Aaaah Thursday

Thursday is typically my light at the end of the tunnel for the work week.  If I can make it through today, then Friday is just Friday, and everyone knows Friday’s at work don’t really count.  Right?  I mean, I get to wear jeans and a sweatshirt instead of heels and dress pants.  You can bet your ass that I will be rocking some flip-flops tomorrow also, hmm that reminds me, better paint the toesies tonight.  Oh, I also get paid on Thursdays so that’s always a lovely occurrence.  In short, hoooooray for Thursday!

Ok, as expected there were a lovely array of treats in the office yesterday for St. Patrick’s Day.  Usually I can manage to avoid snacking on cakes and cookies, but since yesterday was honoring my heritage I figured, what the hell.

A piece of Irish Soda bread and an Irish Potato.  The Irish Soda bread was amazing, but I took one bite of the Irish Potato and remembered how much I hate coconut, so that went in the trash.  I also ate a small piece of cake with the most delicious icing I have ever tasted, but I stuffed that in my mouth while still standing in the kitchen, so no picture.

Last night was a rest day for me, so no workout to talk about, but I did cook an awesome dinner.  I took a page out of Julie’s over at Peanut Butter Fingers book and made Penne Pasta with Vegetables.  I found a recipe online and used it as a base while adding my own things.

First I cut my zucchini and peppers into thin strips, minced some garlic, and chopped up some baby spinach.  After those were ready, I put a big pot of water on to boil and started to heat up my frying pan.

The pasta of choice last night was this Trader Joe’s Whole Wheat Organic Penne Pasta.  I will definitely stock up on bags of this on my next trip to TJ’s.  After my sauce pan was hot enough, I added 1 tbsp of olive oil to cook the vegetables and garlic in.

The peppers, zucchini, and garlic over medium heat.  At this point I also sprinkled some McCormick Italian Seasoning, salt, and pepper.  When the pasta had about 3 minutes left to cook, I added the spinach and basil to the recipe so it wouldn’t burn.

I have to remember for next time to chop up more spinach than I think I’ll need/want because it cooks down so much.  When the noodles were ready, I drained them and added them to the pan with all the veggies.

The sauce is leftover vodka sauce that was in my freezer from when I made Penne with Vodka Cream Sauce, and it worked perfectly.

Served with a side Caesar Salad and a glass of red wine :).  It was delicious, and the leftovers are my lunch today.

Zucchini Pepper Basil Pasta

• 16 oz of dried pasta
• 1 tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 whole zucchini (sliced thin)
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 1/2 yellow pepper
• 1 handful of baby spinach
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 1 tsp Italian Seasoning
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 tbsp fresh basil
• 1/3 cup vegetable broth or any kind of sauce (I used vodka cream)

Seriously, if you have leftover pasta and veggies to get rid of this recipe totally works, I used the whole bag of pasta because I wanted leftovers, but you can halve all the amounts if you have less.  Enjoy!

Anyone have any fun weekend plans?  I’m am going to try and get my tan on for the first time this year on Saturday.  Hey 70 is hot!  Have a great day everyone!

P.S. Check out the give away going on over at I’m an Okie!