Fajitas Meet Pasta Primavera

I have been participating in new teacher workshops for the past two days and have learned so many things that it will probably take me a few days to digest and sort them into some sort of meaningful blog. Of course, by then I'll have begun teaching and will probably have even bigger events to share with you that all of the experiences of these past forty-eight hours.

For now, I'll leave you with a topic that occurred to me while cooking a meal over the weekend.


This meal has become a new favorite. When I first interviewed for my job at Mundelein, I drove over three hours in the rain. I had left early, unsure how long the drive would take with such inclement weather and arrived with over an hour and a half to spare. So I found a Noodles & Company and decided to take a quick lunch. I've only eaten at Noodles once. So when I asked the employee what he suggested, he told me about their "seasonal" dish the pesto pasta. Buddy, you had me at pesto.

I have absolutely no idea why I love pesto so much. I'm not a huge fan of tomatoes (I am really Italian, right?) since they have such an overwhelming acidic taste and are a mix of weird textures when plain - squishy and crisp all at once. I really, really hate ketchup - since always - tomatoes, vinegar and sugar - no thanks! I've made some great marinara sauce but can only handle it for a day or two and then quickly tire of eating it. I can handle certain pizza sauces. White sauce, alfredo, is delicious but not exactly super healthy. Pesto on the other hand has a combination of my favorite flavor enhancers - garlic, parmesan, and especially basil, to name a few. Add in a great first-pressed olive oil and pine nuts and you've got yourself an outstanding punch of a sauce in just a tablespoon or two (I prefer two). It is a bit on the fatty side, with the olive oil and nuts, but both have healthy fats and are okay in moderation.

I've been eating pesto since I moved into the City when I first started working at Jam. I did not ever eat pesto growing up. It was always bolognese sauce. A family recipe from the gorgeous Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, home to, where else?, Bologna. My first experience with pesto was a version by Classico. It did not use pine nuts and even used sunflower oil or something else but it was garlicy and basily and I was hooked.  The downside was that I only ate the pasta with a protein and no veggies. I didn't think any would work. Of course, I wasn't a big veggie eater until recently so, please know this post is really a representative of a big win for me, nutritionally speaking.

Fast-forward to Noodles in April 2013 and low and behold a new dish. This pesto pasta was full of chicken and spinach and asparagus and red onion. It had a few walnuts sprinkled in and topped with some feta cheese. It was delicious! I have recreated that dish about 25 times since April. It is now my staple lunch on weekends (or weekdays before work started back up). I am not adding loads of veg from the fridge to beef up my favorite dish. I alternate between chicken and chicken or turkey sausages. The one below is from last weekend with a chicken sausage stuffed with spinach and mozzarella.

Now instead of a huge bowl of pasta and sauce and some protein, I have a huge bowl of veggies and meat with a little pasta added in along with the pesto. Sometimes I add in the fresh parm (I still have some that was sent to me back in March from Italy!) or I'll put feta on if I'm feeling like a little guilty food pleasure.

You may at this point be asking yourself, "What on earth does this have to do with fajitas?" If you asked yourself that then pat yourself on the back. You remembered the title of this post. Well, here it is. As I sat eating the pesto primavera over the weekend, I realized that the food I eat out most is Mexican cuisine and often I order fajitas because I like to build my own and avoid the sour creams and sauces that make the tortilla soggy. A fajita is much the same concept as the pasta dish. You have a protein, a combo of grilled veggies (Peppers and onions) and usually a flavorful sauce or condiment to add on. The carb is a tortilla instead of pasta. But the concepts are similar. Is this a sign I'm loving vegetables? Or have an affinity for a specific type of dish?

My conclusion was that what I eat across cultural cuisines tends to fall into similar categories. I like hand foods - nachos, fajitas, chips & salsa, hummus & pita/carrots. But nothing beats a good meal with a combo of carbs, protein, veggies and flavorful sauce. Waaaay more colorful than my old days trying pasta, chicken and alfredo - all the same shade of the rainbow. They say to eat the rainbow. I think I'm getting closer the older I get. Some of you may say - that's a lot of pasta to eat! Well, I suppose that is a bit true. But the portion is down and the nutritional value has significantly increased.

I'm going to continue to work on my repertoire. Maybe one of these dishes will be the one my future hubby falls in love with. I can only hope its the pesto!

KB