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Eat Your Greens


In honor of St. Patty's Day and to spread some cheer on these past few stressful weeks, today we celebrate all things green.  Green represents growth and creativity, safety and security, freshness and the sense of flowing.   In health, green represents organic and wholesome.  All positive energy.  What could be more secure, wholesome, and fresh than Pasta with Green Beans and Pesto.

Modifications Made:
Jarred pesto replaced homemade and fresh basil was omitted.  Whole grain penne was exchanged for all veggie rotini, because they are green in color.  Shredded Parmesan was added on top for extra zing.

Scaled for Likability: Great
Fresh, bold, great served hot or cold.  The recipe was doubled to make an entire box of pasta except there was not enough pesto to double. Pesto purchased came in 6 oz jars and I only had one.  If there had been two jars, I don't think I would have used two cups of pesto anyways.  It would have been just too much pesto for the pasta.

Pre-sliced almonds.  Don't know what they cost but they are worth the costs.  Have you ever tried to slice almonds by hand?  Good luck!  Next time, pre-sliced almonds will be used to have a more even almond crunch instead of chunky bites.  Not having the time nor energy to slice almonds, very few actually ended up in the pasta.  Using the listed amount of almonds is recommended as the almonds pair wonderfully with the pesto and the green beans.  Finally, a squeeze of lemon will be added at the very end for an extra bit of zing.
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