Roasted tomato and Italian sausage Pasta

In response to someone asking "Yum, will you share the recipe," here it is in all its made-up glory.

Cut a few cups of cherry tomatoes in half. Or, cut regular tomatoes into half-cherry tomato size pieces. Place in oven-proof dish. It could be a 9x13 or just use your all-stainless steel cooking pot like I did! Drizzle, nay POUR, a generous amount of olive oil over. The oil should at least coat the bottom of the pan. Season with Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Roast in 400 degree oven for 30 min. Longer is acceptable too, I think. So is a lower temperature. In any event, the tomatoes should look "shriveled."

While your pasta is boiling, add sweet Italian sausage to the pot of roasted tomatoes. I like chicken A La Fresco brand. (They also make a fabulous chicken apple sausage.) Also add some diced onions (1/4 on onion). Garlic too if you want (but I didn't). Add more olive oil if it looks like it won't properly cover the pasta as if it was a sauce. Cook on med-low until onions are soft and sausage heated through. Throw in some fresh basil for color if you've got it.

Add your pasta to the tomato mixture and stir until well coated with the delicious olive oil. Serve with parmesan if desired. Enjoy!

Laird Park with Schuilings and Dimelers

About two months we went camping with our some of our best comrades: Keith, Nellie and Charlie; and Jason, Liz and Hazel. Laird Park, just north of Potlatch, comes highly reccommended. Not too big of a campground, is next to a river with beach for swimming, is cheap and even has a cool may-pole thingy where you grab onto metal handles dangling from chains and swing yourself around. (Sort of like tether ball, if you were the tether ball.) We had a lovely spot next to the river which lulled the kiddos to sleep (all night!) and provided a back-up refrigerator.

Keith, Jason and Mark smoked pipes and offered intelligent comments on the world's problems.


Liz made us delicious tacos for dinner which for some reason I don't have a picture of, and Hazel went mostly without clothes to stay cool.

Charlie got tuckered.


And Mark put grapes in his eyes (?)


Liz, I think it was your pink sleeping bag that did this to him.