Good evening everyone!
I am so excited – look at my little baby tomatoes!! They’re of the Roma variety and I just can’t wait until they turn that gorgeous, scarlet color.
The taste of home-grown tomatoes is so special and is largely un-replicated by the varieties available in the grocery store, in my humble opinion. 
These were super easy to grow, too. I just bought starter plants at the Farmer’s Market at the beginning of the season, put them in big pots and watered them every couple of days. A couple months later – voila…tomatoes! 
Do you grow any anything? It’s so satisfying, isn’t it?
After I marveled at my tomatoes for a bit, I hit the trail for a 3.5 mile hot, sticky and sweaty run baby! Rain is on the horizon! Question: does anybody tend to tense up their neck, shoulders and/or arms when they run? My right arm always tenses up and today it hurt particularly bad since it was already sore from Jillian’s beat down last night! Ah well, I made it back home in once piece, which is the important part 
After a quick shower, I got to work on dinner – which was Drunken Garden Pasta!
I started by sautéing some onions and garlic in a skillet pre-heated with ~1/2 tablespoon olive oil. When those were soft, I added in a big handful of fresh baby spinach and 3 roma tomatoes, both roughly chopped.
While those guys were sautéing, I cooked my pasta. When it was done and was draining in the sink, I added a medium sized splash of some Chardonnay wine into the pasta pot on medium heat. After that reduced for a ~20 seconds, I added in a smaller sized splash of balsamic vinegar and ~1/2 tablespoon of olive oil.
Finally, I added the drained pasta, along with the onion, garlic, spinach & tomato mixture back into the pasta pot with the wine, vinegar & olive oil, and mixed. Drunken Garden Pasta was up!
I topped the whole bowl off with some Feta Cheese. Because, say it with me now, ‘feta makes everything beta’!!!! This was a super easy meal that came together in no time flat. All the ingredients were fresh and I just couldn’t have been more satisfied!
I read recently that you don’t have to say no to pasta (which I completely agree with!) Just treat pasta like an ingredient in your dishes. You wouldn’t put a whole onion and 10 cloves of garlic in this dish, so why do you need to put a whole box of pasta in?
Ok – SO jazzed about my snack for later on – Peanut Butter Filled Pretzels from Trader Joe’s!!! Ugh – these are like snack crack…seriously…
Love these babies!!
I have a whole evening ahead of me with nothing to do. I am SO pumped! I think I may catch up on The Deadliest Catch. Gosh, I love that show!!!
~~~~~
Do you eat a lot of pasta? What’s your favorite way to eat it?
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I’m actually not a huge pasta fan (especially plan old spahetti) but I do enjoy it occasionaly in a dish like this one. But I compeltely agree with you on portion sizes. Why people feel the need to cook up 2 cups of pasta is beyond me? There isn’t a whole lot of taste to it. For me, I use it as more a sponge to soak up all of the amazing falvors of whatever I am pairing it with.
You Italian dinner looks so fresh and tasty!
PS- Loved your morning post. What great tips and I especially love your added one of giving yourself credit. So true, small steps are key in keeping up with the motivation. There is no need to live by an all or nothing mentality, so long as you try!
Have a great night hun!
I’m not a huge pasta fan, but I’ve been trying to incorporate it into my meals more a) because it’s something different from sandwiches and burgers and b) we, too, use ronzoni smart taste which is quite nutritious. My favorite pasta dish I’ve made myself so far is 2oz spaghetti cooked and cooled, and then tossed with thai peanut sauce consisting of 1tbsp The Heat Is On peanut butter, 1/2 tbsp soy sauce and rice vinegar, some ginger and garlic and fresh cilantro.
I used to eat way, way, way too much pasta. Kind of makes me sick to think about it, actually. I now know I can’t have gluten, and the gluten free options for pasta just don’t measure up to the regular glutenous version… So I rarely eat it anymore!!
I grew tomatoes last summer and they were amazing. I have never seen a plant so prolific! I had fruit from December until May. I think it might have been because it was next to a lavender bush so the bees pollinated the tomato flowers. I’m growing beetroot at the moment (it’s winter here) so it’ll be interesting to see how they go.
Pasta looks great, the flavours of summer! I lurve pasta but I’m trying to eat less pasta, more sauce and I enjoy it like that as well!
I have a garden with tomatoes, peppers, onions, etc. and have canned salsa for many years. I have switched to fresh salsa exclusively, but I would like to can some tomato sauce as a base for pasta sauce, chili, etc (MSGs are no good for my wife’s stomach). Do you have any good sources for recipes to suggest?
I AM a huge pasta fan! Haha. That is actually one of my favorite ways to eat it too so my hat is off to you! I’ll do almost exactly what you had there but minus the wine and adding some pine nuts…and maybe some pesto! Might have to try out that wine!
I pretty much love a lot of pastas but I have to be in the mood. Spaghetti Bolognaise is a fave and so is lasagna. But I also love a good plain pasta with tomato sauce. Yum!
Isn’t growing your own veggies fun? I just harvested a giant zucchini yesterday. I can’t wait until my tomatoes, eggplant, and bell peppers start rolling in!
I love pasta in MANY ways, but my favorites are Peanut Butter Noodles and pasta salads.
I don’t eat alot of pasta. I don’t love it really. It’s so filling and not in a good way on my tummy. Yours looks beautiful though.
Uuugh I wish I could eat more pasta but my tummy can’t handle it :\
i am obsessed with those TJ PB filled pretzels. They are just so delicious!! Can’t eat just one
My hubby is obsessed with that show too
Your pasta recipe totally sounds like mine. Saute fresh veggies of some sort… add wine of some sort… add penne.
maybe some cheese. 
I made amazing pasta last night! I had grilled veggies (zucchini, mushrooms, garlic, red peppers, yellow peppers, green peppers and a red onion) leftover from my girls’ day on Sunday and I had a tomato. I sauteed the tomato in olive oil for a bit, added the grilled veggies and a 1/4 cup or so of merlot… let it cook down a bit, then added my cooked pasta. The only thing I was missing was parmesan cheese to sprinkle with, but I wasn’t about to go to the store just for parm!
Delish!
I LOVE pasta! And for any endurance runner it would be a sin to avoid it – your body needs the carbs! Shoulder/neck tensing is a very common issue – it tends to happen more the more tired you already are. Unfortunately, that’s counter productive because running tensed like that takes twice as much energy and will eventually affect your breathing. I recommend making relaxing your shoulders the focus of your run. Also, a lot of time the tensing comes as a result of too much “twist” in your upper body – make sure your arms are swinging “hip to nip” (directionally – don’t actually bring them up that far!)
Whew – long post but hopefully helpful!
~Kim
That pasta looks yum yum yummy! Last night I made your greek turkey burgers and they were great! The manfriend agreed. We had them on top of a piece of whole wheat double fiber 70cal bread w/ a little ketchup and mustard, a handful of fresh spinach, and a few slices of tomato. Yum! Also made a few extras for tonight. And we each had a bud light lime to go with. Perfect din din after some cycling!
The pasta recipe sounds great! I’m going to try it tomorrow!! Thanks for the idea
Those tomatoes look great! I love pasta and I don’t think I’ve tried any that I didn’t like. Back home, we would always make spaghetti. In restaurants, I’d choose pesto or spinach cannelloni. Yum!:D
A exceptional Blog about how to cook VEGETARIAN recipes.
That sounds awesome!! Love all the veggies!
Kristin @ Iowa Girl Eats http://iowagirleats.wordpress.com http://twitter.com/iowagirleats
Hmmmm – I like a really fresh pomodoro sauce like the one here: http://iowagirleats.wordpress.com/2009/06/03/sweet-finish/ It’s not extremely “saucy” but VERY light and fresh! Or, http://www.Allrecipes.com is always a great resource for recipes!
Kristin @ Iowa Girl Eats http://iowagirleats.wordpress.com http://twitter.com/iowagirleats
Awesome advice, Kim – thank you! I know – I can definitely feel the energy being sucked out of me when my arms tense up…definitely going to focus more on relaxing!
Kristin @ Iowa Girl Eats http://iowagirleats.wordpress.com http://twitter.com/iowagirleats