Whole Wheat Penne with Arugula Pesto

I'm beginning to think I have an obsession with green foods. Avacados, spinach, pesto, bell peppers, salad, cilantro, lots of olive oil.....I never really relized how many green foods I eat! Another leafy green that I love is Arugula but the main grocery store we go to hardly ever has it. Well, I stopped in Earthfare yesterday and they had a box just waiting for me to take it home! I made up this pesto using things I had on hand and kinda guessed at the measurements. I used roasted the garlic instead of just mincing it, used pecans instead of pine nuts or walnuts, and some asiagio cheese. The final result has a nice peppery taste to it and the roasted garlic comes through without being overwhelming.  I may actually add a little more garlic next time. If you have any other kind of pesto recipes I'd love to here them!

Ingredients
Whole wheat penne pasta  (I just made enough for 2 servings)
2 cups of loosely packed baby arugula (large stems removed)
3 cloves of roasted garlic
1/4 cup of pecan pieces
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup of asiago cheese (parmesan works too)
dash of salt

Directions
For roasted garlic: Preheat oven to 400. Remove the outerlayers of the bulb leaving all the actual cloves intact. Cut off the top of the bulb to expose the tops of the cloves. Place onto a small sqaure of aluminum foil and drizzle with a little olive oil. Wrap up with aluminum foil and bake for about 35 minutes or until the garlic is nice and soft and it fills your house with it's wonderful aroma!

Place arugula, roasted garlic, pecan pieces, cheese and salt into food processor.

With the processor running, drizzle in the olive oil (if your processor doesn't have the tube for you to add in the olive oil just go ahead and add it with everything else). Pulse until the pesto has formed into a nice consistency. You can add more garlic or salt if desired. Mix a couple of spoonfuls of pesto in with the cooked penne pasta. Garnish with lemon slices.



Recipe source: Harper's Original

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad

I've been wanting to make a dish with Quinoa for awhile. My boss brought a dish with it one day for work and let me try it. And it was so good.  We use rice in a lot of dishes so I thought this might give us a litltle variety.  It's got kind of a weird texture, but I like it. It's light and airy and doesn't seem to be as heavy as rice. It does cost a little more than rice (at least what I found) so it's probably not the best for serving a huge crowd, especially if you are on a tight budget. I'll probaby start using it a little more though. The kind I bought was organic and was wheat and gluten free. I think there are different varieties, just like rice, so maybe next time I'll try another one.  The recipe below makes quite a bit, but I like having leftovers for lunch at work.  If you are just cooking for yourself or maybe 2 or 3 people and don't plan on eating leftovers I would definitely half it.

Ingredients
2 cups organic less sodium chicken broth

1 clove garlic, smashed

1 cup uncooked quinoa

2 large cooked chicken breasts - cut into bite size pieces

1/2 large red onion, diced

1 medium green bell pepper, diced

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

2 Tbps of dried parsley

2 Tbps of green onions

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 tsp of black pepper

2/3 cup fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

Directions

Bring the chicken broth and garlic to a boil in a saucepan. Stir in the quinoa, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender and the water has been absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes. Discard the garlic clove and scrape the quinoa into a large bowl.

Gently mix rest of ingredients except liquids into quinoa. Drizzle with the lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. Stir until evenly mixed. Serve warm or refrigerate and serve cold.



Recipe source: slightly adapted from allrecipes.com http://allrecipes.com/recipe/mediterranean-quinoa-salad/detail.aspx