Food Love: Homemade Pesto & Peppers with Pasta

Hello lovelies,

Do you ever feel like you've fallen into a rut with the dinners you make? This often happens to me, so to get myself out of the rut, I try and make something new once a week or so.

This week, I made a recipe from the book Eat, Shrink and Be Merry. In the book, the recipe is called "Touched by an Angel Hair Pasta", but I don't have angel hair pasta... Sooo I just call it homemade pesto & peppers with pasta.

What you will need: 

2 red bell peppers

1 orange bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

1 1/2 cups fresh basil leaves

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp minced garlic

1/2 tsp salt

pasta of choice (they use angel hair, I used whole wheat spaghettini)

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Black pepper (optional)

Step 1: Preheat broiler.  Halve each pepper and remove the stem & seeds. Place peppers cut-side down on baking sheet. Broil until the peppers are blistered and charred (I think mine were in about 10 minutes?).  Remove from oven and transfer to a large bowl.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let them sit for 15 minutes.

Step 2: Once peppers have sat for 15 minutes, peel the skin off of each pepper (the most time consuming part!).  Chop peppers into thin strips, and keep one red pepper half set aside.

Step 3: Cook pasta according to package directions.

Step 4: Meanwhile, prepare your pesto.  Combine the basil, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, minced garlic, salt and half-red pepper into a food processor. Blend ingredients well.

Step 5: Once your pasta is cooked, combine with chopped peppers and mix in pesto.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and ground pepper if desired.

Step 6: ENJOY!

Note this will make about 4 servings (depending how much you eat). I definitely have leftovers in the fridge...