Fall takes Hold

Usually, I am not a fall season girl.  Summer is my time of the year.  Spring is a close second.  Winter is for cocoa, cider, fireplaces and hibernation.  Fall is ragweed, goldenrods, and razor dry air.  This fall has been no exception.  However, what is different this year is that I am newly inspired to get my kids to take advantage of a fleeting few weeks of nice outdoor weather that bridge the unbearable heat to southerners freezing our a**es off.  Perhaps my son joining the Cub Scouts has also fueled this.  He has his first overnight camping trip in a couple weeks, so we broke out the tent and sleeping bags last night, and he and Jon spent the night under the tent under the stars in our front yard.  They came in around 7:30 this morning after the birds woke them and went back to bed upstairs, but that's nature for ya.
This afternoon we went to a fly fishing clinic in a beautiful nature preserve.  Only Jon got the hang of slinging the fly rod, but we all got a few casts in and enjoyed some beautiful weather.

The garden is also slowly growing; it's definitely not the summer time trailblazing growth.  It's a more subtle development.  The roots have taken hold, there is a new set of leaves; the grape tomatoes and eggplant still grow slowly.  The basil hangs on.  My reluctance to cut down the bloomed stems eggs on the remaining bumblebees to continue to pollinate.  The days may be waning but nature pushes forward.

Yummy Fall Food

I'm just here to brag about my best yet clean-out-the-produce-drawer pasta dinner to date!  Let me just say that typically when I use the odds and ends out of the fridge to make dinner, it is met with the groans normally associated with cafeteria mystery meat or left over casserole at home.  So tonight, while one child colored on the family room floor and the other headed out to play in the neighborhood, I was smoothly evasive about what would be for dinner.  So, just crowing here, but the kids cleaned their plate.  Triumph #1.  It was only after they had mostly finished their meal that I revealed all the ingredients in the pasta.  And surprisingly, no shudders!  Triumph #2.  So because this turned out so well, I thought I would share.  Hopefully you have the exact same leftovers in your drawers!

Fall Odds and End Pasta serves 4
8oz fettucine (or half a box)
1/2 fennel bulb sliced thin
1/2 bag spinach
1/2 bag salad mix
1 green apple thinly sliced
2 slices of bacon and 2 chicken tenders minced together
2 scallions white portion sliced into rings
1/2 c chicken or veggie broth
1/4 t dried or 1t fresh thyme

Cook pasta according to directions and drain.
Mix apples, scallions and fennel bulb together in a bowl and set aside.
Saute mixed meat until just cooked through in a med high heated pot.  Remove meat but reserve oil in pan left from cooking bacon.  If necessary, and an additional tablespoon canola oil.  Toss fennel, apple, scallion mixture in and saute until fennel is tender.  Add spinach, salad mix and then broth and cook just until leaf veggies are wilted.  Season to taste with salt, if necessary
Toss pasta into veggies and broth and mix thoroughly.  Serve with grated Parmesan or Romano cheese.