A post-workout dinner

There’s nothing like a hearty bowl of pasta after a workout of squats and deadlifts! I’ve heard it’s important to nourish your body shortly after a workout so your body can recuperate properly and also so your body “learns” that you’ll give it what it needs to build muscle and burn fat. So I pulled together some foods from the kitchen to give myself the mix of carbs, protein and healthy fats (and some not-so-healthy ones) my body needed post-workout. And it included bacon – get excited.
Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup of bowtie pasta
• 1/2 cup of frozen shelled edamame
• 1 slice of bacon, diced (preferably the thick-cut slices from the deli)
• Olive oil
• Preferred seasonings: I used garlic salt, onion powder, and dried parsley (garlic and onion… I’m such a treat)

Start the pasta a-boiling. Fry the bacon (yummers) and dry on a paper towel. Next, I washed out the bacon pan and steamed the edamame in it. Drain the pasta and the edamame and combine those two with the bacon. Drizzle it with some olive oil! Normally I’d use butter here but since we ran out the other day, olive oil was the next best thing. Plus, it’s probably better to avoid the butter anyway if you are already going to have the bacon fat. Right? Fine, let’s be honest, if we had butter it would have totally made it in, bacon or not! Then season to your heart’s desire. Red pepper flakes would’ve been an excellent addition but I didn’t think of it until now.

Confession: I could’ve used leftover rotisserie chicken instead of bacon but, uh, the bacon will go bad if I don’t use it so, uh, say YES to bacon. The edamame’s the real powerhouse here: over 8 grams of protein in half a cup.

Voila!