What's in my bag today...home improvements.

So Spring has sprung and it is the season for projects.  This is the time of year when my husband gets lost in various out door undertakings.  This year he's fixated on the grass.  When I look at it, I see a nice yard, when he looks at it he sees a vast wasteland.  He talked to some guy who told him that the dirt needs to be flush with the driveway or else the driveway will crumble.  Now I'm not saying that it's not true, I just don't think that the driveway will disintegrate if we don't get the dirt done this year.  So that's his justification for bringing in a truckload of dirt and re seeding the grass.  This is one battle that he's going to win, because I just can't talk about grass or dirt anymore.  There's so many other things I'd rather do than spend money on dirt and grass, but once it's done, it's done. Next year we'll do what I want.
On the stove top, I've tried a few new things with some success.  The first is a favorite of my friend Stacey.  It's Rachael Ray's Lemon Spaghetti: http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=1534.  I liked it but it was really lemony and my husband wasn't that into it.  I think I over juiced the lemons.  I know when I've watched Rachael Ray do it, she just squeezes the lemon over the bowl.  I used a hand juicer so I think I got more juice out of the lemons than by just squeezing them by hand.  I also didn't use a whole pound of pasta, which may have made a small difference.  I didn't feel like going into the basement to get my big pasta pot, so I used maybe 2/3's of the box.  So if I make this again, I will use the juice from one lemon.  I served this dish with chicken tenders grilled on the George Foreman grill.  Last night I made Mini Cheeseburger Salad with Yellow Mustard Vinaigrette, also a Rachael Ray recipe: http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=2207 .  This was good, and I served it with fries.  The dressing was good, but a little strong, maybe I will cut down on the vinegar or mustard next time.  I also made something that I sorta used a recipe for, but mostly improvised.  I had some pork (boneless chops) and I saw a recipe that made a sauce out of salsa.  So I cooked the pork in a skillet ( I cut the pork into bite sized pieces).  In a small pot I heated the salsa mixed with a couple of table spoons of bbq sauce.  When the pork was done, I added the sauce and a can of black beans. I rinsed the beans first (it cuts down the sodium and gets rid of the extra starch).  Meanwhile I steamed some corn in the microwave.  I mixed the corn in when it was done.  It was really good, kind of a Southwest type dish.  You can serve it with sour cream.  I didn't take pictures this week because I thought I had lost my camera.  Fortunately I found it, but it was too late for my dinners to get their close ups.  Feel free to post any recipes that you've tried or wanted to try, I'm always looking for ideas these days.  And good luck with your own home improvement projects, hopefully you and your significant others can agree on what projects to tackle next!