Pesto shrimp and gnocchi

I'm not sure if I'll ever give up trying to make Main Man like pesto. "Is that the plant-y stuff again?" "Oh, no it's different this time, you'll like it." Aaaaaand he eats a leftover pork chop. There's a lot of things I will gladly give up for my dude, but pesto ain't one that I'm having an easy time parting with. I guess as long as I have a back up for him, I don't even feel bad, so it's really not going to stop. Maybe someday he'll cave?? This was a throw-together meal if there ever was one...I mean I had an idea of what I wanted to do with the ingredients the night before but hadn't really planned it out yet. And it all just came together...

1/4 cup greek yogurt
1 lb shrimp, cleaned
1 cup cherry tomatoes
3 cups fresh spinach
1 jar pre-made pesto
1 package whole wheat gnocchi
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 T crushed red pepper

Add all that to a skillet and cook. Seriously. I'm not sure what happened at Kosama that night, but it was like a pop quiz...with kettlebells. I haven't been that sore since I first started going, and was juuuuuust famished when I got home! I don't think I had any oxygen getting to my brain yet so I literally just dumped everything into one skillet and stirred for 20 minutes until it was all cooked (shrimp cooked through and pink, gnocchi fork tender, spinach all wilted, and tomatoes busting open with all their lovely juices joining the party). Luckily, I had cleaned the shrimp and had everything all ready to go or I'm not sure what would've happened...scary thought.

If you want to make your own pesto (which I do in the summer when I've got an endless supply of fresh basil at my fingertips)...here is the recipe I use:


1 cup walnuts or pine nuts
Coarse salt and ground pepper                                      
8 cups (4 ounces) lightly packed fresh basil leaves

2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped

2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

 

It's Martha Stewert's so it has to be a good thing, right?!

 

That's it for today, folks...