Pesto Pasta Salad with Roasted Aparagus, String Beans, Cherry Tomatoes, and Olives {eat.live.be}

I do not care what the calendar says.

Pesto pasta on the table.

Dancing to Call Me Maybe in our underwear at least twenty-seven times a day.  (What?!?!? It is hot.)

(Uhh…the weather.  Not our/my underwear dance moves.  Those are just…unfortunate.)

Trashy beach-perfect chick lit under our pillows (we all know I’m referring to 50shadesofgrey.  Would you expect anything less provocative?)

(And maybe it’s not really beach-perfect.  Maybe…honeymoon-bedroom perfect?  That seems more appropriate.)

Emotionally eating the idea that someday soon someone might try to force us into a bathing suit under the guise of “vacation” or an “MD/PhD retreat” or just as a most sincerest form of torture.

Oh, yes.  I’d say it’s official.

Summer. Is. Here.

So let’s eat our pesto pasta salad that is stuffed with so many veggies it’s unreal.

Turn that music up to 11.

And vow to get that bathing suit situation under control…

…next summer.

Eat.Live.Be.

So the truth about me and running is that I haven’t laced up my sneakers in ten days.  (Since the Brooklyn Half Marathon.)  My right hamstring has felt…odd…to say the least.  (And by odd I mean that it has a knot in it the size of Texas that makes me cry whenever I try to foam roll it.)  So I’ve been giving it a rest.  I tried to hit the pavement yesterday but between the 90 degree weather and the fact that after two blocks of feeling like my legs had lost every coordinated bone they ever possessed (which admittedly is not many)…I headed for the gym instead.  There’s always tomorrow.  


And what I’ve realized in this past ten days is that I don’t eat very well when I don’t run.  I’m more inclined to say, “Oh yes, I’ll just eat a jar of cookie butter in two days. No big deal.”  Instead of, “Jar of cookie butter = bellyache = bad run. NO CAN DO!”  So this week is about working on getting a handle on my raging sweet tooth/sugar addiction.  And trying to convince myself that running is not the be-all end-all of my life and that I still deserve to feel good even if there isn’t 6 miles in my immediate future.  It’s a process.

Pesto Pasta Salad with Roasted Asparagus, String Beans, Cherry Tomatoes and Olives
Serves 8, an Eats Well With Others Original

Ingredients

• 1 lb mini ravioli or tortellini (I used sun-dried tomato mini ravioli from a local Italian supermarket)
• 1 bunch asparagus, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 8 oz halicot verts or string beans, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp tuscany seasoning (or other Italian blend)
• 8 oz kalamata olives, halved
• 1/2 cup pesto
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• salt and black pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 450.  Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Cook the ravioli according to package directions.
2. While the water is coming to a boil, toss the asparagus, string beans, and cherry tomatoes with the olive oil, tuscany seasoning, salt and black pepper.  Spread out onto one or two parchment paper-lined baking sheets.  Roast for 15-20 minutes or until tender and starting to brown/shrivel.
3. Toss the pasta with the veggies, olives, pesto, and parmesan cheese.  Season with salt and black pepper to taste.

I am submitting this to Presto Pasta Nights which is hosted this week by Stash of Simple Kitchen Seasons and also to Souper Sundays which is hosted by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen.