Eggplant and sun dried tomato penne with italian herbs sauce

Eggplant, sundried tomatoes, Italian herbs, salt, pepper, garlic, olive oil and grated parmesan cheese with penne.

Mmm! This was delicious! I love eggplant, but have never cooked pasta with it--definitely a great fit.

Creamy tomato sauce pasta with asparagus and bell peppers.

More asparagus and bell peppers! This time over pasta with a nice garlicy tomato sauce that I made with tomatoes, onion, salt, pepper, parmesan cheese, garlic, and a little bit of milk. I purposefully had not that much sauce, but a whole lot of veggies!

Buckwheat noodle salad with fresh tomatoes and couscous.

Nice and light and delicious. :)

Pesto veggie pasta salad.

Pasta, frozen veggies (I'm really getting through these!), Cibo Naturals Pest, a little Tapatio, a little parmesan cheese. Mmmmmm! Relatively healthy and delicious. I tried to get lots of veggies in there and only had a small bowl of this with a small bowl of caesar salad!

Creamy arrabiata with pasta.

Yup. Prego. :)

Mixed with cream, Tapatio, spices, sausage, red onion, capers and eggplant. This sauce was SO good I wanted to have it as a soup! Haha.

It was perfect with some pasta though. I "slow" cooked everything in the sauce, over low heat, until the onions and eggplant were soft and I could really smell the capers.

I like my arrabiata spicy so this had a good kick to it. I topped with a little grated parmesan cheese and, oh man, I have to say--this was just really yummy!

Minor minor softball picnic.

Romaine, dried cranberries, toasted almonds, blue cheese vinaigrette dressing.

Spaghetti, kalamata olives, capers, tomatoes, red onions, garlic, olive oil, spices, balsamic vinegar. I added parmesan cheese to this after packing it in the tupperware. I always rinse my capers because otherwise I find them too salty. This went into tupperware for the picnic! :)

Softball game! There's a softball field two blocks from my place and it's so fun to go watch the minor minor league games! Haha. I'd been meaning to pack a picnic and take a friend to watch, so we finally made it happen! It was a lovely night, too. I was just too busy eating to take any more photos! :) Just to note--we weren't eating from there, there are bleachers and we parked ourselves behind home base. :)

Strawberry salad and simple pasta lunch.

Strawberry salad: romaine, candied pecans, blue cheese dressing, cracked black black pepper, fresh strawberries and my strawberry vinaigrette dressing. This was AMAZING. I love fresh strawberries in salads! Strawberry salads scream "summer" in the best way! :)

Very simple pasta: olive oil, parmesan, garlic salt, and a mix of a few spices.

Casarecce with shrimp, tomatoes and capers, tossed with parmesan and garlic herbs.

Tomatoes! These were chopped first, but will go in last so they don't get all soggy.

Shrimp with garlic herbs and a little paprika, cooked in olive oil.

Cooked and then set aside so they don't overcook..

I tossed the slightly undercooked pasta, capers and tomatoes with olive oil, parmesan, garlic herbs and cracked black pepper. Once the capers start warming, you'll really start smelling them. Mmm! Then I added shrimp just to warm them up a bit.

Yummy. This is good hot or cold. :)

Simple creamy pesto penne.

I mixed together some pesto, light onion chive cream cheese and skim milk, garlic seasoning (that includes salt).

Tossed with some penne. It was good, but I think I prefer pesto pasta salads (cold).

Pre US Half Marathon carbo-load dinner.

Romaine, carrots, goat cheese, toasted almonds, honey mustard vinaigrette dressing.

Tomorrow I'm running the US Half Marathon: The Other Half, here in SF! My favorite part about running a marathon is, of course, carbo-loading the day before!!!! Yay! Here was the non-carb loaded part of the meal! :)

When carbo-loading, it's easy to go Italian, so that's what I opted for. I got a baguette, cut two pieces, sliced the pieces in half and then thew them in the toaster oven.

Meanwhile, I whipped together a balsamic vinaigrette, olive oil and herb mix, drizzled some on the baguette.

Topped with some sauteed veggies: zucchini, yellow onion, tomato, mushrooms with some garlic and a little balsamic vinegar. A mild feta to finish it off. These were awesome.

Whenever I do cream sauce, I just wing it! It's hard to go wrong. I used heavy cream, cream cheese, parmesan cheese, feta, garlic, black pepper and a garlic seasoning mix. It was a tad salty, even though I didn't use any salt (the garlic seasoning), but that was okay because veggies still needed to go in..

I just used the same veggies that went into the bruschetta: zucchini, tomatoes, yellow onion, mushrooms. Easy, delicious, not very healthy sauce, that was going over a bed of whole wheat spaghetti.

The whole meal! YUM! I think this was carb-loaded. It was also vegetarian! Everything turned out nicely, but the bruschetta was my favorite part. Mmm! :)

Here's wishing me luck in the race tomorrow! :)

Amazing garlic mac & cheese casserole.

Oooh man. I found this box and it wasn't expired so I thought I'd try putting it to some use.. Boiled the macaroni..

Chopped up some onion, a small potato and one large yellow bell pepper. Sauteed those babies with some garlic-herb seasoning..

Added the macaroni, some chopped up sausage, jalapenos, a little milk, a bit of butter and, of course, the cheddar! For an added creamy yumminess I decided to add havarti, too. :)

Mixed, spread evenly in the pan, and ready to bake! I mixed in a bit more of the garlic herb seasoning, too. :)

Annnnnd baked. Annnnnd amazing! :)

This really was quite delicious. I had it as a side with a simple side salad and a bowl of soup. It wasn't too salty, wasn't too cheesy (If I was going for proper mac & cheese I would have just added some havarti to the box.), the garlic-herb flavor came through, and the jalapenos added just the right kick. :)

Light dinner and wine at Elemental Next Door., Gasworks, Seattle.

I love any restaurant that greets you with a glass of complimentary champagne. :)

Our server recommended this wine and it was perfectly to start out the evening. V drinkable, nothing too fancy--very nice.

Artichoke dip.

Their signature stuffed peppers.

Ravioli.

This was all so delicious. And well priced! All bottles of wine are $30 and the menu is served in small plates to share, tapas style. Our tab came out to $15 each for such a great setting, and outstanding food & drink!

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Yelp

Oil and herb pasta sauce with vegetables and spicy sausage.

I made pasta sauce! I guess it's kind of sauce? I used all of the artichokes in one of those Costco huge jars, but they are marinated in oil and herbs. I used that as the base instead and then added jalapeno juice, garlic, lemon pepper, basil, onions, mushrooms, red bell peppers and spicy sausage. It turned out great.

And with some al dente spaghetti! Deee-lish.

Dinner at Dockside, Coeur d'Alene, ID.

I got the pasta trio. It was pretty good. I liked the penne pesto-gorgonzola (right) the best. The bread there was amazing, too. Haha. I love when restaurants have great bread! :)

The lights at the resort are soo pretty!

Love! :)

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Lunch at Clink's, Downtown, Spokane.

Cajun chicken pasta and yummy salad.

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Buttermilk pesto spaghetti with pine nuts, sun-dried tomatoes and parm.

Okay, so it sounds a little strange, but I just added a little bit of salt and buttermilk instead of milk to my basic pesto sauce to make it a little creamy.

Then I added my cooked spaghetti, sun-dried tomatoes and pine nuts--super easy! :)

Italian at 75 Chestnut, Beacon Hill, Boston.

75 Chestnut Tower
Great Starter to share!
Crisp fried calamari, hummus, tabouli,
char-grilled lavash points & pumpkin raviolis.
$21.00

Yummy! The calamari and ravioli were fabulous.

Steamed Mussels
PEI mussels with chorizo, roasted tomato,
garlic and fresh herbs.
$14.00

Pan Seared Halibut Filet
Lemon Basmati Rice, sugar snap peas,
garden vegetables and a char-grilled tomato-caper sauce.
$25.00

Pasta Ticino

Linguine sauteed with roasted vegetables, vine-ripened tomatoes,

pine nut pesto, arugula and freshly grated parmesan cheese.

$13.00

The bolognase was one of the specials that evening.

This place is super cute and gets very busy! The food is more traditional Italian, and a little on the blander side, but very good. They also have crackers and cheese as free bar bites!

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Ravioli with chicken sausage and sauteed veggies.

Spinach and cheese stuffed ravioli.

Italian herb chicken sausage, onion, red and green bell peppers.

Topped with a seasoning mix of grated parmasan, romano, basil, Italian seasoning and parsley.