Sunday, May 9, 2010

Spinach Pesto and An Evening with Mom!



Happy weekend everyone! Tomorrow and Tuesday I will continue with my "America's Toxic Environment" posts, and I'll also include some of your fantastic comments, but today I wanted to switch gears for a moment and show you the "gourmet" meal Nick and I prepared for our mothers (and for our first dinner party in our new home!).


HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL MOTHERS OUT THERE!


Nick works today so we decided to celebrate Mother's Day with our moms a day early. At first we planned to take them to dinner, but then we figured we'd save money, and have a lot more fun, if we prepared a meal for them at our new home. We wanted to use our new grill.....


But one of the pieces was bent on arrival, so it was impossible to put the darn thing together!


So instead we created the meal indoors. The menu was very simple because both of our mothers are trying to watch their weight and eat very healthy (I respect that very much!). Here is the menu we came up with, and how much money we spent/saved:


Hor'Dourves

Pseudo Antipasto: Slices of Cheese, Kashi 7 Grain Crackers, Marinated Red and Yellow Peppers, Green and Black Olives


(Total cost: ~ $10 )

Main Course


Rice Bran Spaghetti Noodles, with Spinach Pesto and Slices of Marinated Flank Steak





(Total cost: ~ $16 )

Dessert

Angel Food Cake, Served with Fresh Organic Strawberries and Lite Cool Whip



(Total cost: ~$6)

Drink

Black Mountain Vineyard 2009 Pinot Noir
(we may have gone through two bottles....)



(Total cost: ~ $30)

Total cost of meal: ~$62

Spinach Pesto Recipe
(Source: SuperFoods Rx, by Steven Pratt, M.D.)

2 cups raw spinach
1/4 cup chopped walnuts and almonds
3 garlic cloves
1/2 cup T parmesan cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Instructions
- Blend all the above ingredients, in the proportions you have chosen, in your blender/food processor/Magic Bullet!





- Prepare your spaghetti according to the directions on the box (we used rice bran spaghetti)

- Mix the spaghetti with the pesto sauce

- Serve, OR add meat if you wish......

- We added ~3 ounces flank steak on top of our spaghetti with pesto sauce.


ESTIMATED Nutrition Facts For One Full Meal
Which Includes
:

Antipasto (3 olives, 2 crackers, 1 ounce cheese, 2 slices pepper)

1 cup rice bran spaghetti
1/2 cup pesto sauce
3 ounces flank steak

1 slice angel food cake
4 strawberries
1/4 cup lite Cool Whip

6-8 ounces red wine

***1100 calories, 35 grams of fat (mostly unsaturated, good fat), great source of vitamins C & A, and the mineral iron, good source of fiber ***

Those stats make a girl very happy. I don't know what that face is....


Was this the healthiest meal ever? Absolutely not. Was it healthier than the same meal at a restaurant? I'd be willing to bet my life it was! I can only imagine how many calories this meal would have been at a restaurant.... It was also much cheaper, as this meal would have cost close to $140 dollars at a restaurant, if you include the wine, antipasto, dessert, 4 dinners, and the tip (20%, always).

Coming Up
Tomorrow I will continue with my "Toxic America" posts. I'm pretty passionate about this issue, and I can tell many of you are too! Thanks for reading today, and have a great Mother's Day!

22 comments :

  1. oh definitely it was WAY healthier than what ud find at any restaurant.

    sorry about the grill- that wouldve been nice. love that u had ur moms over at ur new place- very smart! no need to spend lots of money dining out. happy mothers day to you too <3 xoxo

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  2. Sounds like a great meal! And I'd definitely say this was a healthy restaurant-like meal. That dessert will definitely save you some calories, and it looks great too! I love strawberries!

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  3. Great way to save money and be healthy! Sometimes I think it's more fun to cook a big special meal like this at home than go out to a restaurant!

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  4. Looks great! I think homecooked meals can be so much more fun than a restaurant...cheaper, healthier and you get to relax for as long as you want.

    I love pesto- I picked up some this weekend (made with cashew nuts!) Now I am extra excited about trying it!

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  5. i'm going to send my mom to your house today. k? great ;0

    lovelove loveee your spinach pesto! what a great idea :) i hope that when you're done with your recipes (as if you'll ever be haha) that you'll put them together in a nice binder ;)

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  6. what a special mother's day gift!

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  7. Looks like a great meal! So fun to have a celebration at your new house. I think that your meal was definitely fewer calories than at a restaurant, and you know exactly what was in everything your prepared, which is also an advantage.

    Pesto is definitely one of my fave things, and it's been forever since I've made it.

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  8. What a great Mother's Day! That spinach pesto looks great! I have yet to try to make pesto at home. I definitely need to.
    I love that you figured out the cost. It definitely saves to eat at home.

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  9. What a great Mother's Day! That spinach pesto looks great! I have yet to try to make pesto at home. I definitely need to.
    I love that you figured out the cost. It definitely saves to eat at home.

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  10. What a great Mother's Day! That spinach pesto looks great! I have yet to try to make pesto at home. I definitely need to.
    I love that you figured out the cost. It definitely saves to eat at home.

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  11. What a great Mother's Day! That spinach pesto looks great! I have yet to try to make pesto at home. I definitely need to.
    I love that you figured out the cost. It definitely saves to eat at home.

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  12. What a great Mother's Day! That spinach pesto looks great! I have yet to try to make pesto at home. I definitely need to.
    I love that you figured out the cost. It definitely saves to eat at home.

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  13. What a great Mother's Day! That spinach pesto looks great! I have yet to try to make pesto at home. I definitely need to.
    I love that you figured out the cost. It definitely saves to eat at home.

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  14. Aw isn't it fun being able to have dinner parties in your new house? You definitely saved money and in some ways it's a little more unique and fun :)

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  15. You can never top a meal prepared with hearts full of love and gratitude. I bet your Mom's left with happy bellies and happy hearts!

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  16. What a perfect Mother's Day! I'm sure your moms were even more excited to be treated to a home cooked meal at your new place than at any restaurant. And it all looks delicious too!

    Thanks so much for your sweet comment on my blog post. It was hard to write and I so appreciate the support :)

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  17. A very Happy Mother's Day to both of your moms!! You and Nick really cooked up a gourmet meal, even without the grill. This is a meal I would definitely like to be served ;) I like how you put the cost and nutrition stats, too, because it's hard to ignore how much cheaper and healthier the meal is when it's in black and white! Not to mention tastier!

    Love the wine pic, hee hee! ;)

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  18. I love the look of that desert... even though I don't know what angel cake is (I'm an Aussie). It all looks divine, and agreed: this is the sort of meal that you make yourself at home and really enjoy knowing that some of the 'healthier' takeaway/restaurant choices would realistically be a thousand times more dangerous to your insides. Bon Appetite!

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  19. Such a gorgeous, gorgeous meal! Your mothers are very lucky ladies! :-) Hooray for saving funds and having a healthier meal by cooking at home!! :-)

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  20. That food contains a lot of ingredients that supports our health. Take what's necessary for your health always.

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  21. I have to say that the information here was the most complete that I found anywhere. I am definitely bookmarking this to come back and read later.

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