So a few days ago, in honor of the new year, I went a little pin crazy over on Pinterest, pinning new, healthy, quick recipes. See–I need to get back to getting healthy. I really fell off the wagon last year. So there’s no time like the present to get back on, right? My new thing is Mediterranean or Italian meals made with fresh ingredients whenever possible. That started with an e-mail I subscribe to, Daily Recipes and was reinforced when I read this article called “Why Your Grandparents Didn’t Have Food Allergies” and this one by a mother who moved to Italy and what she learned about our culture, theirs, and eating habits. Plus, I’ve always like Mediterranean and Italian food in general.
Tonight I tried my hand at making something based of one of those pins. Let’s call it “Seafood Blend with Garlic & Basil Linguine and Romano Cheese.” Basically, we were at Trader Joe’s, and I saw the frozen bag of Seafood Blend, which has scallops and shrimp and calamari rings, and I thought, “Hey, this will
Garlic Basil Linguine from Trader Joe’s
probably be just as good as seared scallops…and maybe easier.” So I got the bag. (SN: I will probably actually try searing scallops one day–just not today) From there, I pretty much followed the recipe with a few exceptions:
- I don’t know where people get fresh linguine, but it ain’t in any of the groceries near my house. Instead, I hit got a bag of garlic and basil linguine noodles from TJ’s.
- I killed my herb garden. Yup, that’s right. So I used that cool “as close to fresh” basil from the grocery store.
- Because I used the frozen blend, I traded the directions in step two about searing the scallops for the direction on the bag, which told me to cook the seafood in a pan with oil (I use Extra Virgin, obviously) and to add garlic if desired. I desired (obviously).
So. It was pretty good. I would definitely make it or a variation again. It wasn’t too hard or time-consuming. And it tasted good. Plus, it was better for us than, say, ordering another pizza. I hope to be able to take the time to cook more actual meals for us over the coming months. I’m going to try anyway. We’ll see.
I’m also hoping that I can get our friend Shellie from down the street to join me in a “Girlfriends’ Diet Plan” like I read about in Eating Well magazine this month (Come on, Shellie, come on!).
Oh, and start going back to the gym on the regular.
Wider than the Sky 