Pasta with Pesto Cream Sauce and Other Things

We leave for Alabama tomorrow morning to celebrate Grandmother's 90th birthday. So while I am making crockpot candy (sorry family secret recipe) I am also making dinner for myself. Tonight, since Travis is working, I am making a PW recipe. Pasta with Pesto Cream Sauce. I started by getting the crockpot started and music on the stereo (Kelsi was such the mixed CD maker in high school).

Two pots going at once. Note, double batches in one do not work.

Now on to dinner! Needed ingredients: basil, Parmesan, garlic, olive oil, heavy cream, butter (duh! this is PW), and pasta. This recipe calls for pine nuts and tomatoes, two things I am not a huge fan of so I just left them out. PW wasn't specific on the kind of pasta so I went with rotelle because it look fun. While my water boiled I started making the pesto sauce. In the food processor I was supposed to mix 3/4 cup of fresh basil leaves. Ha. Not something I keep around so I used dried. Helpful tip, 1 tsp dried = 3 tsp fresh so I needed 6 tsp. Also 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (which I have) and 2 garlic cloves (which I don't). Thanks to Better Homes and Gardens I know that 1 clove of garlic is equal to 1/8 tsp of garlic powder. Mix while drizzling 1/3 cup of olive oil. My food processor doesn't let me drizzle so I added it all at once. I put the pasta in the water before I hit the mix button. I did use 16 oz not 12oz of pasta because I won't use the 4oz later.

After mixing.

Before mixing.

Heat 1/2 cup heavy cream and 2 tbsp butter in a skillet. Only 1/2 cup means I have half a carton of heavy cream left. What to do with it? Whipped Cream? Any way, melt the butter and heat the cream in the skillet. Then add the pesto and let it simmer. My noodles are done by now.

After the pesto simmers, mix in the pasta.

Pretty good pasta. Needed more sauce but I did add extra noodles. The real test is how the left overs work out. We shall see.