Wholemeal spaghetti with (homemade) pesto

Hello! How's your Monday going? So far, I've been food shopping (always fun), read some of my book ("Anybody out there" by Marian Keyes, if you ask. It was leant to me by a friend and although I don't usually read girly comedy/romance books, it's quite enjoyable!). I also plan on doing some baking, starting a sewing project and going for a walk, if the weather permits. I sound like I'm retired don't I?

But for lunch today, I decided to make one of my favourites dishes. Wholemeal spaghetti with homemade pesto! I don't always use wholemeal spaghetti but I do quite like the 'nutty' taste and find it fills me up. On the packet, it claims to have 3 times more fibre as regular white pasta which is great too!

 Now I have harped on before about how easy it is to make homemade pesto (see here) so I won't lecture, but the truth is it's just so simple using on 5 simple ingredients. Basil, parmesan, garlic, pine nuts and olive oil. I use a mixture of extra virgin olive oil (the healthiest kind as the greener the oil, the more chlorophyll it has) and regular olive oil, as the taste of extra virgin olive oil can be a bit strong. As I've stated before you don't really need a recipe, but this Jamie Oliver recipe can be used as a guide:

Recipe: Pesto Sauce (serves 4)
Ingredients:
1/4 clove garlic, chopped (or be brave and chuck the whole clove in)
3 good handfuls of fresh basil, picked
2 handful of lightly roasted pine nuts (just pan fry for a few minutes with olive oil)
1 good handful of grated Parmesan cheese
extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions: 
Put your garlic into a pestle and mortar or a food processor. Pound or pulse this with your fresh basil leaves. Add the cooled, golden roasted pine nuts to the mixture and pound or pulse. Turn out into a bowl and add half the parmesan. Gently stir this in and add the olive oil, just enough to bind the sauce and get it to the right consistency. Taste the mixture, and add a little salt and pepper and the rest of the cheese. Add some more oil and taste again.

Also, I find it easy to over eat spaghetti so if you want to be super healthy serve it with a salad so the spaghetti doesn't become your main meal. Or add in chunks of avocado to make it more filling. Yum!

Hannah x