Sitting in my green room

I have dubbed this week "Bella Week" in honor of her upcoming 7th birthday on Wednesday. Here she is a few weeks ago being her photogenic self.

Well, I have recovered from my beloved Hawkeyes making fools of themselves. Certainly didn't look like the 8th rated team in the country. All I can say is enjoy it HP and you other sorry Cyclone fans, be in awe, as you witnessed a miracle.

Because I seem to have nothing to say today, I will share what we had for supper tonight. The girls and I are huge fans of pesto so I made this for the first time tonight.....pretty tasty (in our eyes). I used fresh basil and parsley from our garden (barely had enough parsley as some lovely catepillars decided to make it their home---of course to the utter delight of my bug loving children!)

Chicken and Farfalle Salad with Walnut Pesto (courtesy of Cooking Light Magazine)

Salad:
2 cups uncooked farfalle (bow tie pasta; about 6 oz)
2 cups cubed cooked skinless, boneless chicken breast
1 cup quartered cherry tomatoes
2 T chopped pitted kalamata olives

Walnut Pesto:
1 cup basil leaves
1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves
3 T coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted
1 1/2 T extravirgin olive oil
1 T white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1 garlic clove
Remaining ingredient:
4 curly leaf lettuce leaves (I didn't use)

1. To prepare salad, cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain, rinse with cold water. Combine pasta, chicken, tomatoes and olives in a large bowl.
2. To prepare wlanut pesto, combine basil and next 6 ingredients (through garlic) in a food processor; pulse 6 times or until finely minced. Add pesto to pasta mixture, tossing gently to coat. Place 1 lettuce leaf on each of 4 salad plates; top each serving with salad mixture.

Yield 4 servings. 374 cal, 12.5 g fat