No Heat Week Part 1- Cold Pesto Pasta w/ Tomatoes and Mozzarella

Recently we had the displeasure of discovering our air conditioning wasn't working properly, and upon inspection by our home warranty servicer, that we in fact needed an entirely new condensor. That is unfortunately not the kind of repair with a speedy turn around time. This situation rather inconveniently coincided with the increase in temperatures- it is indeed summer here in Texas. We used the windows when the heat wasn't severe, lots of fans, and kept almost all the lights off to cut down on creating any unnecessary heat. Once we had our "cooling" plan in place, my mind naturally turned to our cooking plan, ha. What exactly could we eat all week? I knew that it wouldn't take much cooking in that hot house before I'd pass out from heat stroke. So I came up with a week of food that required very little cooking. I guess the one bonus of it being summer is all the great fresh produce I could take advantage of. We usually eat salad with dinner each night, but this week I made them a bit bigger and added even more veggies in. This is the one recipe that really required any cooking, and as I suspected the mere boiling of a pot of pasta was borderline torturous! But the meal was delicious, so I suppose it was worth it. I based this recipe off the Caprese combo of basil, tomatoes and mozzarella- using the pesto my step mom-in-law generously shared with us.

Cold Pesto Pasta with Tomatoes and Mozzarella
Recipe by me














3/4 lb. rotini pasta
1 cup prepared pesto
2 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
4 oz. fresh mozzarella, cubed

• Prepare pasta according to package instructions. Drain pasta and rinse with cold water till cool to touch.
• Toss pasta with pesto, tomato and mozzarella. Season with coarse salt and ground pepper. Chill in refrigerator for at least 15 minutes. Serve.