Veggie Pesto Pasta

The first time I tasted Pesto, I fell in love with it. I have been adding Pesto to lot of my recipes since then.I was inspired by my friend Smita to try this recipe and it has been a huge hit especially with kids.This pasta is extremely easy to cook when you are not making pesto from scratch. I cook this dish when I am pressed for time.I use Pesto sauce from Costco or Trader Joes.You can get as creative as you want  with the veggies and garnishing.I use a traditional mortar and pestle for crushing black pepper and red chilli.

Ingredients

5 tbl spoons of Pesto
1 packet Penne whole wheat pasta
crushed black pepper – according to taste
crushed red chilli flakes  – according to taste – optional
2 zucchini sliced in rounds
Red /green/yellow bell  pepper - I buy a frozen bag from trader joes
2 tbsp sun dried tomatoes - optional
Grated cheese of your choice
1 tsp olive oil or use the oil from pesto
Salt to taste

You can add your choice of veggies. Sometimes I add olives, pine nuts ,cherry tomatoes and sun dried tomatoes.

Method

• Boil whole wheat pasta in water with little salt till its cooked. Drain the  water from the pasta after its boiled and let it cool.

• On a wide pan, add 1 tsp olive oil(I take the oil from pesto bottle) and saute  zucchini  and bell peppers . 

• Add the  cooked pasta, 3 tbl spoon of pesto  and mix them.Let it cook for about 3 min.

• Add crushed black pepper, red chilli flakes and the remaining pesto. Cook for 3 more min.

• Remove from stove. Garnish with grated cheese before serving.