Pesto

In 1997, a good friend made Joe and I dinner and made pesto using one of those "just add water" packets.  Needless to say, I didn't like it and have avoiding things with pesto since.  After making Chicken Marsala this past Saturday night, I was talking to one of our friends that had joined us and they shared a Walnut Spinach Pesto recipe they had just made.  Feeling high off of my success of Chicken Marsala, I confidently added it to the weeks menu, ending a 14 year boycott of pesto.

Then, I plugged the recipe into my Weight Watcher recipe builder to calculate the points...and, let's just say I would have had to REALLY like pesto to make that recipe and eat it for dinner.  And I would be hungry for it since I would have to eat 0 point foods all day in order to eat it for dinner.  But it was on my menu plan, so I had to come up with an alternate.  Enter...a Weight Watchers pesto recipe.  It was really simple to make (perfect for a weeknight), quite yummy and much easier on my points. 

Pesto

    2 Tbsp pine nuts 
    2 cup(s) basil, leaves, fresh 
    1/2 cup(s) reduced-sodium chicken broth 
    1/4 cup(s) grated Parmesan cheese 
    1 Tbsp olive oil 
    2 clove(s) (medium) garlic clove(s), peeled 
    1/2 tsp table salt 

Instructions

    * Place pine nuts in a small skillet and set pan over medium heat. Cook until nuts are golden, shaking pan frequently to prevent burning, about 3 minutes. Transfer nuts to a plate to cool.
    * In a blender or food processor, combine nuts, basil, broth, cheese, oil, garlic and salt; process until smooth and thick. Yields about 1/4 cup per serving.