Walnut, Sundried Tomato, Feta, Basil Pesto!



Guten Tag Everyone! This week has been rain, rain, rain, rain and guess what... rain.  I thought our experience with hurricane Irene two weekends ago was enough rain and would allow for us to have some sun but nope.  Tropical Storm Lee just HAD to come over and ruin the sun party. I think we're going to be in the rain for a while.



Water for elephants. I've been meaning to read that book.

Last night called for something with pasta, chicken, and my about to go bad basil.  Since most pesto calls for fresh cheese (money money) and pine nuts (money, money, money) I decided to call my cheaper Costco friends (aka Feta Cheese and Walnuts) into action. 

Basil, Sun-Dried Tomato, Walnut, Feta Pesto! 

(This is what it is...)

Ingredients list:

• 1 C. Sun-dried Tomatoes
• 1 C. Water
• 4-5 Chicken Breasts
• 4 Tblsp. Olive Oil
• 1 Lemon
• 2 C. Basil
• 1/2 C. Walnuts
• 1/2 C. Feta Cheese
• 3-4 Cups cooked pasta (just until firm)

 First off I boiled 3-4 cups of any type of pasta just until firm  and set that out of the way.

Boil the Sun Dried tomatoes in 1 cup of water for 10-15 minutes in a small sauce or skillet pan. RESERVE the water to help make the pesto smooth.

Show these Chicadees who's boss! Laying down the pounder!

For the Chicadee:

2 Tblsp. Olive Oil in a large skillet over medium heat

 4-5 Chicadee breasts pound and season them with salt (or use season salt given to you from your awesome brother) and use plenty of black pepper 

 1 lemon zested on the face-up side of the Chicadees 

Let these little babies cook until nice and brown on one side then flip and squeeze  lemon juice around them.

 

Good price for the basil from LA Mart $1.79 pound

Basil goes in head first then the sun-dried ta-maters with the reserved water that they were boiled in.

Then add 2 Tblsp olive oil and a few Tblsp of water only if it doesn't become smooth enough to blend well. 

After adding the feta cheese and it should look like this!

Then get any veggies that you like and give them a shower.

You can let them nest on top the chickadees while the chicken is browning. 

BEHOLD THE YUMMY Mountain of veggies!

Season them with salt and pepper too, no need to add any more oil, lots of flavors already from the Chicks.

Now the Chickadees are just waiting patiently in the background.

I just love the golden crisp crunch of browned chickadees!

After the veggies were done I heated the pasta and 1 cup of the pesto for 5 minutes in the skillet getting all the noodles coated with the pesto flavors. Then I combined the pasta and veggies in a big bowel to get everybody well acquainted with the pesto.

 



This makes plenty of leftover pesto that will keep for at least a week or you could freeze it too. I plan to spread it on breads or if I need a quick sauce later this week I'll use the rest.

There's nothing like tasty pesto on a rainy day.



Ms. Furry Fern is getting soaked!



This week begins on Monday!

This week is off to a great start! We woke up to breezy temperatures in the upper 60's which is much deserving of a walk to school work as you can gather from the picture! Now that my foot is back in order (got off the silly crutches last Monday) I can take long walks again. No running or leaping yet but I'm just really grateful and I have a new appreciation for having two working legs.

What I learned from this experience is I get cranky and moody when I don't exercise and I get seriously jealous of walkers, joggers, movers, shakers, bicyclists AND even roller bladders when I have a non-ambulatory lower limb. (I really don't care for roller blading that much, as it always results in my face hitting the ground.)

Hopefully we hang on to this new routine of waking up early to walk to work because it's a much more peaceful way to start the day.

Speaking of routines I'm doing fairly well on my list so far.  Mostly everything except keeping in touch with family and friends better.  Folks I need to work on that so bare with me and I'll come around someday. :)

I have to add something to that list because I've already started it. Learning Filipino or rather I should say Tagalog.  I've been studying Spanish and Tagalog with a free trial to Rosetta Stone.  So far so good! I'm thinking I should organize what I learn on this blog. Of course not "take it" from Rosetta Stone, however expand on what I've learned because there just isn't a whole lot out there for learning Tagalog online. Actually there's not even much out there to even pay to learn Tagalog. So maybe folks could learn with me if I post it up for grabs on the Webby.

Hmmmm something to get started on!

 

Throwing in the towel...

That is, throwing in the towel into my gym bag. ;)  Today is the start of a new exercise regime that requires goggles + swim cap + towel = swimming. This is all thanks to my silly slip down up and falling on my ankle last Wednesday during my lunch time jog.

This here is what it looks like today. Less swollen now and some of the bruising is going down but at least I have this picture to remind me not to make the same mistake ever again. This was just a bad birthday present to myself.

 So what happened you ask? I was enjoying my music and the beautiful weather just jogging along and leaping (because that's what I do) and my last leap just happened to be a bit further down than I had estimated so I landed straight on my ankle. Woopsie! A tremendous sharp pain shot through my body, some dark words were said, and I immediately laid down on my back cursing at the sky while holding my foot. Two people walked by but they were in their own world and even though I waved I guess they just didn't see me. A guy came over but he didn't really seem to want to help me up if I had someone else that I knew who could come and help, so he walked off.  I called Mark for help but he was in Target where there's no reception so I couldn't get a hold of him but luckily I've got some awesome friends at work and Emily came to my rescue. 

That evening I couldn't bare any weight on it and up until Sunday I was using crutches. On the upside of this Dr. Mark has been helping me A TON with getting around and all. I'm pretty much feeling super spoiled... PLUS I got to use all those fantastic motorized scooters at the grocery store. We were in Georgetown at Whole Foods (our first time there) and it felt like Disney World all over again riding along through the isles on the scooter. I was so shocked too, since DC has a reputation for being unfriendly, that everyone was so willing to help me reach for things and asking what happened and just so NICE. This was my first experience of folks being just really nice here in DC.

The thing I don't understand is when Mark and I are together a lot of older people ask "OH! Did he do that to you? "  Of course everyone's joking but I don't understand how people think of that as the first thing to say. That bugged me.

Anyways, I'm throwing in the towel on leaping for a few weeks but I have a feeling this incident is not going to stop me completely. :)

I read online to start off slow if you haven't been swimming for a long time even if your a regular land exerciser. I wonder if I can go for 30 minutes at least... Soon to find out! :)

Cheers!

Jen :~D