Summer Pasta Ragout & Costco Finds For This Week

Today was a busy day. It was both disappointing and exciting at the same time. We got up early to, once again, clear my kitchen counters and get ready for our tile installer who was scheduled to come and begin work on our kitchen backsplash first thing this morning. As I mentioned before, I had regretfully given up on the mosaic travertine border I had originally selected and had my heart set on and had instead settled for bronze metallic tile inserts on our travertine backsplash tile. When our installer arrived and I laid out what I wanted him to do...he didn't seem to think it was a good idea. He said he would do it but in his professional opinion didn't feel it would look right or that I would be happy with the results. He noticed the piece of travertine border I had sitting on the floor in the kitchen that I had planned to take back and return. He really liked it and thought that would be a much better look. I told him that was what I really wanted but didn't think it would work on my wall area. He showed me what he would do with it and laid it out -- and it is going to work after all! So...our mission tomorrow is to try and find 15 pieces of this travertine border. One of my sons is going to try and find it across town near his work. If he doesn't find it, hubby and I will once AGAIN be driving all over town after work tomorrow trying to find it. So...as disappointing as it was not to get my backsplash started today...in the end, if we can find the border, I will have what I had my heart set on from the beginning. We selected and purchased our wall paint and then ran all our the place doing our other weekly errands which included a trip to Costco.

My sons came for dinner this evening and since we ran around all day, I just kept dinner simple. I made a thick meat sauce using a spicy jarred Arrabbiata sauce that I added to a pound of browned ground round beef, diced yellow squash, and sliced fresh mushrooms. I made zucchini pasta with my Paderno Spiral Vegetable Slicer to serve the thick meaty ragout on. It's quicker to use when I have more than a couple of portions of "pasta" to make. I snapped a quick photo of my "Summer Pasta Ragout" as well as a few of my new Costco finds. I found a 2-pound jar of Ghee (clarified butter) for $10.99; a 2-pound bag of organic chia seeds for $10.59 (on sale); a 2-pound bag of organic pistachios in shell for $13.99 and last but not least...a 3-pound bag of my favorite kind of organic golden ground flax for $4.99 (on sale). The photos are below. Enjoy!