Homemade Pesto Pasta Salad

*Insert three fire emojis*

This weekend was my first official Mediterranean Prep, and to kick it off, I decided to make my favorite, pesto and turn it into a pasta salad. They are both v delicious, but lesson learned, you need about 75x as much Basil as you think you do. I bought a big live basil plant at Sprouts, and 2 already packaged containers because I wanted some basil left on the plant so it can continue to grow. I used about 4 cups of packed basil, and only got about 3/4 a jar - but luckily that's all I needed for my recipe. I do have to warn you now, I am notorious for not measuring stuff as I make it, and for that I"m sorry, but I will never change. So without further ado, here is my pesto recipe!

4 c packed Basil

1/2 c crushed walnuts* 

6 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

1/2 lemon squeezed

3 tbsp of garlic**

1/2 c of EVOO***

*walnuts are cheaper and work just as well as the traditional pine nuts

** I actually used closer to like 5 tbsp of garlic bc you can never have too much

***This is a guesstimate because I just poured it in and didn't measure

Throw all this shit in a food processor and blend away baby. 

Pesto Pasta Salad

1 box of Chickpea Pasta

3 cups of spinach or romaine or both

1 carton of grape tomatoes

2 handfuls of kalamata olives

Garlic and salt and parm to taste

1. Boil your pasta, obviously.

2. While that's happening, slice tomatoes and throw em in the oven til they wrinkle.

3. Chop up some spinach and other lettuces

4. Slice your olives

5. Throw all that in a bowl with garlic and salt, and mix in the pesto.

6. Sprinkle some parm on top

7. Call it a day. 

At some point in this journey, I do plan on making my own homemade pasta, and when I do that, I will make this again, and obvi share it with you. 

But for now, this is the best I can do! Stay tuned for more slightly above average recipes.