Kiss Me-- I'm Italian!

Yesterday I had an intense craving for fresh pesto. Italians are all nodding in understanding at this point-- sometimes you just gotta make a basil-olive oil-pine nut smoothie and spread it on everything :) I used my family recipe, and then improvised on the pasta. Tada!

Pesto

6 cups loosely packed basil leaves

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

2 tsp. salt

3 large cloves garlic minced

1 1/2 cups extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup pine nuts

Mix everything in the liquefy mode of your blender except the Parmesan, then add that in the end.

Pasta con zucchini, pomodori, e funghi

2 boxes of Eating Right whole grain rotini (or barilla if you're rich).

2 packages of sliced fresh button mushrooms

1 package red cherry tomatoes, cut in halves.

4 fresh zucchinis

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (for sauteing)

Ground Black Pepper

Salt

Garlic Bread (Optional)

Red Wine (Mandatory)

Boil water, then add pasta as per box directions.

Put pesto in pot on low low LOW heat to keep sort of warm. don't cook it or the oil will burn off!

Saute mushrooms on medium heat in olive oil until browned, set aside on paper towels to absorb grease.

Repeat saute method with zucchini, adding in tomatoes in last 2 minutes of sauteing. Sprinkle salt and pepper on the mixture as it cooks. Set zucchini and tomatoes aside on paper towel.

Mix all together and sprinkle with parmesan cheese! Goes great with safeway garlic bread and a bottle of Robert Mondavi Zinfandel :)

Serves TEN filling servings! Aka both me and my boyfriend/ cooking helper had 4-5 servings of leftovers :)

That's amore!

<3