Make your own Red Pesto

I used to buy red pesto at the supermarket until I found out that it's actually super easy to make your own red pesto. And it tastes way better than store-bought pesto too!!! When you make a batch, make sure to store it in the fridge! It will keep for about 1 1/2 week. The red pesto is great on bread or in other recipes, such as pasta dishes.

Red Pesto

a small bunch of basil leaves

40 gram Parmesan cheese

30 gram pine nuts

1 or 2 garlic cloves

150 grams sundried tomatoes

a dash of extra virgine olive oil

a splash of balsamic vinegar

Put all the ingredients into a food processor or blender and blend until everything is pureed.

If you have more time available, you can also use a mortar and pestle and some good old-fashioned elbow grease :)

Add some more olive oil if the pesto seems to dry for your taste.

Taste & Create XXII: Penne in a Creamy Pesto Sauce with Fresh Mozzarella, Grape Tomatoes & Chicken

For this months Taste & Create I was paired with the lovely Poornima of Tasty Treats.
With lots of yummy dishes to choose from I picked another great pastadish: Penne in a Creamy Pesto Sauce with Fresh Mozzarella, Grape Tomatoes and Chicken. I made this when I had a friend over for dinner and we absolutely loved it: this is easy to make and tastes absolutely delicious!!

Go check out what else was made for this months Taste & Create here!!

Pasta Salad with Gorgonzola and Pesto

I had a real early start this morning: I was wide awake at 5 am. After some useless attempts to get more sleep I got up at 5.30 and was on my way to work at 6. Surprisingly I wasn't even the first to arrive at work around 7 am: there were already 10 cars in the garage!

Spring has finally arrived: today it was 23 degrees Celsius here in Holland, not the best day to be spent in the office.... So when I came home from a long day at work and the sun was still shining outside, the last thing I wanted to do was spent another hour in the kitchen. Here's what I came up with: a lovely pasta salad with gorgonzola and pesto.

To celebrate the arrival of spring I have decided to change the deadline for my giveaway: you still can enter untill Thursday April 16, which is also Secretary Day here in Holland. If you would like to enter, everything is explained here. Tomorrow we're supposed to have another wonderful day with 22 degrees Celsius. Lucky for me I made lots of salad, so guess what I'll be having for dinner tomorrow......

Pasta Salad with Gorgonzola and Pesto (2 servings, 7.5 WW Points per serving)

200 grams penne (uncooked)
60 grams gorgonzola, diced
10 cherry tomatoes, quartered

1/2 cucumber, diced

1 shallot, finely diced

1 tbsp pesto

1 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Cook the pasta untill al dente. Cool the pasta a bit under running cold water. Put all the ingredients into a bowl, add salt an pepper to taste and mix well. Enjoy!

Today I also wanted to share this with you.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lata1T8cwUY

This is one of my favourite songs at the moment. The song is called 'Sweet Goodbyes' and it's by Krezip. This is actually the last song on the last album from Krezip, this album is on my wishlist. Krezip have been performing for the past 12 years and have unfortunately decided to quit. My friend Ingrid (a huge fan of Krezip) and I were lucky enough to be able to get some tickets for a concert last December, it was amazing.