Pasta with Tomatoes and Spinach, Basil and Walnut Pesto

It's been a common theme around my house lately: grab whatever ingredients are laying around and make something for dinner. Tonight's ingredients - pasta and spinach. I considered pasta with olive oil, wilted spinach and garlic, but thought that may be too much of the same taste. I was hoping I could find some chickpeas in the cabinet and use them somehow in a sauce, but no such luck. Along they way, I discovered the very end of a bag of chopped walnuts and aha! The idea for spinach, basil and walnut pesto was born. 

For those who have been following along, you know that I have an Aerogarden. A very fruitful one. So, I welcome the opportunity to use up some of the fresh herbs it grows. Adding spinach to a traditional pesto recipe yields a lighter taste and substituting walnuts for pine nuts gives the sauce an earthy flavor. I threw in some tomatoes for varied texture at the end.

Spinach, Basil and Walnut Pesto

spinach leaves

basil

chopped walnuts

garlic

olive oil

parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Pulse all ingredients (in your preferred quantities) in a mini-prep food processor to your desired consistency.

Enjoy!