Penne with Herbs, Tomatoes and Peas

One of my favorite parts of Spring and Summer is the availability of fresh herbs (and vegetables) in our garden.  The vegetables won’t be ready to harvest for a while but thankfully, I was able to snip a few fresh herbs last night for a super simple, healthy and light meatless-Monday pasta dish.  To make the Penne with Herbs, Tomatoes and Peas gluten-free, I simply used corn pasta (from Trader Joes) instead of regular wheat pasta.  Of course, fresh-from-the-garden tomatoes would be amazing in this dish but unfortunately, those aren’t ready yet.

pasta night

In order to get this pasta dish on the table in around 30 minutes, get your pasta water on the stove top on high heat while you prep the rest of the ingredients.  Once it’s boiling, dump in the pasta and then begin making the “sauce.”  Honestly, waiting for the water to boil is the most challenging part of putting together this meal.  The recipe called for 3 tablespoons of olive oil and I cut that down to 2 tablespoons.  Other than that, no other major changes.

summer fresh

Feel free to play around with the vegetables that you use in this dish – I think that zucchini or squash would work wonderfully and if you don’t have basil or parsley, try using a different herb that you have on hand.  The possibilities are endless – just use the recipe as a guide for the basics.

Spring Stir-Fry

This week it’s all about quick dinners.  And this stir-fry is no exception.  The beauty of this recipe is that you can substitute in what you have on hand.  I made my portion vegetarian with edamame while Big Guy enjoyed the addition of chicken.  Additionally, instead of carrots I went with sliced red bell pepper.  If you don’t use the chicken, dinner will be ready in under 15 minutes.  I served our Spring Stir-Fry over white rice.

 

I almost didn’t get green onions at the store but I’m so glad I did!  The freshness really brightens up the dish.  Also, I didn’t come armed with an intense grocery list.  Who knew I was out of soy sauce (tamari)?  I sure didn’t.  Fish sauce came to the rescue.  Seriously – don’t freak out if you’re missing an ingredient.  There is almost always a substitution.  Have fun in the kitchen!  Don’t make cooking dinner a chore.

 

The calorie count is rather low for this dish (without the rice) as a dinner – so if you’re not into rice, you might want to double your portion or add another starch.

 

Smoothie Debate

Juicing seems to be “the in thing” right now.  Everyone is drinking green juice and getting their greens.  Except me.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m still getting my greens and sometimes drinking green things but it’s not juice.  I don’t get the whole “juice” thing.  I’m more of a blender.  Smoothies are more my thing.

smooooothie

Lately I’ve been drinking a smoothie or two a day.  I was inspired by the book “The Body Reset Diet.”  But please, please, please note – I am not following this diet.  I am simply being inspired by some of his words and points (valid points) that he brings up in the book.  There is no way on Earth I could survive off 3 smoothies a day for 5 days straight.

You see, on “The Body Reset Diet” there are three phases, I won’t go into too much detail because that’s why he is selling the book.  In the first varies phases you drink smoothies, eat snacks and walk.  Walking is the only exercise he recommends during phase one and well, that’s not me.  I enjoy my time at the gym.  I enjoy lifting weights.  I enjoy spinning.

And besides, diets don’t work.  Moderation works.

So why smoothies over juice.  Well, for one, my smoothies contain the calories of a meal with a balance of carbs, fat and protein.  All three of those components are necessary and vital to our health.  Juice contains one of those components – carbs (in the form of sugar, yes, natural sugar, but still sugar).  Juice is not a meal.  Secondly, when you juice, you remove all the GOOD stuff and it gets left behind to go into the trash or compost.  That “trash” is fiber.  Which is so, so, so important.  Most American’s don’t get the recommended 25 grams of fiber each day.  When you juice an apple, you’re left with just the juice.  But when you blend an apple, you get all the nutrients, including the fiber that’s find throughout the fruit and mostly in the skin.  Also, you can blend protein and fat.  You can’t juice protein and fat.

A typical smoothie for me includes a protein (almond milk with Greek yogurt or protein powder), carbs (apples, bananas, grapes, berries – pretty much any fruit you can think of) and fat (nut butters, flax, chia seed, avocado).  I also like to add green to my diet.  Up until this week, the green was spinach.  Spinach is tasteless.  I promise!  But I branched out this week and tried baby kale.  Love!  But I would recommend starting with the spinach.  Without one of those components it’s just not a complete meal.  Smoothies run you at about 300 to 350 calories.  So if I’m drinking smoothies, I am snacking more to make sure I’m getting enough calories.  Also, sometimes I’ll leave the fat out of the smoothie and eat that on the side.

Am I trying to lose weight?  No.  The number that appears on the scale doesn’t matter to me at all.  But I do feel lighter this week.  Is it something that I’ll do for the rest of time?  Nope.  I probably won’t drink a smoothie this weekend or over the honeymoon (but I will be drinking pina coladas).

So there you have it.  That’s why I’m drinking smoothies.  And that’s why I’m not drinking juice.

 

Pasta with Toasted Garlic, Dried Cranberries, Kale and Feta

Al dente [brown rice] spaghetti.

Sweet and plump dried cranberries.

Vibrant green kale.

Salty, crumbly feta.

Crispy garlic chips.

One of the most amazing flavor combinations ever.

I had all the ingredients in my kitchen when I ran across this recipe (for the 38th time) and I knew I had to try “the best pasta dish. ever.” for myself.

I couldn’t get over the flavors!  Each bite was different.  But my favorites included the garlic chips.  I see garlic chips making another appearance very soon.  Very, very soon.

Please, go get the recipe from the link above and make this for dinner tonight.  It comes together in a flash and the flavors will not disappoint.

Detox Smoothie

Wedding Month is here!  And there’s no April Fool’s about that.   I hope everyone had a lovely Easter weekend.  I got to spend lots of time with Baby Haines and I savored every moment!  That little  monster bunny has such a personality these days.  I can’t wait to (hopefully) see her in two weeks!

In addition to kissing Haines to death, we went to our favorite bar for a drink before dinner on Saturday.

It’s 5 o’clock somewhere!

This cocktail had me dreaming of our honeymoon!

After dinner on Saturday, we dyed Easter eggs.  A tradition that will never stop!

Easter eggs!

We also came home to discover that our asparagus had grown.

Spring asparagus

And I can’t think of any better end to an Easter weekend (other than Monday off work) than a mini bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs.  My absolute favorite Easter candy!

Easter favorite

This morning, I woke up ready to tackle the week (thanks to a 8:15pm bedtime)!  After my morning trip to the gym, I knew that a green smoothie was just what I needed.

This detox smoothie recipe came from the latest issue of Self magazine.

green breakfast

In the blender: 1 cup almond milk (instead of skim milk), 1/2 banana (frozen), 1/2 pear (chopped), 2 handfuls spinach (instead of kale), 2 tablespoons pistachios, sprinkle of ground ginger and 1 tablespoon flax seed.  Blend until creamy!

 

Lost in the shuffle.

The past few weeks have been a blur!  Between wedding planning (who’s getting married?) and well, life, I haven’t had a chance to share everything!  So here’s a run down of things that have gotten lost in the shuffle.

pizza and wine

Sometimes frozen pizza is necessary.  A few weeks back, one of those times happened.  This was my first time trying Trader Joe’s 3-Cheese Gluten Pizza and I must say it was awesome.  This will be purchased again.  And the wine?  It was a red wine blend that somehow appeared in our wine rack.  Though I don’t consider myself a “red wine drinker” this was actually rather tasty.

frozen dinner

With the frozen pizza, I served frozen green beans.  What can I say, it was a Betty (not Martha) kind of night.  But I did doctor up the green beans with caramelized onions and balsamic vinegar.

jam bars

I baked!  My Momma mentioned jam bars she made using a recipe from the Pioneer Woman and it made me excited to try Jenna’s Jam Crumb Bars.  I used strawberry jam and Big Guy loved ‘em.

green pizza

St. Patty’s Day seems like moons ago, but I can’t help but show you our creation.  Corned Beef and Potato Pizza.  I made a few changes to the recipe – using a gluten-free pizza dough mix, less creme fraiche and a “real” potato instead of frozen mashed potatoes.  Big Guy also cooked up some corned beef to chop up.  The pesto guoda is where it’s at, though!  It is an insanely weird color but it is insanely delicious.  But honestly, can you go wrong with pesto infused cheese?  It was available in limited amounts at Trader Joe’s.

Can you believe it’s the last week of March?

 

Small Bites

Like I mentioned Wednesday, this past weekend I had the most perfect bridal shower I could ever imagine.  But today, let’s focus on the food.  The food was incredible (and all gluten-free!).

the spread

The hostesses totally out-did themselves.  I wanted to share the small bites because most of them come together in no time at all and I think they’d be perfect for any Spring gathering (it is officially Spring now…despite this cold weather).

apricot and brie bites

Daphne was responsible for these addicting nuggets.  From what I can tell, dried apricots (TJs has some fantastic ones) were cut in half and stuffed with brie, an almond and a sprig of thyme.  Quite the perfect bite.

skewers

Maggie was in charge of these pretty skewers.  On the left, there are skewers with pepperoni, olives and mozzarella.  On the right, skewers of grape tomatoes, mozzarella and basil.  Super easy and delicious.

avocado salsa

Daphne made this dish, too.  I know for a fact that it has avocados, tomatoes, feta and cilantro.  Whatever it is, it’s divine.  Daphne – can you share a link or exact ingredients in the comment section?  I think she originally found the recipe off Pinterest and it’s amazing.

There was also a platter of fresh fruit kabobs,  a cheese plate and some gluten free spinach ball with marinara sauce (from Pinterest) that were awesome.  Like I said, all the food was delicious.

Now go enjoy appy hour!

mimosa bar

Black Bean, Hominy and Kale Stew

A hearty, vegetarian dinner that will please anyone eating dinner with you!  Don’t let the “vegetarian” part scare you away.  It’s full of flavor that is beyond whatever you’re thinking when you hear the word “vegetarian.”  I typically eat vegetarian 3 or more days a week.  Not necessarily on purpose but it just happens that way.  I will say, though, that I eat lots of beans, hummus, eggs and nut butter, all of which have protein.  Big Guy has never complained about eating a vegetarian meal.  But I make sure that it’s delicious and hearty enough to keep a grown man satisfied until breakfast.

This dinner does take a little preparation but once all the ingredients are prepped, the meal comes together in a flash.

The “meat” of this soup is the black beans, hominy and kale (hence the name, I suppose) but there’s also pureed tomatillos and roasted poblanos that add a huge depth of flavor.  Roasting poblanos is easy – simply place in the oven under broil and let them get nice and charred.  Once their charred, place in a plastic bag, seal and let them “sweat it out” for 10 or 15 minutes.  Remove the char and chop – that’s it.  There also some heat in this stew from a jalapeno (deseeded for us).

I’ve actually never cooked with tomatillos or hominy before so that was fun.  And yes, I find cooking with new ingredients to be fun.

 

I topped my comforting bowl of stew with cilantro, Greek yogurt (instead of sour cream) and white cheddar cheese.  Talk about an incredible flavor combination.  Even the texture of this stew is fantastic – lots of stuff going on in this bowl of goodness.

 

Salad Beast

On average, I eat a salad every single day.  It’s my go-to lunch to pack up to take to lunch.  People thing salads are boring and boy, do I disagree!  But then again, I’ll throw anything on top of lettuce (or even without lettuce) and call it a salad.  A typical salad for me includes beans, feta or goat cheese, avocado or nuts and a light dressing.  Sometimes I’ll add fruit, like strawberries.  And sometimes I’ll add in hummus instead of beans.  Like I said, if it’s in the fridge, it can go on a salad.

Last week I add a salad of sorts not only for lunch every day but for dinner twice.  I’m a salad beast.  The bigger the salad the better.

On Tuesday night, I made the salad beast of my dreams.  A bed of lettuce was topped with candied pecans (Trader Joe’s makes some of the best ever!), dried cranberries (or you could use raisins) and feta (goat would be awesome, too!).

I always forget how much I loved dried fruit and pecans on a salad.  A combo that needs to be on a regular rotation!

And then on Wednesday night, I made Pistachio Cinnamon Chicken Salad.  I totally didn’t mean to feed my Momma two cold dinners in February but it’s just how things work out (I promised her a hot meal tonight! – yep, she’s back!). When I first came across this recipe I just knew it would be made in my kitchen.  I love pistachios and well, cinnamon is an underused spice, in my opinion.  So many people think cinnamon is just for sweet things – but I think it can be super savory, too.  The only change I made to the recipe was omitting the basil – I just didn’t want to waste buying an entire plant for 4 leaves when I knew it didn’t fit into the meal plan the rest of the week.

I used a rotisserie chicken from Harris Teeter’s deli to make the chicken salad.  I served a small salad with the most scrumptious strawberries on the side and some Nut Thins to scoop up the chicken salad.  This plate screams warm weather.  Bring.it.on.  So light and refreshing!

I am a salad beast.  No salad is too big for me.

Monday Confessions.

1.  I wrote this post on Friday.  (The weekends are just too precious to be blogging, folks!)  So you’ll just have to wait until tomorrow to hear about my weekend…unless you follow me on Instagram.

2.  I made an Apple-Stuffed Strata weeks ago when my family was visiting.

 

3.  This breakfast bake is the perfect lazy Sunday breakfast because you make it the night before.

4.  I didn’t eat the breakfast bake because it had good ole bread in it.  But it did smell incredible in the oven.  Just what I wanted my guests to wake up to.

5.  I don’t normally make Big Guy breakfast in the mornings.

6.  He doesn’t really like breakfast.  Though he’s digging Chobani lately.

7.  Big Guy pronounces Chobani differently every time he says it.

8.  Don’t get him started on trying to pronounce Fage.

9.  According to Big Guy, Chobani > Fage.

10. It’s only Monday and I’m wishing it was Friday.