Ta-Da! I'm a Chef!

I know pasta dishes are probably among the most easy dinners to throw together…if you’re not me. However, when boiling water has been known to take a disastorous turn, it seems like a really good starting point! I wanted to make a delicious, healthy, vegetable-filled pasta dish and preferably something not tomato sauce based. Seeing as one of my earlier “projects” this summer was growing my own herbs, primarily basil, a pesto-based dish seemed like a good choice (also, I LOVE LOVE LOVE pesto). I usually go to www.allrecipes.com for my recipes. I love the rating and review system. It’s pretty similar to www.tripadvisor.com, which is my go-to travel site!

Anyway, I found the following recipe for pesto, which allowed me to put all of that basil to use AND was a good way to get more spinach into my diet:

Pesto:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Spinach-Basil-Pesto/Detail.aspx

This is a great pesto recipe (although I’m fond of adding more walnuts) and I’ve used the pesto both frozen and fresh—both times it was pretty delicious (if I do say so myself)!

I used the following pasta recipe:

Pasta:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pesto-Pasta-with-Chicken/Detail.aspx

I used whole wheat pasta and added a bunch of fresh veggies (broccoli, zucchini, and squash). I also used a TON of pesto—more than called for.

Also, my recipes usually end up with a dash of pug hair. This is strictly optional L.

PS—growing my own herbs proved to be so easy. Especially considering I’m growing them indoors. So cheap too! Simply picked up basil, mint, and cilantro at walmart and potted them. The basil requires a TON of water, the mint smells fantastic but I have NO idea what to use it for (I’m leaning towards mojitos! You provide the rum, I’ve got the mint! I think that’s fair. J), and the cilantro died really quickly. But hey, two out of three isn’t bad for an indoor, spur-of-the-moment herb garden. Also, check out that awesome pink elephant watering can. $1 from Target. How great is that?!?!