Healthy recipe- Spinach pesto pasta

Pesto is a very versatile sauce that can be used as a sauce for breads, sandwiches, pastas and whatever else you desire!!! This recipe even convinced my kids to eat spinach because of how delicious it was! All of its ingredients are healthy, and they are readily available in stores and in your pantry. 

Ingredients needed for the Pesto

3 cups of Spinach- I used baby spinach

A squeeze of Lemon- To taste

Salt-To taste

Black Pepper- To taste

1/3 cup of Walnuts- You can toast it lightly if you want

1/2 cup of Parmigiano Reggiano or Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup of Olive Oil

2-3 cloves of Garlic

Optional- Dried Basil  

How to make it

 1) Use a food processor and put the garlic, walnuts, parmigiano cheese, black pepper and salt 

 2) Add the Spinach and lemon and slowly drizzle in half cup of olive oil blend it until you have reached the desired consistency of chunky or smooth

 

Combine it with the Pasta

1) Boil 454 grams of desired pasta and cook it according to the instructions given on the package- (I used Whole Wheat, but the normal variety is good to)

2) Reserve 1 cup of pasta water before draining the pasta

3) Add the pesto to the cooked pasta and use some of the pasta water to get the desired consistency

Notes

*If you want to use a blender instead follow the instructions above but add cooled pasta water to the blender to make the blending process more efficient

*I love adding red chili flakes to it on top

*Because you salt the water, make sure you keep that in mind as you salt the pesto

* Experiment!!! You can substitute and mix and match different greens like basil and Arugula and more. Almonds and pine nuts are also popular choices