Tag Archives: pesto

Pesto Pasta Salad for Camping

Posted in Food and Drink, Pasta, Side Dishes by

This weekend I went camping at Hanna Park, a local campground on the beach near my house.  Despite the 100 degree weather, it was a fun time!  It included all my favorite things- going to the beach, riding bikes and making good food!  Plus, my pup Lumen loved every minute of exploring the wild!

I didn’t go all out with the food this weekend, but I did make a Pesto Pasta Salad that got better and better as the days went by.  I even had it for lunch today, and it was still yummy at three days old!  The more days the pesto marinates on the pasta, the better tasting it is.  It was great the first night with hot dogs, and the second night with chicken skewers as well!  (You can see I took a vacation from cooking this weekend and let Publix and Oscar Myer do the work…)  The original recipe can be found here.

In addition to the pesto pasta, we had to make smores.  I’d never actually eaten smores, so it was a treat for me.  (I know… how did that happen?)  Mine were far from perfect, but tasted amazing.  I guess it’s hard to go wrong with the perfect combination of graham cracker, marshmallow and chocolate…

Pesto Pasta Salad gets better with time!

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup prepared pesto (I doubled this recipe and froze the second cup to use another day!)
  • 1 1/2 lbs. shell pasta
  • 1 cup plain yogurt
  • 2 Tbs. lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup mayo
  • 1/2 cup Parmesan
  • 1 bag (16 oz) frozen peas
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Prepare pasta according to package directions.

In a separate bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients except the Parmesan and peas.  Once pasta has cooled, stir in the pesto mixture.  Then add the Parmesan and peas.  Stir again.  This will keep for days, and tastes best on the second day!

Setting up camp with Lumen!

It’s not pretty, but it is delicious. Gimme smore!

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Arugula Pesto Pasta with Ricotta and Bacon

Posted in Food and Drink, Healthy Choices, Main Dishes by

Who doesn’t love a great pasta dish?  Lately I’ve been on quite the pesto kick, but soon I will be testing out some tomato sauce dishes with our fresh grown tomatoes!  This dish is more about using up some leftover ingredients, and it also has the added benefit of being healthy-ish (it does have bacon…)  When the friend brought over the eggplant the other day, he also gave us some arugula, so after a few arugula salads I decided to take it to the next level and try a pesto!  I’d never bought pine nuts before, and I know they’re a little pricey, but you only need a small amount, so try to get them from a place that lets you measure the nuts you need.  This was probably my best pesto so far!  So give this amazingly easy recipe a try!

Ingredients:

  • 8 cups (6 oz) arugula
  • 1 cup basil leaves
  • 1/2 cup pine nuts
  • 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 2/3 cup olive oil
  • 1 lb. pasta- your choice! (I used fettuccine tonight)
  • fresh ricotta cheese
  • crumbled bacon

Directions:

Using a large food processor, combine arugula, basil, pine nuts, Parmesan, garlic and salt.  Add olive oil slowly until blended.  Cook pasta until al dente (according to package directions.)  Once cooked, drain and toss with pesto.  Serve with a dollop of ricotta cheese and as much bacon as you want!

Note: For the healthy version, omit the bacon and use a very small amount of ricotta.  It will still be delicious!