Hi there! It's been a beautiful day here in San Diego - 85 and the sun shining bright! The beach was a great people watching scene today. I was bikini clad for the first time in quite awhile, soaking up the sun, relaxing, and reading for a couple of hours this afternoon. No complaints here! Today's recipe centers around one of the few veggies I never ate until recently - asparagus. My hubby is a fan of it, so I started giving it more of a try lately, and have found that as long as it's dressed up with a sauce or pasta, I don't mind it at all. Enter this dish: This dish is a simple meal that can be thrown together with ease in 20 minutes flat. I paired the asparagus and pasta with a lighter version of a heavy white cream sauce to keep it more waistline friendly. Random asparagus tip: To ... [Read More]
pasta
Buttery Lemon Pasta with Collared Greens & Mushrooms
Since I arrived in Jersey over a week ago, my diet has included way more of these... And NONE of these: I miss my usual daily smoothie, but I'm too chilly to eat them here! Good thing the soups I've been eating have been yummy. Though I haven't been able to experiment too much in the kitchen lately, one night last week my mom and I had the chance to come up with a new recipe together. She had mistakenly bought collared greens instead of kale, so we sought to figure out what we could do with it.... I had never played around with collared greens before, so I searched the Web for some meal inspiration. I got a basic understanding of collared greens and the flavors that seemed to be paired with it often. This is the yummy dish we wound up with: Buttery Lemon Pasta with ... [Read More]
Fettuccine with Pesto Wine Sauce
Happy Saturday! My morning was spent hiking with my hubby and dog; then my afternoon consisted of relaxing on the beach in Del Mar. It was a gorgeous day and I'm happy I got to spend most of it outside. Pretty nice weekend I'm having so far! Moving onto food... I'm not a huge pesto sauce fan. I don't dislike it, but I don't go crazy for it either. Yet for some reason this week I was in the mood to eat pasta with pesto. Sadly my basil plant is coming to an end (and I need to get another one very soon!), so during this week's food store trip, I nabbed a big container of fresh basil. While I wasn't looking to change up a classic pesto sauce too much, I did want to try to decrease the amount of oil I used. As I peered around my kitchen, I spotted wine and thought This could be a good idea! And ... [Read More]
On the Menu Tonight: Asian Noodles & Veggies
''Even the smallest act of service, the simplest act of kindness, is a way to honor those we lost, a way to reclaim that spirit of unity that followed 9/11." -Barack Obama ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Having been a vegetarian for 15 years, I’ve found that people tend to be interested in understanding what a diet containing no meat consists of. Next to being asked what I usually eat in general, the second most popular question is, ''If you don’t consume meat, how do you get enough protein?” To read about my top protein sources, check out my guest post on FitKit's Community blog: http://fitkit.me/blog/vegetarian-protein-sources/ Moving onto food, tonight's dinner was Asian-inspired and full of ... [Read More]
Broccoli Mac & Cheese: Take 2
Happy weekend! I'm excited for this weekend for a few reasons - 1.) The Olympics are about to begin any minute now! 2.) Adam's birthday is in a couple of days, and tomorrow we're celebrating it. I have a few surprises up my sleeve for his pre-bday day of fun! More on that later, but now onto food... Last week, I blogged about my failed mac & cheese attempt. As I mentioned then, I was eager to buy more ingredients to give it another try, and tonight I did just that. Macaroni & cheese is such a classic dish, but there are so many ways you can jazz it up a bit. Pasta, cheese, butter, and breadcrumbs obviously make for an indulgent dish, but I wanted to lighten it up a bit for a few reasons: #1 - so that I didn't feel guilty about eating a dinner with a ton of calories and ... [Read More]
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 ... [Read More]