IT IS SO GORGEOUS HERE!

The sun is shining, the temperature is around 70 degrees and there is a fabulous breeze running through my house right now. Gosh, I am in a great mood!

Oh, before I forget – I want to tell you about the Honey Oikos from lunch!

Every year for as long as I can remember, I have gotten a raw, honey filled stick from the Varied Industries Building at the Iowa State Fair. Like this!

Every year I get super excited because I’m like this year…this year…I’m going to love it!!! But…I never do. I just can’t get into raw honey!! I adore it as part of sauces, etc. – but straight from the hive…nope, not for me. However, if you like honey you will freaking love this yogurt! One thing I’ve come to really appreciate about Oikos, is that their flavors are so natural and real. There is nothing fake about this honey flavored yogurt!

Din-Din: Pasta Pomodoro

So a couple days ago I saw a recipe from Mara’s blog for Rotini Pomodoro. I am a HUGE sucker for pomodoro sauces, so I thought I would give this one a whirl! I basically followed Mara’s recipe, but added in some onion…because I like onion So, I used:

• 1/4 large onion
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 3 small gloves garlic
• 5 roma tomatoes
• S&P
• sliced basil for topping

That’s it people! I sautéed the onion and garlic in the olive oil, added the chopped tomatoes and S&P and let everything get warm, thick and bubbly – about 8 minutes.

I served this over “whole-wheat white” pasta…yeah I don’t know what that’s all about. It’s this new Ronzoni Smart Taste pasta that apparently is:

Delicious white pasta plus 3x the fiber, and calcium equal to an 8oz. class of milk.”

Here’s a breakdown of the nutritional stats:

• Cals per 2oz: 180
• Total Fat: 1 g
• Total Carbs: 43g
• Dietary Fiber: 6g
• Sugars 1g
• Protein: 6g

Basically it’s enriched wheat pasta – but I’m not so sure why it’s considered “white”…gosh, sometimes this stuff makes my head explode! When I buy pasta, I’m looking for whole wheat, high protein, high fiber and low sugar. Maybe this didn’t fit the whole wheat bill (?) but it tasted great and it was on sale – so there you go!

This sauce was extremely light and flavorful! I tend to lean towards lighter sauces as opposed to alfredos, etc. on my pasta – so this was absolutely perfect for me!

Very summery, considering it was a hot meal – and the basil was a perfect topper! Thanks for the recipe, Mara!

I also made some garlic bread by spreading some butter on a slice of whole-wheat bread, sprinkled it with some garlic powder and placed it under the broiler for a few minutes. I just put it directly on the rack too…because I’m classy like that and it’s one less pan that I have to wash!

Oh, and of course dessert The sweetest part of my day…literally!

THIS IS DA BOMB!!!

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Do you guys have to have something sweet after each meal?

My oatmeal is usually sweet enough for me and usually I pack a sweeter fruit for lunch – but literally I HAVE to have something sweet after dinner. Have to – no way around it!