in the mood of Texan style party forgo the fancy flatware and get to the down-home approach. So set the stage for the Texan mood at your backyard.

Start with a dress code of faded blue jeans or head-to-spur fringe to keep the guests in a Texan frame of mind. You may bring out some posers with naughty slogans like – ‘high noon until the cows come home’ or ‘eat barbecue without a napkin’ etc. Spread a desperado décor by turning your backyard into a tumbleweed-strewn dust bowl with straw on your deck or patio and hay bales for guests to sit. Cast-iron cookware, dinner bell, cowboy boots, saddles, horseshoes, bedrolls, wagon wheels, dried chili pepper, rope, Texan flag and many more of your innovative ideas to bring the right mood. A county toe-tapping music by Texas-born country artists is a must, without which it would be a big bore.

Unfold a red checked or denim tablecloth. For napkins, make some colorful bandanas tied with rope or even sheriff’s star work wonderfully at your Texan BBQ Party. Make ‘guest name cards’ to place on the tables, which makes them feel special. Add decorative centerpiece on clay pots with cactus or hide a pot in an old pair of boots and some fresh flowers in the pots.

A Texan’s mouth waters like the Colorado River for a slab of spareribs or a hunk of cornbread. The food turns attractive with mouth-watering varieties of special hot sauce. For adventurous guests add tortilla chips and funky salt and pepper shakers. If possible keep the drinks in an old styled washtub filled with ice.

Fun at the BBQ party

Guests may be unknown to each other. Bring in a fun and break the ice with a dance lesson. Invite guests on the floor barefoot or with cowboy boots for a line dancing class.

Texas Hold’em is a fast and funny game of 2-10 people. The objective is to finish with the best poker hand and win the pot.

Cattle Corral is steer roping. Position a pint-sized wrangler a few feet away and try catching the cattle.

Squirt-gun-showdown to set a lit candle or an empty soda can and get your guests to shoot a water pistol to either knock out the flame or the can first.

Just because the sun sets, it does not mean the fun has to end, set up a campfire, which is legendary with Texas cowboys, and invite someone to strum a song on the six-string to reach to the climax of Texan BBQ party.

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3 Easy Tips for Successful Container Gardening

Container Gardening - Photo: Flickr

Here are several tips for creating a wonderful hanging basket or container this summer.  The first is to use an artificial soil composed mostly of peat moss.  Good soils such as Fafard or Pro-Mix use perlite, peat, and other ingredients to produce a soil that will not compact over the summer.  Real garden soil compacts and turns into concrete under the pressure of regular watering.  

And when it does, plant roots stop growing because they require good open spaces to move into and absorb nutrients.  Hard, compacted soils do not grow good plants so do not use real soil in your containers.  I re-use my artificial potting soil from year to year.  I dump it out of the pot. Chew it up with a shovel to cut up all last year’s roots and add approximately 10 % by volume of compost. The compost increases air spaces and gives plants a boost in healthy nutrition.

Feed your plants weekly.  Nitrogen, the engine of plant growth, is water soluble and as you water your containers from the top the dissolved nitrogen is leaving from the bottom.   I use a fish-emulsion liquid feed with seaweed to provide all the trace nutrients my plants require and recommend it highly.  You can use any liquid plant food (like Miracle Grow or Shultz) to promote growth.  Compost tea is the Cadillac of liquid plant food and if you make your own compost tea, your plants will respond with bigger and better blooms as well as increased vigour.  

And finally, no matter the size of the container, it is important to soak it all the way to the bottom at each watering.  Continue watering until water emerges from the pot bottom.  This ensures the roots can reach all parts of the container and grow properly.

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Red, White,and Blue Savory Potato Salad

Photo: Pixabay

The next time you're planning a picnic, don't forget the pickle's place at the table when preparing your menu. Consider this potato salad recipe for your next gathering.

Red, White, and Blue Savory Potato Salad

Serves 8 to 10

6 large red potatoes, unpeeled

4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled

4 small green onions, thinly sliced (white and light green part only)

6 slices maple-smoked bacon

1/2 cup blue cheese crumbles (or one 4-ounce package)

Dressing

11/2 cups mayonnaise

1/3 cup minced Del Monte® Organic Sweet Bread & Butter Chips

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

2 tablespoons reserved bacon drippings

1 tablespoon prepared mustard

1/4 teaspoon celery seed (ground or whole)

1/4 teaspoon Tabasco® sauce

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

In a large pot of salted, boiling water, cook potatoes until fork tender. Drain; set aside. Cook and crumble bacon, reserving two tablespoons of drippings. In a medium bowl, stir together all dressing ingredients. If a thinner dressing is desired, add small amounts of liquid from the pickle jar. 

While potatoes are still warm, cut into small chunks. In a deep glass bowl, layer 1/3 potatoes, eggs, and onions. Top each layer with 1/3 portion of the dressing. Repeat two more times, ending with dressing. Top with crumbled bacon and blue cheese.

And now there is an organic choice of pickles. Del Monte® offers the first line of USDA-certified organic pickles, available in supermarkets and retail outlets offering natural and organic foods nationwide. 

A favorite among many, pickles tempt the taste buds, pack a zesty punch and, perhaps best of all, kids love them. With no fat and few carbohydrates or calories, pickles make a great snack or addition to any meal.

"Pickles are a great treat throughout the year, but it doesn't get much better than adding fresh pickle slices to a burger, or better yet, just eat whole pickles straight from the jar," said Jeff Tuttle, chief marketing officer for M.A. Gedney Company, producer and marketer of the Del Monte® line of pickles. "And, our online cookbook provides plenty of choices for great pickle recipes that are sure to be a hit at any picnic."

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What is Lawn and Garden Furniture?

Lawn and Garden Furniture - Photo: Pxhere

You need outdoor furniture, but you are limited on space, and the space you do have to use for outdoor activities cannot support traditional garden furniture utilizing the area all the time.  So, the area of your backyard can only be used for furniture on a temporary basis, or as needed.  Lawn and garden furniture could be the answer you are looking for.  Lawn and garden furniture is lightweight to allow them more mobility.  They are designed to fold up, or stack in a secluded place.  The lawn and garden furniture constructed with the design to be folded was meant to be stored in a small space like in a closet or even under a bed.  The lawn and garden furniture folded will fit neatly in the trunk of your car should the need occur.  You can take your lawn and garden furniture to the league games, company picnics or maybe even those family outings like a camping trip.  The use of lawn and garden furniture will suit almost any occasion and will be available in the time of dilemma.

Lawn and garden furniture designed to be folded is made from lightweight durable materials such as teak and aluminum.  Aluminum is the most lightweight of the metals used in making garden furniture.  It is also the only metal garden furniture with a design made to fold up.  Aluminum, lightweight as it is, is still a very durable substance.  It is built to endure for years.  The aluminum folds up the style of lawn and garden furniture built today is of a superior quality than those of the past. Aluminum requires very little care to maintain its look.  Teak or another lightweight wood also has lawn and garden furniture designed to fold.  Teak is a very lightweight wood that is known for its strength and durability.  The teak or the other lightweight wood is usually coupled with a heavy-duty woven fabric for the seats and the backs of the chairs.  Teak does require a little special cleaning to maintain its natural golden finish but restores quickly and easily.  Check with your local retailer on the care of the teak wood lawn and garden furniture.  The other wood may require a small amount of cleaning, but you would still need to check with the retailer.

Lawn and garden furniture is also made from recycled plastic.  This style of lawn and garden furniture is made all in one piece and is designed to stack together to use the smallest amount of space for storage.  This style of lawn and garden furniture is not as easily moved from your home to other outdoor functions.  However, it may be the best answer for your dilemma in your backyard. A little cleaning is necessary with this type of lawn and garden furniture.

At your local discount department store, you will find some if not all of the lawn and garden furniture built with all three of the material commonly used for these styles.  You will be able to purchase chairs and tables in the fold and stackable all one-piece style of the lawn and garden furniture.  All three will come in a variety of colors with one that will appeal to your taste.

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Summer Smoothies

Milk Shake - Photo: Pixabay

The summer sun swelters outside. Inside it is warm, the fruit bowl sits lusciously on the window sill, bursting with seasonal plenty – peaches, mangoes, grapes as well as the year-round banana. All of the fruit is at a point of perfect ripeness, begging to be eaten right now before it descends into a pool of pulp. It could have stayed in the fridge and been brought out in economical relays to ripen for a day, but there is something about a full fruit bowl, a promise of health and succulence, that time and again makes me arrange it as a still life, as I unpack the shopping, only to be wrong-footed when it all ripens at the same time.  Typically the children are only bothering to eat apples, which last forever in the fridge. Desperate measures are called for.

It is time to make smoothies. Even children, who wouldn’t give a second glance to raw fruit, can usually be beguiled by a smoothy. It is also a special treat for adults, an easy thing to do for visitors who drop by when it’s too hot for tea. Any ripe fruit can be used, even if it is slightly overripe, as long as it still smells good and not fermenting.  You get a mega-dose of vitamins, plus calcium from the yogurt and milk, almost a meal in itself. Healthy eating in a glass!

Giving a recipe for a smoothy is hardly necessary. It depends on what you have in the house already. Use this example as a template and adapt and change it as you like. As long as you use fruit that is truly ripe, it’ll be delicious. The one essential piece of equipment is a liquidizer or food processor, without that I’d just have to force feed the children the fruit as is, it is far too laborious to puree fruit by hand on a hot summer’s day. The joy of making smoothies is the effortlessness. 

No set quantities, but as a guide, I’d use one mango with one or two bananas. Just peel and stone the fruit, fling it into the liquidizer with a large dollop of plain yogurt and a cup of milk and blitz. If it is too thick for your liking add more milk.  Chuck in some ice cubes for instant chill factor.

A tip for dealing with mangoes: without peeling, slice off both the long sides as close to the stone as you can., cut the flesh in a criss-cross fashion to make 1cm cubes, without going right through the skin, then push the skin up to invert the cubes into a mango hedgehog! The children eat them like this and a very messy business it is, needing a bath afterward.

Suggestions for fruit combinations:

Mango and banana

Pear, berry, and banana

Peach and berry

Strawberry and banana

Peach, apricot, and banana

Any fruit in the whole wide world can be added to this list, experiment with whatever is in season and make up your own combinations.

Bananas make a good background for most other fruits and give a good velvety texture, besides being the most likely fruit to have around overripe. If you want to move away from the healthy fruit scenario, you can use bananas with a few teaspoons of hot chocolate to make a scrummy, decadent milkshake. Or go the whole way and put a blob of vanilla ice-cream in too. I remember as a child, my mother adding a raw egg to ours to build us up. It made it wonderfully frothy, but then nobody worried about salmonella in those days – I wouldn’t recommend it unless you have a guaranteed source of salmonella-free eggs.

If you have berries of any sort stashed in the freezer, you can throw in a handful still frozen and watch the color transform as you blitz. Mulberries, blackberries, youngberries, blueberries all add deep color and plenty of useful nutrients, loads of anti-oxidants – instant immune boosters in winter if you can keep them until then. I usually freeze strawberries as puree, when the strawberry harvest overwhelms us, so can bring it out for a change later on in the year. The other berries I freeze whole, stalks and leaves picked off, so they are ready to use. You can also buy frozen berries in mixed packs, which would work fine.

Whatever fruit you’re using, let the children press the buttons on the liquidizer and then dole out the smoothie, in glasses with straws, easy in the knowledge that the vitamin quota for the day is being filled.

Copyright 2006 Kit Heathcock

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