Healthy Carb Loading

If there's one thing you need to know about me as a person, I'm a huge concert-goer. I've been to upwards of 25 concerts in the past 3 years, and tonight is probably the most important one. Twenty One Pilots is playing at the Tower Theater and, after seeing them twice already, I know how intense their shows tend to be. Being at one of their concerts is more like a workout than a relaxing experience. I've been extra careful these past couple of days to be healthy, drinking lots of water and eating well-balanced meals.

Tonight, being probably the concert equivalent of the Super Bowl, I am making a simple pasta dish for my late lunch/early dinner.

Orzo with Spinach and Peppers
For this dish, you will need exactly what it says in the title above. Orzo, chicken, baby spinach leaves, a bell pepper, and Parmesan cheese.

It's easiest to multitask while preparing this dish. While waiting for the water to boil for the orzo, start cutting up the bell pepper into small bits and pieces.

Grab a small pan and add oil to the bottom. Add the pepper pieces and baby spinach leaves and start to saute them. The peppers don't need to be well-cooked. The point of adding the peppers and spinach to this pan is to warm them up more than anything. Adding cold peppers and spinach to pasta is not as tasty or pleasant to eat unless you are a fan of the different temperatures in one dish.

The orzo should cook for about 9 minutes, and by the end of this time the rest of the meal should be finished cooking also. Drain the orzo and add the cooked spinach and peppers into the empty pot. After the orzo is drained well, add it back into the pot and stir together all of the ingredients.

Add cheese to the top of the dish once served onto the plate or bowl if desired.

This meal takes less than 15 minutes and is a good meal to incorporate different vegetables. My personal choice is to just stick to spinach and peppers, but adding tomatoes and zucchini or any other vegetable is good also.

Now that I'm loaded up on carbs, I'm ready for the best workout I'm ever going to have. Wish me luck!