Tomato, Mozzerella, and Pesto on Ciabatta

Tonight is a free night for me!! We have my neices dance recital, so we went out to eat. We tried for the first time Hooley House. It's a bar food type place. It was ok, but I REALLY wanted Quaker Steak and Lube, :( which just happens to be across the street)!

So instead I'm going to post this yummy dinner I made last week while my family was in town. It's tomato, mozzerella, and pesto on a ciabatta bread from the supermarket. It was so yummy and refreshing! To accompany the sandwich is an Orzo Salad and Fridge Pickles.

The Fridge Pickles recipe is courtesy of my DF Jillian! They are so good! All you do is slice cucumber. Then add equal parts of white vinegar, sugar, and water. She told me she normally uses about 1/2 cup each. She also told me that once you finish all the cucumbers in it, you can usually get one more use out of it just by adding some more cucumbers. She also adds some sliced onion (they end up being sweet and not over powering) and she adds pepper flakes. I didn't add pepper flakes because I don't have them on hand, shame on me! It's on my list!

The Orzo Salad is just about 1 cup (uncooked) orzo, cooked to package directions. Once it's cooled I add some olive oil, lemon juice, and dried basil. If I have it on hand I would much rather use fresh basil, but you have to make do with what you have sometimes. Then I add a container of feta and some chopped up watermelon. Leave in the fridge for several hours to cool. It doesn't keep very well more than 3 days. The watermelon tends to turn everything pink and it's just not as fresh.

The purple cup is filled with homemade ice tea. I make this on a regular basis as DH drinks it daily in the summer. I just brew 12 cups of water through the coffee maker to about 4 bags of lipton tea tied to the handle. DH recently saw that you should only let tea bags seap for 3 minutes, so make sure you don't leave them sitting in there too long. I let the tea cool a bit and then put it in the fridge.

For my tea I also add some simple syrup that I mix up about once a week. It's equal parts water to sugar boiled to a clear liquid. I use 1 cup water to 1 cup sugar. I let cool and then I have this little container I put it in the fridge. I never let it get a week old because I also use it in ice coffee, but it definitely could last more than a week at a time.