Lemon pesto is so summer

Even more new items at Trader Joe’s this summer, and they are fun! The first of the new batch I’m trying is the lemon pesto sauce. Recently tried their regular pesto and liked it more then I thought, usually not a pesto girl. But I do love lemons! Could this be a perfect blend of the two? All summer I’ve been sipping lemon water, squeezing a little on steaks, and making lemonade with my son<3 Lemon is just so summer and this lemon pesto sauce might be too!

Get your prep on!

Decided to try it with the organic Italian artisan pasta Gigli, had it in the cupboard and this seemed like a perfect time. Pesto can be strong and wanted to add some more color, so blistered some cherry tomatoes and picked some fresh basil. Blistered tomatoes are like a new go to, so easy and add so much! A little salt/pepper in a pan for a few minuets and you have pops of natural flavor to add to a dish. You get 3 servings of pesto per jar for 270 calories each, sounds high but I think I’ll get 5-6 servings from the jar with how potent pesto can be. Boiled the water and lets go!

Pasta!

The pasta is so cute once cooked! Almost looks like little flowers<3 The texture seems great for holding a sauce and this really might be a perfect pairing. Going to try some pasta with oil/cheese tonight for my son and see how he likes it–he’s picking with pasta shapes but this is so fun. It says to add a cup of cold water after cooking then strain, but I strained and ran a little cold water over it after. Just my preference for stopping the cooking process and keeping it al dente 🙂

Lemon pesto really is so summer

loved it! And look how well it coats the pasta! It tastes so fresh with the lemon and actually light for a pesto sauce. Definitely think go easy on it though, its very very very potent. Even using enough for 5-6 servings per jar some bites were very powerful. Having the tomato bursts in there helped lighten it more and cut a little of the sour. Really like this sauce and can see it being great for a summer pasta salad even! Just go very light—might aim for 8 servings per jar even. 8/10 and may make a fun salad recipe soon 🙂