My Students Lemon Pepper & Pesto Pasta

This dish is awesome because it has the presentation and taste of a fine dining restaurant dish, while actually being cheap and unbelievably simple to prepare.  It is light and zesty with a full bodied lemon pesto taste, yet at the same time will leave you feeling stuffed and satisfied.  Of course the homemade pesto can be swapped with store bought, and an interesting variation would be to use sauteed shrimp rather than the meat.  Or even sauteed onions and mushrooms in place of the peppers.  Whatever combination you go with, the thick lemon pepper pasta used for this recipe makes for a spectacular dish...  Time to impress your girlfriends men!  :)

What You Need:

• *Trader Joe's* - Lemon Pepper Pasta
• Pesto
• Meatball's and/or sausage (both is better)
• Red, orange, and yellow peppers

What You Need To Do:

1) While you bring a large pot of water to boil, go about preparing your homemade pesto topping.  Pesto is easy to make contrary to what you may think.  All you need to do is blend together (using a food processor) 

• 2 cups fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts
• 3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced
• Salt and black pepper to taste

2)  Chop into little bite sized pieces both your 5-6 peppers as well as your meat...

3)  Throw in pasta and cook until noodles are totally soft.  Meanwhile sautee your diced peppers until lightly blackened and shiny.  Then add in the chopped meat and cover for about 10 min on low heat.

Also you'll want to pour your pesto into a buttered and heated pan.  Add a generous tablespoon of ranch and pinches of salt pepper and garlic powder.  If sauce needs to be thicker, add a bit of cream or half & half.

4)  Once your noodles are soft, your peppers and meat are cooked, and your pesto sauce is creamy and warm, let them cool for about 10 min so the combination of pasta and toppings forms the right consistency.

5)  Finally, add the three together into a bowl and ENJOY!

~CHEERS~

   ***Some other pasta's:

Zucchini and sun-dried tomato - spaghetti 

Fresh tomato and roasted garlic - manicotti

~Here's the version with sauteed shrimp, moshrooms and onions!!~  Hella Bomb

Shrimp and vegetable - pesto linguine