Thursday Dinner

Tonight was the Open House for The Kid's school. With this in mind, I prepared most of tonight's dinner in advance so we could eat and run.

Last night I picked a bunch of basil from the garden, then whipped up a quick pesto sauce in the food processor. I used this to clone the pesto pasta salad from Liberty Oak restaurant in downtown Greensboro (which is the best I ever had). This afternoon I marinated some sliced tomatoes and cucumbers in oil & vinegar, and tossed some chicken breasts in Mrs. Dash Garlic-Herb marinade. For dinner, we just threw the chicken on the George Foreman and served it with the cold salads.

Pesto Sauce (all quantities are approximate - I don't measure this)

1 cup basil leaves
1 t. minced garlic
1/4 cup each: olive oil, walnuts, parmesan cheese

Whirl everything together in food processor, along with salt & pepper to taste, until it's all a coarse, grainy paste. Add a little more olive oil if it's too sticky.

For the salad, I cooked a 14 oz. box of Ronzoni Smart Taste pasta spirals, then drained and cooled. (This brand has added calcium and fiber but tastes just like regular "white" pasta.) I tossed the pasta with 1 batch of pesto sauce, 1/2 a large red onion, diced, and 1/2 of a 16oz. package of frozen peas. (No need to cook peas - just toss them in frozen.) This salad is WONDERFUL. (Always make this salad the day before. The flavors - especially the basil - need time to mellow. )

Totals:

$2 - chicken
$1.50 - pasta
$1 - peas & onion
free - basil from garden (usually the most expensive part of pesto sauce)
free - tomatoes from garden
free - cucumbers (I didn't grow these, but a friend did)
.50 - remaining salad ingredients (walnuts, cheese, oil,)

$5 for dinner for 3, with tons of pasta salad left over