broccoli pesto pasta + croutons

i kinda followed a recipe from martha stewart's everyday food magazine,

but i blended it all up, instead of having it in the pasta separately.

let's be honest, my kids aren't gonna eat chunks of broccoli.

in fact, ivy only eats plain pasta.

no sauce of any kind.

but tonight i asked her (again) to try some.

so she did and instead of spitting it out, her eyes got big

and she smiled and said "i love it!"

"you do??"

she took another bite and said 

"mom i love it!"

i was so happy i almost cried. (i was tired).

she was so proud. 

eli ate some too and my night was made.

thanks kids.

ingredients:

1 box short pasta (i like cellentani)

2 cups broccoli florets

handful of baby spinach leaves
handful of fresh basil

a couple cloves of garlic, peeled 

lemon zest of one lemon

handful of toasted pine nuts

freshly grated parmesan (handful)

s&p

olive oil

------------------

2 slices of sandwich bread

shredded chicken

boil broccoli & pasta:

bring a big pot of water up to a boil.

put in broccoli and boil for 3-4 minutes.

remove broccoli with a strainer or slotted spoon into your food processor. 

now put the pasta in the boiling water and cook to al dente.

make your pesto:

while your pasta cooks, finish up your pesto. 

just add the rest of the ingredients to the food processor and blend it up, 

adding olive oil as you need it to make it pesto-consistency.

drain your pasta, saving a little of the water. 

toss the pasta with the pesto, adding some water to thin it out a little and make a sauce.

make some croutons:

cut the crust off your bread, and cut into squares (like 1 inch)

heat up some butter in a skillet and toss the bread in there.

toss it around til its nice and golden.

to serve:

add some shredded chicken to your pasta, top with croutons and 

sprinkle on some more grated parmesan.