Pesto Chicken Pasta

6 oz. spaghetti

2 carrots, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons butter

2 large skinless, boneless breasts, cut into bite size pieces 

1 pkg. basil pesto mix

½ cup finely shredded Italian cheese blend

Cook pasta according to package directions.

Meanwhile, in 12-inch skillet cook carrots in butter over medium heat for 3 minutes. Add chicken; cook and stirring until no pink remains in chicken. Make pesto according to package directions.  Add 4 tablespoons pesto; toss to coat.  Drain pasta. Return to pan; toss with remaining pesto. Toss in chicken mix and cheese.  Makes 6 servings.

Martha:  This is, of course, a recipe I found and made changes to.  The original called for refrigerator pasta and jar pesto.  I used ½ a package of spaghetti and bought a dry package of pasta mix.  I’ve used the jar a well as the mix and like the mix better.  The original had the chicken served on top of the pasta but I just made it easy and mixed it in with the spaghetti.  I also changed the cheese from Parmesan to an Italian blend which had some Parmesan in it.  This turned out so good.  I shared with 4 of my food testers and they all loved it.

Pesto Hummus

Basic Hummus

1 Can Chickpeas drained (save water) and rinsed

1/2 Cup Chickpea Water (from can)

1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 Garlic Cloves

3 tbsp Tahini (sesame butter)

Splash of Lemon Juice

For Pesto Hummus add 1-2 tbsp. Pesto and if your pesto includes garlic omit the added garlic.

Puree all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. 

Comments:  I love hummus but can find only limited flavors.  A few days ago I bought a jar of pesto to use in a pasta salad and of course had a lot left over.  Then it hit me - why not put it in hummus?   I found a basic hummus recipe online.  Since the Pesto has garlic I eliminated the 3 garlic cloves but if your Pesto doesn't have enough for your taste add back the garlic 1 clove at a time until you have the taste you like.  Save with the amount of pesto.  I started with 1 tbsp. of Pesto but liked a stronger flavor so ended up adding 2 full tbsp.  I also garnished my dish with just a little pesto on top.  This came out delicious!  I had never used Tahini so had to look for it in the store.  It cost about $5.00 for the smallest jar I could find so I have plenty for many more batches of hummus and I plan on making many more flavors.