Tried and True

We had our super typical Saturday, the one in which we go to the Supercuts in Lakeview so that Aogu and Koji can get a haircut. After that we sometimes go to McDonald's next door, but we were running a little later than usual and our Costco rebate was burning a hole in our pocket. Off we went to Costco, where we actually didn't find anything of consequence to buy with our rebate. Don't feel too sorry for us, we still somehow managed to spend a hundred bucks. We did get a big box of those ShamWow towels, and I certainly hope they are as miraculous and wonderful as they claim to be.

Because we had hoped for new cell phones but didn't find Sprint service at Costco, we stopped at the Sprint store. We had to forgo new phones though, because somehow the phones they have now seem like they aren't even as good as the ones we've been using for two or three years. Though we have NO plans at all to actually do so, I think we're better off waiting for the day we move to Tokyo to get a new phone. Then we can actually upgrade instead of making a lateral move, or worse yet, downgrading!

Point of all this is, once it was time for dinner, I was ready to keep it simple. I went with

*strawberry lemonade, which I made with the lemonade maker and the strawberry puree that was leftover from the birthday cake. I'm not going to give you a link to the cake, I think you know the one I mean!
*the same grilled cheese we had a couple weeks ago. No, I guess it was a little different because I threw some deli turkey on it. That wasn't very good; I had frozen it and I've now decided that freezing deli turkey doesn't work.
*tomato soup with chickpeas and pesto which is a super tried and true recipe for me. I've been making this soup semi regularly since it came out in Cooking Light more than six years ago!

One thing I've noticed is that putting the pasta into the soup isn't actually a good idea. It's much better to cook the pasta separately, put it in the bowl and pour the soup over when ready to eat. Tonight's pasta was alphabet, and in the time it took the kids to let their soup cool enough to eat, there wasn't any more soup in their bowls, just noodles that had completely sucked up all the liquid!

Another thing about this recipe: since it's meatless, sometimes I'll throw in chicken or browned ground meat to make it a little heartier.

Final comment about the soup: tonight's soup was actually a throwback to last summer, because instead of V-8, I poured in some tomato sauce that I made with tomatoes from my garden. Not to worry, it was in the freezer from then until yesterday! The pesto I stirred in at the end was also made by me with basil from my garden and then kept frozen until I needed it.

So I'm feeling a little bit summery! And very full....