Spinach-Pesto Pasta with Mushrooms and Ricotta

It is that time of year. Caught inside as the winds whip outside, dropping the temperature to an arctic chill that reads below zero. 

Yesterday, stuck inside I tried my hand at a new food creation: spinach-pesto. 

I watched a the food processor's blades turned with each push of the pulse button. Combining the garlic with the spinach and the spinach with the basil; the basil with the parmesan cheese followed with a dash of olive oil and lemon juice, and a pinch of salt to top it off.

The final pulse left me with a smooth combination of pesto, with a slight overpowering aroma of garlic. 

For those of you who find yourselves caught inside while the winter winds blow step into the kitchen, search Pinterest, and try your hand at a new food creation (maybe even this spinach-pesto).

Spinach-Pesto

[need] 

1 clove garlic

1/4 cup fresh basil (I used dried basil, but would recommend fresh)

1 cup fresh packed baby spinach

1/4 cup parmesan cheese (with a sprinkle more, who doesn't love cheese?)

2 tablespoons olive oil 

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

[create]

First, mince the clove of garlic and place in food processor. Add the remaining ingredients and pulse into well combined. Taste, and tailor as needed. I found myself adding more spinach and cheese. Remove from food processor and place in jar. Refrigerate. 

Now what to do with the pesto? I combined it with pasta. Try out this recipe below. 

Spinach-Pesto Pasta with Mushrooms and Ricotta 

[need] 

Freshly made spinach-pesto

8 oz whole wheat pasta 

1/3 cup ricotta cheese 

Mushrooms (desired amount)

[create] 

First, sauté mushrooms in olive oil. Next bring a pot of water to a boil. Once the water is boiling cook the pasta as directed on packaging. Drain pasta. Place desired amount of pasta in a bowl, add a spoonful of the pesto. Next add ricotta cheese and top with mushrooms. Mix together. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately. 

[both recipes adopted from Naturally Ella]

Tea in a new way

For the past two weeks I have been drinking tea in a new way: smoothie form. It is just like being back up in MQT and sipping away on a smoothie from Smoothie King. Only, this isn't any plain jane strawberry banana smoothie. My smoothie: a Matcha smoothie.

A couple weekends ago I ventured out and went to a "Tea Cupping" class at Light of Day Organics in Traverse City. It was a pure delight. One of the best classes I have been to in a long time. (More to come on the delights of this class in a later post). For now the focus is Matcha. 

Matcha is:

"the oldest and most premium variety of green tea in Japan- the mother of all green tea! For over 800 years, Zen Buddhist monks have been using Matcha green tea as a meditational drink. Matcha is very exquisite; only a few dozen tea farmers in Japan own the extensive knowledge required to produce this tea. Matcha tea leaves grow slowly in shaded tea plantations. The fresh leaves are primarily handpicked, dried and ground by low friction granite stone mills into an ultra fine, jade green powder, and finally whisked traditionally with a bamboo whisk or can be prepared in a smoothie. The result is a unique, creamy velvet, full-bodied cup of premium green tea- extremely high in antioxidants, amino acids and other nutrients." 

To sum it all up Matcha is healthy. Very healthy.

In it all I decided to kick start a new lifestyle: a healthier, more productive, happier one. The Monday after returning home from a vacation I rolled out of bed at 5:30am. I spent the next hour of my morning on a bike ride, riding down to Holland State Park and beginning my morning alongside the lapping shore of Lake Michigan. Once I returned home I ate breakfast, jumped in the shower, and then enjoyed a cup of Chamomile tea all before 8am. By mid-morning I had scratched off half of the things on my to-do list.

I remember sitting outside that morning with my freshly made Matcha smoothie thinking to myself, "what a day it is going to be!"

Matcha Smoothie Recipe
In a blender blend:
1 cup pineapple juice
1 cup coconut milk or almond milk
1 banana (or fruit of your choice)
1/2 tsp. matcha powder (purchased at http://lightofdayorganics.com/).

Thanks to Light of Day Organics.