I’m back, and this week bringing to you some pesto pasta salad with a homemade pesto recipe.
For the past few weeks, my fellow staff writer JJ Melton has been taking over my food column for me because I haven’t had any new recipes to share. The reason for that being I’ve been on a “diet” … aka trying to track my macros so I can start seeing more progress at the gym.
But today I’m bringing you what was technically my Halloween potluck meal that I decked out to look like Frankenstein, but will probably make again without making a face on the original thing.
This meal is super simple to make, the hardest part is making the pesto which isn’t even hard it’s just slightly annoying because sometimes you think about the fact you could buy pesto if you and not dirty up something else. But this was a great meal as Frankenstein or just as a meal prep.
I will say be prepared to see some new recipes for me in the future that are high in protien since that’s the one thing I’ve been struggling with getting enough of. But I’m looking forward to bringing in some healthy options for those who might be wanting to change their diet to make up for all the food you’re going to eat later this month.
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Ingredients …
— For pesto
2 cups of fresh basil
1/2 cup of parmesan
1/2 cup of pine nuts
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup of olive oil
Salt to taste
— For pasta salad
1 box of rotini noodles
2 cups of olives
2 cucumbers, diced
1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
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Directions …
Place basil and 1 tablespoon of oil into a food processor and blend until it’s a paste. The add ingredients in order as above blending until smooth.
Cook noodles to package instructions then add to a bowl with cucumbers, olives and cheeses. Slowly add basil to the noodles stirring to coat everything. Once noodles are coated as much as you desire, bag the rest of the pesto and save for later or freeze until you’re ready to use again.
Let pasta mixture sit overnight then enjoy.
Katelin Gandee can be reached at kgandee@laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com.