Tag Archives: pasta

Out Of The Pan

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Yucky!  The olives and the cheese in this morning’s breakfast were both a little bit old and one of the two (or something!) made me feel sick all afternoon.  When Adam stopped by the apartment after his final he told me I looked dead.  Thanks, hun.  All I know is all of a sudden it was 3 pm and I still hadn’t eaten or left the house.

Leftover Pesto Pasta Casserole made with Healthy Spinach Pesto to the rescue!

I ate a little less than a serving, straight from the casserole.  If eating out of the serving dish occasionally is wrong, I don’t want to be right.

Dessert was straight out of Compton from the container as well.

I love afternoon baking projects.

I made a mini blondie (technically 2 servings) with butterscotch chips and shredded coconut.

I’m not going to share the recipe yet because it was a little too spongy.  Though it was pretty darn good topped with a scoop of vanilla bean frozen yogurt.

I really should be done with indulgences for the day, but nonetheless we’re headed to Brewfest!  20 samples of 3 ounce pours, here I come!

Stick The Finish

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I stuck the finish!  I continued my first day in weeks as a healthy, productive human being by whipping up a tasty, nutritious dinner.  Back off, Martha.

Earlier in the afternoon Adam and I took a quick walk down Elmwood.  We were both feeling twitchy and needed a chance to stretch our legs.  Walking was good for our extra energy, and splitting a Java Twix Bar was good for our souls.

It’s been years since I’ve eaten a traditional Twix, but man this was good.  The coffee undertones totally made it.

When we got home it was time to slave over a hot stove whirring food processor.  Just kidding, this recipe came together in a flash.  Meet your new go-to pesto:

Healthy Spinach Pesto, yields 11 ounces

  • 8 cups fresh baby spinach
  • 4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/3 cup toasted pine nuts
  • 2/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese
  1. Working in small batches, pulse spinach and oil in a food processor until.  Be sure to process until smooth, don’t stop when you’ve reached the grass cuttings consistency.
  2. Add parmesan and pine nuts and continue to process until well-combined.
  3. Can be stored in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

I love pesto, but store-bought varieties are anything but low-calorie and basil is so darn expensive that it’s not exactly cheap to make at home.  I’ve been curious about trying a spinach based pesto for a while and I think this totally worked.  The flavor is rich and nutty and not at all “healthy.”  Tastes can be deceiving though, here are the nutrition stats I calculated for a 1 oz serving –

I wanted to test the recipe in a dish I already knew was good so I turned to my Pesto Pasta Casserole.

I doubled the recipe, and switched penne for spirals but other than I stuck with the original.

And it’s official, we love this new pesto!

If when you make it yourself I recommend trying out my Pesto Pasta Casserole too.  It’s about the simplest recipe ever – just bake together pasta, pesto, arugula, and mushrooms – and it tastes delicious.  Make it, make it, make it!

What’s your favorite way to eat pesto?  I’m a big fan of cheeseless pizza with pesto and chicken.

Cheesy Peasy

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This afternoon I got my Great Fundraising Act contribution ready for mailing tomorrow.

Would you like to see what hand-rolling 30+ sugar cookie balls does to your palms?

Ouch!  But at least it makes it ok for me to get caught red-handed having a reward for my hard work.

Sugar cookie frosting sandwich, x2.

My snack embodied sweet, so dinner was savory.

Cheesy Peasy Garlic Pasta (recipe available here and included at the end of this post).

Plus a side of roasted asparagus.

I was so excited about the creation of this recipe – which totally achieved the thick, cheesy sauce I was shooting for – but unfortunately it didn’t really fill me up.  I wasn’t sure if I was really hungry or residually hungry though, so I decided to wait a bit before refilling my plate.  Adam had a volunteering commitment in our neighborhood so I walked with him to deliver a cookie sandwich to the friend he was meeting (hi, Patrick!).

When my stomach was still grumbly mid-walk I decided to stop by the co-op for some protein.  Waldorf chicken salad fit the bill.

It filled me up and pleased my taste buds, yum!  If you haven’t tried grapes in chicken salad yet you don’t know what you’re missing.

Cheesy Peasy Garlic Pasta, serves 4

  • 8 oz uncooked rigatoni
  • 1 cup frozen peas
  • 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 6 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
  • 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 2 Tbsp reduced fat cream cheese
  • 1 cup skim milk
  • 4 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
  • 2 Tbsp fat-free ricotta
  1. Cook pasta al dente according to box directions.  In the last three minutes of cooking time, add frozen peas to the boiling water.  Drain peas and pasta and set aside.
  2. While pasta is cooking, heat evoo in a large pan over medium-high heat.
  3. Add garlic to the oil and saute for 2 minutes; remove from pan and set aside.
  4. Add flour and cream cheese to the pan and cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
  5. Add milk to the roux mixture and cook 3 more minutes, stirring constantly until thickened.  Don’t worry if your mixture still is lumpy at this stage.
  6. Reduce heat to low and stir in cheddar cheese and ricotta.  When the sauce has fully mixed and achieved a smooth texture, remove the pan from the heat.
  7. Add pasta, peas, and cooked garlic to the sauce in the pan; toss to combine.
  8. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve with a vegetable.

Vacation At Home

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Some people find that having visitors is stressful, but I think it gives you a great opportunity to be a tourist in your own city.  It does help that my visitors are my (funny, easy-going) parents and they pay for everything!  When you have guests it’s like you get to take a vacation at home because they force you to view your city with fresh eyes.

Let me tell you though, vacationing at home can be exhausting! We’ve been falling into bed after 1 am every night and this post is two days in one because I just couldn’t make myself sit down at the computer before bed last night.  Even with double content I’ve got to keep this quick because otherwise it’ll be another post-1 am bedtime and my parents leave early tomorrow.

Tuesday morning started with a very unvacation-like trip to the orthodontist.  But then I took my parents to breakfast at Sweetness 7 Cafe.

S7C is a totally adorable coffee and crepes place; I plan on bringing a good book and camping out for the day eating crepes very soon.

I ordered an iced black tea,

and my parents and I split 2 crepes 3 ways.

Kiss Me I’m Irish – plain crepes with syrup and a cracked fried egg in the center.

Irish Blessing – caramelized fresh apples with melted brie.

Apparently we went Irish for breakfast, and the choice served us well.  I don’t have much experience for comparison but these are the best crepes I’ve ever had; so eggy!

After breakfast we walked a third of the loop around Delaware Park so my parents could see the Buffalos.

I continued to get my sweat on by taking advantage of their hotel gym while they got ready for the day.  30 minutes on the elliptical at random level 6.  It was amazing to have access to a tv at the gym, especially because I was the only one in there and I could control the remote.

Our next activity was a trip to the Albright Knox Gallery.

I wanted to snap a picture of practically everything, but I controlled myself and stuck to a few favorites.

The first day with a new set of retainers is always super painful so I went with a liquid lunch.

A Vega Vanilla-Almonde Shake and Go Smoothie packet that I grabbed from the co-op on a whim.  The flavor was good but not great, and this didn’t do an awesome job of sating my hunger, but I was definitely pleased with this –

And it’s just as well that I was left a bit hungry, because my best meal of the year was coming for dinner.  Don’t let the pictures fool you (why are restaurants always so darn dark?!), Scotch and Sirloin is basically a must-go!  I never would have ventured there if it hadn’t been for Groupon, but I am so glad that I crossed my fingers and bought the deal.

Adam and I split a bowl of crab bisque to start.

I also got a plate from the salad bar.

Romaine with mushrooms, artichokes, cucumber and French dressing.  Plus a slice of the best bread I’ve had since Great Harvest, super duper doughy.

For dinner my dad and I split the two best things on the menu: Fried shrimp,

and the double lobster tail with drawn butter.

Like butter dipped in butter!  We were so impressed with this meal, I can’t even tell you.  I ended up eating three fried shrimp,

most of one lobster tail,

and all of the veggies.

For dessert we ended up at a candy shop on Elmwood with an ice cream counter.

I went with Ciao Bella Gelato, a half scoop each of key lime pie and malted milk ball flavors.

Fashion note – How cute is the back of this shirt?!

I actually bought this years ago in college but it has a strange, unflattering band around the waist so I’d worn it maybe once or twice.  I can’t believe it took me so long to think of pairing it with a high-waisted skirt.

We sat outside of The Spot to eat our ice cream and I also drank a small, non-fat, iced Chai.

– – – Insert time (not enough!) to sleep. – – –

I picked my parents up bright and early this morning for breakfast at Panos.  I got the 2-2-2; french toast, sunny side up eggs, and hash browns.

I ended up eating one egg, 1 piece (1 half slice) of french toast, and all of my potatoes.  The amount of leftover food was a little annoying considering I ate exactly the portion of the 1-1-1 – from the kids’ menu – that they wouldn’t let me order.  However, after taking a bite of my dad’s blueberry pancakes I decided that Pano’s can do no wrong and a little wasted food isn’t a big deal.

Coffee #1 of the day was a tall iced coffee with skim milk from Starbucks.

Did I mention that I’m exhausted?

My parents are sleeping at our apartment tonight so I took advantage of their gym one last time before they checked out.  10 minutes of walking on the treadmill and 30 minutes on the elliptical.  I also carried both of my parents’ suitcases up our three flights of stairs and I’d like to count that as strength training!

Our big activity for the last vacation day was a long walk down Elmwood.  We stopped in to basically every store and I definitely discovered a few hidden gems.

Mid-afternoon we grabbed lunch from the Globe Market.

1/4 lb each peanut noodles and Thai vegetable salad.

Meh.  It wasn’t terrible but I’m honestly not a big fan of Globe.

Whether due to hunger or exhaustion or increased physical activity, hunger hit me hard this afternoon. We ran a bunch of random errands and during that time Adam and I split some new flavors of candy,

and I drank a chocolate milk.

Dinner at Chester’s Cajun Grill was a meal Adam and I had been looking forward to ever since we tried the Smoked Bourbon Chicken Sandwich at the Taste of Buffalo.  Of course we had to get the sandwich.

It wasn’t good!!  I can’t even tell you how said this made us.  It wasn’t terrible, but we could only rate it a 5/10 and the sandwich we tried at the festival was a 9.5/10.  I ate most of my meal but only because I was hungry; even the fries were pretty tasteless.

Thank goodness we had good company.  We ended our evening with a final trip to the Spot to sit and talk; we are going to miss my parents so much when they fly home tomorrow!  Coffee #2 – a grande, iced Americano with skim milk and two sugars – was actually consumed at 11 pm so I could make it through this post.

And I’m done; phew!

Canada to Collapse

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Whew; what a day, what a day!  When we start a vacation in my family we do it right!  My 1 am bedtime and 7 am wake up were enough to make anyone tired, but our walking tour of Canada is what did me in.  It sure was fun though.

My dad and I started our morning with a walk to Starbucks.

Grande iced coffee with skim milk for me.  We stopped at the Farmer’s Market on the way back and made breakfast extra delicious.

A serving of Cinnamon Puffins, a serving of All Bran Bran Buds, ultra-fresh black raspberries and skim milk.

This might be the best bowl of cereal I’ve had in this lifetime.

After the general fun of getting 4 people with 1 bathroom ready, we were on the road to Canada!  3 hours into what should have been a 2 hour drive every in the car was ready to muzzle me, but my cranky pants came off in a hurry when we finally reached our intended destination –

Menchies!  What’s Menchies?  Only the self-serve froyo place that completely stole my heart in Orlando.

I got Canadian maple and original tart froyo, topped with coconut, skor pieces, rainbow sprinkles, and strawberry bobba.

I wish I could remember the exact name of the bobba but it was something like “popping bobba” and it was maybe the most exciting thing I’ve ever eaten.  Sort of like big, soft pop rocks?

Amazing.

I actually got traditional bobba as well, since my next stop was for bubble tea!

Taro milk tea with tapioca.

What else can I say except amazing?

We spent the afternoon walking around Chinatown and the Fashion District and it was, dare I say it, amazing.

So many fun things to look at, I love exploring new cities!  Toronto has beautiful (new?!) architecture and is an amazing spot for people watching.

We ended up at Spring Rolls a Pan Asian spot for dinner.

I ate one fried wonton from our shared appetizer.

And for dinner I ordered the vegetarian Thai Spicy Noodle – extra veggies, extra spicy – which were similar to my beloved Pad See Eiw.

Flat rice noodle stir-fried with basil leaf, eggplant, chili, onion and sprinkled with sesame seeds.

Since I ordered extra veggies I ended up with bok choy and lots of broccoli.  And since I ordered Thai spicy I ended up with a completely spice-free dish minus one clump of chili peppers hidden in a bok choy that made me cry and cough until tears were running down my cheeks.

Still good though.

The drive back home was much less painful and before I knew it we were dropping my parents off at their hotel.  I can’t wait to see what we do tomorrow!

Do I have many Canadian readers? Say hi, please!

Leftovers For Brunch

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I still haven’t finished my June book (per my resolution to read one new book a month), so that’s where I was all morning.  I wanted to do brunch today, rather than breakfast and lunch, so that worked out nicely with my schedule.

I’m going to yoga at 1:30 (first class since I tweaked my back, yay!) at the lunch-time timing had me worried.  I want to be well fueled, but not full bellied.  Chinese leftovers for brunch to the rescue!

My take-out dinner did in fact end up being good, although clearly I ordered too much since this plate isn’t even all of my leftovers.

On the agenda for today –

  • yoga
  • lots of cleaning the apartment before my parents get here
  •  making the dinner I kept putting off
  • high-brow reading

Tantrum Take Out

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This afternoon I microwaved two mini corn tortillas with 2 slices of sharp cheddar to make a quick quesadilla.

I also made a Coke float.

My decadent snack had just under 500 calories, perfect to make up for missing breakfast.

Plus, so tasty!

When Adam got home this evening we laid down on the bed so he could tel me about his day, and promptly fell asleep.  I woke up disoriented with a headache to boot.  I had a mini tantrum and our planned dinner got scrapped in favor of Chinese food.

I ordered a pint of vegetable Chow Fun,

and a pint of vegetarian General Tso’s chicken.

I hope they’re good!

What’s your go-to take out dinner when you’re having a tantrum?

Buffalo Mini Meet-Up

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Buffalo has finally arrived to hot hot summer weather (ie we hit the high 80’s today) and it was the perfect afternoon for a sundae.

I ate exactly one serving of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and was pleasantly surprised by how large the serving was (when I’m not eating it by the container, ice cream is one of the things I use my food scale for).  My bowl was super bulked up by the additions of chocolate syrup, a tiny crumble of coffee cake, and a nice juicy plucot.

I’m loving the summer produce today, this was the first plucot I didn’t taste and toss this year!

This evening was spent at my first blogger meet up!

L to R – Katy (a reader), me, and Katie (a reader and IRL friend).  A few people had to bail at the last minute so it was a pretty teeny “meet up” but the small group meant we could have a real conversation, yay!  Of course I was lame and akward and I’m sure I could have used the buffer of a crowd, but I had a great time.

We went to Saigon Cafe since they can work with meat-eaters and veggies alike. Katy ordered the summer roll appetizer and shared a piece with me.

And I ordered the Pad See Eiw special – extra veggies, level 5 spicy – for my dinner.

Extra veggies meant tons of squash which was delicous, and this actually had a bit of spice to it (though no where near as much as I’d like).

Good food, good conversation, good meet-up!

Katy and Katie both had long walks home so I went with them.  We stopped at the Co-op like good healthy living blog readers should.  I went home with Katie to try on her Lululemon Ta-Ta Tamer.  I loved it (yay!), but determined that my boobs are ginormous (yay?).