Lemon Orzo & Asparagus Salad and a huge Sandbox

Happy Monday! Who am I kidding.. ugh.. it's Monday..

This weekend managed to be a very productive one! As I've mentioned in earlier posts we are doing a LOT around the house for the summer. One of the bigger projects is the backyard. We are expanding our patio area, I'm starting a garden, and we have ordered mini-man a swing set for his birthday, and the husbutt had the idea to put it into a big big sandbox (I'm talking 24' x 16' sandbox, aka an estimate of 14,000 POUNDS of sand). So this weekend was phase one, build the sandbox frame. We called in some back up (aka my parents), and decided to bar-b-q for dinner, so my mom and I cooked while all the boys built. 

So anyway, I decided to try a new recipe I found on Pinterest while the grill was going, and it was AMAZING. 

Its a (very) lemony orzo salad. Of course as usual I added a few of my own twists to it. We didn't have tomatos, just sundried tomatos, but since I'm the only one of the 4 people eating who like sundried tomatos, I had to leave them out. I also have one hell of a time finding Orzo in any of the food stores here (weird? yes I think so) but I found Riso pasta (aka shorter orzo) so I used that isntead. We added black olives (awesome move) and a bit more garlic than what was called for, and a little less olive oil. Point being, it came out great! 

It's a bit high in calories because of the pasta. I'm estimating one serving to be around 280 calories. But its defintely worth it, with a piece of grilled chicken cut up on top of it! 

Here's the link to the original recipe!

Sauteed Asparagus with Feta Cheese

So I'm on a feta cheese kick this week, obviously. Like I've said in the past, I try to use up all foods before they go bad, and if that means eating somewhat of the same thing a few nights out of the week, so be it. 

I had a bundle of asparagus in the fridge, and a brand new bottle of Adobo spice mix in the pantry. Now let me start off by saying I have NEVER had Adobo before, but was dying to try it. So why not throw it on the asparagus?

Heres what you'll need:

Adobo Seasoning

Pepper (just pepper, adobo is salty enough)

One bundle of Asparagus

Feta Cheese (to sprinkle on top)

Olive Oil (1.5-2 tbs worth)

How to do it:

Wash off Asparagus and snap off bottom woody area, cut the remaining stalks into 3 pieces of about equal size. Throw into a mixing bowl with about One Tablespoon of olive oil and pepper and adobo mix, toss until pieces of aspargus are coated. 

I used a decent amount of Adobo on this, because while tossing in the skillet it is bound to have some come off.

Put whole bowl of asparagus into a skillet on medium-high, constantly mixing it around for the first minute or two. If you need to add more olive oil, now would be the time, the tablespoon I used on the asparagus was enough to sautee it up.

If you like your asaparagus to have a slightly "steamed" texture to it, you can cover it up while cooking with the top of a pot, or if you have a skillet with a cover use that. Only keep the top on for a minute or so at a time, and then move around the asparagus. Apparently, it tends to burn quickly.. yeah don't ask me how I know that.

Once its to the texture of your liking (I like mine slightly crunchy), remove from pan, and top with a bit of feta cheese crumble.

I'm estimating this to be just around 100 calories a serving (yeilds two servings as show above), but it can change depending on the amount of olive oil used, and amount of feta use to top it off. Best bet would be to calculate your own calories on this one just to be sure.

Enjoy!!