Pasta Pesto

Who doesn't love a warm bowl of pesto pasta? It is kid friendly, nutritious and oh so yummy!  This quick and easy version is a snap to throw together. The whole sauce can be made and the dishes cleaned before your pasta has finished cooking.   In addition, the pesto can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator covered in a thin layer of oil. The left overs are delicious cold or at room temperature making it a great lunchbox meal.  I have adapted my version of Pesto Pasta from a recipe called Yummy Vegan Pesto Classico from the Allrecipes website. 

Pasta Pesto

1/2 cup toasted pine nuts

2/3 cup olive oil

1-2 bunches fresh basil, washed and leaves removed from stems

5-10 cloves of fresh garlic depending on your preference

1/3 cup nutritional yeast

1 tsp salt, more to taste if needed

freshly ground pepper

pasta, either thin spagetti, tubular, bowtie etc. I used barilla high protein pasta for this version although whole wheat is nice too.

Toast pine nuts in a dry, small pan over low heat. Stir freqently and do not walk away from stove. As soon as they start to turn golden and release flavor, take off of heat. Add to a food processor.  Add rest of ingredient except oil and pulse a few times. As processor is running, drizzle oil into the mixture and process until smooth. Taste and adjust, salt, pepper and garlic.

I usually make a full batch of pasta and use almost the entire batch of pesto to coat warm pasta. Serve with mixed green salad and Green Beans with Shitake Mushrooms. Recipe to follow.

Another great thing about this recipe is that even non-vegans will love it! They won't be able to tell that it does not have any parmesan cheese. It is that delicious! As a reminder, nutritional yeast can be purchased in the bulk aisle of any health food type market. It is good, good stuff loaded in b vitamins and oh so very tasty!

Warm pasta pesto made with thin, extra protein Barilla spagetti.

The final meal for the family.  Pasta pesto, green beans with shitake mushrooms and mixed green salad.  Healthy, delicious, and makes great left overs. The kids and hubby gobbled it up plus had it for lunch  the next day.

Version two of pasta pesto made with penne pasta. It was really, really delicious!

I know we have heard it before, but it bears repeating. Get the kids in the kitchen asap! Are they picky eaters? Have them pick off the leaves of the basil. The fragrance as they pick is overwhelming. Casually comment about how wonderful it smells. My eight year old cut the ends off of all those green beans. He sat at the kitchen counter and worked on his knife skills. We talked and snacked on raw green beans. Guess how many he ate at dinner? Tons! So what if he picked out the mushrooms. Next time he may try one. Don't make a big deal about food. And it may take twenty times for it to be on the table before they try it. Don't despair! My five year old just asked me to buy cherry tomatoes for his lunchbox. It took five years but he finally tried one and love it!   I never choose to not make an item because my kids won't eat it. Never, never ever! How else will they learn to like it if it isn't offered regularly? They won't wake up one day and beg for roasted broccoli UNTIL they try it and fall in love. So keep offering those healthy foods.

Enjoy and be healthy!