Pesto, round 2...

We had an interesting little take on 'pesto pasta' yesterday...

I had spied this 'basil infused pasta' in my Rachael Ray magazine last month (same one as the onion ring burgersJ) and was totally intrigued to try it!

What you do is cook the pasta about partway (I cooked it about 4 minutes) and then you drain the pasta, reserving 3 cups of the starchy pasta water...

Throw the spaghetti, starchy water and 1 cup of pesto (store bought or homemade) back in the pot and stir together...

And allow to cook on medium-high heat for 15 minutes....

...or until all of the water has been absorbed by the spaghetti....

I really started to doubt that this was going to work, but miraculously (and thankfully...we were STARVING!) it DID!  The extra cooking time with the pesto almost made for a creamy, full bodied pesto experience swirled throughout each spaghetti strand....

...all while mellowing out the flavors a bit.  If you're afraid of the strong basil & fresh garlic flavors of pesto...this cooking method will work PERFECT for you!!!

We loved it!  Ain't gonna lie...I ended up going back to get two more little scoops.  It was just so yummy and hit the spot perfectly last nightJ

Hope ya'll are stayin cool in this GROSS, HOT weather!  I'm staying inside as much as possibleJ  Sooooooooooo happy it's almost Friday though!  One more full work day + four hours and I am FREE for the weekend!  Already trying to think of something fun to do on Saturday....we. shall. seeJ

Have a good Thursday, everyone!