Pesto Pasta

Here's another easy to prepare dish that's great for warmer weather.  You can serve it hot, cold, or anywhere in between.

Pesto Pasta Salad

Box of your favorite pasta
2 large carrots, peeled and diced
1 cup frozen peas
1 tbsp olive oil
6 tbsp pesto
handful of fresh basil
salt and pepper to taste

Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil, add in pasta, diced carrots and olive oil.  Boil together for 4-5 minutes, then add in frozen peas.  Continue boiling until pasta is cooked to desired consistancy (3-4 more minutes for al dente; 4-5 more minutes for tender).

Drain and rinse pasta and veggies.  Run under water to rinse (cold or hot depends on the temperature you want to serve the dish at).

Add in pesto and fresh basil.  Mix well, salt and pepper to taste.

Top with parmesan and serve.  Makes a whole buncha servings, so if you aren't cooking for a large group and want to make an amount that you won't be feeding off of for days, halve the recipe.

We used pre-made pesto for this dish as a time-saving option, but here's a quick pesto recipe if you'd like to make it from scratch.

Pesto

2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1/2 cup olive oil
3 tbsp pine nuts, walnuts or cashews
3 garlic cloves minced

Chop basil in a food processor (best to add basil in a bit of a time to get an even texture).  Add in the rest of the ingredients a bit at a time to the basil in the processor, occasionally stopping to scrape down the sides, until the mixture is even in consistency.  Will make a nice smooth thick paste.  Pesto will keep in the fridge for about a week, or you can freeze it for a couple of months.

To turn this into a carnivore friendly dish, add some pre-cooked chicken.