Pesto Pasta

Want a super quick healthy meal? Go to pesto. You can even have it during the depths of winter. I've shared a recipe during the summer, and this is basically the same minus the fresh summer roasted vegetables. During the winter, our pesto is straight parsley.

This meal is so quick. You can pair it with a salad or just a side of toast. My kids love it, and it's very fulfilling. You can get this made in less than 20 minutes if uninterrupted (unlikely in my house). :)

Ingredients:
one pound whole wheat pasta (I prefer penne - so easy for kids to eat)
two handfuls of walnuts
three garlic cloves
one teaspoon sea salt
six twists of freshly ground pepper
3/4 bunch of flat-leaf parsley (I leave the other 1/4 of parsley for other meals during the week - through it in rice or a pasta sauce)
olive oil

Directions:
Bring large pot of water to boil. Cook pasta 8-10 minutes. Reserve 1 cup of pasta cooking water. While pasta cooks, process walnuts, garlic, salt and pepper in a food processor. Add all the parsley and continue to process. Drizzle no more than 1/4 cup of olive oil while processing parsley. Use reserved pasta cooking water to continue processing the pesto for your desired creaminess. Add pesto to cooked pasta. Add more cooking water if more creaminess is desired.

To bump up the nutritional value, add frozen peas or roasted kale.