November Goals & Recipe: Pasta with Yellow Squash, Peas, and Beans

Nicole at Running Around the Rock has goals she writes about every month.  I really like this idea!

As I mentioned the other day in this post, my running goal for November is to run 55 miles for the month.  This number came from the training plan that Smart Coach (runnersworld.com) put together for me for a 5k around Thanksgiving.

I would also like to officially make an effort to drink more water.

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I have a nice Stainless Steel insulated Camelbak water bottle that keeps water cold for me all day, and I'm good about bringing it to work with me every day, but it only holds .5L = 16.9 ounces.  Its's advertised as .5L/16 ounces.  When I pour water in, I can fit 20 ounces...(confused...)  Regardless, I should be filling up that puppy at least a second time while at work.  Often, I do not.  Then, I should be drinking a glass of water when I get home.  Usually I do.

You often hear that people should have Eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day.  I have also heard that 64 ounces is too much.  The science-y part of me should have collected some baseline data on how much water I have been consuming before deciding on appropriate goal, but I am skipping that step.

My goal will be to drink 48 ounces of water a day.
 

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Lastly, I should really work on SLEEPING more. 

I can't say that caffeine keeps me up at night; I could drink a cup and fall asleep 10 minutes later and be out for the night.  I just have this problem where I keep myself busy.  I need to remind myself to wind down and get ready for bed.  Sometimes I stay up because of the tv or the internet; sometimes I just take a long time to pick out my clothes for the next day (on week nights).

Once I am in bed, I am out a few minutes later.  I can read all of 3-4 pages of a book (on a good night) before it is falling on my face and my husband is telling me to turn off my light.  The last couple weekends, I have been sleeping in obscenely late.  Clearly I am not getting enough sleep.  And going into flu-season, working with kids... I should be sleeping more.

I would say I usually get 7 hours per night during the week.  Sometimes less; rarely more. Weekends are not an issue.

I'll shoot for 7.5 hours on at least 3/5 weeknights (Sunday - Thursday nights).

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I have had this recipe bookmarked for the longest time but never made it until last night.  It's Gemelli with Yellow Squash, Peas, and Basil.  Except I made mine with whole wheat rotini, yellow squash, peas, great northern beans, and basil.  This recipe is meant to serve 4.

Here are the ingredients:

• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 8 ounces gemelli or other short pasta 
• 3 medium yellow squash, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced
• 1 package (10 ounces) frozen peas
• 4 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• 1/2 cup torn fresh basil leaves

 

 
Modifications.
-Gemelli "or other short pasta" does not come in the whole wheat variety. And I'm all about the whole wheat variety for extra fiber and protein.
-Added 1 can of Great Northern beans to increase protein (7g fiber, 7g protein per serving; 3.5 servings/can)
-Didn't have Parmesan, but I had Pecorino Romano.  Close enough!
-Our fresh basil from last week wilted; so I used a couple sprinkles of dried basil.

There is no way this is only 4 servings!  I only used 1/2 of the 16 ounce box of Rotini.  But 3 squash... that's a whole lot of squash, I even made sure to pick some smaller ones from the store.  10 ounce bag of frozen peas?  I only ever see 16 ounce bags of peas.  I used about half a bag.  Then clearly I added a can of beans.

We each had it for lunch on Thursday  There is so much more leftover!  I'm predicting at least another 4-5 servings (for a total of 6-7).

The verdict?  Thumbs up.  Husband liked it too.

Another bonus is that this was all made in one pot.  If you hate doing dishes, this recipe is for you.

If you click on the recipe link, you will see that you cook the pasta, then 2 min before it is ready, you add the squash and peas (and in my case, beans).  Then drain all the water except for 1/2 cup, but everything back in the pot with the butter, basil, and some parmesan (or in my case, pecorino romano). Voila!