Creamy Rotini with Zucchini & Cherry Tomatoes

This afternoon I was already in the mood for pasta when I stepped outside and got a whiff from my basil plant. And then, I wanted pasta with fresh basil, so that’s exactly what I whipped up. This dish is easy, fresh and delicious.

[Side note: This was my first time eating basil from my plant, yea! I haven’t killed it yet!]

Goat Cheese Rotini with Zucchini & Cherry Tomatoes 

Ingredients:

• 2 oz Rotini or other pasta
• 1/2 c zucchini, diced
• 1/2 c cherry tomatoes, diced
• 1 oz Chevrion goat cheese
• 1 TSP olive oil
• around 3 sprigs of fresh basil, plus more for garnish
• a few TBSPs of water or cooking wine for sautéing
• salt & pepper

Cook pasta according to directions. Meanwhile, heat cooking wine (or water) in a medium saucepan over medium heat.

Add zucchini, tomatoes, and basil, and cook for around 5 minutes until they start to soften. Season with salt and pepper.

Once pasta is done, drain and return back to pot. Add in zucchini mix, and drizzle olive oil on top. Add the cheese in in several chunks, and then mix well. Garnish with basil.

Nutrition stats: 350 calories, 11 g fat, 14 g protein, 50 g carbs

Military Spouse Appreciation Day

I just found out that today was (technically still is for a little while) Military Spouse Appreciation Day. I want to take a second to recognize all of the military spouses out there. It can certainly be a tough job being a military spouse (and obviously a member of the armed forces, which goes without saying). I joke around with my Marine that I’m a member of the “silent ranks” as us spouses are sometimes referred to as, because when your husband or wife is in the military, you have a job as their partner to be supportive, strong, and flexible with this crazy lifestyle you are living. I think it’s the only way that you’ll be able to thrive and live life to its fullest as a military spouse. There are so many wives & hubbies out there who are holding down the fort, handling things on their own, and raising families without their spouses. I would say that I’m not sure how the mothers and expectant mothers I know seem to handle their situations so well, but I already know how they do it, because it’s the only answer I have for people when they wonder the same thing of me: they simply just keep living and trucking along as best they can, because what else can they do? Military spouses are strong for themselves, their partners, their families, and their country. Today is a day to recognize those people and show appreciation. BLESS OUR TROOPS!

Peanut and Broccoli Pasta & A Pizza Combo for One

Today’s Fitness Highlight

A lot of the time for the cardio portion of my workout at the gym, I cycle on a spin bike. My gym just got new spinners that are more high tech than the old ones, telling you how far you’ve cycled, how many calories you’ve burned, etc. I took advantage of this new training tool and instead of biking for a specific amount of time today, I set a distance goal… and I spinned 15 miles with the resistance set at a decently high gear. Go me!

Food

In case you don’t know, I’m crazy about fruit. My usual fruit staples include berries, bananas, apples, mangoes, and kiwis (and I suppose avocado is technically a fruit, and one that I eat often!), along with others that I will randomly buy in season.

I’m also a veggie fan (It only makes sense, as I am a vegetarian!), but I don’t eat them as often as fruits. I gravitate towards combining fruits with so many of the foods I tend to eat all the time – yogurt, cereal, smoothies, with peanut butter, you name it. In fact, sometimes the only time I eat vegetables is at dinner. In an effort to up my veggie intake when I feel like it’s lacking, I make sure to include some in my breakfast or lunch. When I realized that yesterday the only veggie I ate was corn in a tofu wrap (Unless salsa counts? Anyone?), I wanted to amp up my veggie count today. This afternoon for lunch, I did just that with some fresh broccoli. I had leftover Japanese noodles from my creation a few days ago, and came up with a super yummy combo. Luckily I have one more serving of noodles left, so I have a feeling that I will soon repeat this exact meal:

Peanut Pasta with Broccoli 

• 1 cup of Japanese noodles (or 2 oz angel hair pasta will work), cooked
• 1 cup of fresh broccoli, chopped
• 1 TSP roasted sesame seeds
• 1 TBSP seasoned rice vinegar
• 1 TSP soy sauce
• 1 TBSP peanut butter

Steam broccoli in a small pot (with a few inches of water at the bottom) and let it cook for a few minutes under tender. Meanwhile, combine peanut butter, rice vinegar, and soy sauce in a small bowl.

Once broccoli is done cooking, take the veggies and strainer out of the pot. Scoop out 2-4 TBSP of the water used to steam the broccoli (depending on how saucy you want your pasta to be), and pour it into the bowl with the peanut butter mix. Whisk until everything is combined.

Combine broccoli with noodles, add sesame seeds, and pour sauce on top.

Nutrition Facts: 390 calories, 11 g fat, 16 g protein, 62 g carbs

To continue my goal of eating a good amount of veggies today, my (so delicious!) dinner also included some greens:

Arugula, Feta, & Cherry Tomato Mini Pizza

• 1 whole wheat pocket bread (The brand I use is Goglanian’s. I also know that Whole Foods has em.)
• 1 large handful of wild arugula
• 1.5 oz crumbled feta cheese
• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes
• 1 TSP avocado oil
• 1 TSP [blackberry] balsamic vinegar
• Mixed up salt & pepper

First, I threw the pocket bread in the toaster to make it nice and crispy. Meanwhile, I sliced my tomatoes.

Once your “dough” is done toasting, top with arugula, cheese, and tomatoes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and drizzle oil and vinegar on top.

Nutrition Stats: 330 calories, 14 g fat, 17 g protein, 41 g carbs

I’ll leave you with a picture of probably the best part of Harley’s day – getting to lick the bottom of the peanut butter jar! I’m such a nice mom.

Rigatoni with Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto

I’m always ripping pages out of magazines when I spot a recipe I’d like to try. Sometimes I get to cookin’ right away, other times I throw the page in my ‘recipes to try’ pile and it disappears for months (or still has yet to be made…). This recipe was somewhere in between, as I saw it in Self magazine last month and made it for dinner last night.

I changed a few of the ingredients based on what I had in my kitchen and reduced the portion size (original recipe can be found here). This dish is a great meal for sun-dried tomato lovers and packs strong flavor. It’s a good thing I didn’t have a hot date last night, because eating this results in some definite garlic breath!

Rigatoni with Cheesy Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto

What you need:

• 3 oz rigatoni (or any other short shaped pasta)
• 2 TBSP sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup loosely packed fresh parsley
• 1 oz sun-dried tomato halves
• 1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
• 1 wedge Laughing Cow mozzarella, sun-dried tomato & basil cheese
• 1/2 TBSP olive oil
• Salt & pepper to taste

Cook pasta according to directions.

Meanwhile, toast almonds until lightly browned (keep an eye on them, as they burn quickly!).

In a food processor, pulse parsley, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, and oil until slightly chunky. Pour into a bowl, and add almonds in. Combine well.

Once pasta is done cooking, drain and return to the pot. Add in the pesto mix, salt and pepper. In chunks, add the cheese into the mix. Toss to combine.

Stats: 550 calories, 19 g fat, 21 g protein, 82 g carbs

Well, I have a work trip to Las Vegas in the morning, so I’m off to pack, get organized, and relax for the night. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins + An Easy Pasta Dish

Happy Friday!

I’ll get right down to the good eats of my day, because quite frankly, they rocked.

The muffins I made this morning are tasty – so tasty that I planned one eating one and somehow wound up inhaling two! I love banana + chocolate chips.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Makes a dozen muffins

Ingredient List:

• 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour (Gold Medal)
  
• 2 bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (365 Organic)
• 2 TBSP oil (I used vegetable but canola works too)
• 1/2 cup milk (Almond Breeze unsweetened almond milk)
• 1 TSP vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (Ghiradelli semi-sweet)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 375. Line muffin tin with muffin cups.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and brown sugar.

In another bowl, mix oil, milk, vanilla and bananas together.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry, then add chocolate chips to combine.

Pour evenly into muffin cups and bake for around 20 minutes, or until browned.

Stats per muffin: 170 calories, 6 g fat, 2 g protein, 30 g carbs

For lunch, I decided to use up the last of my arugula and make a big salad.

In the mix:

-a pile of arugula – 1 TJ’s goat cheese medallion – 3 California Calimyrna figs – 2 TBSP slivered California almonds  –

I love how salads take forever to eat. I was (& think I still am) in a snacky mood and this meal just kept going and going!

Stats: 290 calories, 16 g fat, 10 g protein, 34 g carbs

And lastly, my yummy dinner, whipped up in 15 minutes flat…

I randomly bought some locally grown broccoli rabe last weekend at the farmer’s market, and let’s just say I will definitely be getting some more of it tomorrow. Broccoli can be hit or miss with me – sometimes I’m not a fan and sometimes I love it. I like eating it regardless because of all of the health benefits (Hello Vitamin A!), and my broccoli rabe tonight was mild and delish.

Angel Hair with Broccoli Rabe 

Serves 1

• 3 oz multigrain angel hair pasta (Barilla Plus) 
• A bunch of stalks of broccoli rabe
• 1/2 TBSP olive oil
• 1 TBSP Pecorino Romano grated cheese
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 TBSP white cooking wine

Boil a pot of water and cook pasta according to directions.

Meanwhile, warm cooking wine in a pan over medium heat.

Add garlic and let it cook for a minute or two, then add broccoli. Cook until tender. If it gets dry, add more wine or water.

When pasta is done, strain it, then pour back into pot.

Add broccoli and garlic to the pasta, then sprinkle in cheese and add in olive oil. Mix it all up and season with salt and pepper if desired.

Facts: 440 calories, 12 g fat, 19 g protein, 61 g carbs

My Girlfriend’s Coming to Town 🙂 

I’m getting very excited for the weekend, because tomorrow one of my best friends in the entire world is flying in to visit me. More about that tomorrow!

Clearly we love each other

Pancakes & Pasta

I randomly came across the above image today and thought I’d share. There’s so much truth to that statement. After all, being healthy and physically, mentally, and spiritually balanced is at the core of finding happiness in your life, right?

As my title suggests, I have 2 recipes to share with you today. I’ll get down to breakfast first.

Yum, I’m a huge pancake lover. As with everything I make, I try to create pancake recipes that are both healthy and delicious. This one hits the spot and makes the perfect portion size for breakfast (ok, I might have eaten it for lunch yesterday!).

Banana Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Pancakes

Serves 1.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup all natural whole wheat flour

1/2 banana, mashed 

1/4 cup Quaker old-fashioned oats, dry

1/2 cup Blue Diamond unsweetened almond milk (or, as always, regular milk can be used)

1 TSP (organic) brown sugar

A dash of salt

1 TBSP chocolate chips (I used Ghiradelli semi-sweet)

Warm a skillet over medium heat. Coat with non-stick spray.

Combine all ingredients except chocolate chips in a medium bowl. Mix well.

Pour batter onto pan, making 3 pancakes. Put chocolate chips on each cake.

Cook on each side until lightly brown. Top with butter, syrup, jelly, or whatever your heart desires. I love them plain or with a tiny bit of light butter.

Nutrition Stats: 330 calories, 10 g fat, 10 g protein, 65 g carbs

Mmmmm, pasta. My dinner last night is what I think of as the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink dish. When I throw this meal together, I use every and any veggie I have in my kitchen that’s about to go bad soon. Yesterday, this included cherry tomatoes, zucchini, red bell pepper and spinach. I use a bit of olive oil to add some flavor and healthy fats to the mix.

Pasta Primavera

Serves 1.

2 oz of multigrain angel hair pasta (I used Barilla Plus)

1/2 zucchini

1/2 red bell pepper

7 cherry tomatoes (random amount, I know!) 

Handful of raw spinach

A few fresh basil leaves

1/2 TBSP olive oil

2 TBSP white cooking wine (I used Holland House)

1/2 oz Romano cheese, optional (I used Il Giardino)

Salt & pepper to taste. I love using mixed up salt in this recipe.

Boil water in a medium pot on high heat, then cook pasta according to directions.

While you’re waiting for the water to boil and pasta to cook, chop up all veggies into bite sized pieces.

Warm cooking wine in a skillet on medium heat. Add all veggies except basil and spinach to the pan, then sauteed until softened, around 5 minutes or so. Stir the veggies, then add the spinach and basil and cook just until spinach is wilted. Remove from heat.

When pasta is done cooking and drained, return it to the pot. Pour veggies onto the pasta. Add olive oil and any seasonings in, then mix it up. Put pasta in a bowl, then grate the cheese on top.

Facts: 390 calories, 12 g fat, 17 g protein, 53 g carbs

Blog Changes

Just a quick note to let you  know that I’m in the process of figuring out how to increase the functionality of my blog. I’m very new to all of this and am trying to figure out just what I’m doing! I want to add a ‘print recipe’ button so anyone can easily print a recipe out without the rest of the post, but for now, I’ve created a ‘print & PDF this’ button. This way, you can delete unwanted text & images, and keep whatever text you want to print out. It’ll have to do for the moment, but there will be bigger and better changes to come very soon!

On a final note… 

There were 2 milestone birthdays in my family this week. Yesterday my grandpa turned 80! And happy birthday to my baby brother Danny!! He turned 21 today and I’m sure he’s out celebrating like the crazy college kid that he is. Love you both!

Goat Cheese & Veggie Penne

Last night my friend Tiffany and I ate dinner at a place called Crepes & Corks, a cute restaurant and wine bar in Del Mar. San Diego
Restaurant Week is going on right now, an event in which 180+ restaurants in the area feature prix fixed menus at discounted prices. We split a bottle of wine and each had a salad for an appetizer, crepe for our main entrees, and gelato for dessert – for $30 each. So much fun! I had the veggie garden crepe, which was filled with tomatoes, artichoke hearts, grilled onions, spinach, and mozzarella, drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette. I’ve attempted to make crepes before, but they wound up being more like pancakes. I think I need to figure out the secret to good crepes and try to make em again sometime soon – and hopefully recreate this dinner! I love how crepes are so light and you can fill them with whatever your heart desires. YUM.

Today my face was feeling sore due to dental work I had done yesterday and I also had a weird sore throat thing happening, but I still wanted to do some type of workout. I decided to do a low impact gym sess, and low impact to me = elliptical time. I don’t do the elliptical very often because I feel like I get better cardio in with other forms of exercise, but today it was exactly what I wanted. Instead of just plugging away at one level the entire time, I decided to switch it up every few minutes. If you’re a regular elliptical goer, you might be interested in changing your workout up a bit and trying something like what I did today:

Now onto my dinner creation tonight and the title of this post. Quick and easy to put together and full of all kinds of healthy goodness, throwing in a small amount of pine nuts give this meal a crunchy kick. Serves 1.

Cheesy Veggie Penne

What you Need:

2 oz of multigrain penne pasta, I like Barilla Plus (that’s 2/3 cup dry) 

1 oz goat cheese, I used a Trader Joe’s fresh goat cheese medallion

1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced

Around 2 cups of baby spinach, coarsely chopped (I’m estimating here since I used 2 large handfuls)

1 TSP olive oil

1 TBSP dry toasted pine nuts

Salt, pepper, and dried basil leaves to taste

• Cook pasta according to directions. While that’s cooking, heat the olive oil up in a medium skillet over medium heat.
• Add tomatoes to the skillet and cook for just a minute, then add in the spinach. Cook just until spinach is wilted, then remove from heat.
• Once penne is cooked and drained, pour it back in the pot.
• Add the veggies to the pasta, then spoon in the cheese in a few different chunks so it can easily be spread throughout all of the pasta.
• Flavor as desired with salt, pepper, and dried basil leaves, then mix the whole thing up well. Throw the pine nuts on top, and enjoy!

Nutrition stats: 407 calories, 17 g fat, 18 g protein, 48 g carbs.

I think last night’s scoop of gelato has started me on an ice cream kick. I’m off to my favorite fro yo spot to treat myself, then I’m watching my latest Netflix movie, Water for Elephants. I’ve seen it once before and love both the book and movie.

And since I’m a big New York Giants fan and my team is playing tomorrow in the divisional championship game to get to the Super Bowl, I can’t resist saying GO GIANTS!! 😉