Spinach Pesto with Walnuts and Wine on Pasta with Veggies

I like to hear people say "yum," and they say it over my spinach pesto with walnuts and wine.  Spinach pesto is great on pasta with veggies, veggies by themselves, as a salad dressing, or as a healthy cracker dip.  I even put spinach pesto on chicken and rice.

Spinach pesto with walnuts and wine on pasta with veggies is great as a side dish on a buffet.  This recipe makes enough spinach pesto to cover a pound of pasta plus 3 cups of cooked veggies, so it may be the only side dish your buffet needs.  Plus, it's so easy!  You can always add meat, too, and serve spinach-dill pesto with pasta and veggies and chicken or turkey.  Just limit the additions to your pasta to no more than 3 cups or you will be stretching one batch of this spinach pesto too far.

Here is what you need:

You can't mess it up, even if you have to substitute a few items.

Ingredients:
2 cups firmly packed fresh spinach--use your fist to pack tightly.
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons chicken broth
2 tablespoons fresh-cut dill or 1 tsp. dried dill
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons wine
2 cloves garlic--I was out and had to use garlic powder.
2 tablespoons walnuts or pine nuts-- I always have walnuts on hand and prefer them to pine nuts in my pesto
2 tablespoons or more grated parmesan
salt  and pepper to taste

Measure it all into the food processor or blender.

Zip!

Now boil a pound of pasta.  I like rotini with spinach pesto with walnuts and wine because the pesto sits in the grooves.  With this batch, I cooked 2 carrots with the pasta, since both carrots and pasta take 10 minutes.  After 5 minutes, I added a sliced zucchini and a diced bell pepper.  I'll add a little more olive oil and parmesan to each bowl I fill.

Pasta with spinach pesto, carrots, green pepper, and zucchini

I have a half bag of spinach left.  (One bag makes 2 batches.)  This spinach pesto with walnuts and wine freezes well, so I'll make another batch.  I'll put my pesto  into a freezer bowl, cut a circle of freezer paper to press down right on top of the pesto, fill any air gap with the left-over paper crinkled up, put a tight lid on it, and freeze.  Next month, I'll have more spinach pesto with walnuts and wine on pasta with veggies.  Meanwhile, I'm going to add up all the vitamins and minerals in this dish.