DELICIOUS, ORGANIC AND EASILY ADAPTABLE TO EVERY FAMILY MEMBER’S TASTE!
I am sharing a basic, vegetarian version. Measurements for the vegetables are approximate and you can certainly substitute and/or increase/decrease the amounts to your liking, see below for some suggestions.

Pesto & Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta

INGREDIENTS
Pesto Sauce *
Cooked and cold rinsed organic pasta, about 16 oz dry
1 cup fresh organic broccoli, cut into small florets (about 1/2 inch x 1/2 inch)
3/4 cup organic green pepper, cut into small (1/4 inch) pieces
1/2 cup green onion (onion tails or chives), cut into small (1/4 inch) pieces
1 1/2 cup organic sun-dried tomatoes, cut into small (1/4 inch) pieces**

INSTRUCTIONS
Toss all ingredients together and put in a large, covered dish in the refrigerator. Easy!

SUGGESTIONS AND VARIATIONS
Pasta: fusilli, penne, and shells all work great! I used organic tri-color quinoa fusilli pasta. Also try gluten-free if you or the kids have a sensitivity!
Protein: Sliced hardboiled eggs on top! Delicious & still vegetarian!
Omnivore-style: I’ve done grilled organic boneless skinless chicken breast cut into 1/2 inch cubes and set aside in a separate container to add in for the adults when desired.
This would also be delicious with some chorizo or pepperoni, even ham (all of which we currently have in organic form in our refrigerator).
Carrots: Finely chopped fresh baby carrots would add additional sweetness and crunchiness.
Peppers: Substitute or add in red, orange and yellow bell peppers for color and variety!
Mushrooms: I personally don’t care for mushrooms but you can easily add some fresh button mushrooms, cepe mushrooms or virtually any other into this dish.
Pine Nuts: Since we have a not yet 2 year old, I did not add pine nuts, although they would bring great additional flavor. Put 1/3-1/2 cup in the food proceessor to REALLY integrate it into the pesto mixture, but simple pine nuts sprinkled on top of each dish are lovely as well!
Garlic: I LOVE garlic and so does my husband! For those of you in the same category, feel free to add 2, 3 or more cloves of chopped garlic to make this dish really zippy!

*I used 2 packages of Simply Organic’s Sweet Basil Pesto Sauce mix http://www.swansonvitamins.com/SMP002/ItemDetail for my pesto, but feel free to use a jar of pre-made pesto, organic or whatever you’d prefer. For each packet of the mix you will need 1/2 cup water, 1/4 cup olive oil and 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese.

**This one ingredient can really make or break the dish! I used basil-marinated sun-dried tomatoes that I picked up at our local Marche Provencal in Antibes, FR. I realize that this is not an option for most, so I would suggest finding a sun-dried tomato that you know you prefer prior to putting it into this dish. In the States I always preferred the sun-dried tomatoes in the plastic ziploc-type bags versus the ones packed in oil. In my experience I like the “dryer” version over the oily version, especially in a dish that already has a lot of olive oil.