Pesto Green Beans and South Beach Diet Phase 1 Week 1 Update
Looks like I have been starting every other blog post with an apology. This time I have a genuine excuse for my tardiness. Over the past three months I have spent a good amount of time at the chiropractor’s office and with a physical therapist due to a constant pain in the neck. (And no, I am not figuratively speaking about Siv or my boss) I don’t want to bore you with all the details but I have been doing a lot of exercises as part of the Physical therapy to strengthen my muscles and last Thursday I hurt my right shoulder doing some PT move. Because of this I couldn’t type for more than a few minutes in a stretch for the past few days and of course I had to save all those precious minutes for my paying job. My neck and shoulders don’t really let me watch TV for long or sleep comfortably. Take away three of my favorite pastimes – TV, Computer and Sleep – life gets pretty boring. 
Luckily I could cook without much strain. My shoulder is a lot better now, but the neck doesn’t really let me type for long still, so here is an easy recipe (it’s stretching the meaning of the word) I can type quickly.
Pesto Green Beans is nothing but blanched French beans quick sauteed with some flavorful pesto, it is a fantastic side dish regardless of whether you are following a diet or not. It will work with store bought pesto or you can make your own. A pesto is the easiest thing in the world to make, all you need is some herbs and some nuts and garlic and olive oil, the possible variations and flavors are endless! I used a combo of spinach, mint and cilantro for herbs and pine nuts. I won’t type the pesto recipe as you can use any pesto you like.
Ingredients
- 1 lb green beans
- 2 tbsp pesto
- 1 tsp olive oil
Method
In a large sauce pan place enough water to cover the beans and bring to a boil. Add the beans and boil for 3 minutes. Remove and immediately plunge in a prepared ice water bath to stop the cooking. Drain. Blanching the beans brings out their bright green color.
In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil and add the blanched and drained green beans and just about heat the beans. Don’t overcook, we want to keep the crunch. Switch off the stove and add the pesto and toss well.
Here are a few pesto recipes for inspiration.
Arugula-Cilantro Pesto with Yogurt
Roasted Piquillo Pepper – Walnut pesto
South Beach Diet Update
I am on second week of SBD phase 1 and very pleased with the first week results.
- Days on Diet – 8
- Weight loss - 3lb
Here is my daily menu for the last 6 days. Not very interesting, a lot of repeats, but just wanted to post this as it shows how easy it is to create an SBD phase 1 plan.
Day 1 Menu
Day 2 Menu
Day 3 Menu (Thursday)
- Breakfast – 1 slice of the breakfast casserole + Coffee
- Midmorning Snack – 1 wedge laughing cow cheese
- Lunch – Grilled Salmon + Salad from Office Café
- Evening Snack – 15 almonds
- Dinner – Spicy sautéed chicken + Pesto Beans
Day 4 Menu (Friday – Stayed Home)
- Breakfast – 1 slice of the breakfast casserole + Coffee
- Midmorning Snack – Left over grilled mackerel + cauli-rice
- Lunch – Almond Crusted Tilapia + Pesto Beans
- Evening Snack – 15 almonds
- Dinner – Chickpea Flour Pizza with Pesto, Chicken Sausage, Grilled peppers, mushrooms & Mozzarella (Recipe coming up)
Day 5 Menu (Saturday – No Cooking, Leftover Day)
- Breakfast – 1 slice of the breakfast casserole + Coffee
- Midmorning Snack – 1 wedge laughing cow cheese
- Lunch – Left over grilled mackerel + Pesto Beans
- Evening Snack – Non-fat latte + 15 almonds
- Dinner – Leftover Chickpea Flour Pizza with Pesto, Chicken Sausage, Grilled peppers, mushrooms & Mozzarella (Recipe coming up)
Day 6 Menu (Sunday)
- Brunch – 2 egg Omelet with Chicken Sausage , spinach, mushrooms, peppers & Mozzarella + Coffee
- Afternoon Snack – 2 wedge laughing cow cheese
- Evening Snack – Non-fat latte + 15 almonds
- Dinner – Kerala style Pork Fry + Oven roasted French beans
Day 7 Menu (Monday)
- Breakfast – 2 egg Omelet with Mushrooms, Bell peppers and cheddar + 2 strips of bacon (from office café)
- Midmorning Snack – 15 almonds
- Lunch – Portabella mushroom salad (from office café)
- Evening Snack – None L
- Late Evening Snack – Left over Kerala style Pork Fry
- Late Dinner – White Beans and Spinach soup in light Coconut Milk (Recipe coming up)
Day 8 Menu (Tuesday)
- Breakfast – 2 egg Omelet with Mushrooms, Bell Peppers and Feta + Coffee
- Mid-morning snack – 1 wedge laughing cow cheese
- Lunch – Left over Kerala style Pork Fry + Oven roasted French beans
- Evening Snack – None L
- Dinner – Spanish Style Chicken + Sautéed Spinach
Well, so much for the short post I gotta go ice the neck now.
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get well soon!
And I have got to try this soon!
i am going to go ahead and make some pesto! i have never ventured there!
hope u feel better soon…take care…
that beans with pesto sounds great…must try it out
French beans and pesto are both my favorite. Will buy the pesto soon and make this.
Looks lovely! And the pesto looks nice and powdery, not sticky.
Would love to roast these beans!
I love the vibrant green colour of those beans…makes me want to eat a whole bowl of them! I am sure they are delicious.
What a delicious menus. That greenbeans look so delicious.
Those beans look FAB! love the bright color!
Will try this once I am back in LA!
Take care of u!
Happy Onam Sig! Last time I was here you were on the South Beach diet, did you start that again?:) Hope you ar feeling better now!
Quite a few recipes you need to blog about!They are nice and bright beans
Looks delightful.
Pin in the neck and shoulders must be quite awful.
Take care of yourself. Those exercises are probably the best way to deal with it.
And belated Onam wishes.
That sounds really painful!
Hope it gets better soon Sig!
The green beans are dazzling – and the pesto sounds wonderful too! I thought of you when I posted a fish recipe on my blog last week – in some time I might muster up the courage to try out one of your delicious curries !
Miri
awww- hope you feel better soon. Hang in there!
Sorry to hear about the neck pain. My chiro is just awesome and I still can’t stop being awed by the magic she did on my body. Get well soon.
On the other hand, It’s wonderful to hear about the SBD again. I’m in India right now, being seduced by the land of white rice and all carb laden stuff. The no-grain diet was relatively easier to pull it off in Toronto than here. Good luck with your diet!! [Thumbs up!] I’ll join you when I get back in November.
I’m not sure if you can eat yogurt in SBD Phase I. I made a raita recently with grated ash/white pumpkin (raw), yogurt, green chillies, coriander leaves and salt. It was really good and was very filling! The texture was very similar to rice. Recipe was a childhood flashback.
Thanks Kay! I am glad your chiro fixed you up, mine is really good, I am sorta addicted to the weekly adjustments now but the pain is not going away! Have fun in India, yeah, it is hard to stick to any low-carb diet there.
Thanks for the raita recommendation, low fat yogurt is allowed in SBD all phases. I will try it out!
Love this recipe. I have been trying to get my kids to eat beans without much success and then I came across this recipe. I am from Kerala too. The only thing I changed was that I cut the beans thoren style. the kids loved it.
Thanks.
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