Rainy Afternoon Orzo

Being unemployed and all, you can imagine I have lots of time on my hands...like...oodles of time...But it's great because I was craving an orzo salad, so I made one! I love orzo salads because they're a little more sophisticated than a regular pasta salad, and you can make them a million ways.  Normally my favorite kind is the Greek-style with red onion, feta cheese cubes, spinach, and kalamata olives.  Isis HATES olives  and I find the feta over powering and salty, so instead I whipped up an Eva-style orza salad with peas, fontina cheese, roasted tomatoes, and spinach. It's easy: I boiled a box of orzo (it was too much, don't do that.).  I threw in a bag of frozen peas too. In the mean time I chopped the spinach to bite size pieces, diced a quarter of a red onion, and cubed the fontina.  I added salt, pepper, fresh thyme, chili flakes and italian seasoning and mixed it up.  I drained one can of garlic roasted tomatoes (the juice is too much, get rid of it) and threw it in to add some more flavor and some red.  I drained the orzo and peas and cooled them a bit so they weren't flaming hot, then doused them in olive oil, salt and pepper. (Three splashes should be good, it should be glossy since it will mix in with the other ingredients later.) I decided there was no need to let the pasta cool allll the way, the heat melted the fontina and made the pasta salad deliciously creamy! I mixed the pasta with the spinach, cheese and tomatoes and dished myself some while I watched the rain (lies, I watched the Food Network).  You substitute arugula for the spinach, feta for the fontina, throw in olives, whatever's going to be delicious! It can be served hot or cold, too. Just balance color and sweet and savory and it will be epic. Thank God I made the whole box, I'm going to eat some right now. *nom* nom*