Shells with Pesto, Peas & Sun Dried Tomatoes

So I finally did it folks.  I signed up for my FIRST race.

I'll be running a 15k (10 miles) in April with my {future!} sister-in-law Jamie and I'm.absolutely.terrified.  The longest I've ever ran consistently would be about 5 miles and, like I said before I definitely don't consider myself a runner, but I've always wanted to start!  A HUGE thanks to Miss Steph from Steph's Bite by Bite for her inspirational blog post on how to get started!  This is the training schedule I'll be using and I'm officially starting tomorrow.  I plan on documenting the entire training process on my blog since I want to keep myself motivated and inspire others to start as well.

Wish me luck!

Now for this recipe.

I saw this deliciousness on Foodgawker from Women Eat NYC over the weekend and my stomach literally screamed feed me.  Soo I did as requested and boy was this amazing.  I loved the homemade pesto with the combination of sun dried tomatoes and the peas nestled themselves perfectly into the shells.  Pure perfection I tell ya.

The great thing is you don't really need much of the pesto to cover the pasta so you have lots leftover to store in your fridge for future use.  You can use whole wheat pasta, or in my case, I chose to use low-carb pasta with lots of fiber.  I love that this dish is meatless and full of fresh veggies and herbs.  Nothing like an incredibly satisfying meal that tastes yummy and will leave you with with lots of leftovers!

_________________________________

Servings: 6

Serving Size: 1 cup 

Calories: 344

Fat: 6 g

Carbs: 64 g

Fiber: 10.5 g

Protein: 16 g

Old Points: 6.6 pts

Points+: 9 pts

________________________________________ 

Here are your ingredients:

Recipe adapted from Women Eat NYC

1 lb. Dreamfields medium pasta shells

1 cup marinated sun dried tomatoes, chopped

2/3 cup frozen peas, thawed in warm water

1/4 cup pesto sauce (recipe follows)

Salt and pepper to taste

When boiling water for the shells, make sure to generously salt the water.  Cook pasta until al-dente.  Drain and transfer shells to a large mixing bowl.  While the pasta is still hot, add pesto, sun dried tomatoes, peas, salt and pepper.  Serve with some fresh basil and enjoy!

Nutless Basil Pesto (makes more than necessary for pasta)

2 large bunches of basil

1 cup olive oil

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1 large clove raw garlic, roughly chopped

Salt and pepper

Remove basil leaves and put them in a colander.  Rinse and make sure to get any sand off of the leaves.  Squeeze out basil in a paper towel, and add to a food processor or blender.  Add oil and garlic to basil and blend.  The mixture should look a little soupy.  Add the parmesan, salt and pepper, and blend again.  Your pesto should thicken up with the cheese.  Store in the fridge for a week. 

Click here for a printable version of this recipe 

Along with signing up for the 15k, I also officially started Weight Watchers again.  I don't need to lose a lot, but I wanted to get on it to keep myself accountable more and so that me AND Chris can lose our holiday weight together.

Oh and of course I wanted to get a jump start early on bikini season.
Duh.

I'm excited to keep y'all updated on my progress!