Mary's Favorite Summer Pasta Salad with Grilled Vegetables, Lemon and Basil

You think you are prepared for the phone call.  In fact you may have even hoped for it.  But when the phone rings unexpectedly and the caller identifies as the hospice nurse caring for your Mother-in-law your heart plummets with fear.  Then when she says, "The time is near..." you know you aren't as prepared as you had thought.

My husband's mother, Mary, took us on an amazing journey these past four years as she entered a continuing care home after a fall broke her pelvis.  Suffering through the break brought her advancing dementia to the surface, and psychosis soon followed.

Born in June of 1936, Mary grew up in New York and graduated from the University of Rochester with a degree in nursing.  There she met her husband and the two spent the next 60 years together as they married and had two sons.

Mary's Sunset - July 15, 2015

A woman with amazing strength, she suffered from bi-polar disease her entire life.  But it wasn't until these last few years that my husband learned how much it truly affected her.  Holding everything together as she raised her boys, the kids never knew how much Mom was suffering.  Her husband helped her through the rough times and she remained a strong presence while leading the kids into adulthood.

Age though, has a way of catching up to us, and Mary's disease evolved after her broken bones.  Dementia and psychosis are truly horrific and break the hearts of those watching a loved one live through it.  Witnessing a loved one live through fear, confusion, anger, and complete despair can be one of life's most difficult experiences.

But with love and compassion, we along with a team of nurses, caretakers, doctors and finally members of hospice, helped her as best we could through her journey.  And the strength shown by this woman amazed us all.  She fought through in the early days and had moments of clarity with her family.  The joy on her face as her son entered her room is a memory I will carry forever.

As she slipped further into the darkness her team told us it was time for hospice.  They gave her 6-12 weeks and we set to planning for the end.  However that was some 18 months ago!  Mary simply wasn't ready to end her days, and she kept us on our toes for the next year and a half.  Nurses have commented that the strength she carried was like nothing they've seen before.

While many of her days were very dark, she was surrounded by love and had moments of joy along the way.  We've enjoyed stories from some of the nurses relating that she loved Nacho Friday.  Apparently she let it be known that she preferred a massage before the Nachos, and arriving to dinner very relaxed she promptly asked for a beer to celebrate the nachos.  Becoming even more relaxed the nurses showed us a photo they had taken after she had had the massage, nachos and then the beer when she returned to her room in her wheelchair and asked for cucumbers to cover her eyes so she could complete her relaxation.

As difficult and scattered as Mary's life journey may have been, she left this world last Thursday amazingly peaceful.  Surrounded by loved ones, we spent four days after receiving that dreaded hospice nurse phone call at her side.  She had moments of awareness and my son had the opportunity to say goodbye and we could see in her eyes that she was there, if only for a few moments.  But then she slipped into a coma.

The nurses said they thought she could still hear us and we talked to her and chatted amongst ourselves with reminiscences and current life events.

Then on Thursday as most of her loved ones surrounded, her breathing began to slow.  We continued talking to her and telling her how hou much she was loved and her husband and my son held her tight as she took a final sigh.  The noise in her head that she had complained about her entire life finally ceased... and she was at peace.

Mary Elizabeth McGinn Kelly  June 23, 1936 - July 15, 2015

While I only knew Mary in the later years of her life, the incredible strength she carried with her didn't always follow when it came to food.  Someone with an incredible sweet tooth, she's been known to clear half a plate of cinnamon rolls without really realizing it and then laughing as she apologized for polishing off the treats!  But something I always made for her was this salad.

Filled with veggies and the tang of lemon, she said it was the fresh basil that set her tastebuds alive and asking for more.  And as such, I always doubled the recipe when I knew she was coming.

Rest easy sweet Mary.  This salad will always be served in your memory... the extra basil is for you.

Pesto Pasta Salad... Made special thanks to ClubsGalore (the perfect Mother's Day Gift)!

 

EVOO and Vinegar Gift of the Month

$5 off of first month using gift code CGMOM5 at check out.  Shipping is free!

*Valid through 5/10/15

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Liv Life Note:  I received a sample club gift and compensation for this post.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.  Please know I would not stand behind a product unless I truly liked it!

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Do you have go-to gifts for special occasions?  One of my ultra organized girlfriends always has just the gift for everything.  Be it a bridal shower, teacher thank you, birthday gift or Mother's Day treat, she always has something special up her sleeve.  Me?  I'm the polar opposite and find myself usually at a loss as to what to get, let alone where to get it.

Hence, I'm a big fan of "Gift of the Month" clubs.  Easy to personalize, simple to shop online at a minute's notice (procrastination and I are good friends...), and unique, Gift of the Month Clubs can be special and fun.  I've sent a number of subscriptions over the years, but let it be noted that even with all my hints I've been waiting to be a surprised recipient myself until just last week.  

As luck would have it, an offer to review ClubsGalore (arranged by Blog Meets Brand) not only introduced me to a new (to me, they've been around since 1996) one-stop, Gift of the Month shop, but they also sent me my first ever gift!

Faced with a decision to choose from one of their 41 clubs (the tequila club so tempted me....) I plowed through categories including brownies, bath and body, wine, tea, coffee, bacon, fruit, grilling and even a college care club.

I did place that College Care Club (including gift cards, movie sized candy boxes, hot chocolate packets, chips, pretzel crisps, popcorn, mac n cheese, assorted bars and trail mix, and a box of tissues) into my cart and thought how my son in his first year of college would love it, but my perusing continued until I stopped at the EVOO and Vinegar of the Month Club.  Now as good mothers, we try to be selfless and put our kids first, but in this case I selfishly removed said college club gift and replaced it with that oil and vinegar club as a gift to me from me.

Described as "1 bottle of extra virgin olive oil and 1 bottle of balsamic or flavor-infused vinegar each month - 200 to 375 ml. artfully gift boxed", the box arrived on my doorstep just days later, and yes, it was beautifully wrapped with a bow and carefully packaged, and included a card with my name on it.

Popping the cork on the Basil-Garlic Olive Oil, the aroma of garlic sent my salivary glands thinking of salads and dipping sauces.  Paired beautifully with a honey-colored bottle of B.R. Chardonnay Vinegar, the gift sent away any lingering guilt I had for choosing a gift for me instead of my college boy, and simply made my day.
 
Due diligence for this review sent me to the B.R. Cohn site to check prices, and a little research showed ClubsGalore indeed brought a special and quality product in addition to a fair price. 

So here's a big hint to my family... just FYI, Mother's Day, is right around the corner.  I really, really enjoyed the one month gift I received of the Olive Oil and Vinegar Club.  I'm fairly certain the bottles will be empty within then next few weeks and just so you know, a monthly box with more oils and vinegars would be such a wonderful surprise!

Furthermore, ClubsGalore is offering $5 off of your first month using the code CGMOM5 at checkout (offer valid through 5/10/15) and shipping is always free (note for Mother's Day delivery free shipping is available until April 25th, 2-Day Shipping 4/26/15 - 5/7/15, and overnight available from 5/6/15 - 5/8/15)!  Monthly payment options are available, and their site offers a "Print your own Announcement" feature free of charge.  Moms always have oil and vinegar in the kitchen, but often we won't splurge on that special bottle, so... Hint. Hint.  Hint.  :)

And what would a mom do with a delightfully infused bottle of olive oil and special bottle of vinegar?  She might brush it over artichokes just before grilling and make a lovely vinaigrette, or she might use it in a special Pesto Pasta Salad she's making for her own mom for Mother's Day.  Either way, I know she'll appreciate the monthly doorstep surprise, and you just might become her favorite child.

Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto

Hard as it is for me to believe, I have a son who is nearly a legal adult.  I have vivid memories of rocking my baby boy to sleep for his nap as thoughts of him going off to college would flit through my mind.  "Not to worry,"  I would tell myself, "that's years and years away."

Well, somehow those years have passed, and with a new UCSB Mom sticker proudly affixed to the back of my car, I find myself entering a new phase of parenting.  Gone are the days of worrying if he would look both ways before crossing the street or would put something in his mouth that wasn't good for him.  Here are the even more worrisome thoughts of will he see what he needs to as he merges his car onto a busy Southern California freeway?  Or worse yet, will he make good choices when thinking about taking a drink when he's at college?  And even more stressful, will he pick a girl that I like?

Now, I'll freely admit that whomever he chooses is already knocked down a peg because I know with her addition I will have been fully replaced.  However... there will definitely be some choices that will be better than others (oh my goodness I hope I like her!), and I've been dropping (unappreciated) hints as to who I think may be that good choice.  So far most of my "suggestions" have been met with eye rolls and "leave me alone" comments, until I mentioned Julie Morris.

Admittedly she may be a little old for him, and I'm not sure, but she may actually already have the man of her dreams, but Julie Morris, the author of Superfood Kitchen appears to me to be the perfect catch!

First off, Julie is positively adorable.  But it's her love of healthy, nutrition and good food that has me thinking she would be the perfect choice.  An advocate for healthy food and an expert on the so called "Super Foods" of today, Julie has an amazing story with her journey to a plant-based diet and a love of life-enhancing and energy-giving foods.

Presenting myself with her book, Superfood Kitchen
, for Christmas, I've made a number of recipes all with resounding success, but her Secret Pesto with Sun-dried Tomatoes inspired a recipe that has has become one of our all time family favorites.

Filled with fresh basil, sun-dried tomatoes and a few tablespoonfuls of hemp seed, no one is any the wiser that this pesto brings a healthy bent to the table.

Hemp Seed, while from the same family as the marijuana plant, does not produce the "high" inducing THC of its cousin.  It does however, provide a complete protein boasting all essential amino acids and is easier to digest than animal proteins such as meat, dairy and eggs.  Julie writes in her book, "Hemp also offers a wide range of mineras, especially iron, potassium, zinc and magnesium.  Better still, hemp is an excellent source of fiber, and is one of the few alkaline-forming seeds in nature, due to the small green filament on the inside of the kernel. " pg 30, Superfood Kitchen.

Recently hemp has been gaining status in the food world and is finding itself a featured ingredient in everything from smoothies to soups to salads and more.  Here in our Sun-dried Tomato Pesto, hemp takes the place of nuts yet retains the perfect flavors and textures of traditional versions while keeping the recipe healthy.

My soon to be college-bound son loves this recipe, and he even admitted that Julie's photo was a head turner.  Looks like he might have really good taste after all.

Caprese Salad - Photography on White

Cruising Twitter a few days ago, I stumbled across a tweet from Jungle Frog Cooking regarding a photography and styling challenge featuring white.  I love white.  As many of my backgrounds are white, and my dishes are mostly white, I thought immediately, "I'm in!"

Simplicity at its best, my lunch of a basic Caprese Salad had vivid colors of red and green popping off of my white palette in no time.  As with my other styling challenges though, my lack of detailed styling perhaps leaves a little to be desired.

Gazing in envy at Jungle Frog's white linen lined table artfully strewn with white props including flowers, vases and adorable little square dishes, I realized that while I do have white, I don't have that much white.

My white wooden board filled in for her linen, and a lone white petunia clipped from my garden added a nice floral addition.  Filling my favorite white Ramekin with the tomato concoction, and using a white dipping dish to cradle the mozzarella chunks that also flavored my colorful caprese salad, my lunch was served.  Enough white?  I think so.

As for the salad, brilliant, organic, red mini tomatoes, fresh from the farmer's market kept me living the summer that I'm fighting so hard not to let go of.  Basil from my garden flavored the tomato/mozzarella  combo, and the last of my beloved Greek Olive Oil, treasured from my summer vacation, dressed the farm fresh ingredients with flair.  Sprinkling the medley with a touch of salt and pepper brought the flavors to a peak, and indeed, my lunch of ultimate simplicity made its debut.

Whether you are hanging on tight to summer or transitioning to fall, these simple, fresh ingredients bring lunch to a new level.