Veggie and Pesto Pasta Salad

I love the freedom of mealtime in the summer: grilling on the deck, ice cream at the beach, iced tea on a lazy Sunday afternoon.  Food always seems to taste the best when everyone is laid back and surrounded by the ones they love, and summer seems to give us the most opportunities for these meals.  

One dish that’s a staple to any summer get-together is the pasta salad.  I like my pasta salads swimming in mayonnaise, but not everyone likes mayo ( I have no patience for these people.) and it’s a pretty unhealthy choice.  Italian dressing is another option, but by the time August rolls around, maybe you want something new?  I’ve got just the thing: Pesto!    

    

I’ve only had pesto a few times and it was always from a seasoning packet.  To me, it tasted like buttery noodles with some seasoning salt.  Plus, I would always get the little green pieces stuck in my teeth. Annoying!  When I tried making my own homemade pesto, I was shocked at how much flavor it had.  At least it worth getting pesto stuck in my teeth!

Life is better with fun shaped pasta.

This recipe was inspired by Joy the Baker.

Veggie and Pesto Pasta Salad

4 cups of spinach, packed loosely

2/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil

2 spoonfuls of minced garlic (two garlic cloves)

3 teaspoons of lemon juice

1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese

1 pound of uncooked pasta (about 8 servings)

A variety of vegetables

1. Bring a pot of water to a roiling boil and drop in your pasta.  Stir occasionally until the pasta is cooked.  Drain, then let the pasta cool by running cold water over it.

2. While your pasta is cooking and cooling, coarsely chop you spinach and put it in a blender or food processor with the EVOO, garlic, lemon juice and parmesan cheese.  Blend until the spinach is almost liquified.  This is your pesto sauce. 

3. Chop your veggies into bite sized pieces.  Use whatever veggie make you happy.  I used green bell peppers, tomatoes, onion, and green olives.  Others that would be good: broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber, black olives, celery, mushrooms, carrots, even kernels of corn.  So, yep, you’ve got lots of options.

4. In a large bowl, mix together the pasta, noodles, veggies, and add salt and pepper to taste.

So, now I’m confused: is all homemade pesto this good or am I just an excellent pesto cook?Anyways, this dish seems to keep very well in the fridge overnight ( I was worried about the olive oil separating), so it would be a wonderful item to make ahead for a backyard BBQ or a potluck. After all, garlic breath is best when it’s shared!  Enjoy!

Creamy Avocado Pasta

I like to eat food.  I like to eat good food. I like to eat good food that’s filled with carbs and fats and sugars.  I will probably never naturally gravitate towards a raw, paleo, or gluten-free diet. (Though I was a hard core vegetarian in high school.  I just ate a lot of donuts... just kidding.)  But as I get older, I see my body as a machine:  if I take care of this machine and give it all the nutrition it needs, it will run well and I will have minimal problems.  But if I don’t take care of this wonderful machine, it won’t work efficiently.  I will be tired, irritable, and have trouble concentrating.

That being said, I feel like mealtime is a constant battle between what I want to eat and what I need to eat.  But what if I could have both?  What if I had a handful of meal ideas that tasted amazing and were good for me at the same time?  This is exactly what I’m trying to come up with and I’d like to share with you one of my first meals.

Creamy Avocado Pasta

2 ripe avocados

1-2 teaspoons of lemon juice

2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, approximately

1 spoonful of minced garlic

A pinch of salt

1 large tomato, chopped, or several cherry tomatoes

4 servings of uncooked pasta, (whole wheat, gluten-free, or regular.)

1. Bring a pot of water up to a rolling boil. Add the pasta and stir occasionally.

2. Slice the avocados in half, remove the pit and scoop the ‘meat’ into a bowl.  Take a fork and mash it up a bit.

3. Now it’s time to add the lemon juice, EVOO and garlic.  This is a good time to personalize your meal: if you want the lemon and/or garlic flavor to stand out, add more of it.  The EVOO is use to thin the avocado mixture, so add it according to how thin or thick you want yours to be.  Add salt to taste and stir.

4. When the pasta is cooked, drain it, and place in a large serving bowl.  Add the avocado mixture and the tomatoes.  Stir it all together and serve immediately.

This dish tastes like a beautiful combination of fettuccine alfredo and guacamole.  It’s so good I could eat it every day. In fact, as long as I had this, I may never need to eat fettuccine alfredo ever again.  And that’s really saying something, because I really like alfredo!  Plus, avocadoes are much healthier for you than cream, butter, and cheese (alfredo) will ever be.  The only downside to this dish is that the avocado will oxidize after a few hours and turn brown, so it’s not the best dish to store for leftovers.  But, this meal is so good that eating it all won’t be a problem.

Hip hip hooray for avocados!

Edible Perspective's Spinach and Lentil Pasta with a Lemon Olive Oil Sauce

As long as I'm on the topic of lentils, check out this Spinach and Lentil Pasta with a Lemon Olive Oil Sauce by Edible Perspective!  It looks so good and I really want to make some this weekend.
Ashley's photographs are so beautiful, and her recipes are very tasty as well.  She is one of my favorite food bloggers and I really look up to her as I start my own food blogging journey!