Since summer is in full swing, farmer’s markets have popped up all over the place, and our gardens are starting to yield, I decided it was time to share one of my favorite summer recipes: Fresh tomato-basil pasta!
This recipe is:
Perfect for summer
Light and fresh
Low in calories
Full of heart-healthy fats and antioxidants
This summer, I’m only growing a little pot of herbs because I don’t have my own space to plant a garden; however, there is a permanent little farm market close by where I was able to pick up some local peaches, zucchini, and fresh tomatoes.
I didn’t like fresh tomatoes all that much growing up because the seeds and goop were a little too yucky for my picky self. As I’ve gotten older though, I’ve fallen more in love with the versatile flavor that they add to many dishes. Caprese salad is one of my favorite dishes with fresh tomatoes!
My mom and grandma used to make fresh tomato-basil pasta so I’m sharing that with you today! This is a perfect recipe for me because it’s cheap and quick to make. This pasta won’t take you longer than 15 minutes to make and only uses a handful of ingredients. I love using these scissors(affiliate link) to prep the basil even faster!
Sometimes you have a plan but when your body says no, you have to listen. I had planned a run for this evening but my knee had been sort of bothering me through the whole day and I was nervous that if I went for a run, I would make it even worse and maybe even more serious. I interrupted the hubby while he was studying (he’s taking his NPTE board exam in less than 3 weeks!) and he did some tests to check it out and we’re figuring that my left IT band is really tight and it’s causing the pain in the knee. Or something like that. I don’t know all the fancy terms but generally that’s what’s up. It’s causing my knee to click every so many steps that I take and the more I’m standing on it, the more it hurts. This is a bit depressing but I’m hoping that with some heat/cold therapy, stretching, and rolling, it will be feeling better in the next couple of days.
I had lunch with my family at dad’s (and I suppose still technically mine) work in the cafeteria and then spent an hour at the mall with my sister. She’s obsessed with American Eagle and wanted to buy something with her birthday gift card. We also hit up Godiva for a post lunch treat. Shame on me 🙁 I’m not going to regret enjoying myself though, just the $6 dent in my shrinking wallet.
I wanted to share a quick photo of my lunch because it was really that delicious! I cooked the sweet potato in the microwave last night and reheated it for lunch. I made a modified version of the farro salad last night as well and it’s exceeded my expectations. This was one of the recipes I’ve been looking at making for a while now and I think it’s going to become a regular for sure. I’d recommend trying it!
So I registered for the Iron Girl Columbia on August 16th and I’ve just completed my first week of training! Since I’ve been out of shape from the winter, I’m primarily working on rebuilding my cardiovascular endurance. Here’s my general workout and my favorite snack – a Nut Butter Banana Smoothie – for the past week:
Monday: Picked up a lot of healthy groceries at Whole Foods! (Not exactly a workout but hey, I took a lot of steps and eating home more is important!)
Tuesday: Signed up at the gym, did just over 21 minutes of hill intervals on the elliptical and a couple of various machines before going home. I also did a “My Routine” with about 20 minutes of Yoga on the Wii. I also started calorie counting on My Fitness Pal again today.
Wednesday: I swam laps for about 25 minutes and I did 600 meters. I played on the Wii Fit Plus for half an hour when I got home including my 20 minute Yoga Routine (I’m horrible! Really needing to work on my balance some more.)
Thursday: Zumba on the Wii. Wii I find that doing Zumba in my house helps me feel a little less stupid when I don’t know what I’m doing. I definitely feel like I have two left feet sometimes and when I try to add my arms… But it’s a nice variation to my workouts and it’s a good 30-minute workout.
Friday: I swam 400 yards in just under 17 minutes (including breaks) so I made improvement!
I made a Nut Butter Banana Smoothie today in an effort to replenish my tired body and I figured I’d share my recipe for it because it was just that amazing. This is a very loose recipe so that you can customize it to your preferences! More frozen bananas to less milk ratio will give a thicker smoothie bowl consistency.
Refreshing healthy breakfast smoothie. Cinnamon is the magic ingredient in this recipe, so don’t leave it out!
Ingredients
Scale
1–1.5 large frozen bananas
1–2 Tbsp of your favorite nut butter (I like peanut or almond) or 1/8 cup of walnut halves
1–2 cups of milk (I use unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
A few shakes of cinnamon
1–2 tsp Cocoa powder (optional)
Instructions
Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth and well combined. Pour into a clean glass and enjoy!
Switch out the nut butter for a small handful of walnuts if you like. It’s also a delicious combo.
Notes
Add a small amount of ice to cool it down if using a fresh banana.
This is a very loose recipe so that you can customize it to your preferences! More frozen bananas and less milk will give a thicker smoothie bowl consistency.
