In most classic pesto recipes they call for pine nuts, cheese and oil lots of oil. Not this one! I reduced the oil and cheese, but still kept the flavor. I’ve used the combination of spinach and basil with a little cheese and oil for a healthy alternative to your traditional pesto. The pesto alone accounts for a full serving of vegetables. Then you add in the tomatoes and yellow bell pepper and you are loading you and your child with “hidden” vegetables. This is an easy recipe and great for a side or as a main dish.
Spinach Pesto Chicken Pasta
- ½ lb whole wheat pasta of choice
- 2 cups tightly-packed baby spinach (about 3 oz)
- 1 cup tightly-packed fresh basil
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 Tbsp Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
- 3 Tbsp Olive Oil
- ¼ cup unsalted toasted almond slivers
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
- 1 ½ cups cooked chicken (I used a rotisserie chicken), cubed
- 1 yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced small
- 1 ½ cups cooked white beans ( or 1 15 oz can low-sodium white beans, drained and rinsed)
- Sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain pasta and rinse with cold water to stop it from cooking further. Set aside.
Put spinach, basil, garlic, cheese in a food processor and pulse to form a chunky paste. With food processor running (on but not pulsing), add olive oil through the food chute in a slow drizzle until thick, smooth pesto forms. Combine pesto with cooked pasta in a large bowl.
Put almonds in processor and pulse about 10 times, until finely chopped. Stir almonds into pasta.
Add cubed chicken, tomatoes, yellow pepper and beans to the pasta. Toss to combine and season with salt and pepper. Enjoy!!
KID CONVERTIBLE NOTE: To make this pasta appealing to kids, select pasta that’s cut into letters or fun shapes and isn’t too difficult to eat. If your child has a nut allergy, simple strike the almonds from the ingredients list. You can always do half the pasta with almonds and half without too. And one more note, if you child isn’t a pesto lover you can always substitute the pesto for homemade pureed tomato sauce. Stay tune and I’ll post my easy tomato sauce recipe that can be ready in 5 minutes.
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