Thunderstorms, anyone? Holy moly it’s been raining so much here! The good news is that it’s not snow. The second good news is that the trees are starting to bloom! The bad news is that means that I saw a bee yesterday. I thought it was a giant spider. So the good news is that it was not a spider, but the bad news was that it started flying before I realized that it wasn’t a spider and I wanted to die for a second.
The good news on top of all of this news is that I found a great recipe for my Roasted Red Pepper Pesto! I felt inspired by this Pesto recipe from Real Simple and I decided to give it a try with my version. Guess what, it was tasty!
Roasted Red Pepper Pesto with Pasta and Sausage Recipe:
1 box (1 lb.) Campanelle pasta
12 oz. (4 links) Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage
1/2 cup frozen peas
8 oz. roasted red pepper pesto – recipe follows
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
Salt
Pepper
3 basil leaves – chopped for garnish
2 Tablespoons pine nuts for garnish
For the Roasted Red Pepper Pesto:
1 cup packed basil leaves
2 large red peppers – roasted
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt
Red pepper flakes
Start by making your Roasted Red Pepper Pesto. You’ll toss everything in a food processor and blend until it forms a paste. You can see the full recipe here.
Set your pesto aside and cook and drain your pasta according to the box. While that’s boiling, slice up your chicken sausage into bite size pieces. Saute it up in a skillet on medium-high heat until it’s nice and brown on each side.
Add your cooked pasta to your sausage, toss in your peas and your red pepper pesto. Stir and let everything come together.
Top with the extra parmesan cheese, pine nuts and basil.
If your significant other is eating low carb, serve this on a cheat day and you’ll have no leftovers. Or serve it on a non-cheat day and save all the leftovers for yourself. I don’t judge!
