One thing I’ve never blogged about before is cooking. I’ve never been super confident in my cooking abilities, but over the past couple of years it’s been increasing enough for me to share a simple recipe that I feel like I can call my own invention. I wanted to create a pasta salad that had similar taste to what you would find in caprese salad, and after a few tries I got it to the point where I pretty much make it consistently the way I describe here.
I have made this recipe for a few people, and all of them have asked me how I made it. I even got stopped by a lady in the store when I was picking out pesto to answer questions about how I used it and got to share my pasta salad idea with her. These simple interactions made me feel like yes, I can be one of those people who write about their recipes online!
Something I didn’t include as part of the instructions here is that for some added protein this pasta salad can also be made with shredded chicken. And now that I have a fresh basil plant, that may make its way into future variations. But what you see below is a limited ingredient, vegetarian-friendly recipe and could be your next delish lunch meal prep or dinner side! It takes less than 30 mins and makes enough for about 4-6 servings.
Ingredients:
- 12 oz box of bowtie pasta
- 1 jar of Classico Pesto
- 1 lb bag of shredded mozzarella cheese
- 10 oz container of grape tomatoes
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Recipe Instructions:
- Bring a large pot of water to boil. Then cook the whole box of pasta according to the instructions on the box.
- While the water is heating up, get a medium-sized bowl and drizzle a bit of olive oil into it.
- Rinse and slice the grape tomatoes in halves. After slicing, toss the halves into the oiled bowl. Add a dash of salt and pepper and toss together. Let this sit while the pasta cooks.
- Once the pasta is cooked, add the amount of pesto needed according to the instructions on the jar. Classico calls for about 4 Tbsp per 1 cup of cooked pasta.
- Mix in the mozzarella cheese and grape tomato halves according to your preference and enjoy!
Written by Hannah 