My Fulfillment of the Summer Recipe Challenge

Something that comes with the blogging territory is the ever ubiquitous tag. I've tagged and been tagged plenty over my last three years of blogging. When I'm tagged I usually try to fulfill whatever has been asked of me pretty quickly. Usually.

Almost a year ago I was tagged by one of my very best pals, Heidi, to post a delicious, easy summer recipe. As I've mentioned before, when Heidi tags, she expects results. Well, I didn't have anything blog-worthy to post at the time, so I let the tag slip away hoping that Heidi wouldn't call me out on it. She didn't, but the guilt I've felt over the past 10 months for not fulfilling this particular tag has at times been overwhelming. Seriously! I just couldn't think of anything really outstanding to post.

Well, no more! I made this salad last week and I foresee it being made on a very regular basis for the rest of the summer. It's from one of my favorite cleavage-showing, Food Network chefs, who is also Italian (and I'll leave it at that. If you've ever spent any amount of time watching The Food Network, you probably have a good idea who it is). It's quick, it's easy, it's so incredibly yummy and it doesn't heat up your entire kitchen during those toasty summer months. Totally scrumptious! Plus, it's even better the next day. Go. Make it. And then come back here and tell me how much you love it too.

Orzo Salad

Ingredients:

4 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups orzo
1 (15-ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 cups red and yellow teardrop tomatoes or grape tomatoes, halved (I used grape tomatoes)
3/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint leaves

About 3/4 cup Red Wine Vinaigrette, recipe follows
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
Pour the broth into a heavy large saucepan. Cover the pan and bring the broth to a boil over high heat. Stir in the orzo. Cover partially and cook until the orzo is tender but still firm to the bite, stirring frequently, about 7 minutes.

Drain the orzo through a strainer. Transfer the orzo to a large wide bowl and toss until the orzo cools slightly. Set aside to cool completely.

Toss the orzo with the beans, tomatoes, onion, basil, mint, and enough vinaigrette to coat. Season the salad, to taste, with salt and pepper, and serve at room temperature.

Red Wine Vinaigrette
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Mix the vinegar, lemon juice, honey, salt, and pepper in a blender. With the machine running, gradually blend in the oil. Season the vinaigrette, to taste, with more salt and pepper, if desired.

Yield: 1 3/4 cups (Like it says up above, only use about 3/4 cup of this on the salad)
This recipe serves six.

Easter Pictures - One Week Late

My lack of a prompt Easter post is not due to any failing to celebrate the wonderful Spring event, but moreso is due to a pressing project I'm working on that I need to finish muy pronto. I've been spending any spare minute I can find during the day and into the night working on this project, so things like blogging, reading for fun, watching cheesy movies and even going to see "17 Again" have all been put on the back burner. Oh the agony! Seriously, has anyone out there in Cyberland seen "17 Again" yet? I really hope it's as good/funny as the previews make it out to be.

Our Easter celebrations were really fun this year. Everett's finally getting the hang of stuff, which makes it easier for Juliana to jump on the bandwagon. We dyed eggs on Good Friday. Everett loved it and Juliana ate an ice cream sandwich and just watched.

The evidence is written all over her face:

Saturday afternoon we did the Easter egg hunt with the Roberts family. The cousins had fun and props to Will and Logan for helping their girls score a basketful of eggs. Oh, and major props to Everett for being ever the polite older brother and cousin and not ruining the fun for the girls. He gave them ample opportunity to get eggs and even helped them find some of their own. Yea Everett!




Everett picked out his soccer ball Easter basket all by himself. Thank you to The Dollar Tree for sporting such wonderful, decorative Easter baskets!

Lydia looking a little frazzled after hunting down all those pesky eggs:

Juliana and Will found the flower bushes and decided to have a little fun:

Ok, so when in the world did my kids get so old and big? Everett especially is looking more and more like a little boy instead of a little toddler. And it looks like Juliana is no longer my baby! Wow.

A classic, rumpled shot of the three of them:

Even more rumpled. Sweet.

My kids loved all the candy associated with the Easter holiday. Especially Juliana. She also loved to show everyone the love as well:

Sunday morning was a bit chilly, but almost sunny. Perfect for the pictures of the kiddos in their Easter duds. Glad they got the memo about looking at the camera.

Overall, it was a wonderful holiday. Everett really grasped on to the idea that Jesus Christ died and then was resurrected. When we were driving to church on Sunday morning we asked him what was special about Easter and he piped up with "Jesus Christ was resurrected." Alright! It's exciting to see that he's actually listening when we try to teach him these basics of the Gospel.

A Celebration!

Oh how I love this man! Here's to celebrating another year, another April 19th. We love you Will and are so glad you're with us!

(For more info on the significance of April 19th in the Giddens home, check out 2008's post or 2007's post.)

Real Life Musical

Man! Why couldn't I have been in on this?!? I've often wished that my life could be a musical and this would be a most excellent start. The next time I'm in Antwerp, I'm totally going to this train station.

Why Yes, I AM a Blogging Fool!

Thank you to all who left comments about how many blogs you have on your Google Reader/Bloglines. I'm glad everyone seems to love blogs as much as I do! I currently have 172 feeds on my Bloglines, which of course, doesn't include the 10-12 private blogs I try to check frequently. Plus the random blogs that I go to periodically. People I do and don't know but that I haven't felt compelled enough to actually put on my Bloglines. Just every couple of months or so I'll wander on over and see what I've missed. The brings my total to about 190 to 195 blogs. Yikes! Thank you, Natalie, for making me feel like that number is incredibly small!

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Through my fabulous friend, Kory, I found out that the NRA (National Rifle Association) is offering FREE one-year memberships. Although I myself am not huge into shooting guns, Will is and I do agree that 2nd Amendment rights need protecting. I'd hate to think that this administration, or any other, would try to limit, or even take away, the right to bear arms. I think it's great when responsible citizens own guns and treat that ownership with safety. Will has his concealed carry permit and I think it's great. So if you, or anyone you know, is interested in guns or trying to protect the right for others to own guns, definitely send them over to the NRA's Web site.

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Some of you have asked me some questions about my Blurb book. I took some pictures so you could see, but for any of you who may be on the fence about whether or not this is worth the money, let me emphatically say YES! Here's the cover:

And a few of the inside pages:

And there you have it. Blurb away, my friends, Blurb away.

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In family news, we are excited that it's April! Not only are we ready for some great, consistent spring weather, Easter and of course, white sandals, but it's also General Conference this weekend, plus Will's cousin, Taylor, gets home from his mission to Chile today. We haven't seen him in over two years, so we're excited to get to visit with him. When he left I was just a few months pregnant with Juliana. It's amazing how time flies!

I'm trying to get better about taking pictures of the kids, but it's still pretty sparse on my camera. Here's what I came up with to share:

My big girl coloring. I love it that she likes to color on her tummy. I mean, seriously, how completely cute and picturesque is that?

We made it back to the fun airplane playground. It was a beautiful day and I loved that I got the kids back on this little bouncy thing. Look familiar?

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And finally, I'm on the hunt for a graphic designer who knows php. Don't ask me what that means, since I have no idea. A few months ago Will and our friend, Clint, bought a Web site design company for a steal. Will's not the technical guy (that's Clint's forte), but when Will mentioned to me that they needed a contractor to do some work for them, I thought I'd put it out there in cyberspace and see what comes back to me. Also, if you have a business or organization that needs a Web site, I happen to know some folks who would be perfect for the job!