Summer Pesto Pasta with Goat Cheese

Do I have a winning pasta dish for all of you! I love pesto and goat cheese together and when you combine that with fresh pasta, you get pure amazingness. Fresh pasta is something from the god's...... Or the supermarket. Fresh pasta cooks in just minutes and it tastes so much better than boxed pasta. If ou need a tutorial click here!You can make this summer pasta with anything from your garden. If you really want to go crazy you could add jalapeno or cilantro to the pesto and add vegetables from your garden. You can even use this pesto to spread on pizza to serve with this pasta also. If you have any pesto left over you can fill up ice trays and freeze them to use later!

Summer Pesto Pasta with Goat Cheese

Ingredients
Pesto ( home made or store bought)
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1 shallot
1/4 cup goat cheese
1/2 lb fresh tagliatelle
2 tsp olive oil
1 carton sliced baby bella mushrooms

Directions:

1. I followed this recipe for home made pesto. If you have a food processor pesto is a cinch so make it yourself! If you make the pesto yourself set aside when done.
2. Slice shallot and mushroom and saute(medium) with olive oil until tender. Add cherry tomatoes until they burst.
3. While you are sauteing, boil the fresh pasta ( less than 3 minutes to cook). If you are using boxed pasta cook to packaged directions.
4. When pasta is cooked, drain and add to pan with mushrooms and tomatoes. Add pesto and toss.
5. Plate in bowls and top with crumbled goat cheese!

Summer Style Chicken Salad

I like chicken salad especially in the summer. Chicken salad can have the tendency to be either heavy or fattening depending on the mix ins. Chicken salad is traditionally mayo based and served on bread. I decided to lighten it up by making most of the mix Greek yogurt and making the filling fresh and vibrant to stand up to the summer sun.

Buffalo Chicken Quinoa

That's right readers! After a week off I am back! I have just found what might be my favorite recipe so far this year. I love anything buffalo. I have a ton of buffalo themed recipes on my blog. Buffalo Turkey Meatballs. Buffalo Chicken Pizza. Baked Buffalo Zucchini Fries. What rocks about these recipes and the one I am about to introduce you to are all healthy!Wahooooooo! You can eat buffalo style food and still be healthy!

I will be blogging soon! I swear!

Hi Everyone!

I wanted to let everyone know I have been super busy last week and this week with my best friend Brittany's wedding! It was this weekend and we had such a blast. I will be back next week with delicious recipes. I didn't want to leave you hanging! 

Xoxo Leanne

Truffle Parmesan Popcorn

A couple of years ago my husband and I started popping own popcorn. Like not in microwaveable bag. Let me tell you...best decision I ever made. I know you are probably thinking,but Leanne, individual popcorn bags are made for our convenience. Yup, I totally get it. Microwaveable bags are super easy to make when you need a quick snack. What you might not know is how many chemicals are in that bag! Making your own popcorn on the stovetop or in your own microwave safe container is not only cost effective,but helps you eat clean! I am obsessed with my current popcorn maker ( yes of course I can tell you where to get it.)

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Can we just talk about my new obsession with Trader Joe's Cookie Butter?I went twenty eight years of my life without this 8th wonder of the world. Thank god my friend Katie introduced me to it last weekend. For those of you who have not tried cookie butter before let me explain. It is almost like peanut butter, but WAY BETTER. It tastes like peanut butter with cinnamon graham crackers crushed in it. Pure genius Trader Joe's. So genius in fact the Trader Joe's near my friend only lets you buy one at a time! They are rationing cookie butter! Sorry, I digress. Where am I going with all of this?Breakfast. 

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Snacking is such an important part of eating healthy. How many of us are on "a diet" and eat healthy all day only to be starving in between meals and stuff our faces with cupcakes or chips. I know only because I have done it. The important thing about eating healthy is eating healthy all the time. Part of that can be accomplished easily by some simple planning.