pesto pasta Archives - My Inner Shakti

Happy Monday!

I’m all about living in the moment (or trying to at least), but part of me already wants to fast forward to next week. Only because we get Monday off for Memorial Day! AND we get an early release day on Friday. Bring on the 3.5 day weekend!

This past weekend was very normal and as simple as they come – cleaned, ran errands, spent time with Vishnu, hung out with friends, etc. Good stuff!

So before I share last week’s notable meals, I have to admit that all of the pictures included in this post were taken with my iPhone. I just didn’t have the energy to pull out my SLR, set everything up, and snap multiple pictures. I was too hungry…and a little lazy!

With that being said, here are last week’s notable meals…

Kale and Feta Quiche with Lemony Broccoli

This was a Cook Smarts (<–affiliate link!) meal and it was delicious! We had an entire carton of eggs to use, and I knew I wanted to make some kind of quiche dish. A quick search on Cook Smarts led me to this recipe. It was really simple to make, included just a few ingredients, and was ready in about 35 minutes. I actually swapped Swiss cheese for Feta because I feel like Feta adds so much flavor to dishes like this. Good choice on my part!

Pesto Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes (and Grilled Chicken for Vishnu)

Word to the wise – pesto is freezer friendly! So do yourself a big favor, make a huge batch, and freeze what you don’t use. It comes in handy! This dish was another quick one – Trader Joe’s quinoa and brown rice pasta, basil pesto, and cherry tomatoes. I also added a little extra cheese to the pasta before serving (this shaved cheese blend is one of my favorite things EVER!). Vishnu ate this with a grilled chicken breast. And he was in charge of making that!

Zucchini, Onion, and Mushroom Shak, Whole Wheat Bhakri, and Yogurt

Shak = spiced vegetables and Bhakri = Indian flatbread

Growing up, we ate shak and bhakri almost every day for dinner, and I’m trying to bring back that tradition in a small way. While I don’t think I’ll make shak and bhakri every day, I want to try to make this kind of meal at least twice a week. This particular shak came together in 10-15 minutes. All I did was sauté the veggies in a little oil and added a few spices and some salt. That’s it! The bakhi was a little more involved because it’s made completely from scratch – 1 cup of whole wheat flour, a couple pinches of salt, olive oil, and water. I then rolled out the dough with my Indian rolling pin and cooked each bhakri in a small frying pan. Not as good as my mom’s but still pretty tasty!

TJ’s Roasted Red Pepper Soup and Avocado Melts

This dinner was Cook Smarts (<– affiliate link!) inspired and obviously came together really quickly! I simmered the soup in a pan along with a few additional spices (garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne). And for the avocado melts, I smashed up an avocado along with some cilantro, lime juice, salt, garlic powder, and cayenne, spread the mixture on four slices of bread bread, topped with Muenster cheese, and set under the broiler for ~3 minutes. Easy peasy and delicious!

Vegan Spiced Eggplant Curry

My mom emailed this recipe to me earlier in the week and said that she was going to try it out. She really loves Kiran’s site! Both her and my dad loved it, so I knew exactly what I was going to do with the eggplant sitting in our fridge. While I did have to modify the original recipe slightly (I didn’t have all the spices it called for), it turned out great! Again, so easy to make and extremely flavorful. We ate our curry alongside some rice and yogurt.