It’s another pasta salad. And with corn pesto – yes corn! Who woulda thought that up – well, me actually. But with corn on such great sales at the store (8 for $1!) I couldn’t pass up buying them and figuring out a way to incorporate them into a meal. Because let’s face – corn by itself is awesome and I could chow down on it no problem. But I wanted to do something new and fun with it. Although pasta and pesto are not new – but they sure are fun and yummy! So here is my vegan and gluten-free Corn Pesto Pasta Salad.

This is a warm pasta salad, mainly because when you make such a large meal (for the week) by the end of the week all the nice wonderfully fresh veggies have lost all their luster and are squishy and gross and make the salad liquidy. Not good. So warm pasta and sautéed veggies it is. And really – can you go wrong with that? Heck no! The corn pesto turned out awesome. Corn is naturally sweet so I added a little heat to it with a small jalapeno and some cilantro for freshness. Oh man it’s so good. Like creamy sweet corny goodness that has the smallest bite to it and also has a tartness from the red wine vinegar and lime juice. I could just eat it all by itself (and did a little). Yum.

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Also great about this? Pesto’s are so fast! They are becoming my summer go-to for lunches. This one is super-easy. I had my pan out with oil in but not on and the blender both sitting next to the cutting board. I started with the green and red peppers. I cut one green in half and chopped into big pieces and dumped in the blender then cut the rest of the peppers into small pieces. At this point turn your pan on low and start chopping and dropping. Once all my veggies were cut and in the pan I put the lid on skewed so it could steam and be vented. I put a pot of water on for the noodles – let come to boil then break the noodles in half and boil until al dente. Chop the rest of your veggies and dump into the blender – I seeded the jalapeno before cutting up and putting into the blender; I shaved all the corn into a bowl then dumped it into the blender. Once the pesto is blending with a little olive oil dump the spinach into the pan and drain the noodles, saving about 1/2 cup of noodle water. Dump it into the pan too. Mix it all up and keep stirring the spinach so it can wilt. Pour in pesto and mix. Enjoy!

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Corn Pesto Pasta Salad, 6 servings

Pesto
1/2 Green Pepper, seeded and chopped
3 Cloves Garlic, smashed
1 Jalapeno, seeded
1 Bunch Cilantro
1 Lime, juice and zest
1 Tbsp Star Red Wine Vinegar
5 Corn Cobs, kernels sliced off

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Pasta Salad
1 1/2 Green Peppers, seeded and chopped small
1 Red Pepper, seeded and chopped small
4 Green Onion Stalks, chopped small
12oz Mushrooms, sliced
2 Tbsp Dried Chives
1 Tsp Garlic Powder
4 Small Carrots, chopped small
1/2 Small Red Onion, chopped small
1 Bag Spinach
1 Box Ancient Harvest Quinoa Spaghetti Noodles

1. Get pan ready with a little olive oil.
2. Chop the veggies and drop into the pan on low heat. Place lid skewed to steam veggies.
3. Put pot of water on for noodles – cook until just tender.
4. Chunky-chop pesto veggies and drop into blender. Shave corn off cobs and drop into blender. Zest and juice lime and pour in vinegar.
5. Start blender and pour in oil while blending. Let blend until creamy.
6. Dump spinach into pan with veggies to start wilting. Drain noodles and add into pan.
7. Pour in pesto and mix up.
8. Portion out and enjoy!