I am not at all any sort of farmer, but I recently had my first grown-up gardening experience! I made a pasta salad from scratch. By scratch, I mean that I grew my own ingredients, “harvested” them, and used them in a recipe that my family not only ate, but really liked!

Here’s the recipe from Southern Living magazine, March 2001, adapted to my own tastes:

1 pound shell or orechiette pasta, cooked according to package directions
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon seasoned pepper (I used Montreal Steak Seasoning from Weber’s)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, pressed
3/4 cup olive oil
1 cup chopped fresh basil
1 tsp fresh chopped fresh oregano
1 (3-ounce) package shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup chopped roasted almonds (I used packaged almond salad toppers)
16 oz. Cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters
Garnishes: gourmet mixed baby salad greens; small, yellow pear-shaped tomatoes

Prepare pasta according to package directions
Mix vinegar with next 5 ingredients
Add fresh herbs to oil, mix gradually with vinaigrette
Pour dressing over pasta, toss in cheese, almonds and tomatoes
Chill

Now if the Monarchs would just infest my milkweed plants (read: ginormous 8′ tall trees), my experiment au jardin would be complete.