Four bean pesto summer salad

Pesto Italian cuisine

For many years, I was a New Yorker - a Manhattanite, to be exact - who led the typical fast-paced New York life, struggling to fit work, play, exercise and good eating into my schedule. Multi-tasking became a skill born out of necessity rather than choice, affecting all facets of my life and resulting in my obsession to always find a way to accomplish two things at once. With a passion for food and cooking, as well as a passion for running, I began to time my gym excursions on the tredmill (with built-in television) around the Food Network schedule - thus collecting my necessary daily fix of foodie research and inspiration whilst burning calories. Three miles on the tredmill and a wealth of knowledge from Bobby Flay, Giada, the Barefoot Contessa (the list continues...) later, I have earned motivation and endorphins enough to make it to the grocery store and to cook up whatever spin-off recipe I may have concocted in my head from my gym visit. Thus, I present you with this Food Network inspired healthy summer salad - a spin on Rachel Ray's Three Bean Salad, and just in time to start eating healthy for those Hamptons weekends approaching! - starving-architects