• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About Me
    • Contact
    • My Healthy Living Philosophy
    • Favorite Quotes
    • Privacy Policy
  • Recipes
    • Pancakes, Muffins & All Things Breakfast
    • Smoothies, Beverages & Juices
    • Soups
    • Salads
    • Appetizers & Sides
    • Pasta & Grains
    • More Dinner
    • Desserts
    • Snacks
  • Fitness
    • Workouts to Try
    • Studio Reviews, Workout Inspiration & Events
  • Travel & Reviews
    • California
      • California Hikes
    • New England & New York
    • Other U.S. Adventures
    • Europe
    • Mexico
    • Thailand
    • Morocco
    • Costa Rica
  • Motherhood
  • Nav Widget Area

    • Bloglovin
    • Email
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Pinterest
    • RSS
    • Snapchat
    • Twitter

Foodie Loves Fitness

Sharing my passion for living a healthy & happy life

Subscribe

Subscribe to email updates & never miss a post!

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!! 😉
Spread the love

January 21, 2012 7:49 pm foodielovesfitness 1 Comment Filed Under: Dinner

Sign up for my health coaching newsletter!

Reader Interactions

Trackbacks

  1. Getting Out of My Comfort Zone « foodie meets fitness says:
    February 7, 2012 at 7:36 pm

    […] when I had dinner at a restaurant specializing in crepes and then said I was going to learn how to make them well […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Welcome to my blog!

I'm Nicole, and I’m passionate about all things food, fitness and healthy living. I'm a toddler mom, certified health coach, freelance writer, and long-time health nut. Here I share my vegetarian recipes, workouts, fitness trends, travel adventures, and motherhood & health musings. Read more about me…

Looking for Something?

The Latest on Instagram

School’s out for my little girl ☀️& here are 4️⃣ screen-free tools that I’m using to keep my 6 year old busy and learning when we’re home this summer: 

1️⃣ @mondaymandala’s awesome array of free digital printables on just about anything you can think of 🖍️

2️⃣ @youngwildandfriedman’s amazing sensory kits that are high-quality and last forever. I have purchased a serious amount of these play dough and sensory sand kits over the years & they are worth every penny! My kiddo will spend hours setting up all of the little trinkets and building little play dough towns.

3️⃣ @Canva’s printable educational worksheets ✏️ For instance, I printed out money worksheets & am planning on doing a money lesson that includes us emptying out her piggy bank to delve deeper into currency & paying for something she wants at the store with her own 💵

4️⃣ A @brain_quest workbook — I bought one last summer as well & we love incorporating it into little lessons at home! 

#kidactivities #summerbreak #screenfreeparenting #momsofinstagram #learningathome
foodielovesfitness
foodielovesfitness
•
Follow
School’s out for my little girl ☀️& here are 4️⃣ screen-free tools that I’m using to keep my 6 year old busy and learning when we’re home this summer: 1️⃣ @mondaymandala’s awesome array of free digital printables on just about anything you can think of 🖍️ 2️⃣ @youngwildandfriedman’s amazing sensory kits that are high-quality and last forever. I have purchased a serious amount of these play dough and sensory sand kits over the years & they are worth every penny! My kiddo will spend hours setting up all of the little trinkets and building little play dough towns. 3️⃣ @Canva’s printable educational worksheets ✏️ For instance, I printed out money worksheets & am planning on doing a money lesson that includes us emptying out her piggy bank to delve deeper into currency & paying for something she wants at the store with her own 💵 4️⃣ A @brain_quest workbook — I bought one last summer as well & we love incorporating it into little lessons at home! #kidactivities #summerbreak #screenfreeparenting #momsofinstagram #learningathome
1 week ago
View on Instagram |
1/9
Spent the day at 📍Murrieta Hot Springs & thoroughly enjoyed it there! 

While we have visited numerous fun hot springs with our daughter, it was definitely nice to be out of mom mode & experience our local hot springs while our little one was in school. From hot tubs and cold plunges to saunas & clay mud, we got to kick back & enjoy it all! 

#daydate #hotsprings #californialiving #relaxation #playinghooky
Spent the day at 📍Murrieta Hot Springs & thoroughly enjoyed it there! 

While we have visited numerous fun hot springs with our daughter, it was definitely nice to be out of mom mode & experience our local hot springs while our little one was in school. From hot tubs and cold plunges to saunas & clay mud, we got to kick back & enjoy it all! 

#daydate #hotsprings #californialiving #relaxation #playinghooky
Spent the day at 📍Murrieta Hot Springs & thoroughly enjoyed it there! 

While we have visited numerous fun hot springs with our daughter, it was definitely nice to be out of mom mode & experience our local hot springs while our little one was in school. From hot tubs and cold plunges to saunas & clay mud, we got to kick back & enjoy it all! 

#daydate #hotsprings #californialiving #relaxation #playinghooky
Spent the day at 📍Murrieta Hot Springs & thoroughly enjoyed it there! 

While we have visited numerous fun hot springs with our daughter, it was definitely nice to be out of mom mode & experience our local hot springs while our little one was in school. From hot tubs and cold plunges to saunas & clay mud, we got to kick back & enjoy it all! 

#daydate #hotsprings #californialiving #relaxation #playinghooky
Spent the day at 📍Murrieta Hot Springs & thoroughly enjoyed it there! 

While we have visited numerous fun hot springs with our daughter, it was definitely nice to be out of mom mode & experience our local hot springs while our little one was in school. From hot tubs and cold plunges to saunas & clay mud, we got to kick back & enjoy it all! 

#daydate #hotsprings #californialiving #relaxation #playinghooky
Spent the day at 📍Murrieta Hot Springs & thoroughly enjoyed it there! 

While we have visited numerous fun hot springs with our daughter, it was definitely nice to be out of mom mode & experience our local hot springs while our little one was in school. From hot tubs and cold plunges to saunas & clay mud, we got to kick back & enjoy it all! 

#daydate #hotsprings #californialiving #relaxation #playinghooky
foodielovesfitness
foodielovesfitness
•
Follow
Spent the day at 📍Murrieta Hot Springs & thoroughly enjoyed it there! While we have visited numerous fun hot springs with our daughter, it was definitely nice to be out of mom mode & experience our local hot springs while our little one was in school. From hot tubs and cold plunges to saunas & clay mud, we got to kick back & enjoy it all! #daydate #hotsprings #californialiving #relaxation #playinghooky
2 weeks ago
View on Instagram |
2/9
This or That Day — or as she called it, The Best Day Ever! — with my highly opinionated child 😁 

#momsofinstagram #girlmom #qualitytime #thisorthat #momlife
foodielovesfitness
foodielovesfitness
•
Follow
This or That Day — or as she called it, The Best Day Ever! — with my highly opinionated child 😁 #momsofinstagram #girlmom #qualitytime #thisorthat #momlife
1 month ago
View on Instagram |
3/9
This dinner at Eastern Mediterranean restaurant @ammatoli in Long Beach, CA 📍deserves a place on the grid — because sometimes, a foodie mom simply *must* book the reservation as she drools looking at the menu online, all the while having zero confidence that her mini me will be willing to eat a morsel of food there. 

Our veggie-forward dishes, the ambiance & aesthetic, the service…all exquisite at Ammatolí! Swipe to see my daughter’s obsession - their mint tea! 🌿☕️ She too left a happy camper, with a belly full of tea and warm pita bread. 

#californiatravel #mediterraneanfood #healthyeating #foodiesofinstagram #momlife
This dinner at Eastern Mediterranean restaurant @ammatoli in Long Beach, CA 📍deserves a place on the grid — because sometimes, a foodie mom simply *must* book the reservation as she drools looking at the menu online, all the while having zero confidence that her mini me will be willing to eat a morsel of food there. 

Our veggie-forward dishes, the ambiance & aesthetic, the service…all exquisite at Ammatolí! Swipe to see my daughter’s obsession - their mint tea! 🌿☕️ She too left a happy camper, with a belly full of tea and warm pita bread. 

#californiatravel #mediterraneanfood #healthyeating #foodiesofinstagram #momlife
This dinner at Eastern Mediterranean restaurant @ammatoli in Long Beach, CA 📍deserves a place on the grid — because sometimes, a foodie mom simply *must* book the reservation as she drools looking at the menu online, all the while having zero confidence that her mini me will be willing to eat a morsel of food there. 

Our veggie-forward dishes, the ambiance & aesthetic, the service…all exquisite at Ammatolí! Swipe to see my daughter’s obsession - their mint tea! 🌿☕️ She too left a happy camper, with a belly full of tea and warm pita bread. 

#californiatravel #mediterraneanfood #healthyeating #foodiesofinstagram #momlife
foodielovesfitness
foodielovesfitness
•
Follow
This dinner at Eastern Mediterranean restaurant @ammatoli in Long Beach, CA 📍deserves a place on the grid — because sometimes, a foodie mom simply *must* book the reservation as she drools looking at the menu online, all the while having zero confidence that her mini me will be willing to eat a morsel of food there. Our veggie-forward dishes, the ambiance & aesthetic, the service…all exquisite at Ammatolí! Swipe to see my daughter’s obsession - their mint tea! 🌿☕️ She too left a happy camper, with a belly full of tea and warm pita bread. #californiatravel #mediterraneanfood #healthyeating #foodiesofinstagram #momlife
1 month ago
View on Instagram |
4/9
Work flexibility is priceless ✨ I’m so grateful that I can work varied hours running my PR biz and do all the fun things with my kiddo on school breaks—and every Friday when we have homeschool days together! 

#sandiego #californialiving #momsofinstagram #girlmom #momprenuers
foodielovesfitness
foodielovesfitness
•
Follow
Work flexibility is priceless ✨ I’m so grateful that I can work varied hours running my PR biz and do all the fun things with my kiddo on school breaks—and every Friday when we have homeschool days together! #sandiego #californialiving #momsofinstagram #girlmom #momprenuers
2 months ago
View on Instagram |
5/9
The root of joy is gratitude ✨ Comment with something you’re feeling grateful for this week! 

#gratitude #waves #sandiego #joyfulliving #californialiving
foodielovesfitness
foodielovesfitness
•
Follow
The root of joy is gratitude ✨ Comment with something you’re feeling grateful for this week! #gratitude #waves #sandiego #joyfulliving #californialiving
2 months ago
View on Instagram |
6/9
Guess she learned about April Fool’s Day at school & decided the eeestr buneey is a prankster🐰😆 

#momlife #jokester #happyeaster #girlmom
foodielovesfitness
foodielovesfitness
•
Follow
Guess she learned about April Fool’s Day at school & decided the eeestr buneey is a prankster🐰😆 #momlife #jokester #happyeaster #girlmom
2 months ago
View on Instagram |
7/9
Celebrated the start to the spring season by baking with @imthecheftoo’s Bunny Bundts kit! 

I really let Cam take the reins with this one, and while it doesn’t look exactly (or anything 😂) like the box, the bundt cakes tasted delicious and we had a great time together! 

Use the code foodielovesfitness15 to get 15% off your first I’m the Chef Too Kit. 

#imthecheftoo #momlife #momsofinstagram #baking #girlmom #foodies #eatrealfood #happyeaster #hellospring
foodielovesfitness
foodielovesfitness
•
Follow
Celebrated the start to the spring season by baking with @imthecheftoo’s Bunny Bundts kit! I really let Cam take the reins with this one, and while it doesn’t look exactly (or anything 😂) like the box, the bundt cakes tasted delicious and we had a great time together! Use the code foodielovesfitness15 to get 15% off your first I’m the Chef Too Kit. #imthecheftoo #momlife #momsofinstagram #baking #girlmom #foodies #eatrealfood #happyeaster #hellospring
2 months ago
View on Instagram |
8/9
📍Murray Canyon Trail to Seven Falls is such a beautiful, scenic hike in Palm Springs 🌴

It features a palm tree oasis, rock scrambles & a number of stream crossings, which my daughter loved! When we hiked it last month, the water was high and FREEZING at the end 🥶 so bring your bathing suit if you like a cold plunge… This one was so much fun! ☀️

Details: 
🥾Murray Canyon Trail to Seven Falls
👣 4+ miles out & back
⛰️ About 600 ft elevation gain 
💲Must pay an entry fee at the Indian Canyons Toll Gate
❗️It was crowded when we arrived mid-morning & they do close temporarily when too many people are arriving. However, once we got to the parking lot, there was plenty of parking towards the back, closer to the trailhead. 

#palmsprings #californiatravel #hikingtrails #familytravel #hikingadventures #getoutside #kidswhoexplore #socal #roadtrip
foodielovesfitness
foodielovesfitness
•
Follow
📍Murray Canyon Trail to Seven Falls is such a beautiful, scenic hike in Palm Springs 🌴 It features a palm tree oasis, rock scrambles & a number of stream crossings, which my daughter loved! When we hiked it last month, the water was high and FREEZING at the end 🥶 so bring your bathing suit if you like a cold plunge… This one was so much fun! ☀️ Details: 🥾Murray Canyon Trail to Seven Falls 👣 4+ miles out & back ⛰️ About 600 ft elevation gain 💲Must pay an entry fee at the Indian Canyons Toll Gate ❗️It was crowded when we arrived mid-morning & they do close temporarily when too many people are arriving. However, once we got to the parking lot, there was plenty of parking towards the back, closer to the trailhead. #palmsprings #californiatravel #hikingtrails #familytravel #hikingadventures #getoutside #kidswhoexplore #socal #roadtrip
3 months ago
View on Instagram |
9/9
Follow Me

Tags

appetizer recipes at home workouts banana breakfast California California travel index dessert dessert recipes dogs European travel exercise featured adventure post fitness fruit giveaways goat cheese health health coaching healthy dessert healthy dinner ideas healthy eating healthy lifestyle healthy living healthy recipes healthy snacks hiking hiking trails pasta pumpkin quotes recipes San Diego smoothies snack recipes snacks travel vegan recipes vegan snacks vegetarian vegetarian recipes weight loss workout index workout inspo index workouts yoga

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Follow

Post Categories

Subscribe to My Health Coaching Newsletter!

Calendar of My Posts

January 2012
S M T W T F S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  
    Feb »

© Copyright 2016 · Pretty Lifestyle WordPress Theme by: PDCD