Recipe: Roasted Asparagus and Tomato Pasta Salad with Goat Cheese {eat.live.be.}

Let's make post-half marathon carb loading a "thing".


Except let's get all technical and call it...retroactive muscle glycogen storage.  Doesn't that sound like it's medically necessary?  Physician recommended?  Randomized, controlled and double-blinded (as all conclusions from all scientifically sound clinical trials should be)?



But really...we're just sticking squiggly pasta to our thighs.  My favorite pastime!

I think the real issue here, that we're all thinking but that nobody wants to talk about...



...is that The.Boy. and I have been watching too much Back To The Future.

(Apparently I never saw any of the installments as a child and he's just trying to get me caught up/he doesn't want to admit to the world at large that his girlfriend went through 25 years of her life thinking that Einstein was a physicist and not the cutest most adorable dog ever.)

That movie is the bee's knees.  Uh, yeah. I just said that.  And I want so badly to believe that it's real that I've thoroughly convinced myself that if I eat enough pasta, find a DeLorean that just happens to have time traveling capabilities, and locate enough plutonium to get me to April 15th, 2012 and back without being accosted by any Libyans (no offense to any Libyans reading this...I didn't write the storyline, I'm just entranced by it)...I'll be golden. 

Until then...I'll just keep eating pasta. 

Just in case.



The majorly good news about this pasta, though, is that it actually won't really stick to your thighs in any way, shape or form.  In fact, just the opposite.  Made with whole wheat pasta and stuffed with asparagus, kale, and tomatoes, this is veritable health food. Not that it tastes like it.  My brother ate at least two and a half servings of it and his only comment was, "the only thing I didn't like was the tomatoes".  I'd call that a win. 

Eat.Live.Be.
A few people at work have asked me if I'm done with racing for a while now that I've run two half marathons in about a month.  And the answer is HECK NO.  I love the thrill of racing.  I love training (even when I hate it).  And I love having something to work towards. 

A goal.  Even if that goal is just to finish.

It's so hard to stay motivated to eat healthy and be active when you're just focused on maintaining a status quo.  I truly think that the key to staying on track is to always be thinking, "what's next?"  Always pushing yourself for something more.  Always dreaming of that next race or of being able to do one more chin-up (or, you know...just ONE, in my case) or of adding one extra healthy meal to your weekly menu.  At least, for me, having that mentality means the difference between eating peanut butter as my second dinner and saying to myself, "how the hell are you going to run ten miles tomorrow if your stomach hurts! Get REAL, girl!"  And that, really, makes all the difference. 


Roasted Asparagus and Tomato Pasta Salad with Goat Cheese
Serves 4, adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients

• 8 oz whole wheat pasta
• 1 lb asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• salt and black pepper, to taste
• 1 shallot, minced
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tbsp dijon mustard
• 1 tsp dried herbes de Provence
• 1 1/2 tsp honey
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, halved
• 1/2 lb chopped kale
• 2 oz goat cheese, crumbled

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400.  Set a pot of water to boil, adding salt.  Cook pasta according to package directions.  In the last two minutes of cooking, add the kale.  Drain and set aside.
2. Toss asparagus and cherry tomatoes with 1 tbsp olive oil and a large pinch of salt and medium pinch of black pepper.  Place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.  Let stand 10 minutes.
3. Combine shallots, lemon juice, dijon mustard, honey, and balsamic vinegar in a bowl, stirring with a whisk.  Add 1 tbsp olive oil.  Stir in salt and black pepper, to taste.
4. Place pasta, kale, asparagus, tomatoes, and olives in a large bowl.  Toss.  Drizzle the dressing over the top.  Toss until well mixed.  Stir in the goat cheese.

I am submitting this to Presto Pasta Nights which is being hosted this week by Ruth of Once Upon A Feast, and to Souper Sundays which is hosted by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen.

This blog post has been promoted by Cooking Light!  For more healthy delicious recipes of theirs, click here.