Walnut Pesto Pasta - Potluck Perfect Dish

Potlucks used to be the common way for family, friends and work events. Everyone would bring a homemade dish, showcase their recipes and have a nice relaxing meal. Ladies and gentlemen, those days are over. When a potluck was announced at my work last week, you would have thought they were announcing layoffs the stress level was so high. People wondering what they should bring or for most of them what should they buy. Some wanted themes and others wanted to just run. On my end it came to the night before and since time had run out for me to run to the store, I was faced with attempting to make something from my pantry or doing the store run on the way to work in the morning. I decided I would take my cookbooks out for 5 minutes of inspiration and soon after I had my a-hah moment. Since I wanted a dish that didn't need to be heated up and would be a little different, I decided to make Walnut Pesto Pasta. It was quick, easy and got to feature my newly planted basil. Normally I am not one to experiment with new ideas when shared with others, but luckily this turned out great plus I found a new way to make pasta that I can jazz up in different ways for future dinners (adding chicken or different veggies to it). Did I also mention that it has the super foods of walnuts and olive oil in it, making it a perfect, perfect, perfect summer potluck dish for you. Enjoy!

Walnut Pesto Pasta
1/4 cup walnuts
1/2 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups your choice of pasta

Cook pasta as directed and set aside. Toast walnuts in the microwave on High for 2 minutes, stirring after 30 second intervals until toasted. Place walnuts, basil, olive oil, garlic and pepper in a food processor and chop for about 1 minute. Toss pasta with pesto and enjoy either warm or cold.