This weekend was a whirlwind!  Saturday, I did laundry and tried to catch up with my life.  Later, it was the homecoming dance and our evening was filled with fun pictures, chauffeuring kids to dinner and then to the dance.  On Sunday, the princesses were in a Renaissance fashion show.  It was beautifully done and great fun, but an all- day affair.  Between shows, I ran home to cook gluten free quesadillas and bring them back to the girls as well as running errands.  Then there was the new cell phone fiasco which I won't even go into except to tell you it took another hour, and I still had to go to the store to get ingredients for dinner.  After all that, I was exhausted!  Usually, I would cave and get food from out but Emilia begged for my home cooking.  When your child begs for your cooking, how can you refuse?

I had all kinds of ideas, but it was already 7:00 when I got home with the groceries.  So, for a quick fix, I made gluten free pasta with olive oil, balsalmic vinegar, garlic, basil, tomatoes and green olives topped with feta cheese.  It's a very simple recipe we got years ago off a bottle of red wine vinegar.  

The Recipe

Cook up a package of gluten free pasta. While the pasta is cooking, chop up 10 roma tomatoes. Slice about a cup of green olives in half. Next, warm up 10 tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet. Add a few chopped garlic cloves. (I use the prechopped in the jar, about a teaspoon and a half). Let the garlic cook for just a minute, then add 5 tablespoons of balsalmic vinegar. Let it bubble and turn off the stove. Add tomatoes to the pan and 2 to 3 tablespoons of basil or oregano. Stir to coat tomatoes. Add in green olives and stir again. Put about half the noodles in a large bowl. Add the tomato mixture. Add more pasta to make a ratio of your liking. Taste and add more vinegar if needed. Top with feta cheese.

Maybe I was delirious with fatigue, but I got really crazy while the main dish was cooking and baked an apple pie. I used Arnel's pie crust. I'm not the best with pie crust, but a good tip is to roll out the dough between two pieces of wax paper. The apple pie recipe is from about.com.

It may not look perfect, because I just don't have that much patience, but it tasted great! It was warm, with just enough cinnamon and nutmeg to bring on hints of autumn.

I really didn't feel like cooking, but we had a great dinner, much better than take out, and best of all, we have leftovers for tomorrow night!