Me too, Rita. My basil plants gave me a dirty look for using ready made pesto, but I promised them I would use them for something else. :-D

I have a recipe I need to make tomorrow that calls for basil -- hope I can find some worth using, but I think it is pretty much for the bees now.

Pasta salads are so easy to make -- and that would be over 2 pounds.

Sounds delish...I'll give it a try for a party I have to go to next week. Thanks!

I think I will halve the tomatoes though...I hate chasing those round buggers around a plate....

Do you have a problem with the pesto browning? I made a pasta dish with pesto and the pesto turned brown even before I served it. Mixed it up a few hours ahead and guess I should not have done that.

Perhaps it didn't contain any/enough lemon juice which should help keep it from turning brown.

When I make it ahead, I just put it in a jar or other small glass container with a layer of olive oil on top to keep the air off it. Keeps it green.

Martha, I blanch the basil first to help it keep its color. Annie Deighnaugh, I don't like halving the tomatoes because it adds too much moisture to the mix. That's why I use small grape tomatoes, but if you are using disposable flatware, tomatoes are impossible to pierce, yes? I can just see the bouncing tomatoes flying off people's plates and hear the sound of plastic fork tines breaking. :-O

I invited a friend for lunch today and served your Super Easy Pasta salad. It was excellent. We both ate more than we should have. I gave a bit of the salad to my DD and this is all that is left

I only used about 8 oz of Fusilli and half of a bag of prewashed baby spinach. Adding the hot past to the spinach really did make it wilt.

I made my own pesto with the recipe below,

Ingredients:

• 1 cup fresh basil leaves
• 2-3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 3 tablespoons pine nuts
• 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• Directions: To make the pesto, combine basil, garlic, pine nuts and Parmesan in the bowl of a food processor; season with salt and pepper, to taste. With the motor running, add olive oil in a slow stream until emulsified.
• Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

• I made the pesto the night before putting the salad together and it did not turn brown at all. I did not blanch the basil.
• I didn't actually measure the amount of pesto made but I did use the whole batch on the pasta, spinach and tomato mix. I mixed it with the pasta about 12 hours before serving. It worked out perfect. Not to dry and not too moist.
• Fun2 here, thanks for sharing your recipe.

Badgergal, I'm happy that you enjoyed it. Thanks for adding a homemade pesto recipe to the thread!

I made it for the party...we'll see how it sells. I think next time I'd add the spinach to the pasta water in the last minute...I think I'd like it a little more wilted, and I did cut the tomatoes in half... Next time, I'd add more tomatoes too I think.