Easy Meal Mondays! Avocado Pesto Pasta

Hello Everyone!  I am starting a series featuring easy and healthy meal options.  I am planning on posting one recipe every Monday that is easy to make since I very rarely have energy for anything more than easy.  

So, today I am going to talk about  Avocado Pesto Pasta!  This is one of my favorite dishes and Jason (my husband) and I make this almost every week.  We found it on the Oh She Glows blog and have found many other recipes that we love from this site.  We usually use either whole wheat pasta or brown rice pasta to make this a bit more healthy and we add a roma tomato to the sauce so it is not so sticky and blends easier.  Also, the blog says that this does not reheat well, but I think it is fine the next day if eaten cold.  I really enjoy it cold, but if that is not for you, then don’t make enough to have leftovers.  Sometimes Jason likes to make it cold the first time by running cold water over the noodles after we cook them and then add in the sauce.  Either way, this is really YUMMY!!!!  So here is the recipe copied from the Oh She Glows site with our few tweeks:

15 Minute Avocado Pesto Pasta

Ingredients:

• 1 Medium, Ripe Avocado
• 1/2 Lemon, juiced + lemon zest to garnish (we usually don’t put on the lemon zest as Jason does not like the extra lemony flavor)
• 1-3 Garlic Cloves, to taste (We usually do 2 garlic cloves, but just do what you like.  If you like more garlic it is good with 3 cloves)
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
• ~1/4 cup Fresh Basil (so we don’t ever have fresh basil, so we use a few cubes of frozen basil from the brand Dorot that I get at Trader Joes)
• 1 Roma Tomato
• 2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 2 servings/6 oz of your choice of pasta (We use whole wheat or brown rice pasta)
• Freshly ground Black Pepper, to taste
• 1/4 tsp Chili Powder or Cayenne Pepper (if you like a bit of a kick :) )

Directions:
1. Bring several cups of water to a boil in a medium sized pot. Add in your pasta, reduce heat to medium, and cook until Al Dente, about 8-10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, make the sauce by placing the garlic cloves, lemon juice, and olive oil into a food processor (we use our Vitamix). Process until smooth. Now add in the pitted avocado, basil, and salt. Process until smooth and creamy.
3. When pasta is done cooking, drain and rinse in a strainer and place pasta into a large bowl. Pour on sauce and toss until fully combined. Garnish with lemon zest and black pepper. Serve immediately. Makes 2 servings.

Let me know what you think and if you want me to keep showing some easy recipes!  Enjoy!