Taste & Create: Pesto Pasta

"When are you going to blog again?" was Mr. J's question to me a few days ago. "Soon.." was my non-committal response.

I have to admit, I've been stuck in a rut lately. After my trip to the Philippines, I never expected that I would have a hard time blogging again. Don't get me wrong, the desire to blog never left me, and I've never stopped cooking -- it's taking the time to write, take photos and posting them up that I wasn't inspired to do somehow. It's as if my blogging "mojo" was sucked out of me. Ha,ha...

I don't know how others are able to get back into the swing of things immediately after a long break, 'cause I'm finding out now that it is not easy, uh-oh. Not for me, at least.. But I know that I should not stay in this rut for long, so in an effort to take myself away from it, I have decided to once again particpate in Taste & Create. I figured, it would be a good motivation for me to get out of this stupor and force myself to blog again, huh?

For those who don't know, Taste and Create is a monthly blogging event where bloggers are paired up, and then the partners get to cook/bake something from each other's blogs. It's basically swapping recipes, if you ask me.)

And so here I am, barely making it to the deadline, but I'm here nevertheless. That's what matters, right?

For this month's Taste and Create, I was paired of with Scrumptious of In My Box. Her blog is about the weekly CSA box that she gets from Eat Well Farm. It's not only a fascinating blog, but an enviable one as well. I wish I get the same fresh, organic produce regularly myself! Some people just have all the luck, huh? :o)

To keep things simple for me being that I'm not totally out of the rut yet, I decided to do her Pesto Pasta.... It looked so good to me and I needed something quick for lunch yesterday.


Her pesto is a vegan version, though, and since I am not one, I decided to do the regular pesto. (Check out her recipe here) For this, I changed up the nutritional yeast to parmiggiano reggiano - which I absolutely love! And for the veggies, I roasted a mix of zucchini and squash which I added to the medley of tri-colored spirals along with halves of cherry tomatoes.

All together, this pasta made up for a really colorful, light, healthy and quick but flavorful lunch.

Thanks, Scrumptious, for taking me out of this rut! And thanks Min, for hosting this month's Taste and Create. You did a good job!

I'm Back..

Hi, foodie blogville.. I am back in the homefront, after 5 weeks or so of being away. Whew! Wasn't that long??? Can't wait to get blogging again. But first, I just want to get over this jet lag. I'll be fine in a few days.... and then, I'll be back on board again!

Hope you'll come back to see what's up.