Walnut Arugula Pesto

I’ve never really been into Valentine’s Day.  I’m all for expressions of love, but I don’t think they should be contrived, and I’ve always believed they should come from all sexes and genders (i.e. no ladies sitting around waiting for heart-shaped balloons and chocolates).  Plus, quite often by the time February comes around I’m feeling the need to make some serious dietary changes.  I exercise less in cold weather, sit around more, and eat a lot more comfort foods.  The last thing I want to do is go out for a big dinner and eat a ton of candy.

So this year for Valentine’s night dinner, G and I decided to make a pasta dish with quinoa rotini, roasted vegetables, chicken, and goat cheese. 

Part of our recent effort to make healthy eating easier during the week has been to prep food on Sundays.  One of the make-ahead items this week was roasted chicken breasts in lemon juice and olive oil, which we’ve had on hand to add to meals throughout the week (like Michelle Obama says, as a garnish). So by the time the veggies were roasted, everything else for this meal was pulled together and most of the clean-up was done.  For a sauce, we made a pesto in the food processor:

1 cup basil leaves
1 cup arugula
2 tbsp parmesan cheese
½ cup walnuts
3 garlic cloves
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

The arugula, which we got from the High Heeled Hippie at the Mississippi Farmer’s Market, really enhanced all of lemony flavors in the pesto and the rest of the pasta dish.

Nutrition Info Break Down: 
Pesto: Calories (276), Saturated Fat (3.2g), Unsaturated Fat (22.7g), Cholesterol (2mg), Carbohydrates (5.4g), Fiber (2.3g), Protein (6g)
Pasta: Calories (332), Saturated Fat (2.7g), Unsaturated Fat (1g), Cholesterol (31.2mg), Carbohydrates (50.1g), Fiber (5g), Protein (17.4g)

I don’t really consider myself to be a calorie counter, but this is a 600 calorie dinner full of nutritional goodness that we concocted in about 45 minutes.  Meals like this one and indoor soccer season are going to get me back to feeling healthy really soon! And I enjoyed making and eating some heart-healthy food with my boo…that’s true love people.

P.S. I just looked at the nutrition information page at the Olive Garden website as a basis of comparison for my Valentine’s meal…I feel really good about myself.