Fresh Salad, 95% Homegrown

I feel like a proud mama.

Let me explain...Over the weekend, Sean and I were discussing all the exciting things we could do for Labor Day. Last year, we went to Dick's and got fishing poles, licenses, and chilled out by the local lake, watching the bobbers bounce across the water. The year before that we went to Staten Island for a pool party barbecue. Considering we spent most of our weekend energy partying it up in New Jersey with friends who are getting married next weekend, the best we could come up with this year was to go out and give the yard one final hurrah of trimming, cutting, raking and weed-pulling.

One hour and one bee sting later (poor Sean!), our yard looked astronomically more presentable than it had due to three solid weeks of neglect.

Before: The hedge looked like Edward Scissorhands hair. The garden looked sad and ignored (because it was indeed sad and ignored. And bee infested.).





























After: You can't tell much of a difference from the pictures, but if this cooler weather keeps up, we'll probably only need to mow once more. But I digress...

So in my weeding of the garden which I had all but given up on (I could only weed about half because of all the bees, I think I counted 10), I came to realize that we had a good portion of fat green beans, lettuce, and one juicy red tomato. So I challenged myself when I got home today to make something healthy, no cooking, and only ingredients we already have.

Since it's been a while since we had a good grocery store trip, I decided on salad from the garden. I combined lettuce, green beans, chopped tomato, and chopped fresh basil from my kitchen (which although sad and a little wilty, I have not yet killed). I added a sprinkle of toasted pine nuts, a dash of cracked black pepper and a dabble of dijon mustard and olive oil.

I'll be honest, it's not the most delicious thing I have ever tasted, but knowing that about 95% of it was picked from our backyard and my little basil plant, it makes it that much more satisfying to eat.

But now it's time to stop blogging and settle in for some So You Think You Can Dance and GLEE! Until next time, cheers!