Asparagus Pesto pasta salad

I posted the asparagus pesto recipe sometime around may 18. a link to that recipe will be included in the ingredients list below.

I decided rather than use this pesto as a dip, to use it as a sauce for some pasta. Especially after I saw this pasta:

I thought the mix of flavors (wheat, tomato, and spinach) would be a great complement to the asparagus pesto. And not to sound full of myself or anything but I thought this turned out fantastic.

after looking at it, it kind of looks like pasta salad. i guess you can call it whatever you want

ingredients
- 1 recipe asparagus pesto (link to that recipe here -> Asparagus Pesto)
- 1 12 oz box of tri-color tomato and spinach rotini pasta (or if you’re really adventurous you could even make your own. I would love to get a pasta maker for this reason)
- 2 large carrots, diced

directions
1) prepare your asparagus pesto and set aside.
2) get out your pasta and follow the directions to prepare it.
3) meanwhile, wash and cut up two large carrots.

4) once the pasta is finished, be sure to drain it. Look how pretty!

5) add the pasta and carrots to your pesto mixture and Bon appetite

Note: if you don’t like your pasta to be heavy (I mean dripping with sauce) then you may want to prepare two boxes of pasta. I noticed there was enough pesto to probably get away with using two boxes of pasta but I don’t mind the heaviness. It is all up to you!

Here’s the buzz about some of the ingredients (this would be an awfully long post if I posted about every single ingredient so I’ll just highlight a few):

- asparagus is quite high in vitamin k (assists with blood clotting) and vitamin A (which assists with vision and cell growth). It is also a good source of folate (needed for cell growth and maintenance) and iron (needed to create hemoglobin, the substance that carries oxygen throughout the body. also regulates energy and skin tone). Research has also shown asparagus to be quite useful in digestive support  and quite unique in its ability to reduce heart disease and type 2 diabetes due to its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant content.

- carrots are a fantastic source of vitamin a (and when I say fantastic, i mean through the roof amazing source). they are also a good source of vitamin k. carrots contain a large array of antioxidants as well.

- even though the pasta used in this recipe wasn’t completely whole grain (it only had 2 grams of fiber which leads me to deduce that it was enriched). When choosing whole grains, you want each serving to contain at least 3 grams of fiber. To make up for the lack of fiber, I added in chia seeds to my asparagus pesto mix for an extra boost of fiber (5 grams for 1 tbsp of chia seeds). I have a post explaining the benefits of grains and fiber uploaded here -> Grains and Fiber

- garlic is a relatively good source of manganese (an antioxidant, more on that here -> antioxidants). interestingly, it may also have a role in determining the number of fat cells that get formed in the body. Garlic is also responsible for improving iron metabolism.

- since the pasta included a spinach flavor I guess I can also discuss the importance of tomatoes. tomatoes are a great source of lycopene (an antioxidant) which is important for males especially to consume because it can prevent certain cancers (ahem, prostate cancers). research has also shown that lycopene may help prevent osteoporosis in women. Tomatoes are also a good source of vitamin c, vitamin a, and vitamin k.

- spinach is a great source of vitamin k, vitamin a, manganese, folate, magnesium, iron, vitamin c, vitamin b2, calcium, potassium, vitamin b6, and tryptophan (an amino acid). I do have a post that further describes these vitamins and minerals here -> vitameatavegamin – vitamins and minerals

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