Its About That Time

Well folks, its about that time again.  Its a special time that has come and gone several times throughout the years, with varying outcomes.  But we're persistent here at Cooking With Wine, and we're going to give it another go.  What time is it, you ask?  Well my friends, its time to get back into shape and reduce the general size of all the bits throughout the mid-section area.  And hopefully increase the size of my muscles.  Or, more accurately, make some muscles.  Because you know what you get when you multiply something with zero...

And, well.....we've been here a time or two before.  I've gotten in shape tons of times in my life and then managed to get myself right on out of it.  Guess which one is easier?  Getting out?  You betcha.  But it must be done because being chunky makes me grumpy, and NOBODY likes a grumpy Ann.  So I'm going to reintroduce my slightly larger behind to the spin bikes at the gym and also the weight room.  And perhaps we should reintroduce my big mouth to some healthier food, specifically the kind of food that's not loaded with carbs.  What we are not going to do, however, is introduce any sort of wine abstinence.  Everyone knows that wine is healthy and is a vehicle for motivating one to attend the gym.  Its true - give it a try!

But what about the cooking?  Don't fret, my friends, cooking will still be happening!  It'll just be featuring slightly lower-cal dishes and might contain some moaning about how hard spin class is.  Sounds fun, eh?

I went to a baby shower this morning and ate some various breakfast casseroles and monkey bread about about 800 pieces of gouda.  So I'll be having dry lettuce leaves for dinner.  Not really blog-worthy.  Luckily I have photos of the basil/arugula/lemon pesto I made the other day and served over garlic whole wheat fettuccine with chicken sausage.  It was delightful and not so much on the new diet.  But that was before the time came, so its totally okay.

Enjoy!

Lemon/Basil/Arugula Pesto
Source: Adapted from Simply Recipes

1 1/2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed

1 cup fresh arugula leaves

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (I used meyer lemon infused olive oil)

juice of 1/2 a lemon

1/2 cup pine nuts

3 medium sized garlic cloves, peeled

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Combine the basil and arugula in a food processor with the pine nuts, pulse a few times.  Add the garlic and lemon juice, pule a few more times.

Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Stop to scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula. Add the grated cheese and pulse again until blended. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Serve over whole wheat fettuccine and sliced Italian sausage.