Lemon Artichoke Pasta

...I am a parmesan cheese addict. There, I said it. When I was a kid, I would boil up some pasta, slather it in butter and and then cover the whole thing in a thick layer of parmesan cheese. In my neck of the woods, that was known as "ghetti". I did not like pasta with sauce, I did not want pasta with sauce. Just give me some ghetti and I was good to go.

Now that some 20 years have passed, I have matured into a sauce-loving gal, however I still love to coat my pasta in lots and lots of parm. Sometimes, if I have parmesan in the fridge, I'll make a big ol' bowl of pasta, just so I have an excuse to eat the parm...I might even sneak a heaping spoonful of parmesan when I'm home alone from time to time! I know, I know....I have issues ;)

When I started my meal planning, I wanted to try using up some non-perishables that had been lurking around in my pantry for way too long. I found half a bag of brown rice fettucine and a can of marinated artichoke hearts and this is how the idea for this pasta was born....of course, I also knew I had a brand new container of parmesan in the fridge, so I think this was the very first 'planned' meal that I made.

Lemon Artichoke Pasta

Serves 2

6 - 8 oz your fave pasta (I used brown rice fettucine)

2 + 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3/4 c grape tomatoes, halved

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 c sliced black olives

1/3 c sweet onion, diced

14 oz can artichoke hearts, quartered - drained

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1/4 - 1/2 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

2 large basil leaves, thinly sliced

parmesan cheese

Cook your pasta according to the package directions.

While the pasta is cooking, heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add your garlic and onion and cook for approximately 5 minutes until the onion is softened.

Add the artichokes, tomatoes and olives and cook for another 3 - 4 minutes. Add your cookied pasta and stir in your basil.

Drizzle the remaining tbsp of olive oil and the lemon juice over the prepared pasta dish.

Garnish with some additional slivered basil and some parmesan cheese.

The lemon and olive oil give this pasta a fresh, light taste. Lemon is one of those fresh tasting flavours that I associate with Spring. Adding a little, or in my case, alot of parmesan and fresh basil tops this meal off and you have absolute perfection!

What flavours do you associate with Spring?

Is there a food from your childhood that you still love as much now as when you were a kid?

Have a fab day!

Andrea

xoxo

Foodie Penpals - April Reveal

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you enjoyed your weekend. We had really beautiful weather yesterday and I got to spend the whole day with my buddy, The Hankster.

Everytime I would move off the couch, he would scoot right up there!

He came on a roadrip with me to run some errands and then we spent the entire afternoon at home. It was pure bliss.

So here we are --- another Monday, another Foodie Penpal reveal day. Seriously, can you believe it's the end of April?! I am just amazed at how fast this year has been flying by!?

This month I was paired up with Tamara from You. Naturally.  Make sure you go check out her site...she has tons of valuable knowledge focussing primarily on health and wellness. I was so excited to be paired with her because we both belong to the same Facebook group, so I'd seen her name, but never really checked out what her site was all about until the penpal match.

She hooked me up huge this month!!! I really like being paired up with someone who lives across the country because it's awesome to get some local goodies that I've never seen around here. I also really appreciated the fact that my goodies were vegan, organic and fair-trade certified. I love being a conscious consumer!

In my package I received:

• Hungry Hemp Bar with Cranberries (LOVE - this was my fave thing so far!!!)
• Enjoy Life Double Chocolate Brownies
• Camino Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter bar (this lasted about 30 seconds after the package was opened :)
• Nori Jerky
• Westcoaster Dark Chocolate Bar with Toasted Hazelnuts & Wild Blueberries
• Dark Chocolate Easter Bunny
• Savi Seeds Karmalized in Raw Sugar Cane
• Matcha Bar
• 2 Amazing Grass Drink Powders

She did a great job of getting things that were suited to me. In fact, I've really wanted to try the Enjoy Life products and Amazing Grass powders for quite some time....and dark chocolate...well if you've followed my blog for any length of time, you know that is one way to this girl's heart <3

So thank you so much Tamara for a wonderful package! I've still got some things to try and it's taken every ounce of willpower not to rip into every single item!

My penpal matching was a little different situation. I was paired with Lisa and it turns out we live very close to one another and our offices are literally one block apart! Cah-razy! I am willing to bet that we have probably walked right past one another at some point over the years!! Here's a sneak peek of the goodies that I sent out to her.

So are you intrigued? If you're interested in participating in May's Foodie Penpal, here are the deets:

-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal! 
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month. 
-Foodie Penplas is open to US & Canadian residents.  Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We've determined things might get too slow and backed up if we're trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa.

If you’re interested in participating for May, please CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions.

You must submit your information by May 4th as pairings will be emailed on May 5th!

Have a Happy Monday!

Andrea

xo