This will be my last post. . . . until Monday!  I am taking a well deserved and very much needed mini vacation.  I have my family from Pennsylvania coming to visit for a long weekend and we are heading up to stay in a cabin up in Wisconsin.  It is located on a camp ground my family has been going to for over fifty years and it seems to never change, it is my favorite get-away.

I have been prepping up some food so while I’m up there I don’t have to spend my entire day cooking.  Don’t get me wrong, I can cook all day and not complain, but the point of this trip is to relax.  I got off work early today so I ran to the store and picked up some ribs and a pork shoulder.  I threw them on the smoker (did not wear flip flops, I learned my lesson…) and plan to smoke them til 11, wake up early and finish smoking them while at work.  This way all I have to do is pull the pork and throw it in a ziploc to heat up at camp, and just have to throw the ribs on the grill to reheat.  I’m aware that this is a little complex for “camp food” but I am competing in a BBQ Competition for my first time without help from professionals (*waves to Bob*) and I need to smoke ribs every chance I can get! So – my family is going to have ribs and gosh darnit they are gonna love them!

I also wanted to create a side dish that I wouldn’t have to be as freakish about worrying about keeping refrigerated.  We have coolers, but then the ice melts and everything gets soggy and wet and gross.  At first I was going to make a potato salad, but a vinegar base and not mayo.  But it is hot here in Chicago….I didn’t wanna cut up all the veg.  I decided to make a pesto pasta salad.  At first I was going to just do rotini pasta in pesto, but then I found sundried tomato at the store.  Then I got home and remembered I had made some fresh mozzarella with my cookin’ pal, gaming partner, hetero-life-mate Laura.  And so, my pesto pasta salad was born.

Ultimate Pesto Pasta Salad

• 1 box Rotini Pasta Salad, Cooked, Chilled
• 1 large bunch of fresh Basil
• 1 cup toasted almonds (had it on hand)
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan
• salt as needed
• olive oil as needed
• a touch of red wine vinegar
• 1 1/2 cup sliced sun dried tomato
• 1 cup fresh mozzarella, chopped

Cook noodles until done, rinse them under cold water to stop cooking process.  In a blender combine almonds, basil, Parmesan, salt, dash of vinegar, and slowly drizzle in olive oil until the texture desired.  Coat pasta with the pesto sauce, toss in sun dried tomato and mozzarella.  So tasty, so addicting and I feel confident that it’ll go so quick I won’t have to worry about cooler space.  Easy to make, some what healthy (in my mind) and tasty food without having to just rely on s’mores and  burnt hot dogs.  I will miss you all! (Unless I get brave enough to bring my laptop…there will be kids…this sounds like a bad idea..)

Also, I wanted to make a shout out to someone who has been helping immensely by sharing my page with people.  Thank you so so much to From Cupcakes to Caviar!! I would spread the word on Facebook but everyone on my page is on yours too! So I did it here in hopes that maybe someone new will find you 😀